You invented the grind ... you can stop if you want
The following was published in the March 2011 issue of Game Developer magazine… “This is what games are for. They teach us things so that we can minimize risk and know what choices to make. Phrased…
www.designer-notes.com
Okay that's not really true, but I can tell from the way this game has been developed that someone on the dev-team has a thimble full of knowledge about psychology and a bucket full of malice toward the player base. That's how we got slot machine engineering, remember that? I most definitely don't need that guy teaching me life lessons.
Grind walls are what lazy devs do to keep people playing games with poor content. An example is requiring me to build and outfit a mining ship and then requiring me to mine for several hours in order to secure armor/hull upgrades FOR COMBAT.
Mining has nothing to do with combat and in a game with the tagline "Forge your own path" it's pretty galling. As a combat pilot my own path will never include mining. That's a grind wall and there's no way I can make that fun because it just isn't.
The thing is, Elite has some really good content and the combat system is superb. At entry, it's accessible but after 5 years and thousands of hours I still don't feel like I've mastered it.
If it wasn't for all the grindy material gathering, I'd spend even more time playing, building, and fighting different combat designs.
If starfield has good ship combat I'll probably never play this game again.
PS
Did you actually read that article?
Here's the last line:
"Ultimately, the designer can’t go wrong putting the player in control of his or her own experience."
If FDev required time & effort to advance in the game, but let me choose how I spent it. There'd be no complains from me.
