Calling on the community to play in Open Play

[Maiakaat]

Explain to me the purpose of attacking a clean, not wanted, no bounty, in an independent (not anarchy), system? No demand for cargo, not hunted? No cargo in the racks.

What is the purpose for this type of gaming, other than griefing?

It's not pirating, a pirate wants cargo. It's not bounty hunting, no bounty to collect. No call for allegiance. Give me a reasonable explanation for this kind of play, and i will consider going back to open online.

There are operations on the bulletin board which ask you to kill traders sometimes, and give you credit, just like they also exist for pirates, bounty hunters, targeted kills, and wanted pirates through the combat bond system.

 

[DarkWalker]

How is being killed by a NPC pirate different to being killed by a human pirate.

In the same way seeing a newspiece about a person killed by a wild animal is completely different than seeing one about a person killed in a mugging. The presence of a living, breathing, intelligent person behind the opponent, instead of a mere bunch of bits, completely changes how I feel about the event, even if the end result is exactly the same.

Sorry, you will never convince me to ever again accept even the faintest risk of non-consensual PvP in a game. I'm not going to ever again expose myself for that kind of frustration for as long as I live. It completely ruins my enjoyment of any game in which it happens, which runs counter to the very purpose of playing a game in the first place.

 

[AradanKir]

I run an online game server (NeverwinterNights), so have some experience of a multiplayer environment & in general the main issue with multiplayer games is the "human online behaviour" element. Unfortunely some people are just ats & don't care about other's enjoyment, purely seeing it as their right to enjoy games regardless of the cost to other's experiences.

However, to be fair, I haven't seen that much "attery" in NWN & as yet not at all in ED. But I can see how it may put off newcomers who may be struggling to land on a station, never mind fight off an at with a much better ship & weapons. I'm not sure how ED determines an NPC pirate's ability & ship status, but if it's related to the PC, then perhaps it's more likely to be more of a fair fight?

It would be great if ED developed a community where people helped newbies out & those that wanted PvP did so in specific places (anarchy worlds?) so it was more of a choice which elements of ED you got yourself involved in. This would be something the community would develop, rather than hard & fast rules set out by Frontier.

 

[Maiakaat]

The trader would leave a message... these posted incidents all say, no comms message received. What would be the point of trying to deter people, without telling them what you're doing?

There are trader kill operations on the bulletin board, they don't ask you to negotiate

 

[Ray Watkinson]

Pretty much from the start I've been playing in solo mode. This was for 2 reasons:
1) I don't really know what I'm doing, so was taking my time to learn how to fly, trade etc without having to think about anything else
2) I had worries I'd be blown to smithereens immediately on leaving the station

Having now completed two trading runs in Open Play I can honestly say it's an enhanced experience. And the main reason is the addition of 'possibility', so even if nothing actually happens, it adds to the excitement. It's a bit like popping down to the local shop, or popping down to the local shop when the news says there's a lion on the loose!

LOL - Grrrreat analogy - No, wait! that's a tiger....

 

[Maiakaat]

This is becoming a popular griefing method. I was using my regular trading outpost last night and saw another player there too. No prob, theres enough for both of us. But he decided to just sit there for ever until I had to go and find another station to sell to.

I've seen NPC's do this, human players show as hollow shapes, in all other instances they are NPC's

 

[tagos]

There are people who want a solo game, and that is a fair choice, but there is one point that confuses me, re. the pirating - for those that cite it as a risk.

How is being killed by a NPC pirate different to being killed by a human pirate.

Because the former doesn't happen.

 

[Maiakaat]

I run an online game server (NeverwinterNights), so have some experience of a multiplayer environment & in general the main issue with multiplayer games is the "human online behaviour" element. Unfortunely some people are just ats & don't care about other's enjoyment, purely seeing it as their right to enjoy games regardless of the cost to other's experiences.

However, to be fair, I haven't seen that much "attery" in NWN & as yet not at all in ED. But I can see how it may put off newcomers who may be struggling to land on a station, never mind fight off an at with a much better ship & weapons. I'm not sure how ED determines an NPC pirate's ability & ship status, but if it's related to the PC, then perhaps it's more likely to be more of a fair fight?

It would be great if ED developed a community where people helped newbies out & those that wanted PvP did so in specific places (anarchy worlds?) so it was more of a choice which elements of ED you got yourself involved in. This would be something the community would develop, rather than hard & fast rules set out by Frontier.

That's a really good idea, but it may require some thing Frontier have apparently already ruled out, such as player factions and defence agreements; and without the instance issue fixed the numbers are likely to be too low to really make a difference. Any protection event would also need to ask the suffering player if they need assistance, and they would need to be able to reply quickly without too much distraction, as they may want a direct PvP battle

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In the same way seeing a newspiece about a person killed by a wild animal is completely different than seeing one about a person killed in a mugging. The presence of a living, breathing, intelligent person behind the opponent, instead of a mere bunch of bits, completely changes how I feel about the event, even if the end result is exactly the same.

Sorry, you will never convince me to ever again accept even the faintest risk of non-consensual PvP in a game. I'm not going to ever again expose myself for that kind of frustration for as long as I live. It completely ruins my enjoyment of any game in which it happens, which runs counter to the very purpose of playing a game in the first place.

That's a good reason, if it changes how you feel about the event then I can understand that.

 

[Cmdr Effie Trinket]

Well, as you've been told and been given examples and chose to just dismiss them, now I know you're just here to troll - so I will remind people over and over that you were told.

No, I am not trolling, nor insulting people by name calling. I simply object to comments such as, "all that ever happens is you get griefed and blown up by players just for giggles, every time you leave a station in Open play". That kind of extreme exaggeration, is unhelpful, misleading and simply plainly false. One has to wonder what motivates some people to portray the game in such a way?!

 

[Maiakaat]

Because the former doesn't happen.

Yes it does, I've been attacked numerous times, and only by solid triangles, never hollow triangles, I had a cracked canopy and 1% hull left, I was attacked near a mass so I couldn't jump easily, I made it with 30 seconds of air left.

I hope people can understand the difference on the radar between a player and an NPC. Maybe the NPC's are less aggressive in solo play, it might also explain the difference.

 

[Phier]

I want a multiplayer game. ED is currently not really a multiplayer game. Thats really the problem. ED is a solo game with occasional pvp. They need to work on multiplayer mechanics.

 

[Turnips]

How is being killed by a NPC pirate different to being killed by a human pirate.

The most important thing probably being they give me rather fair fight even if I'm sitting in my freebie Sidewinder. I might have lost to few but it was not because the battle was totally unfair but because I was learning, had worse ship, didn't know when to run and so on. It feels like I was attacked by a real pirate desperate for some loot, not somebody who probably wouldn't pick up a cargo container worth my whole ship if he saw one floating around.

 

[Maiakaat]

The most important thing probably being they give me rather fair fight even if I'm sitting in my freebie Sidewinder. I might have lost to few but it was not because the battle was totally unfair but because I was learning, had worse ship, didn't know when to run and so on. It feels like I was attacked by a real pirate desperate for some loot, not somebody who probably wouldn't pick up a cargo container worth my whole ship if he saw one floating around.

The only way to know is if the radar indicator was hollow not solid, I've had three eagles hunt me in a sidewinder, all NPC

 

[deMangler]

I am going to add my voice to the others in this thread, calling for people to play the game how they want.

 

[Jordan Cobalt]

I think part of the reason for the sparse players is the "matchmaking" system. I have a feeling it really isn't doing a good job of putting people in the same system together. I've had plenty of times when I'd see a few players in sc, then dropped out only to come back less than a minute later and they're nowhere to be found. I've even had players tell me there were lots of players around and I couldn't find any.

 

[Rath]

Simply, no - the only reason for open play is PvP and ill speak for the 15-20 of us that are playing in a private group, not only do we not like anyone and are a bunch of sociopaths but we don't like PvP. End of.

 

[mugendo]

I always play in open, It's good to see other commanders when I am ingame. ED gives people the option to play in an environment they feel comfortable in.
Even if you don't see them in open play...they are contributing financially to the game development which allows the Open players to enjoy the game.

 

[JimmySav]

Open progress. So far so good, although it did seem a little choppier to me in terms of graphics...

 

[hookandsling]

While I completely respect folks right to play how they want I can't help feeling that Solo detracts from Open.

Nobody can say anything to convince those who play Solo that Open is in fact pretty much perfectly safe.
The only thing that will draw some out is if / when we get much more content and emergent gameplay in Open. When there is a vibrant and exciting player driven galaxy going on that cannot be enjoyed or experienced in Solo this might encourage some to come out to play with the rest of humanity. If Open becomes what I hope it will Solo will just become a bit boring in comparison - fine for those who resolutely don't want to play with others but unbearably attractive to those who don't want to miss out on a social galaxy.

It basically boils down to (pure) traders. They currently have no motivation at all to expose themselves to (perceived or otherwise) risk of non-consensual PVP in Open.
There are a bunch of suggestions for how to fix this but to summarize there needs to be a motivation - be it profit margins, gameplay or whatever.
e.g. MASSIVE profits to be had in Open low security systems. Planning with others a convoy complete with fighter escorts, scouts etc. That HAS to be more exciting than grinding from one place to another on your own to make the number followed by a 'CR' bigger...

Obviously there's some chicken & egg going on here, but without any kind of information on the numbers in each mode all of this is pure speculation.
Anyway - my 2 pence. Please note: I respect the right of anyone to play how they want.

 

[All-a-Mort]

While I completely respect folks right to play how they want I can't help feeling that Solo detracts from Open.

It basically boils down to (pure) traders. They currently have no motivation at all to expose themselves to (perceived or otherwise) risk of non-consensual PVP in Open.
There are a bunch of suggestions for how to fix this but to summarize there needs to be a motivation - be it profit margins, gameplay or whatever.
e.g. MASSIVE profits to be had in Open low security systems. Planning with others a convoy complete with fighter escorts, scouts etc. That HAS to be more exciting than grinding from one place to another on your own to make the number followed by a 'CR' bigger...

The thing is the possible costs of going open for a non-PVP fan, uninterested in combat and flying an expensively kitted out ship with expensive cargo seem higher than those likely to be incurred by a human PVP pirate. Either the PVP fans are flying ships cheap enough to easily replace should they get caught by the system authorities or a bounty hunter, or they have ships so tooled up that there isn't much they need fear encounter other than another player, which is of course what they wanted in the first place. Short of significantly increasing system authority forces, I can't see how that balance can be addressed and doing so would of course mean more human vs NPC encounters, which is at the core of the complaint of the PVP community. Perhaps if bounties could be shared then they might have more to risk by racking them up, but at present I can't see many bounty hunters teaming up to take out a griefer with a sizeable sum on his head knowing only one of them will profit from the endeavour.