Making friends

[callumth]

So, after hailing every passing player I saw, and not really getting a reply in return, someone finally replied. Commander Marko S Ramius, I appreciate the courtesy.

Of course, once I had docked I couldn't see him, or which of the other nearby ships were human because the radar had gone. He replied, but I was unable to reply in time before he left, and therefore because he's not local there's no means to message back or make a friend request or anything.

I know we'll get improvements to this sort of thing, but surely we can make communication a lot easier than this?

 

[callumth]

No replies, which I suppose sort of proves the point.

I assume when trading comes in the social aspect, and the willingness to partake in it will be increased, It's just a bit anti-social at the moment. If I want a murky, dark world full of shady characters who don't reply to my messages I've got Grindr, I was hoping this would be slightly better.

 

[BillD]

I think for at least a few days, a lot of the newbie players out there will be both busy and cautious trying to comprehend everything that's going on around them (speaking from my point of view anyway :S ).

Also I think it will help when all pilots have names as opposed to Backer #nnnnnn I got a friend request from a backer while fleeing from a 3 to one ambush on my newbie ship, so needless to say that was ignored if barely noticed.
I survived and managed to dock at the station like a scared rabbit

Totally loving the experience (although my neighbor is not as I have been fine tuning my sub woofer to pick up those lovely deep sounds when warping and boosting )

Commander TechnoBill
Back from a 30 year hibernation

 

[FoxTwo]

Well I *HAVE* seen other players that are "Cmdr <insert name here>" and not just "Cmdr Backer #725632"

I bet if you looked at me, my name would be "Cmdr FoxTwo" cuz that's what it says when I turn my head to look at my right panel.

Also, when people are busy doing stuff, hardly anyone looks at the top left hand monitor. Most times pirate demands are only noticed by me *AFTER* I had gone into Supercruise (either I've already killed them or have successfully run away) and I start to look at my comms monitor. Then I notice a series of "Drop your cargo or die" demands from the pirate I had just killed or run away from

In fact I do the same thing to cops too.. whenever I get interdicted I just hit FA Off and boost, almost like a reflex. Only after safely docking did I realise I had just run away from COPS saying they had the authority to scan my cargo...(on a sidenote, shouldn't there be a fine for running away from cops? IRL if you run, cops WILL chase you down)

So yes I agree, communications need more work. Either make a beeping noise upon incoming message, or make it beep only on a human-sent message. Might get more people to take notice.

 

[Zavijah]

Grindr?

I lol'd

 

[madmechanic4u]

comms

same here! i have hailed almost every player i see and only got 1 response... so far... but usually they are only in rang for a min or 2.. its a harsh galaxy! lol

 

[GoldFox]

I've had people hail me before, and every time I try to reply, I get "Target cannot be found". Of course, I'm still in the starting area with my cobra stocking up on credits before wondering into the wild black yonder.

 

[Aewarin Jameson]

No replies, which I suppose sort of proves the point.

I assume when trading comes in the social aspect, and the willingness to partake in it will be increased, It's just a bit anti-social at the moment. If I want a murky, dark world full of shady characters who don't reply to my messages I've got Grindr, I was hoping this would be slightly better.

It proves you're impatient ... 11pm post, 6am follow up - some of us have to sleep you know

I agree btw - made a post in the DDF to that effect : the game is great but the experience is lonely. I have friends on my list but talking to them is almost impossible unless you meet .. and how can you meet unless you can talk to them to arrange it.

Work in progress IMO ... It's critical FD get this right - space is huge and so the social tools need to be also.

Lonliness leads to boredom ...
boredom leads to antisocial behavour ..
antisocial behaviour leads to bounties ...
bounties lead to death.​

 

[Ulysses_W]

Of course, once I had docked I couldn't see him, or which of the other nearby ships were human because the radar had gone. He replied, but I was unable to reply in time before he left, and therefore because he's not local there's no means to message back or make a friend request or anything.

I know we'll get improvements to this sort of thing, but surely we can make communication a lot easier than this?

You can still see players when docked by selecting 'contacts' in the navigation panel. Just flick through each ship and scan from there.

 

[Gen-Han-Solo]

So, after hailing every passing player I saw, and not really getting a reply in return, someone finally replied. Commander Marko S Ramius, I appreciate the courtesy.

Of course, once I had docked I couldn't see him, or which of the other nearby ships were human because the radar had gone. He replied, but I was unable to reply in time before he left, and therefore because he's not local there's no means to message back or make a friend request or anything.

I know we'll get improvements to this sort of thing, but surely we can make communication a lot easier than this?

May I suggest talking or finding a way to communicate out of the game as well as in the game, because in game you will only be able to voice chat with commanders in the same system as you. You will also be able to work out a friendly group to communicate with much easier that way.
And once you make friends you can send friends requests in game and will be notified when logging in if they are online at the same time as you.

 

[robo]

I messaged a guy "hi cmdr" & got no reply, so just for fun I sent him/her "I am the greatest Elite pilot that has ever lived", a while passed before I got the reply "moion" back. Now this could of been meant as "moron", but when looking at a keyboard "r" & "i" are three letters apart, hardly a easy to make typo. So the pilot was either very bad a typing, or illiterate, either way I just chuckled to myself & thought 'I know who the moron is mate'.

On a more serious note, I have missed replying to cmdr's, it's not to difficult to do, there should be some sort of auditable beeb when another cmdr is sending a message to you, prompting you to look up at your comms screen.

 

[lysan]

When I get my Mic up and running I'll only use voice LOL typing is kind of boring

 

[Sissors]

While one problem of course is people just started, a way larger issue is simply how hard it is to say hi to someone. This is still an MMO, where the social aspect is often as important as the gameplay itself. And then it would be nice if you can talk to someone without getting a target lock on him first.

I really hope local, system and global chat channels will be introduced (a general global chat probably isn't that useful, but it can't hurt either besides more specific global chats). The only complain about it that I have read is that people don't want to read spam. In that case simply close the chat, problem solved.

Stuff like friend lists are nice, hell required even, but how are you supposed to befriend someone when you can't properly talk to them?

 

[Weps]

On a more serious note, I have missed replying to cmdr's, it's not to difficult to do, there should be some sort of auditable beeb when another cmdr is sending a message to you, prompting you to look up at your comms screen.

Seconded. I've missed so many hails I can't remember. For some reason I only notice them after I SCed out of range.

Also, after a CMDR hails you, you should be able to respond even after you get out of range (while in the same system). When I get hailed in SC I usually lose the contact before I get a chance to bring up the comms panel and respond.

 

[prasak]

I still was not able to figure out, how to communicate. Could you point me out to some thread where I can read about it or shortly explain it here ?

 

[Nightflash]

I still was not able to figure out, how to communicate. Could you point me out to some thread where I can read about it or shortly explain it here ?

Basically, if you look up (like you would look left for navigation and contact and look right for your ship's systems & functions) there's the communication panel. It shows you which ships can be communicated with. You can select a ship and then select an action; text chat, voice comm, friend request, block player.

I hope this helped!

 

[Nightflash]

Also adding to that, I was hailed yesterday by what seemed a pretty friendly player and we chatted for the duration of a supercruise. Just before I reached my destination, he sent me a friend request. I noticed that there is no way (yet) in game to accept his request.

Since I arrived at the station before him (he was slightly behind me during SC), I could no longer text chat with him anymore because he was not on my radar. I've waited a bit for him to pop out of SC but no lock... maybe we ended up in a different instance?

I had to quit the game to access the friend list in the options to accept his request.

I'd love to get this process simplified in the near future.

 

[robo]

I still was not able to figure out, how to communicate. Could you point me out to some thread where I can read about it or shortly explain it here ?

Target the ship you wish to communicate with, press the comms, or quick comms button (one gives a selection of options, the other straight to text), choose an option, or just type. I usually just type, it shows up in the upper left comms window, press return & your typed message is sent to the ship you had targeted.

 

[callumth]

Yeah, I think the addition of being able to talk to friends who aren't in the same system is essential. It's crazy that you can't, although I assume this is planned.

 

[Darth-Simba]

Feel free to add CMDR Julia Wolfe