Thoughts and observations brought on by Freeport
I've been thinking about this a great deal, rereading the various forum threads and posts about it, and here are my observations/opinions, for what it's worth, hopefully Frontier Development will consider it as well.
Issues in Elite on Sunday, 8/13 (apparanty it's still on going).
Freeport station was held hostage by 3 players with nothing better to do. This has shown that there are a number of things to be addressed, either by the developers, or by policy.
Now people will say to just deal with it, it's only beta, or that LP-98-132 is an Anarchy system, both statements are true, but I'll get into that a bit later.
Trying to enter Freeport, my ship was destroyed, no warning, no indication of danger, just boom. I figured it was a bug, so, being a good beta tester, I got my new ship and proceeded out of the station only to be blown up upon exit. I went to the forums and found out there's someone stationed outside Freeport blasting defenseless players. It further turned out there were 2 or 3 griefers. On the forums their excuse was that it's perfectly within the rules because it's an Anarchy system, and they can because game mechanics are allowing it.
I can go on about many aspects of this, but let's address this based on the various statements made on the forums. (all statements from other players are paraphrased.)
"It's an Anarchy system"
Anarchy in terms of Elite does not mean complete and utter lawlessness, it means there's a different form of law/justice, not controlled by an organized government, but by those that reside in the region. Pirates, organized crime, etc., determine the law of the system, and enforce it, or not, as they decide is appropriate. Whoever has the might and/or wealth, makes the law. Watch Firefly, that's a perfect example of the universe Elite: Dangerous resembles, read some Sci-fi and post apocalyptic stories, no governmental law, but law nonetheless. The argument fails logic.
"Cry babies"
Well we understand the attitude of this player, shouldn't even be a beta tester.
"Come at me, one on one, my friends won't interfere"
Well, do we believe this? Sounds more like the statement of a bully, typical griefer, in other MMO's, they'd be warned and banned.
"It's only beta, it'll be wiped"
Yes, it's beta, we play it like it's released to see how players will play, and report what we deem as bugs, anomalies, and feature issues, to help the developers fix it for release. We understand it'll be wiped, but it's still gotta be tested, to help make a successful release that people will pay for and promote to their friends. Being beta doesn't mean players can or should disregard good sportsmanship and respect of their fellow players.
Along the "It's an Anarchy system" lines is "it's 100% dangerous"
Well, if it's 100% dangerous, then no one would or should go there, ever. 100% dangerous indicates there's a 100% chance you'll be destroyed. Right now it seems to be about 30 to 50 % dangerous, a skilled pilot can get around successfully with little to no problem. I'd think at release, 40 to 90 % dangerous would be appropriate, depending on where in the system you are. At Freeport should be the safest place, being the most civilized, and maybe controlled my greedy criminals that want to protect their system otherwise a rich and powerful pirate or rival criminal could take over the station, maybe regularly. That's bad for business.
"Log out and back into another instance" or "Switch to solo"
These are certainly alternatives to dealing with the griefers, but consider, if this were any other MMO, you can't just login to a different server. Why should that be a recourse here? Being chased to a different server only gives the win to the griefers, this is unacceptable. It's not done or necessary elsewhere, it shouldn't be here either.
And one of my all time favorites:
"There appears to be an anti-PVP attitude, I wanted to bring them some PVP"
Nice thought, not in your wildest dreams though. If players want PVP they can seek it out, not have it force upon them. Perhaps there should be designated regions for it, they can go there and have at it, willingly. Other games have successfully done it, without depriving non-PVPers of their fun. There's plenty of danger from NPCs, we don't need griefers to chase people away. I've already seen a comment or two of players considering quitting because of this, it's not good for Elite's reputation when griefers have chased away beta testers.
You also wouldn't see an NPC pirate using tactics like these people have, no word, no demands, no threats, just shoot and laugh. NPC's at least give you some chance, even if you fail, at least you have some opportunity.
If Frontier is to make a successful game worth playing, as beta testers, it's our responsibility to help them. We don't want to promote griefing and antisocial behavior, that just drives potential customers away. We as beta testers shouldn't be destroying the experience, but making it better. If there's a valid test scenario being driven by the developers, then they will post about it on the forums. If a player, or group of players, wants to test something out, then they too can post it on the forums, and get people willing to help them, not force people, just wanting to play and report the bugs they find, to join in their test scenario.
Frontier Development has a great game here, let's help them make it better and more profitable, worth playing, and worth promoting to our families, friends, and their friends.
I've been thinking about this a great deal, rereading the various forum threads and posts about it, and here are my observations/opinions, for what it's worth, hopefully Frontier Development will consider it as well.
Issues in Elite on Sunday, 8/13 (apparanty it's still on going).
Freeport station was held hostage by 3 players with nothing better to do. This has shown that there are a number of things to be addressed, either by the developers, or by policy.
Now people will say to just deal with it, it's only beta, or that LP-98-132 is an Anarchy system, both statements are true, but I'll get into that a bit later.
Trying to enter Freeport, my ship was destroyed, no warning, no indication of danger, just boom. I figured it was a bug, so, being a good beta tester, I got my new ship and proceeded out of the station only to be blown up upon exit. I went to the forums and found out there's someone stationed outside Freeport blasting defenseless players. It further turned out there were 2 or 3 griefers. On the forums their excuse was that it's perfectly within the rules because it's an Anarchy system, and they can because game mechanics are allowing it.
I can go on about many aspects of this, but let's address this based on the various statements made on the forums. (all statements from other players are paraphrased.)
"It's an Anarchy system"
Anarchy in terms of Elite does not mean complete and utter lawlessness, it means there's a different form of law/justice, not controlled by an organized government, but by those that reside in the region. Pirates, organized crime, etc., determine the law of the system, and enforce it, or not, as they decide is appropriate. Whoever has the might and/or wealth, makes the law. Watch Firefly, that's a perfect example of the universe Elite: Dangerous resembles, read some Sci-fi and post apocalyptic stories, no governmental law, but law nonetheless. The argument fails logic.
"Cry babies"
Well we understand the attitude of this player, shouldn't even be a beta tester.
"Come at me, one on one, my friends won't interfere"
Well, do we believe this? Sounds more like the statement of a bully, typical griefer, in other MMO's, they'd be warned and banned.
"It's only beta, it'll be wiped"
Yes, it's beta, we play it like it's released to see how players will play, and report what we deem as bugs, anomalies, and feature issues, to help the developers fix it for release. We understand it'll be wiped, but it's still gotta be tested, to help make a successful release that people will pay for and promote to their friends. Being beta doesn't mean players can or should disregard good sportsmanship and respect of their fellow players.
Along the "It's an Anarchy system" lines is "it's 100% dangerous"
Well, if it's 100% dangerous, then no one would or should go there, ever. 100% dangerous indicates there's a 100% chance you'll be destroyed. Right now it seems to be about 30 to 50 % dangerous, a skilled pilot can get around successfully with little to no problem. I'd think at release, 40 to 90 % dangerous would be appropriate, depending on where in the system you are. At Freeport should be the safest place, being the most civilized, and maybe controlled my greedy criminals that want to protect their system otherwise a rich and powerful pirate or rival criminal could take over the station, maybe regularly. That's bad for business.
"Log out and back into another instance" or "Switch to solo"
These are certainly alternatives to dealing with the griefers, but consider, if this were any other MMO, you can't just login to a different server. Why should that be a recourse here? Being chased to a different server only gives the win to the griefers, this is unacceptable. It's not done or necessary elsewhere, it shouldn't be here either.
And one of my all time favorites:
"There appears to be an anti-PVP attitude, I wanted to bring them some PVP"
Nice thought, not in your wildest dreams though. If players want PVP they can seek it out, not have it force upon them. Perhaps there should be designated regions for it, they can go there and have at it, willingly. Other games have successfully done it, without depriving non-PVPers of their fun. There's plenty of danger from NPCs, we don't need griefers to chase people away. I've already seen a comment or two of players considering quitting because of this, it's not good for Elite's reputation when griefers have chased away beta testers.
You also wouldn't see an NPC pirate using tactics like these people have, no word, no demands, no threats, just shoot and laugh. NPC's at least give you some chance, even if you fail, at least you have some opportunity.
If Frontier is to make a successful game worth playing, as beta testers, it's our responsibility to help them. We don't want to promote griefing and antisocial behavior, that just drives potential customers away. We as beta testers shouldn't be destroying the experience, but making it better. If there's a valid test scenario being driven by the developers, then they will post about it on the forums. If a player, or group of players, wants to test something out, then they too can post it on the forums, and get people willing to help them, not force people, just wanting to play and report the bugs they find, to join in their test scenario.
Frontier Development has a great game here, let's help them make it better and more profitable, worth playing, and worth promoting to our families, friends, and their friends.
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