[DEVS] Player-based Bulletin Board Entries a good idea ?

[Devil's Refugee]

Something which cropped up in another thread, so I'll repost here for separate discussion/ suggestion. Forgive me if it's already done through the DDF.

Would be great to have part of the Bulletin Board available to create templated entries (avoids the usual free text nonsense) that advertises your service, a time limit and price. Your CMDR Name and Rank would play a part in making a decision between you and someone else for the players looking to hire. I don't want to utter the phrase for fear of jinxing it but it's the start of a player-based economy in a way just with a bit more control left with FD. We know player-player transactions will one day drop so would this be a natural fit for this ?

 

[Devil's Refugee]

Quick bump, but doesn't seem like a good idea then.

 

[oddreal]

Something which cropped up in another thread, so I'll repost here for separate discussion/ suggestion. Forgive me if it's already done through the DDF.

Would be great to have part of the Bulletin Board available to create templated entries (avoids the usual free text nonsense) that advertises your service, a time limit and price. Your CMDR Name and Rank would play a part in making a decision between you and someone else for the players looking to hire. I don't want to utter the phrase for fear of jinxing it but it's the start of a player-based economy in a way just with a bit more control left with FD. We know player-player transactions will one day drop so would this be a natural fit for this ?

This crossed my mind few days ago. It would be awesome if you could post a job like hunt this pirate commander for me etc. and invest some money for the player to get as a reward

 

[Brakespear]

I still think this game should work more like Dark Souls.

In DS, you see summoning signs for players wanting to do some coop. In Elite, they could add bulletin board entries that would allow you to "hire" other players in the system as mercenaries, thus summoning them to your instance. Similarly, like in DS, it would be fun to leave stupid messages using a preset list of words and phrases.

So, yeah. I'm with the OP.

 

[Hap]

The problem with player generated missions for me is that you would only want to pay out once to the player who completed it first, where as in a game missions you may have multiple players completing it and they would all get paid. Players would get annoyed if they tried to complete a missions to only find out that someone else had done it first and so they didn't get paid.

 

[Pete]

Some players would also use this to get around the "transfer credits between accounts" limitation. At the moment the only way to transfer credits to another CMDR is via dropped cargo, and I'm quite sure this is how FD intend it at the moment.

-- Pete.

 

[TehGM]

At first, I wanted to say "NO, there will be too much trolling", but then I've read about your idea of templates. That'd fix it somewhat. But also, to avoid any scamming etc, there could be some punishment for breaking some rules. EVE has it as collateral on contracts - you pay first, and once you finish the contract, you get back what you paid plus reward. I think it could allow this to work.

Some players would also use this to get around the "transfer credits between accounts" limitation. At the moment the only way to transfer credits to another CMDR is via dropped cargo, and I'm quite sure this is how FD intend it at the moment.

While I see your point, I don't see any point in having more than one account in Elite. Except bounty claiming. But what OP said would not affect this one.

 

[Flappers]

The problem with player generated missions for me is that you would only want to pay out once to the player who completed it first, where as in a game missions you may have multiple players completing it and they would all get paid. Players would get annoyed if they tried to complete a missions to only find out that someone else had done it first and so they didn't get paid.

Yeah, this is inherently the problem with the idea.

I think the only way it could work, is if the mission is taken, then it's no longer available to others to take.

But, if there were a lot of options for creating said missions (escorts, co-pilot, requesting materials, protection services, revenge services etc) then it may not be a big problem, as there would be a lot of missions to choose from.

 

[Emanon]

Possible but could open a huge can of worms and would have to be carefully designed and thoroughly tested (which I haven't really seen lately).

Essentially it could only be all in template form, all drop-downs or +/- or sliders for amounts and no free form text areas or open input boxes for descriptions, unless they all were approved before going in game (which could be a full time job with a large community). Just think of the garbage posts on the boards if u didn't restrict it.

Not saying it's not possible, but maturity levels in some bad apple players could make this a tough, longer term sell.

 

[Devil's Refugee]

The problem with player generated missions for me is that you would only want to pay out once to the player who completed it first, where as in a game missions you may have multiple players completing it and they would all get paid. Players would get annoyed if they tried to complete a missions to only find out that someone else had done it first and so they didn't get paid.

If it's generated by a player then it's first come first served, same with any contract situation. NPC missions aren't persistent, they respawn for everyone. A player generated one would be a one-off contract with a single individual or Wing for example.

Some players would also use this to get around the "transfer credits between accounts" limitation. At the moment the only way to transfer credits to another CMDR is via dropped cargo, and I'm quite sure this is how FD intend it at the moment.

-- Pete.

Well, yes, but then not sure how player-player transactions will work as a whole as I'm not sure there are any details on that front yet. You could in theory circumvent that limitation without the need for a mission. Unless all FD implement is a simple "cargo for credits" transfer option and the prices are fixed to within galaxy price limits ?

 

[yowl]

A good idea to make the missions more interesting. You could display the commanders who have already accepted it and when they did so. That way you could make an informed choice. I think it would have to be template driven as otherwise the game wont know when the mission is completed.

 

[OamodSias]

Something which cropped up in another thread, so I'll repost here for separate discussion/ suggestion. Forgive me if it's already done through the DDF.

Would be great to have part of the Bulletin Board available to create templated entries (avoids the usual free text nonsense) that advertises your service, a time limit and price. Your CMDR Name and Rank would play a part in making a decision between you and someone else for the players looking to hire. I don't want to utter the phrase for fear of jinxing it but it's the start of a player-based economy in a way just with a bit more control left with FD. We know player-player transactions will one day drop so would this be a natural fit for this ?

Some guy has found a lucrative deal; but he needs 500t of cargo space. He goes onto the Bulletin Board, selects the "Hire Pilot" tab; finds a T9 trader willing to trade any goods for 10% (neg) of the total value of each haul. Clicks Hire, then they meet up and form a Wing. Both dock. The employer goes into the commodities market, selects the commod he wants to trade, clicks "Buy For Hire", selects 500t and then selects "Transfer goods to... [CMDR Trader]." The trade and the employer then leave and travel to wherever.

On arrival, the trader sells the goods. The value, less the traders fee + fuel costs, is transferred to the employer. The trader gets his cash. The employer rates the traders overal professionalism etc; clicks "Conclude Employment Contract" and both parties part amicably.

Something like that?

 

[medwyn]

Something which cropped up in another thread, so I'll repost here for separate discussion/ suggestion. Forgive me if it's already done through the DDF.

Would be great to have part of the Bulletin Board available to create templated entries (avoids the usual free text nonsense) that advertises your service, a time limit and price. Your CMDR Name and Rank would play a part in making a decision between you and someone else for the players looking to hire. I don't want to utter the phrase for fear of jinxing it but it's the start of a player-based economy in a way just with a bit more control left with FD. We know player-player transactions will one day drop so would this be a natural fit for this ?

I'd love to see that. Another thing I could spend my money on.
However if I look at the current build and the architecture behind I can't see a point what missions should I generate and finance. The player-driven economy is completely missing and FD doesn't seem to be interested in developing one.
Also players are not all that good in writing texts and moderating these mission boards would require more human resource from FD than the manual curation of the universe

(In a Flight Simulation client called FSEconomy this feature is there in some levels and works fine.)

 

[Devil's Refugee]

Some guy has found a lucrative deal; but he needs 500t of cargo space. He goes onto the Bulletin Board, selects the "Hire Pilot" tab; finds a T9 trader willing to trade any goods for 10% (neg) of the total value of each haul. Clicks Hire, then they meet up and form a Wing. Both dock. The employer goes into the commodities market, selects the commod he wants to trade, clicks "Buy For Hire", selects 500t and then selects "Transfer goods to... [CMDR Trader]." The trade and the employer then leave and travel to wherever.

On arrival, the trader sells the goods. The value, less the traders fee + fuel costs, is transferred to the employer. The trader gets his cash. The employer rates the traders overal professionalism etc; clicks "Conclude Employment Contract" and both parties part amicably.

Something like that?

Yes, and the same kind of mechanic applied to any profession. I like the rating system idea too because that can be a deal breaker between accepting an offer of help or refusing it if the person has a negative (bit like the eBay/ Amazon system) The only concern is that it could be open to abuse and for those just trying out for the first time there would definitely be an acceptance on faith you're capable of doing the job if you have no rating. But it's much like what's out on the interwebs anyway.

 

[OamodSias]

Yes, and the same kind of mechanic applied to any profession. I like the rating system idea too because that can be a deal breaker between accepting an offer of help or refusing it if the person has a negative (bit like the eBay/ Amazon system) The only concern is that it could be open to abuse and for those just trying out for the first time there would definitely be an acceptance on faith you're capable of doing the job if you have no rating. But it's much like what's out on the interwebs anyway.

I can get behind that.
Handling disputes will have to be done by FD though; since they're the only ones with the resources capable of determining who is at fault.

 

[Devil's Refugee]

Getting a bump given the Wings 1.2 preview in PC Gamer today (https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=116017).

Player entries (templated) in the Bulletin Board for forming a Wing too (both persistent and adhoc) ??