How Elite could rule the galaxy

Celeste

Celeste
Some great ideas. I'm all for demos, but I definitely think 50 systems is way too much. A person could possibly play that demo for years.

I would set it up so people can just get a taste of the game while learning it at the same time. Limit it to 5 systems on a different island and allow paying Elite players the ability to log into the island and volunteer as instructors there as pirates, bounty hunters, traders, etc. as part of a tutorial. I think this would be a fun way to get people involved in the game. :)
 
Last edited:

Cmdr Andy B

Cmdr Andy B
OVMorat said:
FD shouldn't rush into a demo, the initial release will have bugs no matter what. The demo should come out after the first flurry of patches has abated and new players will get a really good impression.
Click to expand...

isn't that what gamma is for? it releases the game to all pre-order buyers to give one final massive test before retail.
 

StayFrosty

StayFrosty
It's pretty much a given, people would always want to try a game before playing it. It's actually the reason for much piracy, plenty people would rather try games before buying them.

Now it's usually a question of how much it's going to cost to create a demo, and how much money it'll bring, but considering what they had to do with the beta already, I'd say they would be perfectly able of creating a demo version of the game at minimal cost, so it would be worth it.

Otherwise, piracy will take care of that, for both good and bad.
 

TheDoctor

TheDoctor
The reason why games demos were stopped as it was found that it actually dropped sales figures by a significant amount.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/game-demos-can-hurt-sales-suggests-research/1100-6410863/

As for why it will be unlikely for ED to have a trial free 7 days or demo that would that send a huge message that the game is in trouble and needs sales/subscribes as that what happens in other online type games.

I would expect that sales would be more driven by social medial and twitch/you tube streams and from the online gaming press in the inital gamma/sales phase.
 

deMangler

deMangler
Marketing is the only thing I am academically qualified in. Also I worked in It and have been a gamer for 30 years. This does not mean my opinion about this is valid but it does provide context.
I don't think releasing a demo would significantly help E:⁠D sales figures.
However I do think some kind of feature-rich yet limited demo would help FD in other ways.
It would help showcase the Cobra engine.
It is a certainty that cracked copies will hit the torrents. FD need to take control of what is available to people for free as much as they can by releasing a demo that emphasises and showcases the features they want if for no other reason than to direct those who want to try for free somewhere other than a full torrented copy.
There is also evidence that illegal free copies help sales more than demos, ironically perhaps. Psychology is weird, or humans are anyway...
 
Last edited:

.Stu.

S
I think offsetting the cost of lifetime expansion pass against the cost of the PB access over and above a final game only amounts to about £30 - £30 quid for a games life of expansion, I feel like I robbed FD and am entirely happy to have paid to play/test/train!!

(ofc that does not account for all the extra kit the game forced me to buy - at Game Point!!)


JohnStabler said:

There's been a lot of dismay by people outside of the ED community about the cost of getting in to beta. Many feel it wrong to have to pay to test a game and I understand their perspective.

Click to expand...
 

TheDoctor

TheDoctor
The people at Baen Books have been studying how this sort of thing has been going on in the 15 years since they started offering cheap DRM free ebooks.

If somebody is given something free and is told that they can give it away to as many people as they like two things happens.

1) They are more likely to go and purchase the physical copy of the book.

2) They form an attachment to the ebook and are LESS likely to stick it on torrents or give it away.

They do fantastic talks about this and how some books have come back into print after 10 years due to giving the ebook away free with the authors consent.

For people who want to see what is in their free library go to

https://www.baenebooks.com/c-1-free-library.aspx

it is really crazy how selling stuff can work.
 

rayvon

R
I dont think a demo is needed really in this day and age, there are plenty of people playing live for all to see on Twitch and there is you tube as well, you can see a lot of what games have to offer on those two sites alone.
 

Armour

A
They don't need a demo. Once the game is feature-complete and stable, word of mouth will do the job. It is Elite, after all. FD already have the money for the project. The staff are being paid. The architecture is largely P2P. It's not like they need to bring in Mario numbers to keep afloat. Slow and steady wins the race.
 

Commander Debic

Commander Debic
JohnStabler said:
Lots of fud over griefing I see.

Did eve have griefing issues with trial players?

There's another excellent reason to keep trial players in the same universe as paid: friends. A person convinces a friend to try the trial version and can help them in- game. This makes for a better social experience.
Click to expand...

In answer to your question, yes they did, and still do. A lot of the suicide gankers are throw away trial accounts run by experienced players with a different email.

They buy a small destroyer aka a Gallenti Catalyst, skill up for a week, put on lots of small but fairly powerful guns, producing a relatively huge alpha strike. Then zoom in to a mining barge previously scouted down in an ore field, Hulk, Mackinaw etc. destroy in one to two barrages in a level 5-7 high security area before police arrive. they die and their mate standing off in a hauler empties the wreck of ores and dropped goodies.

Or to boost their epeen on the killboards.
Edit: After the trial account character gets too much bad rep they dump it and use another email account to rinse and repeat.

That is the best reason I know to keep demo players out of the regular play area and offline.

Below is a youtube movie link I just scanned down to show those who would question my veracity. It is just one of many. Is this what we want in Elite?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2fAlmYKbHM
 
Last edited:

kilvenny

kilvenny
I have no problem with a demo but I think it would be a mistake to give people access to multiple systems. I am currently playing in Beta and most of my time has been spent in one system practicing combat running between two locations. 55 systems is bigger than most space games!!!!. Problem I see is people wouldn't need the full game.

I would go for some single player combat missions like the first two.
 

Jason S

J
Good idea to the OP.

The only change is I would make is the free version would be limited to 10 systems and make it single player only and also not requiring account activation and totally offline so does not affect PU.
 

Olrik

O
JohnStabler said:
When gamma goes live, put out a free to play version that limits players to the 50+ systems we currently have in beta. If possible, make it full featured (as far as gamma goes) and suck people in to the game..What do people think?
Click to expand...
Obviously not :)
It´s not a free demo, it's a free game.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom