Personalizing planet systems to a players native language /country

[Histati]

With ED having 1 billion star systems and with our little blue planet only having 196 countries, would it be a thought to have players start out in systems that reflects the IRL country. I have been in other MMOs where I came across newbie players that could not speak English. I could tell that they where having a hard time with the game. I couldn't help but think if they started out with others that spoke the same language, there would be more opportunities for them to be helped. When I tried to help them along it obviously became frustrating. Also I think it would add to the emersion of the universe going to a foreign planet that has the flare of say Spain or Italy . A lot of science fiction takes its material from the past and present. It would be interesting to see how our different cultures would be depicted in the far future.


"May the four winds blow you safely home"

 

[Abacus]

This is an excellent idea!

I don't think it is necessary to convert whole planets to one language, the starting area would be enough (space station perhaps, there is a lot of space for monolingual space stations in space...erm...I mean the starter systems ).

It could be an option at the start of the game.

But then...you never know where people speaking a certain language are located in the vast Elite universe. Perhaps experienced players could offer some mentoring time to newbies on a board (eg Saturday 8pm-10pm I would help, later I want to play solo again) and get a message when a newcomer needs help.

 

[JeffRyan]

I'm not sure I want to start on an Italian planet though...

 

[Dejay]

I don't think the game needs to support this, if you want to play with people that share same language / culture you can use the forum to find people. But in game I'd rather have a "melting pot" of different cultures. Showing what becomes of the cultures in the setting would be nice, but I'm glad ED doesn't have separate servers for different countries.

 

[Wulf]

Seems like you're almost suggesting MMO style noob zones should be set up? I don't believe that would be compatible with the vision of the game. Dejay's "Melting Pot" sums it up for me

 

[Dejay]

Well I didn't want to knock Histati idea, I'm sure many would like it. Just not me personally Maybe starting zones are not the best place to do it, but you'd find different "enclaves" later on, that all players would enjoy. I'm sure they added lots of cultural reference into the generator to create planets.
Maybe the game could have some support to find people who share common interests / language / culture. Like ingame chat channels.

 

[Ian Phillips]

The basic idea of grouping people together by language to help those who don't have a good grasp of english is I think a good one.

However, starting points in the game are to be "randomly" determined to prevent things like 10,000 explorers all starting from the same system, so I think that some other way would have to be found.

An "opt-in" system of some sort, perhaps based on country or time zone might be a good place to begin something like this.

 

[Dejay]

It would also be a half-measure because you never know when someone from your country starts playing. Maybe some kind of additional faction / affiliation?

 

[Abacus]

But then...you never know where people speaking a certain language are located in the vast Elite universe. Perhaps experienced players could offer some mentoring time to newbies on a board (eg Saturday 8pm-10pm I would help, later I want to play solo again) and get a message when a newcomer needs help.

Since we will all be part of the 'Pilots Federation' (or however it will be called in the game) this could be integrated as a service/mission of this guild. Of course strictly as an opt-in option. There will always be players who don't want to be bothered with something like this and others who have a heart for newbies which are desperate. Bringing mentor and newbie together should not be a problem for the elite developers of ED.

 

[SzaryWilk]

The idea of planets of the "country" is pretty good in my opinion. People from a nation could starts at these points. For new players it would certainly help. Nations might in time develop their star systems with more space stations, shipyards, factorys, etc.

I also think FD should think about national flags that we could put on our space ships. We were distinguished in space.

 

[Dejay]

Since we will all be part of the 'Pilots Federation' (or however it will be called in the game) this could be integrated as a service/mission of this guild. Of course strictly as an opt-in option. There will always be players who don't want to be bothered with something like this and others who have a heart for newbies which are desperate. Bringing mentor and newbie together should not be a problem for the elite developers of ED.

That is a great idea! Often in MMOs you'll have people asking for help. Sometimes even asking "Can someone help me?" without stating what they need help with lol which can turn out a trap. The thing is that helping players isa reward in itself, but isn't rewarded ingame. So anyone who tries to optimize his gameplay (min/max) will shy away from wasting time on people. It's not that they don't want to help, but that the rules of the game guide them away from it. The EFP would provide the explanation for this service.
Of course sometimes people are very audacious and egoistical, but that is the minority. If there was a mentor/newbie gameplay support, that provides some kind of token reward for helping people, you could tap a rather underused motivation. The motivation to be altruistic! It could be a totally "decorational" reward like karma on reddit. People love karma

 

[Abacus]

Give life to the 'Pilots Federation'

Glad you like the idea Dejay
A nice reward for being nice would be nice indeed.

Perhaps we could think of some other interesting missions/services that the 'Pilots Federation' could offer to the players instead of only acting in the backgound giving ranks and bounties.

I begin with this:
The 'Pilots Federation' has sophisticated space simulators so it offers the players training simulations and replay simulations of important moments in the Elite verse (for those who were not there this could be a way to take part in a great historic moment in ED that would otherwise be lost to them). For fun the developers could also implement 'less' sophisticatd equipment where the simulations look like an older version of Elite (this should be fun for the developers I think).

 

[Histati]

I like that idea of bonus incentives that would encourage seasoned players to help newbies. I don't know how that would really pan out in gameplay but from my experience with MMOs it seems when a new player is helped along, there gameplay becomes more enjoyable. I used to be a recruiter for my corp in eve. I would roam systems looking for the tell tales signs of a new pilot. Part of my job was to train them. In a few week they would be pulling in a good deal of isks which benefitted the corp as a whole. Communication is key in the training process.
Another proposal is when creating your avatar in-game I could see checking off what languages you speak and that would help with the generation of the system you start out in (only if you want that option at all)

Escort missions might be a good way to pair up newbies and seasoned. If the new player takes on a mission, the veteran will receive a bonus for working as the roll of wingman or freighter escort.

 

[King Artur]

Translation software an option? Probably not cause it will make the development more expansive and i am not sure how well this kind of software works but it might be helpful to solve the problem.

 

[Abacus]

Translation software an option?

Besides the price I can't remember a translation software that 'really' works. A translation made with software is better than a message in analphabet you not even know but it is far from useful in an environment where the context of a message matters.

So in Multiplayer I would like to see some kind of flag attached to the player characters which denote the languages I can speak to them, I think this would be useful.

Cu in 31!73

 

[Il Guiscardo]

In my opinion a planet in the Fourth Millennium in which they speak only Italian would break the immersion. Even a planet in which the people speak only English (in the proper sense) would be hilarious : maybe in the next centuries will spread a common human language that will descend, in large measure, from english, spanish and chinese all togheter, and that kind of 'common human' would be very different from that of the 3100 etc.. even there, the dialect of human communities spread in hundreds of light years across different solar system would differentiate in themselves very soon, leaving a common language as convention.

We assume in game terms that the english (because it's a kind of 'lingua franca') (or the italian if italian players are chatting in game in that moment, or the chinese language between two players that know that, are playing as the human Common Language of the 4th millenium.

Instead, Hypotizing communities or planets that for choices wants to RECONSTRUCT an ancient human nation tradition (it seems similar to the game 'Freelancer' indeed) it can be plausible. In an Italian 'system', the people may have reconstructed some cultural habits of the ancient country, like the art, the architecture and style of buildings (a lot of Reinassance palaces, or ancient Roman building ), a cousine that the Archeologist believes to be more similar to the original Italian cousine of the period ( maybe a more successful reconstruction versus the actual british 'italian cousine'.. that they believes that is Italian, but.. it's BRIT-alian ), and maybe some nice folklore activities like traditional 'Liscio' dancing in the northern emisphere, and the Pizzica and Taranta in the southern emisphere of the planet! ahahah it would be nice but only if COHERENT in the background of Elite Dangerous.

In a case like this, it can be quite possible that actual real italians or italian speakers may go around a planet like this more often, but I don't believe that should become a 'closed space'! I would like very much to entertain me in a Maori Colony Planet, or in a Prussian Styled solar system..

 

[Ishmat]

Yes, it's very well thought out.
Something like civilizations of Earth explorers who came to explore uninhabited systems, and settled in them. Each with their culture, language and religion.

 

[Il Guiscardo]

I'm not sure I want to start on an Italian planet though...

How to deal with an 'Italian planet' if it is similar with the Italian Republic of this early century? What kind of government ever changing with chaotic assemblies and huge space bureocracy?
Just kidding of course (I am Italian)...

 

[Dejay]

In an Italian 'system', the people may have reconstructed some cultural habits of the ancient country, like the art, the architecture and style of buildings (a lot of Reinassance palaces, or ancient Roman building ), a cousine that the Archeologist believes to be more similar to the original Italian cousine of the period ( maybe a more successful reconstruction versus the actual british 'italian cousine'.. that they believes that is Italian, but.. it's BRIT-alian

Lol would be hilarious you visit a place that is "authentic Italian" and it turns out to be a pizza hut

 

[Histati]

Lol would be hilarious you visit a place that is "authentic Italian" and it turns out to be a pizza hut

Yes and the Americans can kill off the Thargoids with McDonald's and Coca-Cola. Lol