FDev: Elite would greatly benefit from more user generated content. Please consider a "workshop" type system!

Ive been dabbling with modding for over a decade, mostly with the Elder scrolls games because the community around that is huge. I don't think it would be a good thing for elite. Mods tend to break things in unexpected ways, which already seems to be an issue with Elite for Fdev.

The most they could likely do is custom cosmetics. I would fully support player made skins and decals (there should be 50x as many decals as we have now anyway). Something like the Call of Duty emblem creator that they used on a few games would be great for this sort of thing, and theoretically shouldn't be too much of a headache to add to the game.
 
Ive been dabbling with modding for over a decade, mostly with the Elder scrolls games because the community around that is huge. I don't think it would be a good thing for elite. Mods tend to break things in unexpected ways, which already seems to be an issue with Elite for Fdev.

The most they could likely do is custom cosmetics. I would fully support player made skins and decals (there should be 50x as many decals as we have now anyway). Something like the Call of Duty emblem creator that they used on a few games would be great for this sort of thing, and theoretically shouldn't be too much of a headache to add to the game.
How does CoD get around the....er... potentially "not kid friendly" imagery that could be... created?
 
How does CoD get around the....er... potentially "not kid friendly" imagery that could be... created?
They didnt

Jk, some things were not allowed, but a creative person could get around it. Follow up question, do any kids even play this game? From the forums you would swear its just angry 25-70 yr olds lol
 
Considering the quality in writing for system descriptions of player made factions, I rather never see any workshop implementation in Elite. It would be a torrent of worthless filth like most workshops. The select few exceptions of excellent content are not redeeming the rest.
 
The Elite community is filled with passionate technically savvy individuals. Just look at the incredible content they've created over the years. All the trading tools, ship configuration tools, databases, journal processors, etc. Not only are these tools useful but they're well made! They often have nice UIs that fit into the theme of the game. And let's not forget the exceptional work @drew did with his writing.

So what's the problem? All of this stuff is outside of the game!

Just look at what's been accomplished with the little we can do to generate content in-game. Fuel rats, flight instruction, etc. Does anyone remember what happened when PowerPlay first launched? CMDRs organized behind factions and went as far as buying advertising spots on social networks to get people to join their factions. The passion for PowerPlay gradually died out because people realized that it was mostly inconsequential over the long term. Needless to say this community is pretty incredible and will to do a lot of free work to create a more immersive Elite.

There are obviously some problems with user-generated content:
  1. Quality of the content isn't always great. Bad writing, etc is definitely possible.
  2. Consistency of the content may not fit with the official lore.
Surely these problems can be overcome?

Perhaps the community can discuss the finer details of such a system in this thread. Given a set of boundaries or parameters, I really believe that the community can fill the Elite universe with the "life" that we've always dreamed of. Just give us the tools to do it.

For those wondering what I mean by "content", I mean (as an example): Actual multi-stage missions where the community scripts events, writes the story, and even creates game assets. All of this could go through a very strict verification process for age appropriate content, etc.
Flight Simulator community can create a complete new world with customized land textures, mesh, detailed airports and additional aircrafts. Of course not everything is high quality stuff so it's up to the end user to check what you install.
ED would be a great platform for additional user contents and it would remove a lot of current game limitations.
But I don't think this will ever happen.
 
Flight Simulator community can create a complete new world with customized land textures, mesh, detailed airports and additional aircrafts. Of course not everything is high quality stuff so it's up to the end user to check what you install.
ED would be a great platform for additional user contents and it would remove a lot of current game limitations.
But I don't think this will ever happen.

Most games being discussed here are single player games, I don't think I have ever seen an MMO successfully implement player mods into the game, that just doesn't work because then FDEV would be required to support those player created mods because they will be pushed to players so the universe remains identical for all players, I simply can't see that working at all!
 
For those wondering what I mean by "content", I mean (as an example): Actual multi-stage missions where the community scripts events, writes the story, and even creates game assets. All of this could go through a very strict verification process for age appropriate content, etc.
I don't think we're going to get this, but if Frontier were to implement base-building someday, we could in theory use that to provide user content. Heck, unique bases themselves would be user content. One of the primary game loops I play in both Space Engineers and No Man's Sky is finding and exploring other player's bases. If I wanted to, I could build bases that include "a story", with various sensors triggering events as other players explore my base / fort / abandoned mine / ruin / crashed ship / whatever I dream of.

I think this is the way to go, and it was even part of the leaked roadmap (though who knows if that was real or not). This puts the tools of creation in the game itself rather than making it only available to modders, which usually is a much higher bar. I'm not even suggesting SE levels of detail, but NMS or even Subnautica provides base-building that's simple to implement but also flexible enough to make some unique creations. If Odyssey added this feature, it would capture my imagination again.
 
Most games being discussed here are single player games, I don't think I have ever seen an MMO successfully implement player mods into the game, that just doesn't work because then FDEV would be required to support those player created mods because they will be pushed to players so the universe remains identical for all players, I simply can't see that working at all!
It would only work if you had custom servers that ran their own, separate galaxy instances. I can't see this ever happening during the life of the game and it would fragment the player base even further. Maybe if FDev abandons the game and then hands it over to the community.
 
That seems unnecessarily negative, but ok.
Look at the track record thus far, they (FD) have a hard enough time with the content that THEY introduce, (they fix a bug,add a new feature, or lets say double engineered railguns... and it breaks ten more things) let alone the content others would introduce. It may be unnecessarily harsh, but it is well demonstrated in past fiascos that this is a valid concerns with the way things operate at FD.

Honestly? At this point, I am thinking they might need an excorcist or a witch doctor at this point rather than more programmers/devs/production staff.
 
Most games being discussed here are single player games, I don't think I have ever seen an MMO successfully implement player mods into the game, that just doesn't work because then FDEV would be required to support those player created mods because they will be pushed to players so the universe remains identical for all players, I simply can't see that working at all!
No FDEV don't need to support any of this. It's the community to support it.
Flight Simulator is multi-player too with pilots and controllers that share different customization of airports and various aircrafts type with customized liveries... (alitalia, airfrance, lufthansa, klm and so on) there are tricks to support all these mods on a wide player base.. tricks made by the community, and it's done since 2004 at least.
 
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No FDEV don't need to support any of this. It's the community to support it.
Flight Simulator is multi-player too and there are tricks to support all these mods on a wide player base.. tricks made by the community, and it's done since 2004 at least.
I think support means more than hosting mods on Nexus and keeping them up to date.
 
The Elite community is filled with passionate technically savvy individuals. Just look at the incredible content they've created over the years. All the trading tools, ship configuration tools, databases, journal processors, etc. Not only are these tools useful but they're well made! They often have nice UIs that fit into the theme of the game. And let's not forget the exceptional work @drew did with his writing.

So what's the problem? All of this stuff is outside of the game!

Just look at what's been accomplished with the little we can do to generate content in-game. Fuel rats, flight instruction, etc. Does anyone remember what happened when PowerPlay first launched? CMDRs organized behind factions and went as far as buying advertising spots on social networks to get people to join their factions. The passion for PowerPlay gradually died out because people realized that it was mostly inconsequential over the long term. Needless to say this community is pretty incredible and will to do a lot of free work to create a more immersive Elite.

There are obviously some problems with user-generated content:
  1. Quality of the content isn't always great. Bad writing, etc is definitely possible.
  2. Consistency of the content may not fit with the official lore.
Surely these problems can be overcome?

Perhaps the community can discuss the finer details of such a system in this thread. Given a set of boundaries or parameters, I really believe that the community can fill the Elite universe with the "life" that we've always dreamed of. Just give us the tools to do it.

For those wondering what I mean by "content", I mean (as an example): Actual multi-stage missions where the community scripts events, writes the story, and even creates game assets. All of this could go through a very strict verification process for age appropriate content, etc.
Your idea was implemented in Neverwinter Nights, and was a smashing success. I say that fully understanding I'm talking about a different genre, and two completely different engines. But the common denominator for both games is an extremely loyal, passionate, and creative fanbase.
Link here provides an example: https://neverwintervault.org/

The 2016 Doom release included a map editor (SnapMap), allowing players to create their own custom missions and campaigns. Imagine having that sort of editor to create unique interiors for stations, megaships, fleet carriers, etc. It would be very cool.
Link here: https://doomwiki.org/wiki/SnapMap

Providing a conduit to introduce community content, along with a base building mechanic (e.g., the construction of small ground and/or orbital stations) would generate a great deal of interest. According to EDSM it will take another 36,000 real years for the current player base to fully explore what the game currently offers. It would make sense to me to construct procedures for players to begin to colonize and create in this unbelievably massive sandbox.
 
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Flight Simulator is multi-player too with pilots and controllers that share different customization of airports and various aircrafts type with customized liveries...
Same with No Man's Sky.

As for Elite, I've modded Elite myself, including custom ship interiors (paint, not 3D models), and it hasn't broken anything for anyone AFAIK.

That said, the OP seems less interested in mods and more interested in user-created content that is shared with all players, and that's a horse of a different stripe. This is where I go back to built-in base building as the best solution. I have an almost inexhaustible trove of user-created content to entertain me in games that implement base (and ship) building. Sure, some of the bases that people build are crap, but so are some of the houses in my home town, so this doesn't damage my immersion any. Others are pure genus, masterpieces of architecture, far surpassing the stock base assets included in the game.
 
Custom(izable) cockpits - wouldn't that be a great thing to have :rolleyes:
We can't even get a HUD color slider.

According to EDSM it will take another 36,000 real years for the current player base to fully explore what the game currently offers.
Actually, that's the time it would take to explore all the systems. Looking at what the players have discovered so far, the answer is a big fat nothing.
I'm not talking about some coloured planets. I'm talking about things to do.
"great, you found a green gas giant". Let's call it content.
"Great, you found another green gas giant". Seen it before.
"You've mapped 273653 other planets". The first 10 might be called "content" everything else is just a repeat of the previous and runs VERY stale after 10 minutes.
 
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