For me this continues to not be about SC but the considered reasons why I switched to ED from SC, added to which it appears others are also sharing their reasons for doing the same.
For example another key point for me came to light when bringing myself up to speed on all the ED newsletters and development diaries. It is a point that led me to immediately liquidate SC stock and instead use the funds to buy into the ED Premium Beta.
Before I go on I just want to share that reading through the ED material and the clarity it offered felt like a catharsis after being mired in never ending vagaries of SC, not to mention the zealot-overwatch of the Branch Davidian-like cult of Roberts that has developed and taken to aggressively trolling even the most reasonable attempts at raising questions out of the tiny comfort zone of high fidelity ships.
If I hear one more fanatical "I trust in Chris Roberts!" fired back as an answer to a perfectly reasonable question...
Anyway, the point in question related to the topic of death and consequence.
If I may explain: For the first few months all SC comms was limited to ships leading to a huge clamor for answers to pressing questions relating to the rest of the game. This was particular true for those interested in the open world multiplayer experience that had been promised since the start, particular those who wanted to group up in clans. How would PvP and death work for example?
The debate raged on, and this was particularly heated because the crowd was incredibly fragmented, tied together as they are by only the common denominators of hype, nostalgia and the promise of super high fidelity ships.
Furthermore, given it soon became obvious that there was (incredibly) a complete vacuum of vision from SC on this question, the debate became even more heated as the different profiles of gamers, sensing the SC guys where listening although in no way participating, desperately sought to influence decision making towards a game that suited their own preference.
The result was massive acrimony. Gamers coming from theme park MMOs, many of whom who weren’t even born when computer games ended with a “game over screen”, indeed may even throw a rage fit resulting in a smashed screen if presented with one, went toe to toe on the forums with those they accused of being greifers.
The debate went public as game journo friends/backers on both sides leveraged their blogs to posted thinly veiled attempts at influencing the debate across the web.
But of course the various groups of gamers with their entrenched views were not the real issue. The manifest real issue as touched upon above was that SC remarkably had no answer, it was not something they had anything even approaching a clear vision on, exacerbated by the fact they hoped it would just go away and allow them to continue their first preoccupation - moving ships, which of course required everyone to just get along and buy one, (better still two or three and never mind the universe available to fly said ships around in). After months however even the most ostrich-like among them realised they had to step in and say something, shock horror perhaps even clarify on which side of the fence they stood.
By this point of course their scramble for an answer would not be easy given they were and remain in direct violation of the universally accepted natural law, coined by Lyndgate and Linclon, of “…you can’t please all of the people all of the time”.
As such it would require nothing short of the Wisdom of Solomon to address. And what was their answer pray tell?. It was of course one of the greatest video game fudges of all time: The infamous PvP sliders solution: A Trademark SC mechanism for simply removing all transparency for how they would actually handle this question, allowing them to continue to sell ships to all profiles, and ultimately back-load to a time much later the nuclear detonation of nerd rage that will surely come when this half measure is revealed as such.
Come to Elite Dangerous however, and how they have addressed this very same question? In comparison, I look at the VERY FIRST Elite Newsletter #1, let me repeat this for the benefit of any members of the Cult Roberts who may be reading, THE VERY FIRST NEWSLETTER, and I read:
“Over the past two weeks the Design Decisions Forum has been busy discussing the first two topics. The first topic, concerning how death and related consequences should be handled in the game.”
How refreshing. Also, it turns out the world is not mad! We were not mad! This was an important question! It should have been handled directly and early! And someone else thinks it is fair to let the backers know where the developers stand on this point, relating as it does to the very nature of the kind of game you are making.
And indeed I see the answer you, the backers and ED team, have arrived at takes the form of a very clear set of rules, public and available for anyone to read, and indeed debate. ED Team I salute you for being a team with a clear vision that goes beyond ship polygon counts and an understanding of what it will take to make a truly great multiplayer space faring game.
All that remained was to 1) liquidated my constellation and instead used the money to buy into the Premium Beta.
2) Scratch my head and wonder why the hell it took me so long to figure this out.
