Newcomer / Intro First Meeting with a Griefer

[ZeroAi]

Think I met my first Griefer/Ganker... pulled out of supercruise and shot to pieces by a player called Gounder. No scan, no message, just shot to bits in a system called Minmar. About 200 Lyr into a 240 Lyr round trip to find Emergency Power Cells.

Can you track specific players in this game?

Yeah, Elite's "open world" mode is a little unique since even in high security systems PKers can roam and gank others freely.

Probably would be better if, in high security systems when you get interdicted that the local security would drop out the same time the ganker did - like they were already tracking the PKer and just waiting for him to drop.

Why do you fly open? There is no incentive, no advantage to fly open. If you meet other CMDRs, either they ignore you doing their own thing, or they attack you.

If you play alone, play Solo. If you want to play with a friend, play in a private group. There is no reason to play Open at all. But a lot of reasons not to play Open...
I even considered joining a PvE group like Mobius. But why? No advantage, no friendly chat, no helping each other, and no other CMDRs most of the time. This is not a typical MMO, it is best played Solo, or in a small group with friends.

Well said!

...And reading over the lengthy discussions about PvP/Ganking/Griefing and reading what some people think about this did influence my decision never to play Open. I see no advantage at all...

Agreed.

 

[Para Handy]

......
Is it chance, a small UI bug - or intentional? Also new players (and experienced players who reset their accounts) reported it and for a while it was thought that you must play open in the newbie region - but this seems to be wrong. Is this 'nudging to open' or just an UI bug?
............

Whenever you start a fresh commander (whatever option) you always start in "Open Play" - in actual fact the game doesn't instance you with any other players in that first session so it is just like Solo.

 

[Gweilo UK]

Not EVERYONE who interdicts intends to kill.

Pirates will interdict in order to pirate....which usually involves some role-play and more often than not results in zero kill...IF the CMDR complies.

So, if you do get interdicted, check your comms panel for messages from the CMDR interdicting you.
Submit to the interdiction (as your cool down is much shorter), target a system in order to Hi-Wake.
If no messages appear in the Comms panel, or if the other CMDR starts shooting, Hi-Wake to your targetted system ASAP.

Most pirates usually only ask for a small-modest amount of cargo then let you go.
Most will also not repeat interdict you during their play session (or give you a 12 hour “pass”).
So, if you are grind-trading between a couple of stations, and if you want to play open, then submitting and paying a couple of tons adds to the immersion and can be more fun....after all it is “Elite: Dangerous” and not “Elite: Day Care”

Clicker

p.s. most Pirate groups love nothing better than ganking the gankers.

Just for the record this dude sent no messages, didn't scan me (that I know of), made no demands and shot me to pieces before I could get the FSD charged and jump!

 

[CooterCrickets87]

If you play open thats the gamble. I play open just for that reason.

Will I meet some cool folks or an Ahole

 

[Speedcuffs]

If you play open thats the gamble. I play open just for that reason.

Will I meet some cool folks or an Ahole

Me too.
And if I'm not in the mood I go solo.
It's all good.

 

[CMDR M. Lehman]

Did I ever mention credits as rewards for playing open? I don't think so. When I say, that there are no advantages in playing open, I mean fun. This is the point of playing, isn't it?

And to have to regard every other player I meet somewhere as an potential enemy, without any reason, who could attack me, without any reason, destroy my progress, without any reason to do so - is just not my idea of fun. Sure, there are players who will never do this, who will want to do their own thing or will have a friendly chat. Maybe this is even the majority. But this does not help, if I have to regard everyone as an enemy. The gankers behave like dumb monsters in a game, only you cannot differentiate them from the rest until it is too late. Trust in fellow players is completely destroyed by this, even if you have a friendly chat, and answer friend requests it could be a ganker, who after winning your trust destroys you, and this has happened too. Why would I have fun meeting other players, if literally every one - even a 'friend' - could attack me without reason or warning? NPCs may be aggressive and outright nasty, but you know why, there are reasons they attack you.

Combine this with engineering, so either you crossed the huge grind walls to engineer your ships totally and completely, or you cannot compete. And even if I manage to flee every time this is no fun for me. It is not an accomplishment to fight off a silly, damaging and badly implemented game mechanic. Better to avoid it completely. It is just not entertaining. Ganker ships are engineered in a way they are unbeatable even by a good ship, not an explorer 'paper flyer'. They will destroy a good A rated ship in seconds, there are a lot of YT videos and reports here. So either you fly around with a pure combat ship engineered to the gills, or you are meat. And permanently fleeing from idiots is not my idea of gaming fun.

And this is what I meant with advantages. Credits are thrown at you in astonishing rates by the game. So much credits, that they are unusable to 'regulate' things like engineering, so that they were forced to implement a secondary 'currency', namely the materials. But even if it were much easier and faster to find materials this would not be enough to bring me to open.

But as I said - this is IMHO. YMMV...

Given your attitude toward even the possibility of adversity, I think that we're agreed that solo is the mode for you.

 

[Warm Considering]

Think I met my first Griefer/Ganker... pulled out of supercruise and shot to pieces by a player called <NO NAMING AND SHAMING>. No scan, no message, just shot to bits in a system called Minmar. About 200 Lyr into a 240 Lyr round trip to find Emergency Power Cells.

Can you track specific players in this game?

I play Open for the social aspect. I like meeting new players and typing o7 to them in local or direct. I've also come to enjoy the challenge of identifying griefers/gankers and playing with them. I also enjoy playing with player pirates, especially now that I've taken up mining. I love coming in from the Black with my Anaconda's cargo hold full of grandedierite and void opals and dangling that in front of pirate, only to escape and imagine how frustrating that might be.

But MoonRacer is right, there is no incentive to playing Open. You get nothing except an experience with other players. You can even swap between Open and Solo to avoid players you don't like. I've done this, especially engineering non-combat craft. I'll never forget engineering my Beluga's FSD and watching a wanted CMDR's 'vette come up behind me in supercruise. I didn't wait, I didn't even stop or emergency drop. I literally tapped ESC and exited to main menu, and then reloaded in Solo. I reloaded into Open once I had landed.

Play how you want.

 

[dunno]

Griefers provide a learning curve as they tend to be more skilled and cunning than your average NPC.

AH but you left out the cheaters that pretend to be super skilled, where's the skill in encountering a griefer that's OP'd to the max...

Fortunately, the game is heavily balanced against griefing,

It's true, parallel universes do exist, really really. I thought that it was only kats that know about and live in a parallel universe.

 

[Morbad]

And to have to regard every other player I meet somewhere as an potential enemy, without any reason, who could attack me, without any reason, destroy my progress, without any reason to do so - is just not my idea of fun.

Everyone has their own ideas about what's fun and what's not.

You do have to take the bad with the good if you want to play in Open and I'd argue the good overwhelmingly outweighs the bad. But, again, how much bad it takes to spoil an individual's experience is quite subjective.

Your point that you cannot differentiate gankers until it is too late is factually wrong, as people who actually do play in Open can tell you.

Not everyone with hostile intent stands out, but there are certainly trends, and I agree that it's not difficult to anticipate, identify, and avoid most trouble.

Just for the record this dude sent no messages, didn't scan me (that I know of), made no demands and shot me to pieces before I could get the FSD charged and jump!

Are you pledge to a power? What were you doing in the area?

Plenty of possible motivations that may not have been readily apparent. Of course, entertainment is a common enough one.

 

[Ian Skippy]

AH but you left out the cheaters that pretend to be super skilled, where's the skill in encountering a griefer that's OP'd to the max...
It's true, parallel universes do exist, really really. I thought that it was only kats that know about and live in a parallel universe.

Ah, yes. The good ol' "if I lose the other cheated!". Honestly, do what you want. We all once were where OP is at, and we all had to make a choice: do we spend our time learning the game and improving our skills, or do we spend it on the forums pretending it is Not Our Fault with all the usual excuses I've heard a thousand times. I've played thousands of hours in Open and I couldn't care less about your scary tales of endless griefers and cheaters. Of course, you could put your money where your mouth is and come grief me. Record it and post the vid here for all to laugh at me and my silly ideas. Just add me to your friend list and you'll always know where I am. I'll even make it easy for you and hop into a Sidey or Eagle if you want!

But something tells me you'll have an excuse for not doing that too...

Not everyone with hostile intent stands out, but there are certainly trends, and I agree that it's not difficult to anticipate, identify, and avoid most trouble.

True, but even the most cunning of griefers cannot sit behind you in SC without you not being aware of it. There are ways to be less obvious, but at some point you'll be on the radar, I can point my ship at you and then that'll be that.

And that is even ignoring that (and I know you know that, just pointing it out for some of the other readers) after interdiction you can always hi-wake, and not even a sidey can be mass-locked when hi-waking instead of jumping back to SC. So every ship that can survive the spooling of the FSD and the cooldown is perfectly safe even if you get interdicted.

Killing a griefer is often impossible unless you have a proper ship and the griefer is an idiot (after all, he can just hi-wake too when things go pear shaped!), but escaping a griefer only requires a modicum of skill, preparation and awareness.

 

[woobz]

Think I met my first Griefer/Ganker... pulled out of supercruise and shot to pieces by a player called <NO NAMING AND SHAMING>. No scan, no message, just shot to bits in a system called Minmar. About 200 Lyr into a 240 Lyr round trip to find Emergency Power Cells.

Can you track specific players in this game?

Hey there,

I just wanted to drop in and say that open play can be a more rewarding experience than solo-play. Not all players are griefers and many are from many walks of life. However, when you do gankers, it can be a fun experience to call friends for assistance or duel them.

The squadron i'm in always play together and an attack to one of us is considered war to the rest of us. We will contact his clan with a war declaration if it continues, and we will start beating them on every single system. Things like this make open play a much more richer experience.

Let me know if you are in need of a friendly group and I can give you a discord invite. you can look us up on Inara. Our name is Murder Incorporated.

Stay safe,