Simple idea to make open a more viable play option for all

If you read all of this, big thumbs up to you! I tried to set this up in a format that gets the gist of the message out there even if you skim. If you agree with this proposition, don't nod and move on to the next thread, leave a response to generate attention. If you disagree, by all means leave a response as well, I won't begin to claim to have thought of every possible problem with this idea, so if there are flaws, expose them.

Proposal:
Players appear on sensor and contacts list in the same format as NPCs.

Specifically, sensor graphic and get rid of that telltale CMDR title.

Extra tools:
Commander name and ability to change the name at a station for a fee. The name doesn't have to be unique, so if everyone wants to be Han Solo, why not.

Discovery suite in options menu. Some players want to stand out and that shouldn't be taken away from them.
1: Sensor discovery:
off=New system, appear as NPC (default)
on=Current system
2: Contact discovery:
off=show custom, non unique name (default)
on=show gamertag or PC/PS4 equivalent
3: Faction affiliation:
Found on System Panel, Functions tab, very top line. Presently only used for choosing a side in a CZ. Add the ability to select a minor faction within the system, which is displayed in target panel to other players.

(Possible restrictions to Faction Affiliation)
Players can only fly a minor faction's flag IFF their reputation is friendly or better.

If you select a minor faction to be affiliated with, your reputation is overridden by the state of the system. That is, if Sirius Corp is at war with Mother Gaia, and you fly the Sirius Corp flag, you will be hostile to Mother Gaia. Ideally, Mother Gaia no longer perceives you as an independent pilot, and isn't going to ask questions, so choose carefully or remain unaffiliated.

PowerPlay pledging overrides the faction affiliation option. If you pledge to Zermina Torval, you fly the Torval flag. This should be appealing (and fair) to the PP PvP crowd. You are still able to use faction affiliation in CZs, but the alterred functionality is unavailable elsewhere.

Players do NOT gain any bonus to trading, mission rewards, etc. for Faction Affiliation: this is strictly for blending in and having some form of anonymity.

Why:
1. Stealth! It's no longer a simple glance at the sensors and "woot I have another player in the system to troll!" Instead, those trolls will have to do a little more work to figure out if this is an AI or a player, which gives you time to do your thing before being discovered and interdicted fifty thousand times.

2: Immersion! NPCs are Non Player Characters, so from a gameplay perspective, relatively equal and indiscernible from the PCs. Also, all pilots are awarded the Commander title by the Pilots Federation. This is not exclusive to Played Characters, proof: NPCs have Pilots Federation ranks, even the lowly sidewinder NPC pirate hanging out at a Nav Beacon has the Mostly Harmless rank.

3: Non-Invasive! You want to be seen by anyone and everyone? The options are available and this only impacts you for a few seconds after implementation, literally switching the two toggles in the options menu and Bam, you're right back to where you were before implementation.

The ultimate goal:
Make open a viable option. I personally have a full time job, children, and responsibilities. I don't have 9 hours a day to become a grand master elite player like young people do (yes, I'm a little jealous). But I also don't like sitting in solo mode to reduce the risk of losing four hours of gameplay to a kid who gets his jollies off exploiting the weaknesses of large ships with a viper, with the only gain of causing me a rebuy...those three+ hours of credit grinding are a big deal when you're lucky to get three hours on a weekday.

Simultaneously, I spent many of my precious few hours getting my large ship, and shouldn't be required to dock it to go open mode...say what you will, but come on that's just silly.

So my solution is to let us blend in with the NPCs and reduce the chances of a troll encounter.

This keeps the rebuy system intact, and is relatively simple to implement...minus the faction affiliation effects, but even leaving that out helps tremendously with the blending in goal.

Why do this when there is a solo mode?

Give the new players some light protection from the trolls...nothing will ruin a game quicker than buying it, getting on open (because it sounds like the most fun) and getting destroyed several times by a sociopath in an anaconda. Maybe they'll try solo mode, or maybe they'll just say "if I want to go through this, I'll just play ___________," and load up that game.

Sure, the devs TECHNICALLY got their penny from his purchase, but I'm guessing adding new, high quality content in the form of DLC is a formula that compares number of active players at Horizons release to number of players who purchased Horizons DLC, and then it scales with the current number of active players, ending with an estimate on how much money the company would receive from releasing another DLC.

Meaning, if player numbers are down, you can kiss atmospheric landings (or any other high quality content packages) goodbye. This further means we need to keep our new players, not crush their dreams in record time, pushing them into the inactive pile.

If I had to guess, this is more of a problem than we are told due to the changes in the crime and punishment system and the current unprecedented bonus trading weekend. I could be wrong here, but those have a good chance of being warning signs.

Thanks for reading, back to the trade routes.

o7
 
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