My attitude to game mode is that PowerPlay is an inherently collaborative, and competitive, system. You would almost expect it to be Open-Only because that would make sense. The only reason the game as a whole isn't is because gankers are such a huge problem. The question is whether those who just want to kill haulers would overpower those who would defend us.
From my perspective, there have been many occasions where there have been expansions among powers whose main forces play in Open, where that hasn't happened. Where either we've had sufficient PVP forces to repel gankers (if there were any) or where they just didn't show up. They could. But overwhelmingly, it tends to be people who care about PowerPlay, who are pledged to a power and in those squadrons. But still, that's as things stand, that doesn't guarantee that's what would happen in 2.0.
I guess I should lay out the actual advantages of Open for non-PVPers, because I've already seen people assume PVPers are the only ones who use it.
- Open is great for working with others on PvE activities. You can find someone who you don't know and make a friend working together to do something. I think that's neat.
- Opposition is fun. The past few days I've been doing BGS wars and sometimes we'd butt heads with opposition who want to do the same CZs we are. I'm not one for PVP but I enjoy that. I have a choice to either try to take them on myself or call for backup and wait for help. I find that a very satisfying dynamic, it makes things more interesting than just a grindfest.
- As a hauler, I like the adrenaline rush of evasion. I'm in an unshielded T9, I am made of paper, so it's thrilling to face a gauntlet, as long as there's a decent chance of success.
My overall point is that although I can do the grind, I prefer when it's not a grind, when there are things happening. It's not just numbers going up, it's actual human opposition. I think that's worth a great deal.
As for 2.0 specifically, the vision presented thus far seems to imply active human opposition. That's what gets the designers excited, and so it should! If it's just a progress bar and people grinding for it, that isn't very interesting. People won't come back for that. But if you can get a sense of community, and not just that but multiple communities butting heads, I think that's an infinitely more exciting system.
I don't know if OOPP is the way to get that to happen, but I do want FDev to give serious thought about how to disincentivise people working (and especially hauling) entirely on their own, with no interaction with others. Because it just ends up a grindfest, and Elite Dangerous has too much of that already.
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