Honorary Naming

[philngraves]

I'm sorry to hear of the sad situation that you find yourselves in Phil, and the fact that Rick is going through such harsh times. One hopes that his chemo will be successful, despite it being extremely hard to go through and live with; thankfully Elite is a source of escapism for him as you have described and this is reassuring.

If you approach FD as several have suggested, then perhaps they would consider naming an NPC as "Rick the Trucker" or something similar; I am not so certain that they would go to the lengths of naming stations or planetary bases, but I also believe that is far more complex for FD and requires game updates etc. So, hoping that NPC naming is a lot easier for them, then petitioning with these circumstances may yield a nice response from them, and may help Rick with trying to manage and get through his chemo in both mind and body.

Best wishes to you all and to Rick and his family of course, and best of luck with this endeavour. Cheers,
The Hat



PS: Feel free to add me in-game as a friend and I am more than happy to fly with you and lend a hand in making you guys some cash!!

I didn't use the modern, loosely advertised phrase terminal as such... he is Wade Wilson and unless he gets mutant genes, its very terminal. They sent him home, so at least he is done with chemo and radiation. Funny bit is he is damned determined to be a space trucker. Actually loves the look of the type-7... as a combat pilot it makes me shiver but to each their own.

How do you all mean with the tickets? Like the refund ticket? Or is there another site? Please be specific as if I am a modern social media hermit and (aside from PC/xbox) a technophobe... because I am...

 

[Bottom Hat]

I didn't use the modern, loosely advertised phrase terminal as such... he is Wade Wilson and unless he gets mutant genes, its very terminal. They sent him home, so at least he is done with chemo and radiation. Funny bit is he is damned determined to be a space trucker. Actually loves the look of the type-7... as a combat pilot it makes me shiver but to each their own.

How do you all mean with the tickets? Like the refund ticket? Or is there another site? Please be specific as if I am a modern social media hermit and (aside from PC/xbox) a technophobe... because I am...

I'm sorry to hear that things are at such a 'developed' stage for your friend, and sadly it is not easy at all to try and find the appropriate words in situations like this, for where a person is with their illness, or treatment; even this sentence stumbles over itself trying to say the right words and avoid the wrong ones - I hope that makes sense, and that I don't appear to be ignorant in what I am writing? If I do then I apologise Phil, for I don't mean to appear crass or misplaced with how I have written.

I understand what you mean about avoiding the word 'terminal' in your first post, as it is never easy to write such a phrase down without it feeling that you are labelling or categorizing a circumstance/situation in which your friend finds himself with his illness.

However I think it is wonderful [for want of a better term again!] that Rick has found a way that he can escape the harsh realities of chemo/radiotherapy, and it is nice to read that within this great game he can find a place to let his imagination run. I find myself agreeing with you in regards to the Type 7 feeling a bit vulnerable from another pilot's perspective, but I guess this just shows how we all find a different place to seat ourselves in the game

I hope he can explore his role as a space-trucker much more and really get to make himself a load of credits and pursue his role of choice in the game! It may not be the same choice that you or I would make, but again this displays the variety that the game can give us all.

Personally I think it is great that he can do this and give himself a kind of escape from reality, even if just briefly, as being in such a situation can not be pleasant, either physically or emotionally of course, although having said this it is nigh on impossible to begin to empathise with exactly how it must feel to be in this dreadful position. One just hopes that he can find the same sense of fun and freedom that I do within ED, that it has always offered me, even since a very young age playing back on the BBC Micro computer in the mid-eighties

If there is any kind of forgiveness from the situation, it is that at least he no longer has to put up with the unpleasantness that can be found with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or the overall disease itself. I just wish him well, and to all of his friends and family I also hope that time will issue him the relief that he sorely deserves


With regards to 'tickets', I also found this confusing when I initially got into this incarnation of the game, and it was some time before I grasped it as jargon. Put very simply, a ticket is the description for when a player writes a question or complaint to FD in regards to the game. In other words, if someone has a problem in game with a re-buy and wants a refund, they will write a ticket to FD support. Also if they find a bug in game and wish to report it, the same terminology applies. So very simply it is a request for help from FD and their support department. I hope that makes sense without also sounding condescending or patronising either?! It is the term that covers any kind of contact with customer support and how the issue develops from there That is at least how I have understood the term whilst I have been playing!!

Take care Phil, and give my best to Rick mate o7 Cheers,
The Hat

 

[Valethar]

I'm surprised there isn't an option to name NPC's. Like you could name NPC's pre release.

Because the KS backers would lose their collective minds.

Can't have the peasantry putting on airs, you know. Wouldn't be proper.

 

[Valethar]

How do you all mean with the tickets? .

Support ticket. It's a holdover from the days when you'd have to physically fill out a form (or 'ticket') and turn it in to the maintenance or tech support guys to get something fixed.

These days it's done electronically. Just click on the 'support' link in the game launcher, and it will take you to the support page. File a ticket with them describing what you're wanting to do, and submit it. They'll get back to you and let you know if it's something they can do for you.

 

[Derek Speare [VR]]

Possibly a Tourist Beacon in Alpha Centauri in honor of your friend would be a good suggestion? Obviously, don't put it at the Hutton Orbital as it's too far for most folks to see, but the beacon in a Hutton Truckers system would be fitting IMO.

 

[Jack Schitt]

But with the elite store selling a lot of things I'm surprised there isn't an option to name NPC's.

Because the KS backers would lose their collective minds.

NPC naming started at the £40 tier, which also got you a copy of the game and a handful of starting options. I can't imagine there'd be many toys thrown from prams if NPC names were opened up again, although there are always one or two...

A bigger problem might be the infrequency with which a given NPC name appears. I've been playing two accounts, one since alpha and another starting about a year later, and I've seen my named NPC once. Some backers have never seen their NPC. If names were sold rather than rewarded for pledging, there'd need to be some sort of weighting to increase the likelihood of that first encounter otherwise people might accuse FD of charging for "nothing".

(If NPCs were semi-persistent as per the DDF, we could find one with a particular name and follow them around for a bit, seeing which systems they frequented and what their regular activities were. But that's a discussion for another thread).

As for the OP, this guy sounds like a fine candidate for some sort of in-game recognition, and FD has a history of enabling these sorts of changes. As others have said, raise a ticket or contact the Community Team to see what they say. If his passion is space trucking, maybe they can arrange a new trade CG that Rick can actually participate in, perhaps with a new Rare Good at the end?

 

[philngraves]

I appreciate all the responses. I knew about the stadard ticket, just had no clue Fdev would actually acknowledge this type of request via that medium. Just hope whatever they might be willing to do is something he can see. He doesn't know I'm doing this, so hopefully its a fun surprise. I love the CG idea... call it Two men and a type-7 perhaps?

 

[atomic7431]

This may seem like an odd post, and perhaps not in the right place, but here goes. A friend recently introduced me to one of his irl friends. His name is Rick. He is a former trucker and just started in on Elite on xbox. So far, we have got him into an ASP-X and working towards a good freighter so he can be a space trucker. The shocking part is that he has terminal cancer. I find myself impressed with his resolve and his utter joy at playing this game. Of course, after chemo and radiation, he's damn near blind... makes bounty hunting to get him money rather interesting. Yet he persists. Don't know if anyone gives a crap, but I thought it might be pretty sick if an NPC or something was named for him. Rick "Space-Trucker", or something of the like.
If you don't like the idea, no worries.
-Phil

maybe FD could organize some free tickets to the upcoming EXPO

 

[Whiterose]

Major respect. It would be nice to be remembered. FD have the habit of doing the right thing in these instances.

 

[Paige Harvey]

This may seem like an odd post, and perhaps not in the right place, but here goes. A friend recently introduced me to one of his irl friends. His name is Rick. He is a former trucker and just started in on Elite on xbox. So far, we have got him into an ASP-X and working towards a good freighter so he can be a space trucker. The shocking part is that he has terminal cancer. I find myself impressed with his resolve and his utter joy at playing this game. Of course, after chemo and radiation, he's damn near blind... makes bounty hunting to get him money rather interesting. Yet he persists. Don't know if anyone gives a crap, but I thought it might be pretty sick if an NPC or something was named for him. Rick "Space-Trucker", or something of the like.
If you don't like the idea, no worries.
-Phil

Hey Phil Shoot me a PM and I'll see what we can do in this case!

 

[Echo Wake]

Not sure if people remember. But we occasionally have player submitted community goals. Like the one we had for Walter Waldo at I believe Waldo Dock when they were asking for coffee and fish.

I could see Frontier doing something like this for your friend. But with perhaps medical diagnostic equipment or something else.

Follow the link below.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T8mjkZ5hAGM