how does ED compare to SC ?

I want whatever is best for feeling you are in space, being given information of an online human player kind of reminds you are on the internet and not in space flying a ship.
 
Interestingly, a massive thread / argument / bunfight has been raging in the DDF over the past week or so, as FD have been considering options on hiding whether a ship is piloted by a player or not. Lots of ideas have come forth, some strongly in favour and some strongly against, and no real consensus was reached (for now), but the upshot would be that if a player isn't immediately announced as a player (without some form of mutual consent or scan) then the possibilities for griefers / gankers are reduced.

If you can't immediately tell who the players are on your scanner, you can't make a bee-line for them & harass them.

I'm kind of in your camp - I'm reticent about online play because of the inevitable idiots. But we'll see what happens.

I like that Idea, I remember playing Freelancer TNG mod I chose shadow saved up for the biggest ship I could find, was thinking of its a black ship and could sneak up on people but alas had this big name above my ship that gave me away, I suppose it could swing both ways, 1) player is not identified as a player so the griefer doesn't attack, 2) player who has not been identified can sneak up on players and attack.

Nice Idea I think
 
... or maybe they have, and that's why they're seeking to avoid the problems. ;)

Who knows. It's their decision. Personally, I think some of the options of making players the same as NPCs to others has some interesting gameplay & roleplay opportunities, and may well break the MMO mould in a good way. But we'll see. ;)

I agree...a bit like the multiplayer aspects that can be seen in the upcoming game Watch Dogs. There you can "hack" yourself into another players game world and if you are careful hide among the NPCs. As long you don't do anything that stands out from the crowd you can remain "hidden". However, if you are "scanned" by the other player they will see you for what you are.

Elite isn't going to be an MMO in the traditional sense so comparing it to one isn't really helpful as I see it.

For me this isn't an issue about "ganking" or "greifing". It's more about sticking to the basic premise of the game, that we are all just another pilot in the universe trying to get by. Having a special symbol on the scanner for other players goes against this since then suddenly we are "special". If you target someone you should still see the CMDR tag though. At this point your scanner could show that target as players are shown in the alpha at the moment. Players should also have the ability to "announce" themselves to their surroundings if they choose to do so and thus appear automatically as a CMDR on everyone else scanner.

It's not really a make it or break it issue though...let's just see what FD decides to go with.
 
I like that Idea, I remember playing Freelancer TNG mod I chose shadow saved up for the biggest ship I could find, was thinking of its a black ship and could sneak up on people but alas had this big name above my ship that gave me away, I suppose it could swing both ways, 1) player is not identified as a player so the griefer doesn't attack, 2) player who has not been identified can sneak up on players and attack.

Nice Idea I think

Precisely, adds a bit of tension to the game. :cool:
 
I suppose it could swing both ways, 1) player is not identified as a player so the griefer doesn't attack, 2) player who has not been identified can sneak up on players and attack.

No, because the idea is that it's mutual. So 1) is correct, but 2) wouldn't really happen that way because neither player would necessarily know the other is a player. As far as each is concerned, it's just another ship. To sneak up on someone you'd need stealth, which is a different mechanic (but possible ;) )... but you perhaps wouldn't know it was a player you were sneaking up on.

Anyway, there's several options on the table but that's the one that's holding the most (reluctant) favour.
 
interesting times, at least FD are trying to do something about it, in every multiplayer game there has been this issue, not knowing who is who is going to be fun
 
If you can't immediately tell who the players are on your scanner, you can't make a bee-line for them & harass them.

This is OT obviously... but I say the answer to the argument is that in Ironman, AI and players aren't differentiated. In normal play they are :D
 
Hmmm - For me it kind of goes against the idea of a multiplayer universe that we cannot easily tell who the human players are. Before we entertain the idea of default hiding CMDR names I would like to see how things work out.

Ganking/griefing happens because there is no real penalty on the griefer and the person they grief has no way of fighting back.

In this game there are penalties such as bounty and criminality. There are other elements like the insurance on ships, not to mention Police presence in the civilised areas. If you make player bounty higher than npc bounty then you make those players more attractive as targets. Maybe one of the consequences of having bounty on your head or a criminal rating is that you cannot get the CMDR ID regardless of scanner.
 
Non-issue really. When you start fighting it will become very apparent if the other guy is human or not.

And if I'm in pirate mode it won't matter if I see a player name or NPC name. Plunder is plunder.
 
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