Why I and many others will rarely play open

[Mr Swainey]

I play open mostly
Hardly see a soul unless I go to what I know is going to be a gank hotspot (which are obvious)

 

[stormyuk]

My main reason to switch from Open (and I try to play in Open as much as possible because I prefer it) is when I can take the instancing lag no more on PS5. The game in a busy station or area often becomes a slideshow. Really not a great experience.

 

[Greasetrap42]

To avoid "I was innocently carrying 750 tonnes of painite in my paper Type-9, when some griefer blew me up" threads.

It's much more fun to escape from a ganker/pirate than to avoid encountering anyone altogether.

Okay, I'm still laughing. And I do enjoy the "pay attention" aspect of open.

Y'know you've given me the bug. Unfortunately I'm currently on the other side of the galaxy. When I get back, no more running. I got nothing to lose. I'm curious how good the typical gankers are. (Am I in for a world of pain and credit loss?). Its gonna take me a couple weeks travel. I might just get another account.

 

[TheChosen]

The reason why people are afraid of open is that they fail to make an objective decision... Let's say you get killed and 'lose it all'. What exactly are you losing? Say you lose a fully loaded Cutter with a reactive hull + prismatics (you have to be really lame to lose such a ship to a ganker btw).. That's about 60-70Mil rebuy + the goods. What is 70 Mil in this game today? Nothing... I get that in 3 trade loops with the Cutter = 30 minutes of gameplay.. which I was going to play anyway.

 

[[VR] scipio_77]

I like how the two main types of answers "So I can get some risk in my game" and "there is actually no risk in open", and apparently these people agree.

Play however you like OP, it's a game and meant to be enjoyed.

 

[Robert Maynard]

The reason why people are afraid of open is that they fail to make an objective decision...

I doubt that players are "afraid" of playing in Open - as it's a part of a video game played in the comfort and safety of ones preferred gaming environment, with an immortal space pixie as an avatar and an unlimited supply of free ships....

The decision not to play in Open may simply be the result of a lack of inclination to play the ganker mini-game or change ones play-style to accommodate them.

Let's say you get killed and 'lose it all'. What exactly are you losing?

Time spent accruing the asset in the first place.

 

[ethelred]

I'm Open only, from the start all those years ago.

I've died lots of times in asymmetric combat - through carelessness, through showing off, through hubris, but everytime I have learned something.

It's a silly reductionist phrase, but I essentially got good.

My fleet is small and my credit balance is low. I've hardly any engineering.

Long range rails at Deciat is a real pain in the er, tuckus, but to me my fun is found in beating the odds in my limited resources.

Choose the mode that suits you best - the worst is some CMDRs saying Open is a hellpit (it isn't) or Open is The One True Mode (it isn't)

Good hunting.

 

[Slange Lands]

Okay, I'm still laughing. And I do enjoy the "pay attention" aspect of open.

Y'know you've given me the bug. Unfortunately I'm currently on the other side of the galaxy. When I get back, no more running. I got nothing to lose. I'm curious how good the typical gankers are. (Am I in for a world of pain and credit loss?). Its gonna take me a couple weeks travel. I might just get another account.

The great majority of ganking is done by independent random pvpers. A lot of the most highly skilled pvpers very rarely gank, let alone seal club, because they have stopped playing the game altogether due to bugs and sheer boredom.

The top tier are most likely to login during PvP League tournaments, which occur once or twice a year.

If a PvPer only ganks, with a few exceptions, they wont learn enough technique to be considered top tier. Ganking is for the most part open space flying. Most serious PvPers fly FA off. What is especially challenging about FA off is controlled deceleration combined with almost a permaboost. So serious PvPers throw themselves into dense asteroid fields and practice fa off deceleration because the rocks will rudely remind you of your errors. Open space flying only results in a lot of inefficiency and sloppy flying.

o7

 

[TheChosen]

I doubt that players are "afraid" of playing in Open - as it's a part of a video game played in the comfort and safety of ones preferred gaming environment, with an immortal space pixie as an avatar and an unlimited supply of free ships....

The decision not to play in Open may simply be the result of a lack of inclination to play the ganker mini-game or change ones play-style to accommodate them.

Time spent accruing the asset in the first place.

I disagree for one reason.. 95% of the CMDRs you will meet in open are not gankers.. so is it really objective to avoid 95% of the good people because one doesn't want to deal with the 5% bad in any way?

When all is said and done the positives of open far outweigh the negatives (gankers one meets very rarely)

 

[Robert Maynard]

I disagree for one reason.. 95% of the CMDRs you will meet in open are not gankers.. so is it really objective to avoid 95% of the good people because one doesn't want to deal with the 5% bad in any way?

When all is said and done the positives of open far outweigh the negatives (gankers one meets very rarely)

I suppose it depends on how much one needs other players around to enjoy the game, how low ones tolerance is for playing among those who don't care how their gameplay affects other players, and how much accommodating the latter would change the game for each player making the decision.

Not every player plays the game for combat, whether participating or avoiding, after all - and a ship more than capable of avoiding the unwanted attentions of NPCs, which only ever attempt to interdict once if the interdiction is won, likely isn't up to the task of avoiding players, necessitating build compromises if one wishes to play among them, i.e. making ones ship sub-optimal for its intended role.

For some the positives certainly outweigh the negatives - the same cannot be said of all players.

 

[Dartay]

To avoid "I was innocently carrying 750 tonnes of painite in my paper Type-9, when some griefer blew me up" threads.

It's much more fun to escape from a ganker/pirate than to avoid encountering anyone altogether.

Show them that the ganker racked up a big bounty for the kill, and how their name is now being broadcast to bounty hunter PvPers, then notify them of the outcome of the hunt (if any, could be "was zerged and sent to prison less 1 engineered module" , "ganker murdered them all and is now the most feared pilot in the universe" or just "went into hiding") – and give them the facility perhaps to eventually hunt the ganker down and take revenge – and 90% of those threads wouldn't even be created.

The reason why people are afraid of open is that they fail to make an objective decision... Let's say you get killed and 'lose it all'. What exactly are you losing? Say you lose a fully loaded Cutter with a reactive hull + prismatics (you have to be really lame to lose such a ship to a ganker btw).. That's about 60-70Mil rebuy + the goods. What is 70 Mil in this game today? Nothing... I get that in 3 trade loops with the Cutter = 30 minutes of gameplay.. which I was going to play anyway.

It's the feeling of injustice that people get left with. They're frustrated. I seriously believe that's all, and there should be easy ways to fix that. E.g. the above.

I like how the two main types of answers "So I can get some risk in my game" and "there is actually no risk in open", and apparently these people agree.

Play however you like OP, it's a game and meant to be enjoyed.

What you describe here is the exact point, though. These issues exist simultaneously and exacerbate each other. That's why you will see me agreeing with frustrated PvErs and new players in particular – even though we approach the same issue from different directions.

Not everything has to be a fight or disagreement either. That shouldn't be the point of a discussion. IMO you should see discussion/debate as an opportunity to come closer to one another, or, as in the current case, a solution to an issue that is acceptable to all parties involved.

 

[Greasetrap42]

The great majority of ganking is done by independent random pvpers

Thats why I'm curious how good typical gankers are. Are they generally kids that play for a few months before they move on to another game, flying half-baked ships and no FA-Off experience? Should I be running away, or giving them full attack? Guides say run away. I would get slaughtered in a real PvP fight. Is this a real PvP fight, or is this typically snot-nosed brats that need a good whallup?

I'm talking about those that attack mining ships at res sites, or noobs coming in to Deciat to get their first FSD engineered. Gankers obviously not looking for an actual PvP fight. Who are these guys?

I'm coming back to the bubble...

 

[Amanojaku]

I play open mostly
Hardly see a soul unless I go to what I know is going to be a gank hotspot (which are obvious)

This is sadly true.

Sometimes when I'm playing and haven't seen any other CMDRs for a while, I check to see if I'm actually playing in Open. lol

I rarely see anyone outside of capital systems, Deciat, Shinrarta and CGs. Seeing a CMDR in any other system is like seeing an attractive person at Walmart.

 

[SixthVG]

I play solo when I'm exploring or mining.

I hop into the open when I'm doing BGS/PP and combat!

 

[DemiserofD]

I don't think"fear" is the right way to put it. If I choose not to drive to the museum, because I know there will be bad traffic on the way there, am I "afraid" of bad traffic? Or am I just rationally avoiding a known source of frustration?

The fact of the matter is, for most people, meeting random individuals is of dubious benefit already. For me, personally, it's a net neutral at best. Add in the actively negative players, and what was the museum becomes just bad traffic.

A big part of this is because the game has virtually nothing in the way of Cooperative tools. 99% of players I have seen are doing something completely different from me, and our only interaction is, at most, a passing 07. Gameplay mechanics like power-play should be there to fill this Gap, but in practice, all of them require external tools, like Discord, which I have little to no interest in, either. If I'm not willing to take the time to Wing up with someone in game, I'm certainly not going to go join a Discord server just do the same thing.

Give me the tools I need to actually play cooperatively with random players with minimal effort, and I might become somewhat interested. But as things currently stand, open has very little potential benefit for me.

 

[Chaparral]

1) System chat is now across modes so you can have social interaction without ganking harassment.
2) BLOCK can be use pre-emptively to clear out anyone that might in the slightest bit represent a threat if you choose to.

 

[Slange Lands]

Thats why I'm curious how good typical gankers are. Are they generally kids that play for a few months before they move on to another game, flying half-baked ships and no FA-Off experience? Should I be running away, or giving them full attack? Guides say run away. I would get slaughtered in a real PvP fight. Is this a real PvP fight, or is this typically snot-nosed brats that need a good whallup?

I'm talking about those that attack mining ships at res sites, or noobs coming in to Deciat to get their first FSD engineered. Gankers obviously not looking for an actual PvP fight. Who are these guys?

I'm coming back to the bubble...

I don't know exactly. I do mostly organized PvP and not organic.

There are such a variety of PvPers that it really is impossible to generalize. The PvPers who are most likely to gank "easy prey"are those who actually want to buff their kill:death ratios. A great many will be fa off fliers. Absolutely all will be fully engineered. Many gankers use ganking as a means to try out new builds.

PvPers are generally much younger than most here on this forum, although there are exceptions. I am female and 56. There are a maybe a dozen or so female gankers and/or PvPers? PvP is not for the faint of heart and has a very high skill ceiling.

I find being a "snot nosed brat" to be at times very entertaining and fun. And no, I am lawful and do not gank. I very much love my ganker friends despite their sometimes puerile behavior.



[Edit] There is a side to PvP that many here on these forums might not ever know about, and that is combat theorycrafting. Its quite the obsession for us.]

 

[Daniel Klimchuk]

Show them that the ganker racked up a big bounty for the kill, and how their name is now being broadcast to bounty hunter PvPers, then notify them of the outcome of the hunt (if any, could be "was zerged and sent to prison less 1 engineered module" , "ganker murdered them all and is now the most feared pilot in the universe" or just "went into hiding") – and give them the facility perhaps to eventually hunt the ganker down and take revenge – and 90% of those threads wouldn't even be created.

Definitely some good ideas there. I don't think that punishing gankers/criminals is a good approach, but giving others the ability to hunt them down and tipping off other players of their location could result in some interesting gameplay for all sides.

 

[Greasetrap42]

I really appreciate the information shared in this thread. I rate this one of the best threads I have ever read on this forum.

 

[Dartay]

Definitely some good ideas there. I don't think that punishing gankers/criminals is a good approach, but giving others the ability to hunt them down and tipping off other players of their location could result in some interesting gameplay for all sides.

Though it should obv work via graduated scale and the worst consequences should be reserved for seal-clubbers etc, actual risks and consequences would be essential for me to make things engaging from the PvP perspective as well.

Make me infamous! Broadcast my name! Increase the rewards! Have tons of commanders chase me for a chance at one of my modules, or just to give me just desserts. I'd love it.