Had to describe ED to a colleague. I heard how boring I sounded! How would you describe to a non gamer?

ED today is like trying to have fun at a funeral.

Oh good. I always have fun at funerals. :D

We tell great stories of the departed, drink and laugh to the life they had.

Why people feel the need to seem as dead as possible at a funeral never makes sense to me. In my family, its a celebration.
 
Oh good. I always have fun at funerals. :D

We tell great stories of the departed, drink and laugh to the life they had.

Why people feel the need to seem as dead as possible at a funeral never makes sense to me. In my family, its a celebration.

This is why ED is fun for you.
 
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I'd say it's like being in a Prometheus or Alien movie as a pilot exploring the galaxy without the alien (yet).
 
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I've tried explaining ED (and other non mainstream games) to friends and colleagues. It never works. Lol
The last person i explained ED looked bored out of their skull. Lol

My friend also tried explaining Warhammer to me once, that also didn't work. I had to actually play it to get it. It still wasn't all that fun. Lol

I've tried to get people in to loads of oddball games.
Arma, ED, X-Com (original), Transport Tycoon... Etc etc.
 
I would describe it as "a game that seems boring on paper, but actually if you like audiobooks you can put one on and you won't be bored while playing it". Suffice to say I don't think I'm selling it well.
 
To my gamer friends: It's a MMO(ish) RPG(ish), sci-fi game where you are a pilot of a spaceship in a giant universe most of which that wants to kill you.

To my non-gamer friends: It's like an unscripted (plot-less) version of Firefly. You fly a space ship and the goal is to keep flying, not crash in a big fireball, earn cash, upgrade the ship and get more skilled at flying.


Then let them ask questions, better to let them ask than try to force it on them.
For example my gamer friends asked about things like PvP, is it skill based, what would you compare it to etc. Most exciting thing and so-on.

My non-gamer friends asked what the point was and my answer was: "Having a point costs extra". Then being serious I said: "It's entirely up to you to make your own fun. Want to ignore the real world and forget all your worries just flying a space-ship for a few hours? Check. Want to explore a realistic simulation of our universe and explore the childhood fantasy of space-travel? Check. Want to meet up and race around a 9km long space station at several times the speed of sound. Check.
All what you make of it like most sandbox or roleplaying games."

Seemed to work ok tbh. Not many were interested enough to check it out but there were one or two that asked a few follow ups like "How accurate is the galaxy?" and "Are the physics realistic?" <- Lots of my friends did Science/Engineering degrees at Uni.

Edit: In response to some of the bits I read I felt it necessary to update. These were friends, people I'd known for 6 months plus and had mutual respect. Conversation naturally came to games/spare time and naturally moved on. The above were all passing and not a forced "hey I'm playing a cool game" or anything like that. I guess in those scenario's its harder as instead of discussing something it's more like you are trying to sell something and most peoples natural response is to oppose anything they feel is being pushed on them.
 
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I don't think it's worth explaining Elite Dangerous to people who don't understand what YouTube is for.

How about explaining what YouTube is for? Or rather, what YouTube was created to be - if you didn't know, it was created to be a dating site, full of peoples' personal videos about why someone should go out with them.
Not the video dumpsite of whatever you happen to have a video of that it became following it's launch. http://mashable.com/2011/02/19/youtube-facts/#XF_oIYhw4Gqu
 
I'm a gamer, I like this game well enough, but there's nothing more boring than watching ED yutoob battles.
And trying to explain any game let alone ED to a non-gamer seems like a waste of breath.
 
I dont try to explain, explaining is boring. I provide them a link, if some of them have qustions after that, its the full montty: They can come and try one of my ships.
Usually after that explaining is not needed, FD sold another copy. At the try out, I do explain the game's limitations, though.

Cheers Cmdr's
 
This game is the epitome of video game nerddom to non-gamers, just do what I do and never mention it and deny it if someone accuses you of playing it.
 
This game is the epitome of video game nerddom to non-gamers, just do what I do and never mention it and deny it if someone accuses you of playing it.

That's a sad way to be, mang

Anyone who gives me crap for whatever I do with my free time gets left out when I spend my money on friends.

"Oh, did no one invite you to the awesome day we had at the rollercoaster park? Sucks to be a jerk, don't it?"
 
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That's a sad way to be, mang

Anyone who gives me crap for whatever I do with my free time gets left out when I spend my money on friends.

"Oh, did no one invite you to the awesome day we had at the rollercoaster park? Sucks to be a jerk, don't it?"

Walk the fine line and you get the best of both worlds, including a day at the rollercoaster park.
 
Walk the fine line and you get the best of both worlds, including a day at the rollercoaster park.

Well, yeah, people are allowed to have negative opinions about what I do with free time. The smart ones keep that to themselves and just snicker behind my back. FINE BY ME :)

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