Finding a meaning in this game

Axt0n

A
Hello Commanders,

I have this game for one year now and maybe for a lot of you is nothing compared how many hours you spent in it, but after this year full of grinding, exploration, bounty, etc, I've come to a conclusion which is bringing me back at the beginning of my journey: what's the meaning of this game?

The Galaxy is immense, probably the whole Community is going to take centuries to complete the exploration of it, and a lot of features are included in this game that, unfortunately or luckily, you need to find out by yourself. But what are the rewards for such gestures?

In details:

1) Exploration: You spent a lot of hours to travel around the Galaxy, tons of jumps and fuel scoops, just to spot Water/Earth like worlds, but for what? Just to bound your name on that planet? What are the benefits to explore the Universe... in this game?
2) BGS: Why do I need to bother to increase the reputation of one specific faction instead of one other? Why do I chose to change the stability of one system instead of another? What are the benefits of this?
3) Thargoids: You "can" kill them, but you cannot defeat them, so why should I bother to haunt them down if nothing will change in this "dynamic" universe?
4) Bounty, Engineers, Guardian, etc: A lot of MMO games give you rewards / incentive for such activities, well for Guardian you can actually get special blueprints as well as for Engineers, even if the price to pay which is a pure grind activity is far beyond a normal gamer (roughly called Casual Gamer), but in this game, again, why should I bother to involve my self in such activities? Money? Well ok, we need them, but once I will be super-rich, what can I do with all those money?

I don't want to start a flame post, maybe some of you can get this post as a daily complaint, but is not. I love this game, I love the space simulation, but I've lost my affinity to this game and I want to find a new motivation, a reason, to return playing it and enjoying it as a brand new game.

Take care Commanders!
 

Agony_Aunt

Agony_Aunt
Can't really help you OP.

I've played thousands of hours and thousands behind the most addicted players.

Currently i'm doing the Planetary Circumnavication Expedition and enjoying it. Nice to have a reason to spend some time in the SRV.
 

kilvenny

kilvenny
It's like real life, you make choices about what you do. Most of us spend 50 years grinding through work. Many of us have children and then grand children and grind through that. We make good choices and bad choices, see beautiful things and ugly things. Over the years we see our bodies age and eventually we die. The truth is most things become a grind eventually and what is the purpose of life in a valid question. In your post you begin with the grind, that is where you have reached. A computer game is a microcosm of life, it's tighter scripted and with less variables so the pointlessness is reached sooner.

My late father when I was a boy directed me to a small book in which the writer explores life and comes to the conclusion that it's inherently pointless, save for one thing. I found the book an incredible help and still do.

Applying the principle to ED, you have to find that one thing. For me in ED it's the journey through space, I will never tire with that moment after a long flight where I request docking and begin the descent on to a pad. I am home, home is where I hang my hat, it could be anywhere in the galaxy.
 

MoonRacer

MoonRacer
CMDR.Axton said:
Hello Commanders,

I have this game for one year now and maybe for a lot of you is nothing compared how many hours you spent in it, but after this year full of grinding, exploration, bounty, etc, I've come to a conclusion which is bringing me back at the beginning of my journey: what's the meaning of this game?

The Galaxy is immense, probably the whole Community is going to take centuries to complete the exploration of it, and a lot of features are included in this game that, unfortunately or luckily, you need to find out by yourself. But what are the rewards for such gestures?

In details:

1) Exploration: You spent a lot of hours to travel around the Galaxy, tons of jumps and fuel scoops, just to spot Water/Earth like worlds, but for what? Just to bound your name on that planet? What are the benefits to explore the Universe... in this game?
2) BGS: Why do I need to bother to increase the reputation of one specific faction instead of one other? Why do I chose to change the stability of one system instead of another? What are the benefits of this?
3) Thargoids: You "can" kill them, but you cannot defeat them, so why should I bother to haunt them down if nothing will change in this "dynamic" universe?
4) Bounty, Engineers, Guardian, etc: A lot of MMO games give you rewards / incentive for such activities, well for Guardian you can actually get special blueprints as well as for Engineers, even if the price to pay which is a pure grind activity is far beyond a normal gamer (roughly called Casual Gamer), but in this game, again, why should I bother to involve my self in such activities? Money? Well ok, we need them, but once I will be super-rich, what can I do with all those money?

I don't want to start a flame post, maybe some of you can get this post as a daily complaint, but is not. I love this game, I love the space simulation, but I've lost my affinity to this game and I want to find a new motivation, a reason, to return playing it and enjoying it as a brand new game.

Take care Commanders!
Click to expand...

I can only tell, what I see in my character and in the game:
My CMDR (and all the other CMDRs) are essentially freelancers, not affiliated with any faction, not even with the Pilots Federation. The way you get your first ship is the PFs doing, but this is all. They have no rules, enforce no rules, require no thank you. So as a freelancer and sort of a mercenary I can do what I want. There was a game called 'Freelancer', and it was actually quite good. It is very old, and single user, but I remember it well. This game is similar, but in the old Freelancer game you had sort of a quest, here you have none.

You can opt to become affiliated with a faction, and you can opt not to and remain neutral. It will help a bit to have 'ally' status with a faction in a system you often use, this is only logical. Therefore your only objective is to survive as a freelancer pilot. You need money for this. Not much more, because the engineers and the guardians/Thargoids are entirely optional. This is true for solo play, it is not true for all open play, be it in a PVE group or completely open. There you are forced to grind like crazy or you just cannot compete. But this I already said elsewhere and it does not belong here.

Now to 1) As I see it, Explorers explore for 'scientific' reasons, or just because they are curious, and are drawn by the huge width of the galaxy, which is open to them. They want to see sights, discover unusual things and know how it looks out there. At least this is my motivation - and the motivation of my CMDR. And yes, there are benefits, you can earn a lot of money with it, and - if you like it - it is just fun to play.
2) BGS: Seems not to work well at the moment, and does not interest me. ED is a typical MMO, and therefore cannot have 'heroes', and hero quests. They could do a lot more, but the games structure does not seem to support it. Or they just do not want to do it. So I do not care. I register possible changes and if i do not like them I will move on.
3) Thargoids: Here I do not understand FDev. This is so clumsy. I understand that they want it to be optional, which is actually a good idea. But there are stations attacked, on not one of the super powers cares? Really? And the billions of people living on planets - they do not care or fear too? Hard to believe, yet you see no navies fighting, only we freelancers are 'allowed' to fight them. As an added nonsense you have to grind for weeks on end to buy a ship which even can fight them. This is ludicrous. Yes, in practically all games where you need equipment you have to buy it somehow in the game, this is normal. But taking on the nasty grind, buying a ship and equipping it and then risk it for nearly no reward is a bit much. I understand, that this is for players who asked for harder and cooler enemies. Good for them! They will do the grind just to get the 'privilege' to fight them. But there is a massive rift between the game worlds internal logic and the meta game knowledge. A Game Master should not allow this. In the games logic all super powers should be mightily concerned, they should fight too, and support CMDRs who help. Not let them do the grind for a privilege. And helping in other ways - which I actually thought about - is not possible as long as you are fined for loitering in a burning station, where you risk your ship and your life to save people - and cannot do it because of a ludicrous 200 Cr fine for loitering after being shifted by an explosion. This is just too much, it is just silly. Won't do it. Ever.
4) Bounty hunting and other mercenary work - if you like it, this is fine. It also often does not work well, and nearly dead NPCs returning fully healed in seconds after fleeing are no big incentive to do it. Also immortal pirate lords who resurrect themselves every time after being killed so that you never can hand in the mission are not very inviting play.
Trading seems to work fine, it is a bit static because nothing much changes, but there are much worse games, so why not?
The engineers idea was not a highlight of FDevs ideas, and the connected grind is logically bad. The same thing, including limiting the amount of mods you can do in a time period could have been implemented so much better and more fitting to the ED world and with grind which at least makes sense. When I visited Elvira Martuuk (the only engineer I have at this time) I saw her station sits on a artificial mountain of Soontil Relics - she must have 1000s of tons of the crap... :cool:
The Guardians in itself are a nice side story and a part of the world, but the connected grind for the modules is less nice. Rest - see above.

So what I do, is mostly exploring, but also get to know a bit of the world in the local bubble, doing favors for factions and so on. I may even find the motivation and time to look at Shinrarta Dezhra, and the Founders World since I got the permit lately. I know I cannot compete with most of the long time players who had years to complete the engineering/Guardian grind, so I will continue to play solo and I am actually quite happy with this, setting my own objectives.
 

Axt0n

A
kilvenny said:
home is where I hang my hat, it could be anywhere in the galaxy.
Click to expand...

This part is full of feelings and thoughts, especially for me that I'm moved in a different nation for working reason!
I really appreciate your words, maybe is just a state of mind I have regarding this game. I just need to take it as it is, a space sim game and nothing more!

I want to take the advantage of this topic to ask something regarding BGS and Bounty hunting.

There is a website or a method to track down all the systems affected by the BGS? I mean systems that are near the state change.
Or even a strategy to full involve in this aspect of game.

For Bounty Hunting instead, there is a way to find a good planet/system where I can release my Bounty willing? Does it depends from the BGS or is a separate thing?

Thanks
 

Ca$hback

Ca$hback
The meaning of this game is to fill in the gaps with suspension of disbelief and immerse yourself in the idea that you're an astronaut. Or you pretend the whole thing is VR, and fly through 100 gold rings for an extra rebuy.
This game is cognitive dissonance incarnate so you have to pick a side and pretend the other side isn't mutually exclusive to any "point". Pretend really hard!
 

DNA-Decay

DNA-Decay
Join a Group.

Canonn have a huge amount of work to do. Fuel Rats will make you feel part of something living.

BGS for one of the groups that is aligned with a purpose. AEDC push the Alliance; CI push Communism; There was a Black Flag coalition pushing Anarchies; Limoncello Lizerd has a BGS team that go around liberating Rare Goods that are locked behind BGS problems.

Jeeze even the PowerPlay core groups have meaning and purpose.
 

Tarman

Tarman
At it's core, Elite is "pretend spaceman till you dowanna anymoar". That's it. Everything else is iterative detail on top of that concept.

Once pretending to be a spaceman in the future isn't fun it's time to either shelve it till it is fun again, or if you've hit terminal burnout, find a new fun in other games or pastimes.
 

Dutchman141

Dutchman141
At the OP.

If you've lost the reason to play this game then maybe it's time to take a break.
I take regular time outs purely because of fatique.
I play games for fun and fun only, if that aspect decreases then I stop playing that game.
ED is a game that always manages to draw me back in though.
The moment I start to wonder why I play ED however is the moment I need to take another pause.

Have fun, that's the only thing that matters and that's where games are for.
 

Jaggedmallard

Jaggedmallard
Attack Chimp said:
I was pretty much in the same headspace as you are now, and after a few days of thought I decided to move to Colonia and find or build a 'security group' or 'defense initiative' designed to protect Colonia from galactic sprawl.

In short, I expect the Bubble to collapse, so after I'm done moving most of my ships I'll be haunting the turnpike and hunting refugees (hopefully in wings). I expect to take regular trips into the Bubble to proactively mitigate the risk of potential future refugees.

Find motivation in your frustration, build an idea based on that frustration, and cut loose.
Click to expand...
Thats an attitude to migration that would make the most isolationist politician blush! But I'm glad you've found a way to enjoy the game, I suppose by devoting myself to station repairs we've indirectly got the same goal!
 

Jaggedmallard

Jaggedmallard
DNA-Decay said:
Join a Group.

Canonn have a huge amount of work to do. Fuel Rats will make you feel part of something living.

BGS for one of the groups that is aligned with a purpose. AEDC push the Alliance; CI push Communism; There was a Black Flag coalition pushing Anarchies; Limoncello Lizerd has a BGS team that go around liberating Rare Goods that are locked behind BGS problems.

Jeeze even the PowerPlay core groups have meaning and purpose.
Click to expand...
Powerplay groups are a great example, they have a super defined and provisioned for purpose.
 

Darkfyre99

Darkfyre99
Like all Open World sandbox games, it’s up to you to find meaning in this game. That is both it’s greatest strength, and it’s greatest weakness. If you are the kind of player who enjoys creating her own narrative, this game provides a marvelous canvas upon which to paint that narrative. If, on the other hand, you are the type of player who experience someone else’s narrative, you’ll eventually find yourself adrift in a sea of endless possibilities, without a compass or map to guide you.

For myself, I’m a role player at heart, and games like Elite allow me to bring characters to life in ways narrative driven games cannot. Before this game had entered Alpha, I had created a background for Cmdr Stevenson, one that allowed me to understand what motivates her. From selling herself into slavery for the funds to join the Pilots’ Federation, Human Space’s largest legal criminal organization and its third largest Superpower (Sorry Alliance), to an incident that cemented her opinion about the Evil Galactic Federation, from her early days apprenticed to an old prospector before the invention of the FSD, to developing a love of illegal racing, the nature of this game allows to immerse myself into her life.

But mostly, I enjoy flying space ships fast, in a wide variety of environments. :D

The fact I have VR helps with both things immensely.
 

Capt-Reddog

C
Having only put in a couple hundred hours I'm still in awe of all the new stuff I keep finding. I set myself a goal for the evening, slam on the vive and completely lose myself in this world, often glancing up at the ship clock with a gasp at the time. Also having good ole natter with my 4 voicepack crew helps pass the time. Reading this back sounds a bit sad for a grown man to pass his time but hey it works for me
 

Tarman

Tarman
Capt-Reddog said:
Having only put in a couple hundred hours I'm still in awe of all the new stuff I keep finding. I set myself a goal for the evening, slam on the vive and completely lose myself in this world, often glancing up at the ship clock with a gasp at the time. Also having good ole natter with my 4 voicepack crew helps pass the time. Reading this back sounds a bit sad for a grown man to pass his time but hey it works for me
Click to expand...
Everybody's pastimes sound completely stupid to at least one other person. :D I don't even like to play golf, let alone sit there and watch it, but 50 years of televised golf shows that many people have different opinions.
 

ZAKALWEINC8876

ZAKALWEINC8876
I play Elite because, despite a lot of faults, it is in fact, really, really good fun.

Someone was boost ramming me with a corvette outside of Jamesons the other day, inside the no fire zone, i was in a DBX. I was incredulous initially, then danced around having a whale of a time, sitting possum, sending coms, dodging.
Tbh they did reply eventually. Fun fun fun, if he had managed to smite me asunder, fun fun fun. 😃

o7
 
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