So there's a thread about someone "not getting it" in terms of overall goals and objectives of Elite Dangerous. And another thread where a member of the forums watched a youtube video of someone who just went around attacking players and the forum member observed that the youtuber 'didn't get it'. A lot of attacks particularly on the forum member about him being so arrogant. It's a sandbox! It's an open world! You can play however you want!
And I tentatively agreed with that position, until I gave it some thought. Every game has rules. Whether it's tetris where you must put the blocks in the best possible place to get a full line or chess where particular moves are limited to particular pieces. Someone who comes to play chess and just moves his piece however he likes isn't "getting it". Someone who plays tetris and puts the blocks wherever he likes will quickly lose and obviously isn't "getting it".
Elite Dangerous is basically a roleplaying game. That is going to get me into a lot of trouble, people seem to assume roleplaying games are based on D&D type statistics and skills. But roleplaying at it's heart is you take a role and you have free choice in what you want to do with that role. Within the rules of the game. So if you're human you can't leap to the top of the tree without something that allow high jumping. Or within my D&D game there's a social set of rules my character has to follow or there'll be consequences. I can attack the King of Eliteville. But his guards will attack me and even if I succeed in killing him and the guards I'll probably have the rest of the people of Eliteville after me.
And that's the key thing here. Elite Dangerous has created a living galaxy and within human space there's a set of social rules that people are expected to follow. And that includes not randomly attacking everything in sight. People who do that, who break the social rules within the Elite Dangerous world. Or even try to live ignoring those rules will quickly find himself losing in the same way the tetris player who puts his blocks any which way does.
"Getting it" to me means realising to get the most of out Elite Dangerous you should realise that you the player are taking on the role of a pilot. You might not want to roleplay in the traditional sense, the pilot might just be yourself transported into the 3300s. But you should follow the rules of the society in which you now find yourself. The laws of the Federation, the Alliance or the Empire. Or hell, even the Independents. That's like me following the rules of the country in which I find myself. And because we now "get it" we should accept that whilst we might want to break those rules, we have to accept the consequences of doing so, slipping into our role of pirate, bounty hunter or even mass murderer. And that means finding ways round, within the rules of taking on our violent professions intelligently. Finding a world on the edge of Federation Space where I can go attack a nearby Imperial world's traffic. Or vice versa.
Our goals should be within that society, like now. My goal is to keep my business alive, my wife and son fed and trying not to go broke when summer hits and work starts. My goal in the game might be to risk everything on an exploration mission. Or try to get the best ship in the game. Or my ship the best example of its class. Or increasing my standing with the Garry Pirate Clan. And when I accomplish those goals I make new ones.
Someone who comes to play Elite Dangerous can do whatever they want to do. But within the rules of the game and the societies. And accepting that breaking those rules might have consequences unless carried out cleverly which might mean that ultimately, you lose.
I think "getting it" involves a measure of roleplaying (even just tentatively accepting that the world is 'real' and you the player are in it). And immersing yourself in the Milky Way galaxy. And learning like life you have to set your own goals. And setting new ones when they're complete.
TLDR: Immersion is the key to "getting it".
And I tentatively agreed with that position, until I gave it some thought. Every game has rules. Whether it's tetris where you must put the blocks in the best possible place to get a full line or chess where particular moves are limited to particular pieces. Someone who comes to play chess and just moves his piece however he likes isn't "getting it". Someone who plays tetris and puts the blocks wherever he likes will quickly lose and obviously isn't "getting it".
Elite Dangerous is basically a roleplaying game. That is going to get me into a lot of trouble, people seem to assume roleplaying games are based on D&D type statistics and skills. But roleplaying at it's heart is you take a role and you have free choice in what you want to do with that role. Within the rules of the game. So if you're human you can't leap to the top of the tree without something that allow high jumping. Or within my D&D game there's a social set of rules my character has to follow or there'll be consequences. I can attack the King of Eliteville. But his guards will attack me and even if I succeed in killing him and the guards I'll probably have the rest of the people of Eliteville after me.
And that's the key thing here. Elite Dangerous has created a living galaxy and within human space there's a set of social rules that people are expected to follow. And that includes not randomly attacking everything in sight. People who do that, who break the social rules within the Elite Dangerous world. Or even try to live ignoring those rules will quickly find himself losing in the same way the tetris player who puts his blocks any which way does.
"Getting it" to me means realising to get the most of out Elite Dangerous you should realise that you the player are taking on the role of a pilot. You might not want to roleplay in the traditional sense, the pilot might just be yourself transported into the 3300s. But you should follow the rules of the society in which you now find yourself. The laws of the Federation, the Alliance or the Empire. Or hell, even the Independents. That's like me following the rules of the country in which I find myself. And because we now "get it" we should accept that whilst we might want to break those rules, we have to accept the consequences of doing so, slipping into our role of pirate, bounty hunter or even mass murderer. And that means finding ways round, within the rules of taking on our violent professions intelligently. Finding a world on the edge of Federation Space where I can go attack a nearby Imperial world's traffic. Or vice versa.
Our goals should be within that society, like now. My goal is to keep my business alive, my wife and son fed and trying not to go broke when summer hits and work starts. My goal in the game might be to risk everything on an exploration mission. Or try to get the best ship in the game. Or my ship the best example of its class. Or increasing my standing with the Garry Pirate Clan. And when I accomplish those goals I make new ones.
Someone who comes to play Elite Dangerous can do whatever they want to do. But within the rules of the game and the societies. And accepting that breaking those rules might have consequences unless carried out cleverly which might mean that ultimately, you lose.
I think "getting it" involves a measure of roleplaying (even just tentatively accepting that the world is 'real' and you the player are in it). And immersing yourself in the Milky Way galaxy. And learning like life you have to set your own goals. And setting new ones when they're complete.
TLDR: Immersion is the key to "getting it".
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