Space-opera simulator.
Ladder Anxiety / Fear of loss / Crash out Burn out
- Thread starter TrinityDejavu
- Start date
Space-opera simulator.
I don't think it's unforgiving enough. I think the game itself should taunt you and cast aspersions on your prowess when you fail.
Perhaps the ship's computer should be a wise-cracking AI that constantly annoys you:
"Oopsie, hit the tower again - shoulda gone to pilot school, ya lummox! Are you wearing zero-g boxing gloves whilst flying this rustbucket?"
"Oooookay....well, that cargo can was looking at you funny anyway, you were right to ram into it. Who wants to be rich anyway? You make me sick."
"Come on, hit something already! You shoot like a drunken trader! Who trained you - the Alliance?"
"They saw you coming with this whole suicide mission deal. You had to accept it anyway, didn't ya - greedy rat. Are you trying to get me killed?"
"Yes, let's head into port all lit up on the scanners...it's not like you just picked up some hot weapons, is it? I hate you."
"Docking permits aren't optional, dummy! Lucky I'm built into the escape pod, or you might not have me here to tell you this stuff now our SHIP IS TOAST! Just my luck to get stuck with the stupidest pilot in the galaxy..."
Perhaps the ship's computer should be a wise-cracking AI that constantly annoys you:
"Oopsie, hit the tower again - shoulda gone to pilot school, ya lummox! Are you wearing zero-g boxing gloves whilst flying this rustbucket?"
"Oooookay....well, that cargo can was looking at you funny anyway, you were right to ram into it. Who wants to be rich anyway? You make me sick."
"Come on, hit something already! You shoot like a drunken trader! Who trained you - the Alliance?"
"They saw you coming with this whole suicide mission deal. You had to accept it anyway, didn't ya - greedy rat. Are you trying to get me killed?"
"Yes, let's head into port all lit up on the scanners...it's not like you just picked up some hot weapons, is it? I hate you."
"Docking permits aren't optional, dummy! Lucky I'm built into the escape pod, or you might not have me here to tell you this stuff now our SHIP IS TOAST! Just my luck to get stuck with the stupidest pilot in the galaxy..."
Brilliant!
"Daddy should have bought you chew toy not a spaceship, you have the flying instincts of a spaniel!"
"You're just not very good at this are you?"
"It would be really embarrassing if we were getting killed by a Sidewinder right now, oh wait, we are, what a surprise!"
"Drive like you've stolen it has a whole new meaning for me now, have you even done this before?"
I think a lot of folks are missing the point of the OP.
Ladder anxiety is a real phenomenon and the Elite mechanic many of us love is indeed one that can create it.
The OP wasn't "waah, I got burned" but "given that this phenomenon exists, are there any aspects of the game design to mitigate it and increase user retention?"
The question actually being asked was answered precisely once, when it was pointed out that loans to cover insurance are planned for the final game.
I think a few folks on here are perhaps too used to the "waah, I got burned" threads and the signal here got lost in that mental noise.
ObDisclaimer: I know CMDR Trinity from another online venue and perhaps knowing that it wasn't posted by the "noob that got burned" type of person made it easier for the signal to rise above the noise for me.
Ladder anxiety is a real phenomenon and the Elite mechanic many of us love is indeed one that can create it.
The OP wasn't "waah, I got burned" but "given that this phenomenon exists, are there any aspects of the game design to mitigate it and increase user retention?"
The question actually being asked was answered precisely once, when it was pointed out that loans to cover insurance are planned for the final game.
I think a few folks on here are perhaps too used to the "waah, I got burned" threads and the signal here got lost in that mental noise.
ObDisclaimer: I know CMDR Trinity from another online venue and perhaps knowing that it wasn't posted by the "noob that got burned" type of person made it easier for the signal to rise above the noise for me.
This ends up being Hitchhiker's manic depressive Marvin as your board computer. Do you really want that?
Severus Snape would be a lot better I think, but whatever floats your boat.
The thing is, every time you 'crash out' and restart it gets quicker and easier. Then it becomes fun. I look forwards to the next wipe so I can enjoy those early parts of the progression until I get my Viper again. I'm considering doing nothing but my FTPS stuff from scratch next time. I'm pretty handy in a Sidey.
I was beginning to think that no one had noticed. Hopefully the OP noticed, and didn't get caught up too much in the energetic defence of ED.
It's part of the fun to me.
It's something many people actually seek, but that certainly became uncommon these days. The average MMO lets you build up power and gather assets and piles of money without any risk of losing it all, and relies quite a lot on instant gratification, which removes frustration, but while it has no more "game over", it has an "end game" problem, because you essentially burn through most of the content and never return to it, and it also removes a lot of the enjoyment of reaching the end.
And to be honest, I'm not sure frustration can be as annoying as "reaching the end" which feels neither rewarding nor does it provide an incentive to continue playing. The success of Dark Souls those past couple years certainly proves frustration can be enjoying.
In myself hope this game will challenge me enough to the point of losing all I have and going back to a Sidewinder and 100 credits, because the best part isn't reaching the top of the hill, but climbing it. I don't want to just sit on top of the hill and ask "when will they make it taller?"
Some casual players might give up sure, but the game is already easy and I would hate to see it become more simple than it already is.
A lot of people (including myself) aren't playing right now because there is nothing to do. There is hardly any content.
5 or so ships, 3 different kinds of stations (two actually but we'll give 3 for the stations that mix and match) and the same 2 missions.
Trading is pointless because fluctuation is unnoticeable because we only have access to like 1% of stars.
That's it, that's all that's there.
Most people have stopped playing because it's a beta, it's not feature complete and I for one don't want the simple flying to become boring before the game even comes out.
side note: thanks for the skins frontier, now only if expansion pass people got more skins than standard beta for paying extra. one can only dream.
I think everyone has the potential to get to the top of that nice green hill you're on about. It doesn't appear impossible to get there and stay there, even with limited time.
Games like StarCraft which invite power players to just build the best as quick as possible and win the game as soon as possible aren't my cup of tea. I haven't bothered playing any RTS games in a long time because of this. I preferred to build a really decent looking base, walls, defence and research everything etc. not just go for the best and win.
There's nothing stopping you in Elite in my opinion not even really now but as previously mentioned when loans are implemented then at least you won't need/have to start from scratch again like in an RTS.
I've lost everything a couple times now and I only have a couple hours a night, sometimes less to play the game. I have not considered quitting yet but coming from a background of Eve and Ultima Online I am used to losing everything.
Games like StarCraft which invite power players to just build the best as quick as possible and win the game as soon as possible aren't my cup of tea. I haven't bothered playing any RTS games in a long time because of this. I preferred to build a really decent looking base, walls, defence and research everything etc. not just go for the best and win.
There's nothing stopping you in Elite in my opinion not even really now but as previously mentioned when loans are implemented then at least you won't need/have to start from scratch again like in an RTS.
I've lost everything a couple times now and I only have a couple hours a night, sometimes less to play the game. I have not considered quitting yet but coming from a background of Eve and Ultima Online I am used to losing everything.
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Flying without insurance is a choice. If you fly without you risk losing everything.
People know this yet people are still happy to do without for the simple reason they are in a hurry to grind. Then kick off when the risk doesn't pay off.
Its a joke. People are grinding like its their job. They aren't enjoying it. And want all risk of losing it removed from the game. And the funniest part is this is beta stage.
Why do they do it is what I want to know.
People know this yet people are still happy to do without for the simple reason they are in a hurry to grind. Then kick off when the risk doesn't pay off.
Its a joke. People are grinding like its their job. They aren't enjoying it. And want all risk of losing it removed from the game. And the funniest part is this is beta stage.
Why do they do it is what I want to know.
Well I'm one of them.
I've not fired the game up for at least 3 weeks now.
Need more content....need things to do in game.
I can certainly acknowledge the reality of 'Ladder Anxiety' but it's a malapropism in Elites context. There's no ladder and even if there were I could safely ignore it and do my own thing, 'because sandbox'.
The real whine here isn't 'Waaah I got burned' it's 'Waaah it's too hard' and I'm just not seeing it. So far things have been easy, very easy, so easy in fact, that I'm finding it very hard to believe the people saying it's too hard have even played it. They just can't have, this just confuses me. You can risk everything for a chance at a big payout, it's a gambit, it's victory or death, all or nothing!
It's a risk:
Maybe that's unfair of me though, the game does have insurance, which is cool. Makes it all easy mode. Someone even mentioned there will be loans for insurance, so wow there's even a safety net under the safety net. That's amazing, so it looks as if it will be extra super easy!. I'm not sure I like this but then We're getting an iron-man mode so I probably won't need to interact with these kind of 'Commanders' anyway.
In the end I think what both sides of the spectrum are trying to influence here is the more or less the same thing, a healthy vibrant multiplayer experience with good gameplay and lots of spectacle. It's why we play, amirite? Of course there are many trying to engineer it so their play style has the advantage but that tension is where the magic is and it doesn't really matter anyway.
So all you 'Filthy-Casuls' and 'Elitist-Scum' unite, regardless of what we decide to squabble about on the forums we will get precisely what frontier intend to release and no amount of whining or chest beating* will change a damned thing...
*As much fun as it is! XD
I can't fathom this thread, or the OP....
I don't know how anyone can associate a traditional single player game experience with top tier competitive gaming anxiety....
Nnnnngh.... Need Aspirin.....
I don't know how anyone can associate a traditional single player game experience with top tier competitive gaming anxiety....
Nnnnngh.... Need Aspirin.....
Yea, well, that's the problems with labels... or the misuse of them.
Anyhow, Scourge is right... people should try to learn to trust in developers again, 1000s of WoW and CoD clones should have been enough to show that "catering/listening to an audience" isn't really the right way to keep the games industry innovative and fresh.
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Welcome to Elite.
You are going to get blown up a lot.
Deal with it.
Seriously though if FD dumb this game down for the masses it will be it's ruin.Elite in it's essence has always been notoriously hard and as long as FD stay true to Elite , I and I'm sure many many others will play.
The beta right now in my opinion is nothing of what is to come, I bet that when the game is complete that it is going to be a hell of a lot harder to make money and a hell of a lot easier to lose it.
Time will tell, no point in complaining about a game that isn't complete.
You are going to get blown up a lot.
Deal with it.
Seriously though if FD dumb this game down for the masses it will be it's ruin.Elite in it's essence has always been notoriously hard and as long as FD stay true to Elite , I and I'm sure many many others will play.
The beta right now in my opinion is nothing of what is to come, I bet that when the game is complete that it is going to be a hell of a lot harder to make money and a hell of a lot easier to lose it.
Time will tell, no point in complaining about a game that isn't complete.
I haven't seen any seasoned players mocking new players at all.
I'm sure they would get a strong word or two.
I'm sure they would get a strong word or two.
I've never been unable to pay my insurance when i crashed. I always took care to ensure that I had sufficient funds in the bank. Does that make me a seasoned player? No, it makes me a careful player. (In a RTS against the AI, I'll be the player carefully turtling his way towards the enemy base.)
A friend of mine is a more agressive player, and has had a reset back to a sidewinder. After that, he promptly started to (again) launch with his cargo filled and no money in the bank. He kept doing that, even when he got a Lakon-9. He understands that this is a risk, but he takes that risk anyway.
I just think of it as a personal choice. Do you go slow and steady, or do you take a short cut and gamble?
Decisions have consequences. Deal with it.