So no one will deny that Frontier has put a positively incredible amount of detail into the game. Right down to warning text near rear thrusters to keep back -- the kind of thing almost no space sim would go so far as to do. But for all that it has such incredible detail in things like models, sounds of things going on around you, etc etc, the universe is, well, lifeless. It completely lacks any sort of atmosphere of liveliness. More things should happen. Little things. Things that don't matter much but which add to the overall realism and detail of the universe and just all around atmosphere for the game. I'm reading the collection of Elite-related stories called "Alien Items" (in which Drew Wagar wrote a few things btw.) In it there are a lot of stories, most of which are quite small. Some are probably little more than a page long (well, I'm reading it digitally on an ereader, so can't say exactly how it works out, but very very short.) For example, one describes a pilot of a Cobra that's basically ready to fall apart struggling just to leave the station only to have a racer nearly send him careening into a wall as they break queue. Some I consider more questionably written (for example, a Cobra MKIII taking on a FDL and a python both and making it look easy with the FDL running from a missile and then turning around and firing one at them that they just take without significant problems.) Yet despite these sorts of moments it's definitely giving me much more of a feel of a world with things actually happening than the game itself is doing. Yet just having external books and stories isn't really good enough. It is the game itself that needs more atmosphere with such things only serving to complement this.
To some extent this happens from time to time with a very rare things. However, these not only are quite rare, but they tend to require you to go out of your way to see or hear anything about them. For instance, when the old colony ships were found, the logs told a little story (though IMO they could use a little more filling out -- perhaps as others come in and investigate more should be revealed) but this wasn't really even mentioned to players and many have no idea. You have to go through the forums or other sites on the Internet to find them. This sort of thing should definitely be on GalNet in some form. These events should be more common and more visible to more players, not just those who go out of their way to find them (that reward primarily goes to the first people on the scene and the discoverer themselves.) GalNet should be abuzz with people talking about those ships and especially what the "ghosts" were exactly (maybe even actually allow player interaction to some extent in a forum-like system like this but within the game itself?) And with the recent final nail in the coffin as it is declared that the aliens we've been seeing are confirmed to be the Thargoids as so many suspected, we should see people debating stuff like, for example, if the rumors of the battle aftermath people found with broken federal ships and etc might mean it's actually something the feds did to start this (for example, maybe they were trying to steal technology to get an edge.) Who really trusts the government after all?
But also more little random things from NPCs. For example, while you may sometimes find one flying a bit randomly and getting stuck in a wall in the station or something, this is usually just when the AI plain screws up and is quite rare indeed and frankly a bit stupid (no matter how bad a pilot is, they aren't going to sit there just bouncing up and down against two walls without trying anything different. Unless they're very very very high on something I suppose.) One of those little stories I mentioned told of just one short period of the pilot of an ailing cobra way past its time for a complete overhaul (or outright replacing even -- I'd rather fly a sidewinder than that horrid thing.) On his way out he's struggling with the ship that basically wants to randomly screw up and a racer presumed to be a rich kid rushes up ahead, throwing him off a bit due to their wake and earning a fine. Certainly it could be a lot more interesting if, on your way in or out some NPC might actually come bursting through in a hurry -- maybe even a chance of them screwing up and actually bumping into the player and, for once, actually earning a fine (complete with maybe some potential for the player to need to turn around and get repairs on the station's dollar fined, of course, to the NPC.) Annoying at times, true, but much more interesting than things as they are now. And when the player comes flying in at 200+ it's definitely interesting when the flight controllers start shouting, but it's amazingly rare and their "shout" is still so calm it's frankly a bit weird. (Only once have I ever heard an interesting one when I underestimated the gravity of a planet and the flight controller suddenly shouts that I'm coming in too fast and need to pull up now. Ironically I actually managed to land fairly smoothly despite this, lol.)
I was also wondering if something more interactive in general might at least theoretically be possible. I was thinking about how some older games used to do this sort of thing where, for example, you might have some minor random event where, say, you're in a station and some guy pulls you aside and offers you some shady deal (the kind of thing that they don't want to put on the mission board and let others know they're posting it.) Not just this sort of thing, but maybe other less obvious things. Just random little events. You bump into someone and see they're running from the local law enforcement. Do you help them or hold them? Maybe they aren't really a bad person and there's more to what's going on and they'd like you to carry them off some place. Maybe they really are just a pirate but the player would like to stick it to the man and he slips a few credits their way for their trouble.
And then of course there's the obvious: NPC chatter. It's pretty much just "you have no right to scan me" and "remember, this liner is in the top 1%." And then weird stuff like when a captain is talking to his passengers and for some reason broadcasts to the whole system instead of just to the passenger cabin which happens weirdly often. Random stuff like people fussing at each other or two old hunter buddies surprised the other is still alive and saying they should go get a drink at the local bar together later. Little ordinary stuff, but much more variety and a little randomness thrown in (and definitely not them repeating the same thing over and over like those passenger ships do for instance.) Maybe someone yelling out "sorry, my injectors are acting up, watch out, I can't hold it straight" or something.
These are just some examples. Basically just lots of little things. They shouldn't even occur too frequently, just in general enough to give the universe a much more living and vibrant feeling. Some of this may happen with other players from time to time, but even in open in relatively popular systems it actually doesn't happen that much. In fact, it's almost the opposite because people obviously don't RP all that much and usually it's just someone asking locals things that aren't just OC, but downright reminders that it's a game like "good grief drop rates are low for x data." Plus, obviously, this does nothing for solo and most private groups. And not everyone really wants to RP, but even if you completely do not, all these little things still add enormously to the overall atmosphere of the setting.
To some extent this happens from time to time with a very rare things. However, these not only are quite rare, but they tend to require you to go out of your way to see or hear anything about them. For instance, when the old colony ships were found, the logs told a little story (though IMO they could use a little more filling out -- perhaps as others come in and investigate more should be revealed) but this wasn't really even mentioned to players and many have no idea. You have to go through the forums or other sites on the Internet to find them. This sort of thing should definitely be on GalNet in some form. These events should be more common and more visible to more players, not just those who go out of their way to find them (that reward primarily goes to the first people on the scene and the discoverer themselves.) GalNet should be abuzz with people talking about those ships and especially what the "ghosts" were exactly (maybe even actually allow player interaction to some extent in a forum-like system like this but within the game itself?) And with the recent final nail in the coffin as it is declared that the aliens we've been seeing are confirmed to be the Thargoids as so many suspected, we should see people debating stuff like, for example, if the rumors of the battle aftermath people found with broken federal ships and etc might mean it's actually something the feds did to start this (for example, maybe they were trying to steal technology to get an edge.) Who really trusts the government after all?
But also more little random things from NPCs. For example, while you may sometimes find one flying a bit randomly and getting stuck in a wall in the station or something, this is usually just when the AI plain screws up and is quite rare indeed and frankly a bit stupid (no matter how bad a pilot is, they aren't going to sit there just bouncing up and down against two walls without trying anything different. Unless they're very very very high on something I suppose.) One of those little stories I mentioned told of just one short period of the pilot of an ailing cobra way past its time for a complete overhaul (or outright replacing even -- I'd rather fly a sidewinder than that horrid thing.) On his way out he's struggling with the ship that basically wants to randomly screw up and a racer presumed to be a rich kid rushes up ahead, throwing him off a bit due to their wake and earning a fine. Certainly it could be a lot more interesting if, on your way in or out some NPC might actually come bursting through in a hurry -- maybe even a chance of them screwing up and actually bumping into the player and, for once, actually earning a fine (complete with maybe some potential for the player to need to turn around and get repairs on the station's dollar fined, of course, to the NPC.) Annoying at times, true, but much more interesting than things as they are now. And when the player comes flying in at 200+ it's definitely interesting when the flight controllers start shouting, but it's amazingly rare and their "shout" is still so calm it's frankly a bit weird. (Only once have I ever heard an interesting one when I underestimated the gravity of a planet and the flight controller suddenly shouts that I'm coming in too fast and need to pull up now. Ironically I actually managed to land fairly smoothly despite this, lol.)
I was also wondering if something more interactive in general might at least theoretically be possible. I was thinking about how some older games used to do this sort of thing where, for example, you might have some minor random event where, say, you're in a station and some guy pulls you aside and offers you some shady deal (the kind of thing that they don't want to put on the mission board and let others know they're posting it.) Not just this sort of thing, but maybe other less obvious things. Just random little events. You bump into someone and see they're running from the local law enforcement. Do you help them or hold them? Maybe they aren't really a bad person and there's more to what's going on and they'd like you to carry them off some place. Maybe they really are just a pirate but the player would like to stick it to the man and he slips a few credits their way for their trouble.
And then of course there's the obvious: NPC chatter. It's pretty much just "you have no right to scan me" and "remember, this liner is in the top 1%." And then weird stuff like when a captain is talking to his passengers and for some reason broadcasts to the whole system instead of just to the passenger cabin which happens weirdly often. Random stuff like people fussing at each other or two old hunter buddies surprised the other is still alive and saying they should go get a drink at the local bar together later. Little ordinary stuff, but much more variety and a little randomness thrown in (and definitely not them repeating the same thing over and over like those passenger ships do for instance.) Maybe someone yelling out "sorry, my injectors are acting up, watch out, I can't hold it straight" or something.
These are just some examples. Basically just lots of little things. They shouldn't even occur too frequently, just in general enough to give the universe a much more living and vibrant feeling. Some of this may happen with other players from time to time, but even in open in relatively popular systems it actually doesn't happen that much. In fact, it's almost the opposite because people obviously don't RP all that much and usually it's just someone asking locals things that aren't just OC, but downright reminders that it's a game like "good grief drop rates are low for x data." Plus, obviously, this does nothing for solo and most private groups. And not everyone really wants to RP, but even if you completely do not, all these little things still add enormously to the overall atmosphere of the setting.