Appreciation of what we have

[jonluv]

Just checked my feed after reading this thread, and achievement is unlocked

Agree completely tho with op, that (as I've said before) this is still the best game ever made.
Imo
Well played Dave o7

Agreed—- was playing last night and had a great time —-I suppose to some people I have no reason to play—- got it all- money, ships etc but still get a buzz from the unexpected—— love the game and well done to FD for keeping it alive

 

[fishgotnosole]

Wow.

I had to grind my teeth & drink lots of coffee to make it thorough the OP.

But I like the feel of the point(s) being made. Most here are a rum bunch Voodoosonny, and can only cope with groups of short paragraphs.

I share the sentiment that FD take a lot of flak from some users who don't seem to appreciate what a vast, deep and complex thing ED actually is. The effort, real world coin cost and a twist of appreciation it takes to keep it running smoothly for us as end users.

Therefore, hitherto and whatnot +1 rep given to the OP.

(Someone give MoleHD a badge please or he'll start sulking again. Best make it a shiny one.)

 

[L0CI]

"Appreciation of what we have" is a concept quite alien to some. The great options menu of life was visited once only to access easy mode, everything is wanted (or, deserved) and it's wanted yesterday.

 

[Rob At Work]

What is this "Appreciation" of which ye speak, is that like a like on fb or summut?

 

[Fray]

I had to search for what 'D2EA' even was. I assume it's his Hello Dave #39 upload?

If so; sure, he may've been harsh - perhaps even inaccurate with certain details - but I don't feel he represents some doombringer potentially threatening Elite's future. He seemed to have a reasonable grievance. He also provided reasonable feedback in terms of how FDev might better go about resolving the issue with player faction backlogs.

Because the internet's a truly double-edged sword, everything becomes exaggerated. How much do content creators reflect the mood of the general playerbase? A tiny proportion of people create content (on YT) for Elite, and around a handful of those make any real impact on the community in terms of awareness.

So one or two YT'ers getting emotive (whilst also possibly having legitimate grievances and providing some reasonable criticism) doesn't exactly constitute a change in the wind that could be an existential threat to Elite.

...personally, I do feel FDev deserve a lot of criticism. The game is a complete mess of legacy design issues, they're constantly correcting their own corrections, they seem committed to The Grind and actively scourning player's time (e.g. the Guardian site grinding, which immediately made me abandon the entire venture), and Horizons was arguably the last real addition of features and mechanics worth a damn.

Tinkering around the edges is simply not enough, and right now that's all they're doing. The game needs major feature and mechanics additions.

On top of that, FDev's work is - objectively - often lazy and shoddy with regards to their premium content; £8 ship kits with gaps (or assets covering thruster points or partially covering idents), palette swapped flightsuits, and nameplates/idents that overlap plating or even infringe upon hull warning indicators.

Frankly I've no sympathy for FDev if people start closing their wallets to their shoddily implemented microtransactions, regardless of the reasons. Elite is not free/fee-to-play, yet its business model looks disturbingly similar (I'd rather have expansion/season releases, and do away with overpriced, often poorly crafted microtransactions).

...I will probably keep paying through the nose, because I am a gullible moron (customisation in games is always a major draw for me, and there is no choice in Elite; you either pay for customisation - or you don't get any).

In many ways I now think Elite is a rather badly designed game (that exploration has been so neglected is truly pitiful), with a highly questionable approach to monetization. However, it has absolutely no competition on Xbox, and no other game on any platform provides an entire galaxy as a playground (no, NMS's multiple - ultimately ephemeral - grindfests do not count... ). It has a lot of good, a lot of bad, and is still unique.

Some may see people being overcritical, and no doubt there are some who just want to give Elite and FDev a kicking. But there is also a culture of defend-at-all-costs - and both are unproductive. People shouldn't let their emotive love for the game cloud their critical faculties. It doesn't help the community, or FDev.

 

[verminstar]

Those dirty bar stewards told me this game had choc chip cookies...whereare my cookies?

In all honesty and some rare sanity, I love this game...hard to describe to the rest of ye noobs why I love the game, but love it I do...and after two years I still play every single day...and in open which is a bonus.

I can be salty and sarcastic with the best, or worst of them depending on yer point of view and I sure as hell aint a white knight, fanboi or apologist...I give frontier a hard time now and then, been banned multiple times as a result, the last time was almost a perma ban and lasted 3 months...and yet Im still here.

That sorta says all it needs to say, dont ye think? Im a passionate player...passion can be a double edged blade and it cuts both ways...not all games inspire that level of passion so even when its bad, its good. But the forums take the brunt of it when its bad...its stress relief dont read too much into it.

Cool op btw...might wanna break t up a bit though, walls of text give one a headache getting through them, but good points all the same ^

 

[madbruiser]

i thought the video was accurate, valid and to the point. sorry not everyone wants to shower FD with praise at every corner. i guess many people jus got tired of FDs "soon" answers.
and jus for the record, many of us have tough difficult jobs, either get it done or customers will find someone who does. welcome to the real world, were happy to have you.

 

[Docjas18]

Rep to OP. It echoes my thoughts exactly. People are too anxious to get their opinions heard like they matter to the developer. And FD does listen to feedback quite good. But back in the older days a game was released and you got what you got and that was it. Sometimes I think we need that again. Of course that has drawbacks as well.

 

[zzUrbanSpaceman]

I had to search for what 'D2EA' even was. I assume it's his Hello Dave #39 upload?

If so; sure, he may've been harsh - perhaps even inaccurate with certain details - but I don't feel he represents some doombringer potentially threatening Elite's future. He seemed to have a reasonable grievance. He also provided reasonable feedback in terms of how FDev might better go about resolving the issue with player faction backlogs.

Because the internet's a truly double-edged sword, everything becomes exaggerated. How much do content creators reflect the mood of the general playerbase? A tiny proportion of people create content (on YT) for Elite, and around a handful of those make any real impact on the community in terms of awareness.

So one or two YT'ers getting emotive (whilst also possibly having legitimate grievances and providing some reasonable criticism) doesn't exactly constitute a change in the wind that could be an existential threat to Elite.

...personally, I do feel FDev deserve a lot of criticism. The game is a complete mess of legacy design issues, they're constantly correcting their own corrections, they seem committed to The Grind and actively scourning player's time (e.g. the Guardian site grinding, which immediately made me abandon the entire venture), and Horizons was arguably the last real addition of features and mechanics worth a damn.

Tinkering around the edges is simply not enough, and right now that's all they're doing. The game needs major feature and mechanics additions.

On top of that, FDev's work is - objectively - often lazy and shoddy with regards to their premium content; £8 ship kits with gaps (or assets covering thruster points or partially covering idents), palette swapped flightsuits, and nameplates/idents that overlap plating or even infringe upon hull warning indicators.

Frankly I've no sympathy for FDev if people start closing their wallets to their shoddily implemented microtransactions, regardless of the reasons. Elite is not free/fee-to-play, yet its business model looks disturbingly similar (I'd rather have expansion/season releases, and do away with overpriced, often poorly crafted microtransactions).

...I will probably keep paying through the nose, because I am a gullible moron (customisation in games is always a major draw for me, and there is no choice in Elite; you either pay for customisation - or you don't get any).

In many ways I now think Elite is a rather badly designed game (that exploration has been so neglected is truly pitiful), with a highly questionable approach to monetization. However, it has absolutely no competition on Xbox, and no other game on any platform provides an entire galaxy as a playground (no, NMS's multiple - ultimately ephemeral - grindfests do not count... ). It has a lot of good, a lot of bad, and is still unique.

Some may see people being overcritical, and no doubt there are some who just want to give Elite and FDev a kicking. But there is also a culture of defend-at-all-costs - and both are unproductive. People shouldn't let their emotive love for the game cloud their critical faculties. It doesn't help the community, or FDev.

Thanks for a well written and thought out critical response to FDEV's game. This is the kind of feedback I'd much rather see for Frontier - it's not caustic to the point that I stop reading after two sentences, and puts forward a valid viewpoint. Repped.

For what it's worth, I agree with the salient points that D2EA (and others) raised about player minor factions, although I was a little put off by accusations that Frontier "don't care about their community" which I know for a fact is simply not true. Frontier definitely have work to do there to recover community trust, but the issues with player minor factions is not something new, it's been around for as long as I'd even been considering a PMF of my own, and that was over a year ago. I eventually decided not to apply for one at all given the lead time and lack of feedback in the process.

 

[DrHarleyKitten]

Beautifully spoken! I love this game and all it has to offer on the console and I look forward to any and all new updates and will continue to enjoy what I currently have! It brings me great joy to fly through the space that, in the real world, I can only see through my telescope. Thank you Frontier for giving us this beautifully crafted and enormous opportunity for adventure and thank you VoodooSonny and others like you who are trying to keep it alive!
o7 Commanders!

 

[BulletTrev]

''You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to zzUrbanSpaceman again.'' And a jolly good repping all round I say what! What!

Ps @ OP please please take the time ta edit ya first post and put some paragraphs in there, I bet if you did you would get more people reading it all the way through '. Went and made my self a coffee half way . [noob]

 

[Kyra Mystique]

Edits made, paragraphs loading now. Thank you for the suggestion, as made by others, I simply had the time to get to it today. Thank you all for a great round of responses, as I've not posted on a public forum in a very, very long time. This has been such a positive experience, much like gaming with you all has been. See you in the black, Commanders. Fly safe.
Cheers
VoodooSonny

 

[Z4VOS 9000]

I also love ED, playing on XBox since the start. Mostly like exploration, mystery deciphering, xeno investigations, and xeno combat. So far played 86 days according to XBOX. While there are flaws and frustrations (what phase in life is ever perfect?), ED helps me relax much like my other hobby, amateur astronomy. I played many other space sims (X-wing vs Tie Fighter series, I-War series, FreeSpace2, DarkStar One, some Star Trek games), yes there are some features FDev can learn from past games to make ED better, but overall as a package, ED is the best space sim I played in my opinion.
-AE67

 

[Whatnow]

Nice post OP. Good to see theres positivity out there.. And on these forums.

 

[Ambushlizard30]

I think the game is great! A little frustrating at the start as a newbie but after a few months of playing I was hooked and really enjoy it and the possibility to the game is endless which I love.. plus it makes my wife happy because now I have a reason to clean the house for her between long haul vip missions!! good job FD!!

 

[Thorberg Shavestroke]

Oh, our first world problems, our computer game isn't just as we like it! We are spoiled beyond imagination. The last few generations are the first in the history of humanity to have more leisure time than work/school time. Everyone that lived before us was lucky to have any leisure time at all. What would our ancestors think of us?

The people making negative comments about this game obviously didn't play the original Elite in 1984. They never had to beg their parents to take over the family's sole tv, a black and white cabinet monstrosity, to hook up pong for a few hours. They never stayed after school to play hangman on the Apple II, on a green and black monitor. Games back then required imagination, and were only occasionally played, which is what made them so fun.

The OP is right, Elite Dangerous is an incredible game.

 

[Draxomulus]

Greetings Commanders. I just watched the latest D2EA youtube video, and The Yamiks latest, as well as ObsidianAnts. (All are great for different reasons, I recommend checking them out! 18+ for language and chatter content) I am part of a group of three, we call ourselves Deltamob, and fly in the squadron Snow Crash on Xbox, and ONLY on Xbox - as that's where we game. We're female gamers and want to voice concern in the Elite world. I am beginning to feel a shift from appreciative and entertained in the what I suspect is the PC community, to one of turmoil, chaos, disdain for the creators, developers, and engineers of the game, unappreciative views on content, lack of understanding of the real-world (IE game developing is a BUSINIESS!), and overall apathy for the fact that these HUMAN BEINGS are creating an artificial cyberspace for us to enjoy and lose ourselves in.

Remember, fellow console gamers, when compartmentalization was a thing? Say, gaming was done on a N64 (or the like), school work, work reports, email and chat were done on a PC, and mobile phones were used as phones, not all-in-one devices. We still had appreciation for things like Vice City (GTA) having licensed music and funny radio stations, god mod cheats, and fun gameplay. GoldenEye was a masterpiece in understatement, graphically sub-par to say Syphon Filter or MGS, but FUN. Where did the lack of appreciation of game development come from...? Elite: Dangerous was a kickstarter project, so we're lucky to even have this game honestly. No, it's not an MMO in the Everquest sense, but then it isn't supposed to be. It's the Galaxy, with over 400 billion P.O.I., it SHOULD be rare we run into one another as gamers. It's a game of exploration, or combat to promote your support within your pledged allegiance. Saving the bubble from the Thargoid Incursions. Piracy. Discovering new and uncharted territories. The introduction of Wings and Squadrons, the immersion behind using an Elite controller or H.O.T.A.S. on a CONSOLE is just another reason this game is beyond its creation.

This being a multiplayer game, it's fun to interact with clubs via Xbox Clubs, over the in-game chat, or in parties. It's very much a solo game but played on MMO-style servers to give more depth to the game. I for one would RATHER see CMDR in front of any ship I see in the black versus always seeing bots. This is the way I would have ALWAYS loved to have played games. While not everyone is social, the fact remains that humans at their very nature are social creatures, and seeing other flesh and bone pilots in the black give us all a sense of one-ness in the solitude of an otherwise lifeless void. The Galaxy should NOT be more populated, we're lucky to the bubble is SO populated!

I digress.

So in summation, fellow Xbox players, or anyone really who reads this post, I urge, don't give into what others say and/or do. Humans aren't cattle, we're not sheep. When I see videos like D2EA, who is usually calm and collected, about his losing his composure and sensibilities, it makes me sad. Public figures, don't do that. I get the funny rants of The Yamiks, even the playful (yet explicit) banter and taunts to FDev, but there's always respect, and never requesting others to stop their support of something financially that could cause a crash. While warranted his upset feelings are, his sharing of them in a negative way - as a public figure - and asking for others to help boycott is not, and is irresponsible. I understand that the suggestion and feedback forums are a wonderful tool, but I assume anyone playing is an adult (or young adult with sensibilities) and understands the business world.

Remember the old games I was talking about? Did they EVER as for our input? NO. Why? Because they're the dreamers of the dream, and they're the story-tellers. We just interacted with their dreams and stories - AND THEY WERE AMAZING. Elite: Dangerous is a GAME. Interactive software developed by hard-working engineers and writers that struggle to keep up with the unappreciative masses. I for one am happy the populace of the bubble is not more. I am glad we have what we have. I am glad we get neat updates and they're NOT catered to the apathetic masses that just want more and more and more. I appreciate my "grind" to rank up, to level my character. This is what the dreamers of the dream wove their tales; it's how the story was meant to be told...NOT to go do mission after boring mission over and over and over mindlessly just to afford something. It's a goal, the goal isn't the entertainment value - IT'S ABOUT THE JOURNEY. The journey is the entertainment value.

So journey forth, fellow Commanders. Please continue to play this beautifully immersive cyberspace, this masterpiece of understatement, this diamond among many large-funded games within the gaming community. Do try to always remember where we came from: Watch gameplay, or go download the game, of Elite from 1984. Watch the progression from it to the next iterations for the series and see how far they've gone, and dream of a future of more Elite. More support from us means possibly more capital for them to create more and more for our little corner of the galaxy. Dream big, young Commanders! If you love this game and want more? Further your education and learn how to develop games. How to code. How the business world works. Knowledge is the basis to understanding, and understanding is the key to co-existing peacefully. And even in peace, we can stage fun battles and high five at the end, CQC is meant for just that.

Dream big with the developers, follow their stories on GalNet. Appreciate hat we've got, what we're given, and always understand that our suggestions and comments are but a drop of water in an endless ocean of other suggestions and comments. These people do what they can, as they can, and have given us, on CONSOLE, what we've only ever dreamed of, and done it WELL. Could there be improvements? Sure! Report those bugs! Submit error tickets on Xbox support and here on the forums, but keep in mind the more we litter those forums with trash, the more FDev has to sift through to find the REAL issues plaguing us all as a community. Let's stand unified as gamers, and realize, it's just entertainment, it's just an outlet for creative freedom, and through it we can live a space life we'd otherwise never have gotten to experience.

Cheers all, be well, smile and be happy. Enjoy life, step outside and breathe in the air - don't be afraid to care. (Pink Floyd)
Stay safe out there, Commanders, and I'll see you in the black! o7

Commander VoodooSonny


[url]https://inara.cz/data/sigs/104/104331.png[/URL]

Love the post. I've always said game developers were underappreciated by the players. Oddly enough, I saw you a few days ago. I was doing a lot of system jumping, so I'm not sure where it was. Nice to see another Xbox player in the forums after seeing you in the game. Maybe I'll see you around sometime again.

 

[Lave1990]

I'm really not sure what all this is about, so I'll just leave the following here...

Elite Dangerous. Best game ever, in my opinion!

FD, you guy's are great! Keep doing what you're doing! Those of us that 'get' Elite love it. Those that don't, moan!

We'll said!
I've been playing this game since the Beta came out on the Xbox1 and I still enjoy playing it. It's a truly superb game, yes it's not for everyone but so what, it's good enough for me and that'll do.

 

[TwoWheeledToad]

We'll said!
I've been playing this game since the Beta came out on the Xbox1 and I still enjoy playing it. It's a truly superb game, yes it's not for everyone but so what, it's good enough for me and that'll do.

Agreed! Also a GPP player. Got/had every ship, tried a bit of everything and become a triple elite multi-billionaire. Doesn't change a thing. I still play almost everyday and love this game more than any other. There really is nothing like it!

 

[Fray]

Oh, our first world problems, our computer game isn't just as we like it! We are spoiled beyond imagination. / What would our ancestors think of us?

If they were smart: everything is relative... You're posting on a forum dedicated to a videogame - positive or negative you're thus taking it pretty seriously. Relatively speaking.

The people making negative comments about this game obviously didn't play the original Elite in 1984.

That is a truly baffling statement...

Newflash: it's the space-year 2018, and the game we're playing is Elite Dangerous. Past entries - and past experiences - are irrelevant to critique of an iteratively developing IP. If we were actually questioning the design foibles and quirks of '84's Elite, then sure, historic perspectives FTW.

I grew up with tape-fed games, btw, so you can't play the bizarre cultural gatekeeper card of 'you're not old enough to have an opinion', which is what that sentence seems to suggest.

The way I look at it, anyone - regardless of age or experience - who bought Elite Dangerous has a right to expressive "negative comments" about the product they paid into.

The OP is right, Elite Dangerous is an incredible game.

I'm currently about 2,500Ly down from the galactic plane, with the view outside the cockpit split starkly between the expansive galaxy - with its comparatively blindingly bright core - and the all engulfing void of intergalactic space. It's quite the sight, and no other game could offer this experience.

(as I type this my character's sitting in a rover on a small metal-rich world, watching a very close neutron star passing behind an also incredibly close M class - the cone jets appearing to be venting from it, not the NS)

But y'know what? Life, ergo art/entertainment, tends to be complicated and multifaceted. As singular and engaging as this experience is for me, the game I'm currently playing is also kinda terrible. Good, and bad. Meticulous, and lazy.

To see and acknowledge complexity, and tension, is to think critically - which is something, as I said previously in this thread, that benefits both the community and FDev themselves.

Oh, as for "imagination"? I RP, so I have plenty of that. But no amount of The Power Of Imagination can conjure exploration mechanics worth a damn...