I've been encouraged to see that FDev has been hard at work altering the in-game economy to try to make different activities more appealing, unfortunately I have reason to believe this is little more than a bandaid for a much bigger problem that currently exists.
In social multiplayer games such as Elite you have 4 main types of players; Explorers, Achievers, Socialites, and Killers. This is based on Bartle's Taxonomy of Player Types. Each type has a dark side they revert to when their needs are not met.
EXPLORERS
Explorers play to interact with the game world.
Their intrinsic rewards are the Pleasure of Discovery & Secrets.
Current Score:
Dark Side: Hackers
At present, Elite has got this segment of the game population perfectly satisfied. There is the big overarching mystery of Raxxla, the mysterious Guardian ruins, the entire plot regarding the Thargoids, a massive 1:1 scale Galaxy to explore, and Planetary Exploration with SRVs and on foot*. Exploration does not need much work from a content perspective and Explorers are largely self-sustaining.
The biggest threat to Exploration right now is for things to become boring. The easiest way for that to occur is for there to be a lack of danger. Explorers may not care to play with others and view Open as a needless risk yet danger is necessary to keep things from becoming stale.
ACHIEVERS
Achievers play to leave their mark on the game world.
Their intrinsic reward is Mastery of Complex Game Mechanics. Though they can also be extrinsically rewarded with Achievements, Goals & Collectables.
Current Score:
Dark Side: Exploiters
Achievers are the group of players who are primarily interested in PvE activities. The current rebalance of credit income is entirely for PvE activities. This is a step in the right direction but is missing the point by only focusing on the credit-earning aspect.
Power Play is the primary reason an Achiever will play Elite. They want to shape the universe and influence the BGS. Thargoid Hunting, Combat Zones, Search & Rescue, Passenger Missions, these are all activities that are PvE oriented. But credits is only one way to measure success and achievement.
Consider if a player could level up within a given skill tree for their occupation and unlock unique cosmetics or more complicated missions. For example, lets say that a player decides they want to play as a Search and Rescue operative. For a start they could unlock a unique medbay module for their efforts that has a bonus to the number of escape pods it can carry compared to a standard cargo rack. If they level up further, they receive a unique decal for Search & Rescue. Meanwhile they are beginning to get more demanding rescue missions with more important people who need to be found, like Senators and Admirals. Once at max rank, the player would receive the unique universal Search & Rescue livery for their ships. In this case it is the progress through a faction that is rewarding more so than simply getting paid.
The truth is, just because there are a lot of things to interact with does not mean those things are done well. Right now there seems to be a lot of activities to do that don’t have much depth or purpose other than making a sub-par income. The credit rebalance is a nice way to start to address that issue but it's not going to make the universe feel more alive or worthwhile because it is a solely extrinsic form of motivation. It doesn't seek to address the more powerful intrinsic motivations of Achievers by giving them more in-depth gameplay to master.
SOCIALITES
Socialites play to interact with other players.
Their intrinsic reward is Building Relationships with Others.
Current Score:
Dark Side: Scammers
The primary ways in which Socialites engage with Elite is through Squadron and Wing play, Multicrew, Community Goals, and Fleet Carriers.
Multicrew and wings are a great addition to the game. Multicrew in particular is nice in that it allows friends who are thousands of lightyears apart to teleport to the same ship to cooperate on tasks. Unfortunately there isn’t much for these multi-crew members to do unless you have ship-launched fighters, spare SRVs, or turreted weapons. And everybody knows turreted weapon stats are terrible so you've got to be pretty intentional about building a ship for the purpose of multicrew gaming because otherwise it just isn't convenient.
In particular it is rather disappointing that activities such as mining are not practical with Multicrew. You would think that there would be a way for other CMDRs to help with mining by using autonomous mining robots launched from the ship. Or maybe figuring out a way for one CMDR to drive an SRV on a planet's surface an blast mineral deposits so the Helm can then launch limpet drones to pick up the materials from overhead. There's a lot of possibilities but unfortunately nothing is very fleshed out or flexible. Though I do have hope.
Community Goals so far have been the most reliable way to bring out the best in Socialites.
KILLERS
Killers play to leave their mark on other players.
Their intrinsic reward is Competition & Challenge.
Current Score:
Dark Side: Griefer
This is the category that is in desperate need of the most love and work. These are your players that are in the game for the PvP; to see how their skills stack up against someone else. The life and soul of these players is bumping shoulders with others to see where they measure up. And unfortunately, I believe a large reason there is such a griefer issue in Elite's Open mode is due to there being little-to-no outlet for these players to express themselves.
The primary game mode that caters to this player type is CQC. And it has been a wasteland that hasn't been touched in a long, long time. New fighters like the Taipan haven't been added to the Arena despite being perfect candidates. There is only one map. Loadouts are limited and the meta is blatantly obvious.
CQC needs a huge revamp. It needs more ships, more maps, more loadouts. Dead game modes like Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag need to be removed and replaced with things like Doubles Deathmatch, Canyon Racing, and SRV Planetary Racing. It needs exclusive reward drops and season passes. Titles and flair that can be shown off in the main game. Credit payouts that are reflective of a major league sport. Hell, broadcast match highlights on the big screens at major starports!
Killers want to fight others. Sometimes they want a more organic interaction than an arena. So you have Pirates and Bounty Hunters. Unfortunately you again run into two huge problems that are both largely due to broken systems. Pirating player characters is next to impossible. There is nothing preventing a victim from quitting the game mid-interdiction and leaving the pirate with no choice but to blow them up as fast as they can for any sort of reward. Combat logging is a cancer on PvP interaction. While nobody wants to be the CMDR on the business end of the gun barrel, if you are going to fly in Open you are accepting that risk. Ships should not be able to log out in the middle of space if a mass-lock factor is being applied to them. I'm sure there are better ways to determine if a ship is in the middle of an interaction but that is the best I have at the moment.
On the other side of the spectrum we have Player Bounty Hunting. Which is practically useless as you are only paid 2 Million credits for a PvP bounty kill regardless of the actual bounty value of the CMDR. I've seen it suggested elsewhere before but it really would go a long way if bounties for Players were paid out of the target's bank account minus a processing fee to avoid exploitation.
Power Play is another avenue that is supposed to allow PvP interaction to influence the universe. Unfortunately, because Power Play can be done both in Open and in Solo, lots of CMDRs choose the less risky avenue and it becomes a battle entirely behind the scenes, gutting any PvP aspect from the mode. It's a controversial idea, but limiting Power Play to Open mode would be a potential way to fix this.
Other:
My final thoughts on the matter is this. This is a game that is enjoyed by a multitude of players both hardcore and casual. Time is our most precious resource. Regardless of what you choose to do, please find a way to balance the amount of time activities demand. Activities should be able to be played for hours on end if so desired but should also be capable of achieving waypoints where rewards are dispensed according to performance as a sort of checkpoint. Not all of us are able to commit to living a second life in the BGS. Having smaller waypoint goals would go a long way to making us feel like we are still contributing.
Please feel free to add your own thoughts on what I have mentioned as well as ways you think the game could be further improved for Explorers, Achievers, Socialites, and Killers.
In social multiplayer games such as Elite you have 4 main types of players; Explorers, Achievers, Socialites, and Killers. This is based on Bartle's Taxonomy of Player Types. Each type has a dark side they revert to when their needs are not met.
EXPLORERS
Explorers play to interact with the game world.
Their intrinsic rewards are the Pleasure of Discovery & Secrets.
Current Score:
Dark Side: Hackers
At present, Elite has got this segment of the game population perfectly satisfied. There is the big overarching mystery of Raxxla, the mysterious Guardian ruins, the entire plot regarding the Thargoids, a massive 1:1 scale Galaxy to explore, and Planetary Exploration with SRVs and on foot*. Exploration does not need much work from a content perspective and Explorers are largely self-sustaining.
The biggest threat to Exploration right now is for things to become boring. The easiest way for that to occur is for there to be a lack of danger. Explorers may not care to play with others and view Open as a needless risk yet danger is necessary to keep things from becoming stale.
ACHIEVERS
Achievers play to leave their mark on the game world.
Their intrinsic reward is Mastery of Complex Game Mechanics. Though they can also be extrinsically rewarded with Achievements, Goals & Collectables.
Current Score:
Dark Side: Exploiters
Achievers are the group of players who are primarily interested in PvE activities. The current rebalance of credit income is entirely for PvE activities. This is a step in the right direction but is missing the point by only focusing on the credit-earning aspect.
Power Play is the primary reason an Achiever will play Elite. They want to shape the universe and influence the BGS. Thargoid Hunting, Combat Zones, Search & Rescue, Passenger Missions, these are all activities that are PvE oriented. But credits is only one way to measure success and achievement.
Consider if a player could level up within a given skill tree for their occupation and unlock unique cosmetics or more complicated missions. For example, lets say that a player decides they want to play as a Search and Rescue operative. For a start they could unlock a unique medbay module for their efforts that has a bonus to the number of escape pods it can carry compared to a standard cargo rack. If they level up further, they receive a unique decal for Search & Rescue. Meanwhile they are beginning to get more demanding rescue missions with more important people who need to be found, like Senators and Admirals. Once at max rank, the player would receive the unique universal Search & Rescue livery for their ships. In this case it is the progress through a faction that is rewarding more so than simply getting paid.
The truth is, just because there are a lot of things to interact with does not mean those things are done well. Right now there seems to be a lot of activities to do that don’t have much depth or purpose other than making a sub-par income. The credit rebalance is a nice way to start to address that issue but it's not going to make the universe feel more alive or worthwhile because it is a solely extrinsic form of motivation. It doesn't seek to address the more powerful intrinsic motivations of Achievers by giving them more in-depth gameplay to master.
SOCIALITES
Socialites play to interact with other players.
Their intrinsic reward is Building Relationships with Others.
Current Score:
Dark Side: Scammers
The primary ways in which Socialites engage with Elite is through Squadron and Wing play, Multicrew, Community Goals, and Fleet Carriers.
Multicrew and wings are a great addition to the game. Multicrew in particular is nice in that it allows friends who are thousands of lightyears apart to teleport to the same ship to cooperate on tasks. Unfortunately there isn’t much for these multi-crew members to do unless you have ship-launched fighters, spare SRVs, or turreted weapons. And everybody knows turreted weapon stats are terrible so you've got to be pretty intentional about building a ship for the purpose of multicrew gaming because otherwise it just isn't convenient.
In particular it is rather disappointing that activities such as mining are not practical with Multicrew. You would think that there would be a way for other CMDRs to help with mining by using autonomous mining robots launched from the ship. Or maybe figuring out a way for one CMDR to drive an SRV on a planet's surface an blast mineral deposits so the Helm can then launch limpet drones to pick up the materials from overhead. There's a lot of possibilities but unfortunately nothing is very fleshed out or flexible. Though I do have hope.
Community Goals so far have been the most reliable way to bring out the best in Socialites.
KILLERS
Killers play to leave their mark on other players.
Their intrinsic reward is Competition & Challenge.
Current Score:
Dark Side: Griefer
This is the category that is in desperate need of the most love and work. These are your players that are in the game for the PvP; to see how their skills stack up against someone else. The life and soul of these players is bumping shoulders with others to see where they measure up. And unfortunately, I believe a large reason there is such a griefer issue in Elite's Open mode is due to there being little-to-no outlet for these players to express themselves.
The primary game mode that caters to this player type is CQC. And it has been a wasteland that hasn't been touched in a long, long time. New fighters like the Taipan haven't been added to the Arena despite being perfect candidates. There is only one map. Loadouts are limited and the meta is blatantly obvious.
CQC needs a huge revamp. It needs more ships, more maps, more loadouts. Dead game modes like Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag need to be removed and replaced with things like Doubles Deathmatch, Canyon Racing, and SRV Planetary Racing. It needs exclusive reward drops and season passes. Titles and flair that can be shown off in the main game. Credit payouts that are reflective of a major league sport. Hell, broadcast match highlights on the big screens at major starports!
Killers want to fight others. Sometimes they want a more organic interaction than an arena. So you have Pirates and Bounty Hunters. Unfortunately you again run into two huge problems that are both largely due to broken systems. Pirating player characters is next to impossible. There is nothing preventing a victim from quitting the game mid-interdiction and leaving the pirate with no choice but to blow them up as fast as they can for any sort of reward. Combat logging is a cancer on PvP interaction. While nobody wants to be the CMDR on the business end of the gun barrel, if you are going to fly in Open you are accepting that risk. Ships should not be able to log out in the middle of space if a mass-lock factor is being applied to them. I'm sure there are better ways to determine if a ship is in the middle of an interaction but that is the best I have at the moment.
On the other side of the spectrum we have Player Bounty Hunting. Which is practically useless as you are only paid 2 Million credits for a PvP bounty kill regardless of the actual bounty value of the CMDR. I've seen it suggested elsewhere before but it really would go a long way if bounties for Players were paid out of the target's bank account minus a processing fee to avoid exploitation.
Power Play is another avenue that is supposed to allow PvP interaction to influence the universe. Unfortunately, because Power Play can be done both in Open and in Solo, lots of CMDRs choose the less risky avenue and it becomes a battle entirely behind the scenes, gutting any PvP aspect from the mode. It's a controversial idea, but limiting Power Play to Open mode would be a potential way to fix this.
Other:
My final thoughts on the matter is this. This is a game that is enjoyed by a multitude of players both hardcore and casual. Time is our most precious resource. Regardless of what you choose to do, please find a way to balance the amount of time activities demand. Activities should be able to be played for hours on end if so desired but should also be capable of achieving waypoints where rewards are dispensed according to performance as a sort of checkpoint. Not all of us are able to commit to living a second life in the BGS. Having smaller waypoint goals would go a long way to making us feel like we are still contributing.
Please feel free to add your own thoughts on what I have mentioned as well as ways you think the game could be further improved for Explorers, Achievers, Socialites, and Killers.
It's not perfect but it does help to understand player motivation.