Explorers United Movement?

[Histarium]

Hello everyone! In light of all of the outcry on the General Discussion for Exploration Mechanics. Who here thinks we should kick it up a notch over the next few months (read from now until August) to really drive home our message in a clear, unified voice? We wont get anywhere by everyone shouting at once, but we will get somewhere when we start all shouting the same thing. For Instance, Id like to start with protesting the little reward we do actually get. This is something I feel FDev could fix in a patch update and wouldnt need to be something majorly hard to change. We get paid so little for the amount of danger we face, in a very unforgiving galaxy.

My idea I had was to start stirring the pot up in game as well. Get noticed by GalNet, maybe even somehow disrupt a major hub where most players conjergate. IE- Going to Sol and supporting a nameless non-federation faction for a hostile take over, or some other system that CMDRs would definitely notice.

TL;DR lets start organizing into a unified voice instead of us all just having to have our own banners to wave. I propose we start with the credit price for selling exploration data and continue on from there!

Whose ready to unite with me??

 

[Tentacle Love]

Before you organize for protest, you need to make sure there's a clear leader of the protest that FD can talk to if you ever want them to take you seriously and if you want them to meet with you and discuss your demands.

If you just wave flags and placards and shout things at them, but there's no way for them to reach you to discuss it in a civil manner, then there's no point.

 

[Histarium]

Before you organize for protest, you need to make sure there's a clear leader of the protest that FD can talk to if you ever want them to take you seriously and if you want them to meet with you and discuss your demands.

If you just wave flags and placards and shout things at them, but there's no way for them to reach you to discuss it in a civil manner, then there's no point.

Thats the entire reason behind this. Creating Memes, shouting on the discussion board, is not going to get us anywhere without a unified group.

 

[Arnoldo]

Each to their own but, count me out....

I'm happy playing the game (with all its frustrations) without feeling the need or desire to:
a) constantly revolt (against what?)
b) show solidarity (with other pixel characters?)
c) complain how bad the game is (perhaps I'd be better off not playing?)
d) berate FD for their poor implementation (as if I could do better?)
e) talk about disrupting things in the Bubble (duh, should I be out in the black exploring?)
f) feel hard done to over earning vast amounts of credits (mutually exclusive with exploration and always has been)

As I say, each to their own but remember, you're not doing anything in the name of all explorers, there's no 'unified voice', we don't face any danger and some of us don't wave banners (so 1960's).

Enjoy and fly safe (once you've climbed down off the barricades )

 

[Histarium]

Each to their own but, count me out....

I'm happy playing the game (with all its frustrations) without feeling the need or desire to:
a) constantly revolt (against what?)
b) show solidarity (with other pixel characters?)
c) complain how bad the game is (perhaps I'd be better off not playing?)
d) berate FD for their poor implementation (as if I could do better?)
e) talk about disrupting things in the Bubble (duh, should I be out in the black exploring?)
f) feel hard done to over earning vast amounts of credits (mutually exclusive with exploration and always has been)

As I say, each to their own but remember, you're not doing anything in the name of all explorers, there's no 'unified voice', we don't face any danger and some of us don't wave banners (so 1960's).

Enjoy and fly safe (once you've climbed down off the barricades )

An thats fine. Theres a question mark on there to see if we all want to stop complaining and ask FDev, who makes better games than any of us, to just look at the things we find unfun or broken to fix them. Stop with the "Suggestions and ideas" Because a lot of them most people cant even agree on.

If I get no one behind the idea or most are opposed, then I'll quitely go back to exploring and twiddle my thumbs hoping that one day there will be more content. I love Elite Dangerous too, but I want to not feel like Exploring is a chore and actually rewarding. Since day One Iv felt Exploring was not for the money, why? Mostly because you can make several million an hour or more doing something else. You need atleast several million to even get into exploring anyways. It takes quite a bit of time to get to elite as opposed to the other ranks because of this.

Again, Im only stirring the pot to see what happens. If nothing happens, then so be it.

 

[Arnoldo]

An thats fine. Theres a question mark on there to see if we all want to stop complaining and ask FDev, who makes better games than any of us, to just look at the things we find unfun or broken to fix them. Stop with the "Suggestions and ideas" Because a lot of them most people cant even agree on.

If I get no one behind the idea or most are opposed, then I'll quitely go back to exploring and twiddle my thumbs hoping that one day there will be more content. I love Elite Dangerous too, but I want to not feel like Exploring is a chore and actually rewarding. Since day One Iv felt Exploring was not for the money, why? Mostly because you can make several million an hour or more doing something else. You need atleast several million to even get into exploring anyways. It takes quite a bit of time to get to elite as opposed to the other ranks because of this.

Again, Im only stirring the pot to see what happens. If nothing happens, then so be it.

If we're polling, can we have an 'I really just want to enjoy the game and will stop playing when/if I don't' option?

 

[Histarium]

If we're polling, can we have an 'I really just want to enjoy the game and will stop playing when/if I don't' option?

Thats a no-vote or a "No I'll wait it out" option though.

 

[Arnoldo]

Thats a no-vote or a "No I'll wait it out" option though.

/5char

 

[Cmdr Frawd Digger]

meh...

(explorers are an independent bunch...I think you will find this idea something akin to herding cats)

Frawd

 

[Mengy]

While I personally love the idea because I'm incredibly frustrated with Frontier's lack of exploration development, I have to agree with Frawd in that it will be both 1) very hard to organize explorers given their nature, and 2) won't have any effect on Frontier's development schedule. The very fact that the majority of the game's players are explorers is truly serving to harm any chances of new exploration mechanics. Frontier most likely feels it's in a good place because of the number of explorers out there.

In other words, our own passion has been our undoing, and I fear we are doomed to being neglected for a very long time.

Exploration just isn't a priority for Frontier, sadly. That said though, I'm willing to try anything to change their course, as I still feel like it's a cause that is worthwhile, even if futile.

There is only one true way to impact their development schedule: stop exploring, stop taking part in the Rift and Ruin content, stop spending money on the game, and stop playing entirely. If they start losing us en-mass then maybe they'll react. Until then, we get to sit at the dinner table waiting for the occasional scraps of food...

 

[Caliber_az]

My idea I had was to start stirring the pot up in game as well. Get noticed by GalNet, maybe even somehow disrupt a major hub where most players conjergate. IE- Going to Sol and supporting a nameless non-federation faction for a hostile take over, or some other system that CMDRs would definitely notice.

TL;DR lets start organizing into a unified voice instead of us all just having to have our own banners to wave. I propose we start with the credit price for selling exploration data and continue on from there!

Whose ready to unite with me??

Not into disrupting systems much

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the Game
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the Game

But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be
All right, all right, all right

You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We're doing what we can


Plus that part about herding cats... Gets a rep from me.

FDev is going to do what is on its agenda, Making suggestions might help but trying to get a huge amount of explorers together, your chances are better buying a lottery ticket.

Caliber_az

 

[iain666]

The very fact that the majority of the game's players are explorers

I'm curious what evidence you have to back up that assertion.

 

[Mengy]

I'm curious what evidence you have to back up that assertion.

Two things:

1. Two devs, one of which was David Braben, have said it in the past year.

2. Many polls on the forums, the latest of which was this:

 

[iain666]

Forum poll with 467 votes, that I'm discounting out of hand.

Braben making the same claim is interesting, did he mention what metric that was based on?

 

[avow555]

Just keep the pressure on for changes in exploration thats all we can do.

 

[Mengy]

Braben making the same claim is interesting, did he mention what metric that was based on?

No, no data or details. It was just a one sentence comment, I believe it was during the 24 hour livestream but it might have been one of the regular livestreams. He wasn't even talking about exploration directly, I think he was answering a question about combat when he just casually threw it out there. One of the other devs mentioned the same thing once too even further back last year. No idea what they are basing it on though. The polls though are player polls, I've seen them both here and on reddit, and explorers are consistently the largest group, with combat (or a combination of combat roles) a close second.

Elite has a larger exploration community than most people realize, and I'd wager most of them don't even post on these forums. The allure of flying a ship through our Milky Way, no other game can boast that prospect. It's essentially Space Engine with simulated space ships. If any space game ever comes out which actually focuses on that concept with fleshed out gameplay mechanics and content you would have a game with sales the likes of No Man's Sky and such. The demand is there, someone just needs to fill it...

 

[disorganise]

No, no data or details. It was just a one sentence comment, I believe it was during the 24 hour livestream but it might have been one of the regular livestreams. He wasn't even talking about exploration directly, I think he was answering a question about combat when he just casually threw it out there. One of the other devs mentioned the same thing once too even further back last year. No idea what they are basing it on though. The polls though are player polls, I've seen them both here and on reddit, and explorers are consistently the largest group, with combat (or a combination of combat roles) a close second.

Elite has a larger exploration community than most people realize, and I'd wager most of them don't even post on these forums. The allure of flying a ship through our Milky Way, no other game can boast that prospect. It's essentially Space Engine with simulated space ships. If any space game ever comes out which actually focuses on that concept with fleshed out gameplay mechanics and content you would have a game with sales the likes of No Man's Sky and such. The demand is there, someone just needs to fill it...

flip that around. what if it's predominantly explorers that use the forums....cos you can do that while jonking right? but not while combating. so if 80% of explorers hit the forums but only 20% of combats oriented styles do the same, any poll is automatically skewed.

 

[Allitnil]

Forum poll with 467 votes, that I'm discounting out of hand.

Braben making the same claim is interesting, did he mention what metric that was based on?

Approaching 90% of EDSM users are currently in or very close to the Bubble. Obviously some of those close to the Bubble are exploring and it would be good to be able to filter the map for those who are still active, but I suspect that a lot of those who describe themselves as "explorers" spend more time doing other activities.

 

[newman1702]

This is already focusing on the wrong thing. Exploration rewards are fine - this game has no end-game money sinks once you've got the big three, and if you're going to get there by doing the least risky profession in the game, then it taking longer seems just fine to me. Besides, most explorers don't really do it for the money. In any case, whether you are for or against raising exploration rewards, fact is it would do nothing for actual exploration gameplay. Expanding exploration mechanics is what this game desperately needs, compared to that any discussion on rewards is largely irrelevant, and if you focus your.. movement? protest? however you want to call it on that - getting Frontier to actually put some dev time into expanding exploration mechanics, giving us things like anomaly scanners, life form probes, and things to actually find, you will then get a lot more support. In order to get the community behind it you'll need to really think it through, and write what is it you're hoping to achieve in a well thought out, concise manner that hits all the notes where exploration community is concerned. Otherwise, you'll get nowhere.

 

[Yanick]

As explorers, we're a calm and polite bunch, especialy compared to the PvP crowd. Whom are very noisey and at times agressive in their demands to Fdev. Now I'm not sugesting we become anywhere near aggressive as them, but there are times it would be good for us to be more forthright, and organised in our requests to Fdev. This obviously runs into some of the issues that have been raised so far (eg that organising explorers as a community is like herding Cats). But a option might be making a petition to Fdev, with well defined ideas that could be implemented, eg unique features and remains of alien tech and civilisations in various places way out into deep space. I'm aware that making such a petition or proposal might well be a struggle. But it's worthy of consideration.

o7
Yanick