So, this is supposed to be the 34th century? Funny, but ED is having all the same problems as all the other MMORPGs in human history. Reading the forums, one would get the impression there is one major problem: ganking. Which, listening to the defenders of that minority* playstyle, is honourable, legitimate, and dearly needed for keeping the game alive. Let's look at that.
Pirates are honourable and heroes, because they're fighting against the powers that be. We all know that. And because they're brave, and making a livelihood by taking from the rich and giving to the poor. And because they only could afford tiny sloops and pinnaces, barely strong enough to gun down and loot a well-defended merchant vessel, let alone a real war frigate or ship of the line. Very risky, prone to loosing it all and ending up at the gallows. Sounds exciting, doesn't it? Sadly we're having none of that in ED, as the pilot federation still will pay 95 % of any pirate's cutter or corvette insurance, and the Great Powers won't even look at any acts of crime, while system authority forces will show up in ridiculous little vipers. So there's no risk in ED piracy, no honour, no gain and no fun. Hm. Do we really need this ingame? Roleplaying?
But it's legitimate, for sure. Gunning down any ship is possible without serious penalties. This is because the Devs made the game this way. Yes, ganking is good because... exactly, that's the old "deus vult" justification. Because God himself made the world as it is, killing the godless is legitimate. Allahu Akbar! Or in other words, this is the playstyle of terrorists: Killing because "devs vult". What's usually happening to terrorists? Will the global insurance industry pay for their losses? ISIS losing any armoured vehicles, AlQaeda getting a base destroyed? I don't think so. Shouldn't the pilot's federation reduce the insurance payout with every illegitimate kill, from 95% to zero? And shouldn't the insurance sum for killed ships stack up for the terrorists, up to a point when the rebuy of the terrorist's vessel is higher than the account's worth? So the self-righteous slayer of infidels would finally end up in a starter sidey with just a few credits, just enough for gasoline and a burger and coke? All while the ranks at the superpowers Federation, Empire and Alliance dwindle and need to be regained? Risk vs reward [that's the tl;dr point of this post]. Let's think about a game mechanic like that.
But, wouldn't all this kill the game dead? Would a game without severe penalties for killing outside powerplay (or war, this is where legimitate killing comes in) be dead and unpopulated? We need to remember the fact that game devs don't make games so we can act out our darkest fantasies (while i'm really happy if someone kills a pixel thing instead of a real person), but to pay the rent. So maybe FD wants to continue inproving this breathtakingly wonderful space MMORPG by simply asking all players if they'd like to get an open play server with clear penalties for illegimate killing and maybe add a dedicated pvp-mode, or not. Not unlike a public opinion poll, preferably by email. In the meantime, yes, everybody is free to use solo or private (where the rule of law is enforced by the community instead of game rules), as a workaround for an MMORPG with rules to cover all* players' needs.
* i'm all for protecting minorities, but only up to the point where everybody gets the same rights.
Pirates are honourable and heroes, because they're fighting against the powers that be. We all know that. And because they're brave, and making a livelihood by taking from the rich and giving to the poor. And because they only could afford tiny sloops and pinnaces, barely strong enough to gun down and loot a well-defended merchant vessel, let alone a real war frigate or ship of the line. Very risky, prone to loosing it all and ending up at the gallows. Sounds exciting, doesn't it? Sadly we're having none of that in ED, as the pilot federation still will pay 95 % of any pirate's cutter or corvette insurance, and the Great Powers won't even look at any acts of crime, while system authority forces will show up in ridiculous little vipers. So there's no risk in ED piracy, no honour, no gain and no fun. Hm. Do we really need this ingame? Roleplaying?
But it's legitimate, for sure. Gunning down any ship is possible without serious penalties. This is because the Devs made the game this way. Yes, ganking is good because... exactly, that's the old "deus vult" justification. Because God himself made the world as it is, killing the godless is legitimate. Allahu Akbar! Or in other words, this is the playstyle of terrorists: Killing because "devs vult". What's usually happening to terrorists? Will the global insurance industry pay for their losses? ISIS losing any armoured vehicles, AlQaeda getting a base destroyed? I don't think so. Shouldn't the pilot's federation reduce the insurance payout with every illegitimate kill, from 95% to zero? And shouldn't the insurance sum for killed ships stack up for the terrorists, up to a point when the rebuy of the terrorist's vessel is higher than the account's worth? So the self-righteous slayer of infidels would finally end up in a starter sidey with just a few credits, just enough for gasoline and a burger and coke? All while the ranks at the superpowers Federation, Empire and Alliance dwindle and need to be regained? Risk vs reward [that's the tl;dr point of this post]. Let's think about a game mechanic like that.
But, wouldn't all this kill the game dead? Would a game without severe penalties for killing outside powerplay (or war, this is where legimitate killing comes in) be dead and unpopulated? We need to remember the fact that game devs don't make games so we can act out our darkest fantasies (while i'm really happy if someone kills a pixel thing instead of a real person), but to pay the rent. So maybe FD wants to continue inproving this breathtakingly wonderful space MMORPG by simply asking all players if they'd like to get an open play server with clear penalties for illegimate killing and maybe add a dedicated pvp-mode, or not. Not unlike a public opinion poll, preferably by email. In the meantime, yes, everybody is free to use solo or private (where the rule of law is enforced by the community instead of game rules), as a workaround for an MMORPG with rules to cover all* players' needs.
* i'm all for protecting minorities, but only up to the point where everybody gets the same rights.
