I like how people are actually talking in this thread, without much of the usual war, at least for now.
I'll jump in, as I too would like ED to become the tool to tell my story, as I was promised.
My memory goes back to Disco Freelancer RP 24/7 server. I had a lot of fun playing this free mod, and some of the mechanics used there could make ED an outstanding game.
I'll narrow down some of the solutions right here (mind me, I'm re-iterating this post for 3rd time now in an attempt to make it as short as possible...)
1) Provide players with means of aligning themselves with faction of their choice.
We already have the reputation system, but it means almost nothing. Becoming allied with a faction should (my propositions):
- allow player to wear faction's suffix (e.g: Cmd John Xenir [SC] (Sirius Corporation));
- enable access to items tied with that faction/gameplay (for example: being Sirius Corp member opens access to the biggest cargo hold extensions (or +10% capacity, for example); being member of faction engaged in resource processing should allow bonus to buy price; becoming allied with bounty hunting faction should grant access to that faction's weapons and ships; becoming high-ranked navy officer should grant access to Federal Corvette - these mechanics are already in place, only expanding on them would be required);
- restrict access to stations based on reputation: why should a pirate be able to dock in any lawful system, if he's known for being a criminal? This also implies that decisions you make have direct effect on what you can, and cannot do;
- create multiple slots for commander profiles, so players can fully enjoy different play styles, alignment with different factions;
- base faction membership on player's actions (for example, when joining lawful faction and wearing its suffix, be automatically kicked out and hunted by its npcs/players if performing illegal actions; this should also result in changes towards unlwaful factions - that's how you write your story, and become exile in lawful space, naturally turning to join unlawful faction); this would also mean:
- base reputation with other factions on reputation with current one: if you perform illegal activities, you should not only be more and more welcome among pirates/unlawfuls, but your reputation with lawful factions should degrade at the same time
2) Provide players with tools to write their own story; reward players for playing the game the way you intend:
- create a way to exchange credits, so that players seeking escort have means to pay for escort service; also
- provide way to create effective wings, where all ships can tie to leader's ship for flying in organized formation and following leader through jumpspace to next system in route;
- iron out instancing system so player interactions can be supported, instead of being discouraged by its current, glitchy state;
- if you want people to team up, reward them for doing so: give bonus to bounties if bounty hunters are supposed to team up; give bonus to damage if target-focusing in wings; these are just raw examples but the point is: if you want players to do something, encourage them to do so - this is universal truth that can be applied to any game mechanic;
- provide choice if you want to start on a station in Sidewinder, or maybe be a planetary rat with SRV only, working to get his few creds for Sidewinder and get the hell off that backwater rock.
The above are just my initial propositions to expand on what players can do in the game, and how they can interact with their surrounding reality, how they can affect the little chunk of galaxy they live in, and experience effects of their actions. That's what I believe should be focused on - not how one, tiny human can influence the galaxy, but how that one, tiny human can experience effects of his own actions, on himself.
(...)
Depth comes in between. If you live a solitary and anonymous life that's fair enough, you wouldn't expect any developing consequences from your actions. Whatever actions you take will scarcely register on the superpower scale - it's a story that you're not a significant part of. What's missing in Elite is what lies between. We interact with people all the time (NPCs) - doing work for them, helping them out, saving them, fighting them. They have banter with us over comms. But then the forget we ever existed. This is a weakness. The Federation, as an entity shouldn't really care that I exist. The Federation pilot I just saved from an ambush really, really should. I might not be part of the galactic power play story, but I should be part of the story of certain individuals in a little corner of the galaxy where I'm active.
As far as I can tell, the problem at the heart of it all is the lack of servers resulting in a general lack of persistence. Most of the game is generated out of nothing every time with go in or out of super cruise. Hopefully they will address this so that you can encounter the same characters again, and their behaviour will be affected by what you've done in the past.
That is what I feel as well: not the lack of influence on the galaxy, but lack of noticeable influence in a small scale on characters/environment of my current residing.
I am very well aligned with Sirius Corp and whatever faction runs the Gateway's main stations (can't remember the name, sorry), but it is reflected in nothing but the greeting when requesting docking permission, and a few more missions to chose from. And that's the lack of depth I believe people complain about. The fact that even if you change something locally for yourself (not the galaxy), it makes little to no difference at all
for yourself.
