Highschool bullies

[Hittman]

Just had an interesting experience with my 14 year old son... he has had his challenges fitting in at a new school and starting this summer he started playing ED. Seems there is a bully just praying on smaller ships... like any bully he is larger and travels with a crew of equally bully minded fools and prey on the week. Now he is just as upset as he has been in school this last year. As a father I hate to see such non-sense and I openly question the developers and management of Frontier if they plan on doing something to prevent the few from ruining the game for the majority. While I understand that there are a few that want more PvP action you may want to do your homework and look at the other MMP games out there and do the math. Most have PvE and PvP servers... Now I ask you, "What servers have the highest player base?" More than 75% in most games are PvE and have special zones or places for PvP action thus preventing much of the Greifing and subsequently the number of complaints and ultimately the lower number of dropping players. NO ONE likes a bully, and no one enjoys dozens or hundreds of hours lost due to a few maxed out ships teaming up and tormenting the weak with absolutely no recourse. SHAME on them and SHAME on Frontier for creating a place for such abuse.

To you bullies that want to respond to this thread with your tired rhetoric... I will not be reading them, save your breath, but I am sure there are more in the community that have had similar incidents and many more that have given up on this beautiful game. What a shame... It had so much promise.

I do encourage everyone else that shares this sentiment to let Frontier know... It is too late for my son he has deleted the game from his computer :S... likely too late for me as well .

It was fun these last 5 months... but everything must come to an end. Off to check out the competition.

 

[PiLhEaD]

More than a little nonplussed by your post...

Either play in Mobius (PvE) or solo.

EDIT: Suggest you do a little research on (e.g.) bullying in minecraft (plenty of youtube evidence) before you play the 'shame on...' card.

 

[CMDR Starschulz]

Start > Private group > CMDR Hittman


- Giving up like this just lets these "bullies" win.

 

[Brownshortz]

Looks like your son needs practice at running away. Get him into a Cobra with A thrusters and he will outrun anything. Just giving up is seriously silly. Either that or fly solo until he has a decent ship.

 

[Arry]

Not sure if I am right to answer this?

1st, Sorry to read your post and feel sad about the situation your dealing with.

Bullying of any kind is very wrong and I cannot be critical in any way, about your you have dealt with it. The school you speak of, has to be informed, as this 'bullying' will not stop with his gaming.

Playing solo, is an option and a good way to leave the places you don't want or need to be, before you go to open play.

Again, sorry to hear of your woes.

 

[Cmdr Cunomaglus]

I don't understand why you're blaming FD for the actions of a minority of players in Open; they thoughtfully provided Solo and Group modes specifically so we can choose who to spend our time playing with. Everyone hates bullies, griefers, internet sociopaths, whatever you want to call them, but there's no need to ever meet one in this game, at least.

 

[M00ka]

I don't see how this could possibly be FD's fault. Did you, as the father, tell your son when he first mentioned it that all he has to do is either:
.
A: Move a couple of jumps away and start afresh there. Space is a big place, those types of players you mentioned typically hang around the starter systems where the newbies are plentiful.
.
B. Encourage him to play Solo until he has the necessary skills to look after himself in Open.
.
C. Find out what type of gameplay he is doing, is he trashtalking everyone, setting himself up as a target? Bullies will normally attack anyone they perceive as weak or an easy target, or someone that complains about being attacked within the mechanics of the game, i.e. totally legal.

 

[Kazacy]

Personally i try to attack any size of ship get in my disruptor range. Sometimes i run, sometimes i get killed sometimes i even win. The point is this game is already divided in pvp and pve area: open, solo, private. Choose carefully when you log in.

 

[tetra]

Most have PvE and PvP servers...

So does Elite..it's called Private Group, join Mobius for example for PVE. If you're joining Open then you should expect PVP full stop. It seems sad you would uninstall the game based on a misinformed choice of which button you clicked.

 

[idol_1]

As I'm sure you are more than aware in any online community there will always be a few bad eggs who try to ruin everybody else's fun. Have you considered pointing him in the direction of one of the more PVE focused private groups? mobius for example. I mainly play solo but pop in on occasion for my "mmo" fix, and have never yet had a bad experience.

it would be a shame for you both to miss out on what could become an amazing game for the sake of one bad incident as disheartening as I know it can be.

I don't have much but would be happy to drop your lad a couple of million worth of Palladium if it would go a small way to restoring his faith in the community, Just remember there are still good folk out there.

Sleep on it and Pm me if you do reconsider.

 

[sqzbox1]

Yep - shooting yourself (and your son) in the foot methinks. While I totally understand your indignation and upset on your son's behalf, deleting the game is not the answer - you are submitting to the bully and removing yourself from lots of good times. Just play solo. Or go with one of the many PvE groups. I play in Mobius myself. I learned during the beta phase that the bullies and morons have come over from Eve and are trying to ruin this game as well. They can't do it, won't succeed, but your approach does feed them. Take some time to cool down my friend, and get back on board - don't let the bullies stop you from enjoying what is perhaps the best space sim game around (at the moment anyway).

 

[Schmack]

Posting your rant and then restricting your acceptable responses to those who agree with you is bad form. You should try again.

 

[Vincent Starson]

Open is the pvp server. If you don't want pvp, don't play in open. Simple as that.

Private group: Mobius and Solo is the PVE server. Seriously, Mobius private group is filled with over 9,000 PVE pilots. Lots of good times there.

With that in mind, shame on you for trying to shame the devs for creating a game where your son's feelings were hurt. That's the internet, and you failed as a father to prepare him for the inevitable jerks that inhabit not just the internet but every multiplayer video game. Even Minecraft has jerks! Lots of players enjoy Open PVP, and from what you described what they did is not bullying. Unless there was verbal harassment that you're not mentioning, simply killing ships is not bullying.

Lastly, It probably wasn't me because I haven't been killing anyone for at least a week now. Though I have been known to dabble in the psycho profession (legit and sanctioned profession approved by the devs here on the forums).

 

[Samosa]

OP seems to misunderstand the nature of the Internet, online gaming, and the human condition.

</darwin>

 

[n4p0l3on]

I could still understand if such thread came from his 14 years old son... but that such post came from possibly 40-50 years old that have a son is... so much fail.

 

[Majinvash]

Apparently everyone is a victim in Open, except the ones who aren't.

Playing open and avoiding PVP is just as easy as getting stronger and good at it.

Before running to easy mode, learn to play the game and go to one of the many hundreds of major systems that isn't full of players.

If you run into a player assess the situation and decide on your reaction.

If you are strong, roll the dice and see if they are hostile or be hostile yourself.
If you are weak, escape.

All the players you class as bully's started with the same options as you.

You decide your fate.

That was one of the original features of the game that attracted a lot of people.

If there hadn't been the option of solo or private. Although many of the PVE players say they would never have played Elite or quit.
The reality is they would have found a way to make it work for them, because they would have had to. Fair or not.

 

[M00ka]

Although I have already commented on this topic, I also realise that the OP will just ignore what I said because I didn't agree with him.
.
But having read the other comments, it seems that the OP wants FD to do the parenting here. Did the OP try to find these 'bullies' to teach them a lesson, ie, destroy their ships? Unfortunately I would bet he didn't, all he is doing is encouraging his son that at the first sign of conflict, run away or in this case, delete the program as it seems the OP is doing as well. In all honesty, what was the worse that could have happened to his son, he gets his ship destroyed, big deal it happens every second of the game. But instead of teaching his son to play better, play smarter, the apparent solution was to delete the game. Just doesn't make any sense ....

 

[Tarman]

Looks like someone needs to get some levels in Gamer Parent. My daughter is seven and she handles gaming losses more maturely than this.

 

[CaptainKremmen]

Just had an interesting experience with my 14 year old son... he has had his challenges fitting in at a new school and starting this summer he started playing ED. Seems there is a bully just praying on smaller ships... like any bully he is larger and travels with a crew of equally bully minded fools and prey on the week. Now he is just as upset as he has been in school this last year. As a father I hate to see such non-sense and I openly question the developers and management of Frontier if they plan on doing something to prevent the few from ruining the game for the majority. While I understand that there are a few that want more PvP action you may want to do your homework and look at the other MMP games out there and do the math. Most have PvE and PvP servers... Now I ask you, "What servers have the highest player base?" More than 75% in most games are PvE and have special zones or places for PvP action thus preventing much of the Greifing and subsequently the number of complaints and ultimately the lower number of dropping players. NO ONE likes a bully, and no one enjoys dozens or hundreds of hours lost due to a few maxed out ships teaming up and tormenting the weak with absolutely no recourse. SHAME on them and SHAME on Frontier for creating a place for such abuse.

To you bullies that want to respond to this thread with your tired rhetoric... I will not be reading them, save your breath, but I am sure there are more in the community that have had similar incidents and many more that have given up on this beautiful game. What a shame... It had so much promise.

I do encourage everyone else that shares this sentiment to let Frontier know... It is too late for my son he has deleted the game from his computer :S... likely too late for me as well .

It was fun these last 5 months... but everything must come to an end. Off to check out the competition.

Hi Hittman.

It's a shame you won't be reading this response, but I'll write it in the hope that others may benefit.


"I openly question the developers and management of Frontier if they plan on doing something to prevent the few from ruining the game for the majority."

Frontier did indeed do something to prevent this, right from day one... in the original design.


Simply select SOLO mode instead of OPEN PLAY, and no other player will be visible in your (or your son's) gameplay galaxy. Everything else is 100% identical to OPEN PLAY. You can fully participate in Community Goals, PowerPlay, every available mission, etc.


Alternatively, select PRIVATE GROUP and set up your own one- or two-player group, where you only see each other.


A third option is to join something like the Mobius Private Group, which is a dedicated "non-PvP" gaming community. Again, you can fully participate in Community Goals, PowerPlay, etc. As of this weekend, that group has 10,000 like-minded pilots - engaged in cooperative gameplay.

 

[Schmack]

This sounds depressingly familiar unfortunately. Take heart that if you decide to try again, you can play in Solo mode for pure PvE and no other human will bother you. If you crave human company but not the PvP, then join a Private Group like the Mobius Group. We are over 10,000 CMDRs now and are all quite friendly. PvP is only allowed in Conflict Zones and that is by mutual consent. Click the banner in my signature to go there.

So I've been with Mobius for a week or so, been all over the starter system and beyond, nary a human contact, not one. Do you guys hook up outside of the game then coordinate your instances? Seems eerily like solo.