Hi all
Like what seems to be a very sizeable chunk of the player base, based on various polls and opinions I have seen, I am very interested in the potential exploration options that ED offers.
However, what is on my mind right now is that there seem to be two very distinct ideas about what exploration actually is, and I'm curious to see what people think here.
The first idea- and this is very much backed up by the DDF discussions- is exploration as a viable career/profit path. This is about discovering new areas and either a. making use of what you find there for profit or b. selling the navigation info to the authorities (as the DDF describes).
The second idea is those who want to explore for no reason other than the experience of exploration itself, for the joy of seeing new things and recording their experiences; of setting off into the effectively infinite space that ED offers and see what is out there.
This isn't digital of course. It's not as if the first group isn't interested in the experience and the second is not interested in money. Yet I do feel there are two distinct needs here that may be being conflated when people talk of 'exploration'.
For example, I am in the first group- I want to make money from it, as a non-PvP way of making a career akin to trading- still armed for trouble (again, as the DDF makes out) in case I find something unpleasant but mainly dedicated to the commercial finding of 'stuff'. Hence, when I am hearing about how exploration will work, I am interested in the game mechanics of how to benefit from it- how do I make the money, who is buying navigation data, what kind of data is worth more, where should I go to make the best margin, what the expenses are on exploration gear, how hard is it to find new places using exploration equipment, what kind of claims can I make on valuable stuff I find etc. My questions are all mechanically focussed to my career advantage. I like the idea of being the equivalent of a medieval/renaissance style explorer who goes and finds things... and then comes home to fame and fortune.
But a lot of the questions from people I am seeing seem to relate to those more interested in the second area. For example, a lot of the questions I am hearing are about deep space refuelling and auto-repair. The basis of these questions seems to be from people that are planning to get going and, perhaps, never stop, and hence they need to think forever about fuel and fixing. From my point of view, these questions aren't quite so relevant as, although I'll presumably want hard-wearing gear that doesn't burn out quickly, I'm never planning to be so far from civilised space that I can't run for home if my ship is badly damaged or the fuel situation is critical. These questions, whilst inevitably involving game mechanics, are mostly focussed on ways to prolong this particular experience for as long as possible rather than 'advancing', as it were, in the game.
What it comes down to is that, although I want to be an explorer, I actually plan to come home. Rather a lot. But a lot of posts I have seen from those who want to be explorers implies that they, perhaps, never want to come home, or at least they want to come home as little as possible as required to keep pushing at the edges.
So my thinking in setting up this thread is twofold. First- am I in a minority here? Are many explorers much more interested in the pure experience than my rather functional view of it?
Secondly, if there are two such groups, is there a risk that when it comes to talking about 'exploration', there are actually two distinct ideas here that are easily confused? The DDF discussion on exploration is an example here- as someone interested in the functional practicalities of it, the DDF is full of useful information to me. But for those interested in just heading on 'out there',, there's much less relevant information- after all, what would they care about selling navigational information? They aren't planning to come back to sell it. If you are interested in going on forever, the DDF has far less useful info. The broad brush of 'exploration' may be a tad too broad.
Thanks for reading, Any thoughts?
Like what seems to be a very sizeable chunk of the player base, based on various polls and opinions I have seen, I am very interested in the potential exploration options that ED offers.
However, what is on my mind right now is that there seem to be two very distinct ideas about what exploration actually is, and I'm curious to see what people think here.
The first idea- and this is very much backed up by the DDF discussions- is exploration as a viable career/profit path. This is about discovering new areas and either a. making use of what you find there for profit or b. selling the navigation info to the authorities (as the DDF describes).
The second idea is those who want to explore for no reason other than the experience of exploration itself, for the joy of seeing new things and recording their experiences; of setting off into the effectively infinite space that ED offers and see what is out there.
This isn't digital of course. It's not as if the first group isn't interested in the experience and the second is not interested in money. Yet I do feel there are two distinct needs here that may be being conflated when people talk of 'exploration'.
For example, I am in the first group- I want to make money from it, as a non-PvP way of making a career akin to trading- still armed for trouble (again, as the DDF makes out) in case I find something unpleasant but mainly dedicated to the commercial finding of 'stuff'. Hence, when I am hearing about how exploration will work, I am interested in the game mechanics of how to benefit from it- how do I make the money, who is buying navigation data, what kind of data is worth more, where should I go to make the best margin, what the expenses are on exploration gear, how hard is it to find new places using exploration equipment, what kind of claims can I make on valuable stuff I find etc. My questions are all mechanically focussed to my career advantage. I like the idea of being the equivalent of a medieval/renaissance style explorer who goes and finds things... and then comes home to fame and fortune.
But a lot of the questions from people I am seeing seem to relate to those more interested in the second area. For example, a lot of the questions I am hearing are about deep space refuelling and auto-repair. The basis of these questions seems to be from people that are planning to get going and, perhaps, never stop, and hence they need to think forever about fuel and fixing. From my point of view, these questions aren't quite so relevant as, although I'll presumably want hard-wearing gear that doesn't burn out quickly, I'm never planning to be so far from civilised space that I can't run for home if my ship is badly damaged or the fuel situation is critical. These questions, whilst inevitably involving game mechanics, are mostly focussed on ways to prolong this particular experience for as long as possible rather than 'advancing', as it were, in the game.
What it comes down to is that, although I want to be an explorer, I actually plan to come home. Rather a lot. But a lot of posts I have seen from those who want to be explorers implies that they, perhaps, never want to come home, or at least they want to come home as little as possible as required to keep pushing at the edges.
So my thinking in setting up this thread is twofold. First- am I in a minority here? Are many explorers much more interested in the pure experience than my rather functional view of it?
Secondly, if there are two such groups, is there a risk that when it comes to talking about 'exploration', there are actually two distinct ideas here that are easily confused? The DDF discussion on exploration is an example here- as someone interested in the functional practicalities of it, the DDF is full of useful information to me. But for those interested in just heading on 'out there',, there's much less relevant information- after all, what would they care about selling navigational information? They aren't planning to come back to sell it. If you are interested in going on forever, the DDF has far less useful info. The broad brush of 'exploration' may be a tad too broad.
Thanks for reading, Any thoughts?
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