What big deal is that they however change the way you play and in the end evaluate game.
So you're the one in charge of how other people play the game and form their opinions about it?
I am talking about info sharing tools. Commander's Log like feature is needed in the game.
So you're the one in charge of picking and choosing what features are or aren't needed?
Do tell, are you actually speaking in any official capacity other than self-appointed community sheriff?
And yes, I am itching for a fight regarding these issues because other side have easily laughed off these arguments because hey, using tools is fun.
You're itching for a fight because you're bored with the game, otherwise you would be playing it. And you also enjoy the attention. But people don't laugh off your argument because they are bad people. They laugh off your arguments because your arguments are, for the most part, laughable.
But overall, info sharing is like drug - it's very easy to convince you to use one, but it changes your POV about the game very, very considerably. If I have been sounding like trolling because I am angry about this.
Here is a good example of a laughable argument.
While it shows you're clearly upset with something, it also shows you don't really understand a lot about the tools, and you're not very knowledgeable about drugs either, so it is kind of obvious that you're just making that connection to show how IT IS A BAD THING.
As a result, your message doesn't come across as angry, like you originally intended. It comes across as silly and clueless, pretty much like this:
"I hate data sharing tools and think they should be illegal. Players are losing interest from them before they can learn to appreciate the shortcomings of the game." - Princess Pecisk
How can I not laugh?
I care it skews their perception. A LOT.
Here's my perception about the game and how trading tools have changed it:
Like basically everything else in ED, there's precious little information in-game about how the trading system works.
Not only the in-game information is scarce, but it's also
unrealiable and utterly unintuitive.
True story:
* Once upon a time, a mostly penniless me docked at station A.
* I bought a shipload of a perfectly legal commodity from their market.
* While still docked in A, I checked out their "Exports to" data to see where I could sell my cargo.
* Then I jumped to system B and suddenly my cargo was illicit.
* It turns out that the commodity in question was illegal in both stations in system B.
* And to make things really perfect, there were no black markets in system B.
So, thanks to the innacurate information I obtained directly from the game, I found myself stuck with a shipload of illegal goods, under risk of receiving a hefty fine, and without any clue on where I could actually sell it - with almost a whole week of experience under my belt.
That's not "depth". That's not "content".
That's giving you bad information that will lead to confusion and a huge waste of time and loss of credits.
That's an AWFUL reward for a player's honest effort, and the worst part is, that happened FOR NO GOOD REASON AT ALL.
That situation didn't teach me anything useful, except that I could not trust the in-game information.
But I'm kind of stubborn sometimes, so I just marched on. Even after that I still wasted a lot more time trying to make heads and tails of the trading system without any help, even though the game won't give you anything more useful than a generic "buy low, sell high. Good luck, commander".
I spent a very long time looking for a decent trade route, enjoying the excitement of visiting a candidate system after another and taking copious notes, then hopping to all nearby systems in order to find a match that would satisfy all the requirements:
* Offering a decent margin of profit on the commodities I bring in
* Offering a commodity that I can sell at a profit on my way back
* Having a good supply/demand ratio on both ends
* A station reasonably close to the entry point on both ends
I would then take yet more notes, compare them and try to find a match.
At some point I had several pages full of tables and calculations and nothing to show for it, because I didn't have access to any actual useful information, only price lists.
And it was incredibly BORING. It was DULL BEYOND CONCEPTION.
Eventually, my persistence paid off, as I found an incredibly profitable run: 5,000 credits/ton, in a single 16ly hop. I could make six runs in an hour! It was still incredibly boring, but at least I was getting something out of it.
Three days later, powerplay brought about some arbitrary changes in local politics and the route died overnight. It went from 5k to less than half that value. Right then, right there, I gave up on trading. I simply don't have enough leisure hours in my day to burn away like that. It was too much like work to be fun.
I went bounty hunting instead and I actually had a good time while making money.
So, when I found out about the trading databases, it actually made that feature bearable again.
Not only that, but it helped me to understand what makes a route profitable and what commodities are worth trading.
Problem is, that kind of information isn't to be found in-game. You have to puzzle it out yourself from scattered and inconsistent clues, after a huge investment in hours and work - which are never in great supply for those of us that actually hold a job (or two, like Rochelle's man) and are trying to keep a whole family fed, sheltered and clothed.
So no, you're wrong. People don't complain about the lack of content in the game because they use external tools. You got it backwards: They use the tools to make up for the lack of content in the game.
The only reason people go through the trouble of developing whole websites and setting up databases (and spend their own money to host it all) is because the current implementation in the game is truly ineffective, AND THAT IS DETRIMENTAL TO THE USER EXPERIENCE.
