Motivation in Elite Dangerous

[orfeboy]

So far in development ED has offered us pretty much the same activities as the original Elite.

We can trade
We can mine
We can pirate
We can bounty hunt
and we also now have the bulletin board...

With no end objective in the game all these tasks serve to make you credits. The credits are useless to you except for the purpose of upgrading your ship or buying a new bigger - better ship.

Therefore the soul motivation in the game as it stands is simply buying a better spaceship to make more credits.

This was the original games major flaw - longterm motivation.

There were however 5 missions available in the original you got access to after a long time playing. I remember thinking how much better the game would be if there had been more.

The bulletin board does not actually provide 'missions'. It is basicly the same as the commodity market with a different screen. Press a button, fly, press another button. Hardly engaging?

It is my opinion the new game needs good mission structure to provide longterm interest. Afterall, after you have upgraded your ship you now need a reason to fly it! It is the engaging world and little side story arcs that would provide this IMO. I have found this to be non existant in the Beta. Some say it will be provided in the final game but I am not so sure. What I have gatherered is that factions you do bulletin board missions for will offer you jobs as your status increases. If this is true you may be doing a lot of flying around before anyone starts offering you work. This seems to follow the same model as the old Elite in this respect also.

I am of the opinion the game needs more 'quest' like structures to be found in GTA that lead off in their own little story arcs. Things players can choose to become involved in or not. That is their choice. Becoming involved with one crowd might close the doors in others to that player thus creating politics between the players themselves as they become embroiled in the politics of the game.

I would like to hear others opoinions on this whole subject and the longevity ED offers. I personally do not think the present model as we see it is enough to sustain the game. Once players are past the honeymoon period all games go through players inevitably see the cracks. Good games survive this. Bad ones end up on the shelf.

Discuss please - and no Fanboy protests (yawn).

 

[Siggi]

The answer requires a few "ifs". If planetary landings are implemented and if we can do decent stuff on those planets, including building bases etc, eventually we'll be able to put our feet up with a cig and a cuppa and chill out to an awesome view through the window while listening to good toons.
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Pretty much aka real life.

 

[Tyr07]

I've never played any of the previous elite games, so definitely not a 'fan boy'

I definitely feel missions need to be upgraded, commodities need to eventually be upgraded to matter, maybe player run stations or bases who need these things, who knows.
What I do know, is I'm hoping to take my credits and newer ships, form a coalition with other players, and try to claim a system, discourage people to jump through it without paying the toll, and regular pirate bad***ery.
I plan to use this sandbox to create my own story.

But I do share your sentiment for more tools to help design our story, like player ran / deployed outposts, fuel for them, larger scale mining operations and so fourth.

 

[Danger Mouse]

The answer requires a few "ifs". If planetary landings are implemented and if we can do decent stuff on those planets, including building bases etc, eventually we'll be able to put our feet up with a cig and a cuppa and chill out to an awesome view through the window while listening to good toons.
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Pretty much aka real life.

You will not be able to build or manage anything. Frontier have been adamant about this. Extremely adamant...

 

[MorkFromOrk]

Discuss please - and no Fanboy protests (yawn).

You know you've probably just excluded most of the forum from contributing?

We are only a few days from finding out if FD have listened to the multiple previous threads describing the same concerns. Whatever anyone else says they are valid concerns and I really x 100 hope they pay attention to this otherwise this will be a 30 year old game with prettier graphics and a huge missed opportunity.

 

[karel]

I'm not a fanboy. I started with ED.

I also played EVE before. And I know that only players keep it running. Because once players can build their factions, explore, claim territories, and be at war with each other, then you'll see that it will run forever.

 

[Siggi]

You will not be able to build or manage anything. Frontier have been adamant about this. Extremely adamant...

Time changes absolutes, sometimes.

 

[Corwyn]

I'm not going to reply point by point, what I will say is, ED is not as much a game as a simulator. What that means is, you pretty much set your own motivations. Think about MS Flight simulator, there are many people, still playing it today, or sims just like it, they've bought gear from other companies, similar to how ED players have, to enhance their enjoyment of it, and formed groups about it, discussing their exploits in it.

ED is a simulator, with a game attached. It gives you things to do, which is far more than Flight Sim did, to help you build some motivational factors and give you a reason to fly. There's reputations that build as you do missions and trade goods, as well as earning money to upgrade your ship. Now there's exploration, discovering new star systems, perhaps finding non-human races, or, from what I've heard, derelict ships to send scientific teams to. And more.

The thing about any sim/game, people need to find their motivations to play. Level treadmill games like Eve, Horizons, Anarchy Online, Everquest, SWG, and so may others, give you motivations by having you chase after experience points to gain levels, to get better skills to do, pretty much, the same thing, in a different setting, as ED.

So there aren't levels here, except the reputation/combat levels, which aren't really skill based. But there is the use of your imagination to help you along, to determine your destiny in the Galaxy. If this bores you, then I'm sorry to hear it, there are games out there more suited to your desire to be a sheep and follow the paths that the game company set for you. Or you can break out of the "follow the leader" mold, and discover your own abilities. Flying takes time to learn, and it is a skill, yes, I know, you've mastered it, you're the Ace of space (no, this wasn't directed at the OP, but at every single person who flies in ED, including myself). Well, there are skills still to learn, what they are, well, I don't know, I haven't run across them yet or seen the need to learn them, but I learn something knew every day.

Set your own goals in ED, set something grand to achieve, then set smaller goals along the way to get there, and smaller goals still to get to those goals. See what the Galaxy has to offer, the beauty of it. Watch as the politics changes, and how it might affect you as you go about your tasks. That's the motivations I find interesting, because I set them for myself, not some person sitting at a desk in some far away office, deciding to lead me along with a carrot on a stick.

Good luck Cmdrs, see you in the Black.

 

[Tyr07]

I would be satisfied with not "running" it but heavily influencing it, say if it was part of the faction I choose to be a part of, and gain rep for it, or trade with it improves the bases features, upgrades available, defensive capabilities even at one point.

Let's face it, in theory if enough players get together, they should be able to destroy a station. Maybe that that has a dynamic for a dynamic war / combat system, have them rebuild and need better trade / missions ran to "upgrade" the station agan etc.

 

[Siggi]

Maybe civilian and military medals from a faction to which you belong (for doing various things).

 

[Anopheles]

I'd like the ability to set up my own trading empire, with cartels as well as setting up my own mercenary navy or exploring ou and 'owning' my own system/s.

Now, that's long term motivations I could get behind.

 

[_Flin_]

I think a lot of the motivation comes from actually doing the things you like.

Going exploring and finding that earthlike planet.
Finding that great trade route.
Being the first to Sagittarius A.
Starting identifying with "your" system and trying to help there. (Which would be alleviated a lot by making "your" system give some feedback for you).

I think the more the players are able to influence the world, the more they will continue to play it. Leaving your mark in the galaxy, having your own little statue in the town hall, so to say. Somehow building a connection between the player and the systems will go a long way. And that will be achieved through missions, to system specific rewards, whatever.

In my case I was trading in one system, and figured: damn, they are short on food. So I took 4 jumps and got some grain. Didn't make a lot of profit, but I somehow felt it was my responsibility.

Maybe if we could somehow see what a system really needs. Like a message in the contacts "we desperately need more Gallite to continue our production of high end crop harvesters." Or something....

EDIT: What I'd really like to see in the long run is for the players to be able to create content. By giving missions to other players, creating player events like races, or by setting up a factory with set buy/sell prices that in turn start to produce outfittings or commodities.

 

[Tyr07]

What would be really cool is if systems had a dynamic aspect to their needs. Stats like current population, crime and needs. Lack of food? Population starts going down, rewards for mission become less, except maybe food transport prices go up.
If criminal element is high in the sector E.G Players destroying system authority or doing bad things, it increases the chances of theft missions showing up and the system going anarchy, having a black market etc. Make it so what people do can influence this.

Alternatively, players could kill people with bounties to decrease the criminal element (Or npcs) etc.

 

[MajorEpeen]

CR of Star Citizen stated that the ships themselves are the majority of the content in that game.

Anyway this is a sandbox and your choices and activities make your own story. There is no traditional "content" like you would experience in a theme park MMO and to be honest that is not that great anyway. (Go here, kill 10 of these, etc.)

Some people just cannot get on with sandbox games as they need direction but the future will hold further things than are currently in the game such as events.

 

[Morbad]

My motivation is not to earn credits or get larger ships, at least once I have a ship I like and a sufficient reserve of credits to cover expenditures.

 

[Shadowbane]

Well there are at least 3 main factions the Federation, the Empire and the Alliance. I am sure they could add others. You could do story arcs and faction rep for these to get different ships and equipment. Hopefully it will have some sort of guild thing, maybe guild space stations, though with the size of elite it might be tricky to get together unless and new method of travel was found to allow say travel to a guild space station and back. The problem is that if you are hours a way from your mates, unless they input some way to group up and move to them (which might break immersion a bit) grouping with mates will be tricky it seems to me?

 

[Anopheles]

Well there are at least 3 main factions the Federation, the Empire and the Alliance. I am sure they could add others. You could do story arcs and faction rep for these to get different ships and equipment. Hopefully it will have some sort of guild thing, maybe guild space stations, though with the size of elite it might be tricky to get together unless and new method of travel was found to allow say travel to a guild space station and back. The problem is that if you are hours a way from your mates, unless they input some way to group up and move to them (which might break immersion a bit) grouping with mates will be tricky it seems to me?

Perhaps when you explore out far enough you could claim a system and the short cut to wealth by applying to join the Federation, etc or spend more time to make it independent, but more valuable?

 

[orfeboy]

I'm not going to reply point by point, what I will say is, ED is not as much a game as a simulator. What that means is, you pretty much set your own motivations. Think about MS Flight simulator, there are many people, still playing it today, or sims just like it, they've bought gear from other companies, similar to how ED players have, to enhance their enjoyment of it, and formed groups about it, discussing their exploits in it.

ED is a simulator, with a game attached. It gives you things to do, which is far more than Flight Sim did, to help you build some motivational factors and give you a reason to fly. There's reputations that build as you do missions and trade goods, as well as earning money to upgrade your ship. Now there's exploration, discovering new star systems, perhaps finding non-human races, or, from what I've heard, derelict ships to send scientific teams to. And more.

The thing about any sim/game, people need to find their motivations to play. Level treadmill games like Eve, Horizons, Anarchy Online, Everquest, SWG, and so may others, give you motivations by having you chase after experience points to gain levels, to get better skills to do, pretty much, the same thing, in a different setting, as ED.

So there aren't levels here, except the reputation/combat levels, which aren't really skill based. But there is the use of your imagination to help you along, to determine your destiny in the Galaxy. If this bores you, then I'm sorry to hear it, there are games out there more suited to your desire to be a sheep and follow the paths that the game company set for you. Or you can break out of the "follow the leader" mold, and discover your own abilities. Flying takes time to learn, and it is a skill, yes, I know, you've mastered it, you're the Ace of space (no, this wasn't directed at the OP, but at every single person who flies in ED, including myself). Well, there are skills still to learn, what they are, well, I don't know, I haven't run across them yet or seen the need to learn them, but I learn something knew every day.

Set your own goals in ED, set something grand to achieve, then set smaller goals along the way to get there, and smaller goals still to get to those goals. See what the Galaxy has to offer, the beauty of it. Watch as the politics changes, and how it might affect you as you go about your tasks. That's the motivations I find interesting, because I set them for myself, not some person sitting at a desk in some far away office, deciding to lead me along with a carrot on a stick.

Good luck Cmdrs, see you in the Black.

I don't see this as sustainable. I diont need to question if I like Elite or not. I played enough of it when I was a kid. I do however realise that time has moved on and although you think your philosophy will see you through boredom I beg to differ. You will tire of doing the same things with no point to them quickly. Unless of course. You are somehow different to the rest of the human race.

What I am suggesting is that a mission system should exist in the game that allows you todo m jobs that will have a bearing on your standing with all factions. If you pursue one course in life it will effect how other factions view you. This creates charachter and factional friends and enemies. It creates 'your own story' without leading you. You do that yourself and choose your own route. I am not suggesting kill 10 of these and get a fluffy bunny or anything like it.

I would not like to see Elite go down the linear story route at all but I do believe there should be story forming dialogue in the game to bring it to life. That does not exist in the game at present. That is the sort of thing that makes it interesting and makes you feel you make a difference and gives a player confirmation of that fact. What I would not like to see would be a skyrim situation where you are allowed to be a walking contradiction as regards missions. If one faction considers you an enemy it should stay that way.

 

[Tyr07]

Well, I think you should be able to earn reputation, pay off bounties etc so you're no longer considered an enemy so you can 'change factions'.

But yes, need a dynamic war system in place with factions, I would drool for this. Eve has faction warfare but I don't enjoy the combat and style nearly as much as ED.
I want to see system control change, fianncial status of the system, population, levels of crime based on the actions we take, which affect the markets, goods available, ships available, mission types available, faction hostility etc.

 

[natte hond]

one new motivation is defending your own turf.
as you can can friendly to a alliance or system.
I like the fact its dynamic and reacts to your actions.
to me the concept seems new.
and it creates new challenges.
it does however creates the problem of wanting to explore to far out.
I now have the feeling that the game is best is you don't .
cause then you build a local reputation and not only to the AI.
I wonder what it would do to the groups who wants to venture out.
could they become complete outcasts??
and eventually be doomed to be pirates.