Is Elite Dangerous a simulator to you?

[rootsrat]

To me ED was always a sim type of game in the first place. It's also a sandbox, RPG, adventure... and a few other genres, but ultimately this was always a simulator for me. FE2, FFE and ED.

Someone seemed surprised in another thread today when I said Elite is a simulator, so I started wondering is it really a sim? It seemed to be heading in that direction at first, with BGS, Powerplay and delayed ship transfer... But then we got nonsensical Telepresence, which is contradicting itself within its own rules (SLF TP range is circa 25 km and yet I can also use TP to my friend's ship who's at Beagle Point... right.). Quite a few other things that I would consider to be also truly simulated - like persistent mission related NPC's etc. - are not.

So I went onto the Elite Dangerous official website today to check if Frontier advertises Elite as a sim and guess what - nowhere on the whole website (I checked all of the pages and searched for the word) FDEV mentions "sim". I also checked PC manual. Nope. Nowhere to be found.

I must say this came as a surprise. I always assumed that Elite was advertised as a simulation type of game, but the only places it refers to it as such are:

1) In relation to planetary landings on Horizons Season description page:

Travel seamlessly from space to any point on the surface of accurately simulated planets and moons throughout Elite Dangerous' full-scale Milky Way galaxy

2) In the PC manual:

You can choose to start the game Solo. You will never encounter other human Commanders, but the game simulation will still take into account all other players.

The main advert blurb on the main page says (and note it still mentions "Seasons"):

Elite Dangerous is continually evolving, adding new features, narrative and in-game content with each new season. Elite Dangerous is in ongoing development, with a number of free and premium game updates available to expand the core Elite Dangerous experience.

I wonder how many other people treat Elite Dangerous as a simulation type of game in the first place... Let me know!

 

[Ser Xav]

I always wished it would be more simmy..!

 

[Lightspeed]

Not so much a simulation ... it's a massive social experiment in excitement, disappointment, teases and manipulation

 

[Maggie_Oz]

It really can't be a simulator as what it simulates doesn't exist.
Flying in ED is not really any different to walking your little person in a FPS game. It's nothing like flying a real aircraft nor a spaceship so it kinda can't be a simulator of either of those.

At its core it's a Space Trading game, just as it was in '86 and has a smallish RPG element it simulates anything it simulates a possible future lifestyle set on a background of Space Opera .

 

[Spaceman Si]

I always looked on it as more sim than not. The flight model is a big chunk of that, as is the (largely) accurate lighting, though recent versions have taken some of that away.

”Frontier”, and “FFE”, were gloriously sim-like for their time.

And if it didn’t feel like that, the game would have little interest for me, so I‘d say “yes, it’s a sim”

 

[Morbad]

Among other things, It's supposed to be a Pilots' Federation Commander simulator. I suppose it succeeds as well at this as plenty of other 'simulators' succeed at what they are trying to simulate, but it's fleshed out too little and compromised too much to be very good as a simulator.

 

[rootsrat]

It really can't be a simulator as what it simulates doesn't exist.
Flying in ED is not really any different to walking your little person in a FPS game. It's nothing like flying a real aircraft nor a spaceship so it kinda can't be a simulator of their of those.

Simulation doesn't have to simulate something real. It's a name of a video game genre, not in a literal way. "Space sim" is a commonly accepted term for specific type of games.

It's a simulation within the reality of the game world.

 

[Riverside]

Yes. Depends on how the observer defines 'Sim' of course, but I have no issue with FDev marketing calling it that.

 

[Marklar_]

It's basically a fantasy sim of what it would be like to fly spaceships in movies like Star Wars, The Last Starfighter, etc. That is, unrealistic WWII dogfighting in space. It's also a lot simpler than a true flight sim.

 

[Backelaer]

It's basically a fantasy sim of what it would be like to fly spaceships in movies like Star Wars, The Last Starfighter, etc. That is, unrealistic WWII dogfighting in space. It's also a lot simpler than a true flight sim.

Yeah yeah we all know that it's 'unrealistic'. There's quite a good reason for that though: it's a game.

You want a perfect sim? Step out of your house.

 

[gorankar]

It's a sim. A light sandbox space sim, but a sim none the less. It's certainly not an RPG. There are no skill trees, no special drops, no real progression outside generating credits and grinding unlocks. It's more like a F2P game without the P2W features you would expect. Just grind 2W.

 

[Jmanis]

Has and always will be a game series for me

 

[Ralph Vargr]

Yeah yeah we all know that it's 'unrealistic'. There's quite a good reason for that though: it's a game.

You want a perfect sim? Step out of your house.

That's scary. The humans are loose.

 

[Maggie_Oz]

Simulation doesn't have to simulate something real. It's a name of a video game genre, not in a literal way. "Space sim" is a commonly accepted term for specific type of games.

It's a simulation within the reality of the game world.

It kinda does. It is a game world in and of itself, it's not really trying to replicate something, it IS the thing.
I agree though that the generally accepted term is "Space Sim", whether that is accurate or not remains to be seen and TBH isn't really that important.

 

[Maggie_Oz]

Yeah yeah we all know that it's 'unrealistic'. There's quite a good reason for that though: it's a game.

I think that is a very important point. ED isn't trying to replicate a possible reality, it's just saying "this is how stuff works"

 

[rootsrat]

It's a sim. A light sandbox space sim, but a sim none the less. It's certainly not an RPG. There are no skill trees, no special drops, no real progression outside generating credits and grinding unlocks. It's more like a F2P game without the P2W features you would expect. Just grind 2W.

You role play a certain character within a rule set and according to how you want it to be. The ship is almost like a character in regular RPG and you equip it with the modules. Hardpoints are weapons (but you have many arms ), utility slots are your regular "quickslots". Cargo space is your backpack. Synthesis is your spell book. Engineering is enchantments. Levelling up is getting better and more capable ships that make you more powerful. And so on.

It definitely is an RPG amongst other things.

::EDIT::

Levelling up is getting better and more capable ships that make you more powerful.

Credits are XP then (Borann )

 

[Maggie_Oz]

It's certainly not an RPG. There are no skill trees, no special drops, no real progression outside generating credits and grinding unlocks.

Interesting, we clearly have entirely different interpretations of what an RPG is LOL !

 

[Sir Ganksalot]

It's a simulation of our galaxy and the controls are flight simulator esque but beyond that I'm not sure. I suppose you could say it's a simulation of our fantasy of space flight. I think of games like Asetto Corsa Competizione or MS flight simulator to be more like simulations than Elite though.

 

[metatheurgist]

It's a bit simmy, but could be simmier.

And the "I play a role" definition of RPG is so loose it's useless. I play the Master Chief in Halo - therefore it is an RPG. I play Mario in Mario Kart - therefore it is an RPG. I play Sonic in Sonic the Hedgehog - therefor it is an RPG.

 

[IamMe]

It is a space/galaxy simulation and in that regard can be branded as a space sim.
Regarding flight (FM) and physics to today's flight sim standards it is a pure game!
DM being totally arcade!
I really hope if atmo landing arrives it will be challenhing and more sim type, or at least give us options to be!

Space sim=yes, best out there!
Flight sim=no!