Is Elite Dangerous a dead game? I compared it to some others ...

[StuartGT]

Do you mean the video titled "Frontier LOSE ~$1.5 BILLION In Two Years On Market Value"? The title is factually accurate.

No it's not factually accurate.
Frontier didnt lose any money. The some investors lost some money, other won some money. Whoever got any shares at the initial value, their investment is still doubled.
But again FDev didnt lost any money. They had a first half ot the FY2023 quite profitable (almost 7 millions operational profit), their cash deposits increased, etc.

So what did that title except gaining views in a tabloid manner? Nothing for FDev, nothing for ED, nothing for the player base, except views for the OA's questionable (IMO) business.
So i dont feel the need to give him any views since i dont like his way of doing business in regards to FDev/Elite

The title doesn't say Frontier lost money. It clearly says the company lost $1.5 billion on market value. You appear to be arguing against something that wasn't said.

As to Obsidian Ant's "questionable (IMO) business", it's really quite simple: he makes videos (that you don't watch, or like, or even understand it seems) and youtube pays him for the views and engagement his videos have.

 

[Alec Turner]

It's not just the titles though. I've listened to some of the actual videos and they seem to do little except moan about Elite and FDev. Very little if any praise for what they do well.

These days I think OA suffers from not really having a lot to say about Elite: Dangerous while still feeling compelled to make videos about it in order to keep his channel going (several recent examples have used an awful lot of words to say practically nothing). I know from experience that, after a very long time with this game, it becomes very easy to fall into the trap of discussing the problems rather than the good stuff because "feature X still not fixed" tends to have more meat to it as a discussion topic over "feature X still excellent". On the whole tho' at heart I feel like he still has a reasonably balanced view of the game? (maybe not, maybe he has fallen out of love with it/them? ).

 

[Helmut Grokenberger]

The title doesn't say Frontier lost money. It clearly says the company lost $1.5 billion on market value. You appear to be arguing against something that wasn't said.

The thumbnail of the video says "Frontier LOSE ~$1.5 BILLION In Two Years". In bold letters. Arguably people will pay more attention to the thumbnail than to the last words of an already very long title. Really, there is little to defend about clickbaiting. Just because something is "industry standard" doesn't make it right (or morally defendable). It is shady at best, personally I find it disgusting (not aimed at OA, aimed at the socially accepted practice of telling people bull to make them click on content).

 

[StuartGT]

The thumbnail of the video says "Frontier LOSE ~$1.5 BILLION In Two Years". In bold letters. Arguably people will pay more attention to the thumbnail than to the last words of an already very long title. Really, there is little to defend about clickbaiting. Just because something is "industry standard" doesn't make it right (or morally defendable). It is shady at best, personally I find it disgusting (not aimed at OA, aimed at the socially accepted practice of telling people bull to make them click on content).

Sure, the thumbnail shows that, but all the discussion has been about his video titles. If people now cannot differentiate between a title and a thumbnail, then there are clearly bigger issues with humanity than the common practice of clickbait for views

 

[Helmut Grokenberger]

oh come on, you know how clickbait works, and of what importance the thumbnail is. You can watch bigger, popular creators change the thumbnail of a new video multiple times within minutes to see how it optimizes the algorithm and creates the most clicks...

 

[Rat Catcher]

If people now cannot differentiate between a title and a thumbnail,

But the thumbnail is the thing that brings the clicks.

I sympathise with your defence of OA, perhaps he is a personal friend, or something...

 

[StuartGT]

But the thumbnail is the thing that brings the clicks.

I sympathise with your defence of OA, perhaps he is a personal friend, or something...

No need to sympathise, I find it comical how some members of this forum fabricate ways to blame OA for whatever personal gripes they have about the perception of Elite Dangerous (or Frontier), regardless of his actual views of the game - especially since they don't actually watch the videos

Godwin's law of the 34th Century - an Internet adage asserting that as an online discussion grows longer (regardless of topic or scope), the probability of blaming Obsidian Ant approaches 1.

 

[Rat Catcher]

regardless of his actual views of the game

Oddly enough, it was disagreeing with his comments about the game (and to a point FD) that made me lose interest in watching his content. (I still do watch snatches on occasion, if one of the discord suggests it is 'of interest' - but not often)

 

[sidereal6]

This you?

If so, it explains everything.

How do you think that website works? Do you think it has accurate up-to-date information on every account?

Or do you think it only has data for people who run the utility that provides it with data?

And if it only has that data, then is it possible I installed the utility once, long ago, and then uninstalled it?

And if that's the case, and if that data is almost a decade out of date, then doesn't the fact that you posted it, and apparently you (incorrectly) thought it was accurate, doesn't that explain everything ... about you?

 

[Helmut Grokenberger]

Like it or not, OA, as one of the larger and still active Youtube creators who present their opinion rather than just presenting the news, has got a pretty big target painted on his chest. There aren't too many left anyways, one is the court jester who nobody really takes seriously, one is more like the public radio news, and then there is OA, who sadly doesn't shy away from clickbait. I am sure he is perfectly able to cope with being judged for it.

More to the point: My original comment was more a throwaway criticism to all of them jumping on and off the doom train when it is fashionable and/or generates revenue than a call to raise the pitchforks and blame OA for the public view of the game. I have no beef with OA or any other content creator. They can do whatever floats their boat as far as I am concerned. But truth is (and you can see that echoed here, on reddit and elsewhere) that a lot of players - potential, current or ex - take everything a handful of content creators put out on the internet as face value, while it does not neccessarily reflect the whole truth, or sometimes even a smidge of it.

 

[Marvin the Martian]

How do you think that website works? Do you think it has accurate up-to-date information on every account?

Or do you think it only has data for people who run the utility that provides it with data?

And if it only has that data, then is it possible I installed the utility once, long ago, and then uninstalled it?

And if that's the case, and if that data is almost a decade out of date, then doesn't the fact that you posted it, and apparently you (incorrectly) thought it was accurate, doesn't that explain everything ... about you?

That explains it all, right there. Thanks.

 

[Greasetrap42]

I know this sounds negative, I do like the game and I'm actively playing it. But since EDO launch there isn't much new and exciting stuff for youtubers to report on. Other than: bugs, bug fixes, design issues, and the thargoid war. That's it. Anything else is re-hashing old stuff again, fluff, or updates on topics that sound negative.

A quick glance at the News and Bulletins sub forum only confirms this.

• Mostly posts about game updates to address existing bugs and design issues.
• Some posts regarding known bugs and game issues.
• Thargoid war feedback.
• Legacy version is available. Cool, but that doesn't sound very fun.
• Future mysterious updates for 2023. Can't talk about this, its a secret.
• Community events calender? Looking pretty bleak.
• A screenshot competition that ended in 2021, topic is closed.
• Frontier's stance on cheating.

Where is the happy fun news and bulletins?

If Frontier doesn't have any substantial exciting positive things to talk about how do we expect youtubers to come up with stuff?

 

[Mohawk_ger]

Where is the happy fun news and bulletins?

Obviously you absolutely forget about Paul's summary!

Of course... that's not the content you meant... so i have to agree with you.
What i often ask myself, as especially Sally is doing a great job to hold contact to the community... is she not allowed to say more? Especially regarding bug fixes... are they talking behind the scenes about it, is she informed, they don't want to talk about it, or they just have absolutely no clue what's going on? Do they know about bugs and issues (others than those with U14/tharg war), do they ignore it completely behind the scenes, like they ignore it here? Or are they working hard also on these issues, but just don't want to promise anything they can't hold?
=> and with that the arc back to topic and (stream) content - for me that and the whole communication feels a little bit like dead game to me (i am NOT saying it is! )... the whole community is often just hanging in a hole and no one knows when and what is going on.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Where is the happy fun news and bulletins?

Paul's weekly Galnet summary?


I'm not saying any of what you said is wrong - or, for that matter that any Youtubers not employed directly by FDev have a responsibility to say anything positive about them or their games whether they could theoretically find it or not! - but all of this was also the case (and often much more so) in mid-2017 as well: nothing much going on in the game except for some fairly routine CGs and low-profile community events ; 2.3 Multicrew had been buggy to the point of being unusable (and months behind schedule, too) and they weren't even proposing to fix it, while 2.4 ??? was in the same "we can't tell you what it is but it's probably Thargoids" position as U15/16 are now. This is now a time looked back on by many as some sort of "golden age" for Elite Dangerous.


So what, other than the obvious, has changed?

 

[nemolomen]

Sorry I got into this so late....

 

[Old Duck]

These days I think OA suffers from not really having a lot to say about Elite: Dangerous while still feeling compelled to make videos about it in order to keep his channel going (several recent examples have used an awful lot of words to say practically nothing). I know from experience that, after a very long time with this game, it becomes very easy to fall into the trap of discussing the problems rather than the good stuff because "feature X still not fixed" tends to have more meat to it as a discussion topic over "feature X still excellent". On the whole tho' at heart I feel like he still has a reasonably balanced view of the game? (maybe not, maybe he has fallen out of love with it/them? ).

I confess that I've been bored with OA's more recent Elite videos myself, and I'm a huge OA fan. Personally I wish he'd redirect his passion to other space games like X4 and Space Engineers rather than beat the dead Frontier horse. His recent Starfield videos, for example, are some of my favorite.

 

[Greasetrap42]

So what, other than the obvious, has changed?

I wasn't playing the game in 2017, but some very enthusiastic players got me started in 2018.

• In 2017 it was a much younger game, so rehashing stuff wasn't quite so old.
• Background storylines were active in people's minds (certainly with the players I spoke with).
• There was defintely an excitement and hope with the future of the game (certainly with the players I spoke with).
• New ships were released. 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018. Lots of possible positive discussion about these new ships, how to outfit them, how to use them.

There really isn't much to add to the existing 5yo videos on ships.

EDO introduced a bunch of cool new stuff that got massively overshadowed by the horrible launch. Frontier lost the opportunity to successfuly market cool new features when they were introduced. The flash and dazzle was lost and a long period of nothing but game fixes and frustrsations proceeded. 8 months after the launch the game was more playable but the cool new stuff was now old and often still buggy. Edit: Doesn't make for good positive youtube video pretending to be excited about something that got introduced at EDO launch but wasn't playable until very much later and in many cases still has significant bugs or issues.

 

[Alec Turner]

Where is the happy fun news and bulletins?

GalNet News Round Up - 20 January 3309

Greetings Commanders! The sky has aligned once more, as the celestial bodies above us reposition themselves to indicate that time marches ever onwards and we are all insignificant specks to the endless cosmos. Before we all slip away into existential dread, lets distract ourselves with a...

forums.frontier.co.uk

https://www.youtube.com/@GalnetDigest

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHY2YY56tCsg3pW0R4Vqjp37qsgEvtA0E

 

[amigacooke]

Paul's weekly Galnet summary?


I'm not saying any of what you said is wrong - or, for that matter that any Youtubers not employed directly by FDev have a responsibility to say anything positive about them or their games whether they could theoretically find it or not! - but all of this was also the case (and often much more so) in mid-2017 as well: nothing much going on in the game except for some fairly routine CGs and low-profile community events ; 2.3 Multicrew had been buggy to the point of being unusable (and months behind schedule, too) and they weren't even proposing to fix it, while 2.4 ??? was in the same "we can't tell you what it is but it's probably Thargoids" position as U15/16 are now. This is now a time looked back on by many as some sort of "golden age" for Elite Dangerous.


So what, other than the obvious, has changed?

In mid-2017 we had the much vaunted Frontier Expo 2017 to look forward to. This introduced the idea of 'lesser' updates between 'proper' ones. I was expecting an Odyssey style expansion, what was announced was a mostly bug-fixing year.

No Expo since then.

​

 

[Ian Doncaster]

• In 2017 it was a much younger game, so rehashing stuff wasn't quite so old.

And, perhaps more importantly, the players were also six years less bored of it. The things going on right now in-game would have been unthinkable in 2017 or even 2019 ... it's hardly a surprise that most of the people who were around in 2013 have either left or lost a lot of the initial interest.

• Background storylines were active in people's minds (certainly with the players I spoke with).

And you even found the people who were in favour of them, too

In fairness, the current Thargoid storyline and related events are making up a decent proportion of mostly-positive chatter here, as did the NMLA and Azimuth arcs before that. That's something which Frontier are definitely getting right, I think.

EDO introduced a bunch of cool new stuff that got massively overshadowed by the horrible launch. Frontier lost the opportunity to successfuly market cool new features when they were introduced.

Definitely agreed here - and also has kept basically all that stuff separate from the story events since, which seems like it's missing out on later opportunities to show it off too. It's at the "no more bugs than the rest of the game" stage, they might as well do some events with it.