So what is keeping players out of player groups ( solo and open MMO)

[dynamicbob]

So yes a disclaimer i am a rep of a 150 person group who is led by a glorious leader but having a bucketload of fun

Im interested to hear from those who arent part of player groups / clans / guilds

In elite dangerous what is keeping u from joining any number of player run and backed organisations and groups

Is it the ingame mechanics, out of game politics, general disinterest, background simulation mechanics even.

Lets have a discussion as to why people arent joining player groups in bigger numbers

 

[Asp Explorer]

People are already in groups. You'll find them everywhere. You'll never find guilds though.

Elite simply does not promote or provide the "traditional" guild gameplay - because 1: It's a game about the individual and their interactions with other individuals, and 2: Guilds are mostly a laughable abomination desired by individuals who can't manage to play as an individual.

 

[Soopyyy]

I play in open for the interaction with random Commanders. I don't know if its because I'm Elite or because I have a Corvette, but I very really get anyone antagonising me. Most people are very courteous.

 

[dynamicbob]

Very good feedback so far, yeah the term is merely a small element one could call them collectives but organised groups of players is the basic idea in whatever form.

 

[Karl Marx]

Ingame mechanics hands down. The p2p setup that this game uses makes large groups and functioning organizations non-functional; I'd even say impossible to a degree. Additionally, the game has no real support for large groups - which is truly a shame.

 

[Sapyx]

I'm not involved in any sort of player group, though I've helped several out on occasion. For me, it's partly my personality: I'm introverted, and I don't join groups whimsically because when I do commit to something, I'm in it for the long haul. It's also partly for RP reasons: my character has fled the dysfunctional religious colony that formerly ruled Arexack and isn't in any hurry to join up with or commit to any other organized group - he likes to be friends with everyone and enemies of no-one (stinkin' anarchists excepted).

 

[DarkPaladin]

I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.

I play in open, but am not part of any group, faction, powerplay, etc.. I guess the introvert comment fits me as well. I'm also one of the folks that played Elite in the 80's and have fond memories of playing the game as one man against the universe.

 

[ronin516]

ED is horribly designed for multi. Interaction is limited and credit transfers are not allowed which limits ALOT of inter-player actions and in game careers. dropping cargo doesn't cut it. I have said this before in other threads but you asked lol. No trading is allowed which is a big one. Having weapons and rare items etc. to trade makes a huge content difference in game play. Even if you are in a group in open play there is nothing really to do. No npc groups that are a challenge and running into another say rival PC group is very raRE. Even the roleplayers are having a hard time trying to roleplay their imagination out of what little content their is.

 

[Bomba Luigi]

I don't wanna.

 

[askavir]

I don't wanna.

This

I do sometimes engage in coop activities / events. But I prefer to keep independent and do as I please.

 

[Itaki]

So yes a disclaimer i am a rep of a 150 person group who is led by a glorious leader but having a bucketload of fun

Im interested to hear from those who arent part of player groups / clans / guilds

In elite dangerous what is keeping u from joining any number of player run and backed organisations and groups

Is it the ingame mechanics, out of game politics, general disinterest, background simulation mechanics even.

Lets have a discussion as to why people arent joining player groups in bigger numbers

ED doesn't facilitate these group functions (besides 4 man wings) and I dont really have an interest in alt-tabbing out of the game to use external tools that should be in the game. (It breaks my immersion..haha) ED doesn't know if it wants to be a single player game or a multiplayer game. I've played the single player content I'm interested in, shadow missions and bounty hunting. I've been in a wing or two doing the same thing. Nothing else in the game is of interest right now so I'm playing other space games.

ED provides very little advantage to group play over the lone wolf. Everything you do in ED you can do by yourself. Bounty Hunting, Hauling, CG (once again, bounty hunting, hauling), Powerplay, BGS, chasing ranks and promotions.

If something 'required' a group, then I might consider joining one. Like an NPC siege on a station, an NPC incursion, some major battle that needed live group participation. If players entered a system, joined a group and by doing so got some DPS boost, that would be the only way to stop the siege, that might be fun.

If I liked mining, I'd park a cargo ship and wing up with a miner and haul his stuff to market. But then we'd need to be able to transfer credits back and forth.

If there were NPC hideouts that required a group to kill, that'd be fun. Group missions would be lotsa fun.

If a wormhole opened up and spewed forth bad guys, we'd need a group to contain it and blow up the wormhole. I would really look forward to getting sidetracked by some hostile army and spending the day with a ton of players securing the system.

ED oughta make some group content. I really enjoy large scale PVP. Ed could add that somehow. I also enjoy 5 man cooperative group instances (dungeons) in MMOs. ED could add that.

 

[Asp Explorer]

I really enjoy large scale PVP.

That won't happen because many people play on absolutely junk connections. It's not their fault - it's simply the way the world works.

 

[Aewarin Jameson]

Lets have a discussion as to why people arent joining player groups in bigger numbers

• The game itself does not lend any assistance to finding or being in a group
• There are no in-game tools to find people of like minded inclination
  • No system wide communications
  • No means to flag yourself
  • That means coming to the forums of which most gamers don't (Given 1.4m sales // 70K forum users)
• There are no group missions to give a reason to be in one

 

[Sentenza]

So yes a disclaimer i am a rep of a 150 person group who is led by a glorious leader but having a bucketload of fun

Im interested to hear from those who arent part of player groups / clans / guilds

In elite dangerous what is keeping u from joining any number of player run and backed organisations and groups

Is it the ingame mechanics, out of game politics, general disinterest, background simulation mechanics even.

Lets have a discussion as to why people arent joining player groups in bigger numbers

The simple fact I don't want to. I like being a lone wolf. I join other players now and then, but in principle I am a free spirit.

 

[Badben]

people in player groups usually seem to take the game a lot more seriously than I do usually. When I play ED, sometimes I play for hours on end, sometimes only 10 minutes, and I usually don't know before I start playing which it will be. Also, people who want to play together often want to chat, and honestly I really don't enjoy talking to people online that I don't know. Also during any one gaming session I will regularly take 10-20 minute breaks, and that's annoying for other people who are counting on me. The big one I guess is that I find it stressful to have other people relying on me for any reason, I need to be able to do what I want when I want and be able to quit the game at a moments notice without annoying anyone.

 

[Hellhawk666]

From the very beginning there has been a certain logical disconnect regarding player communications. FD have implemented the style of comms they want to have in-game, and to their credit they have tried to encourage externally organised player groups (by adding the groups forum here, highlighting player group activities on galnet and in the newsletters etc.).

However, it is impossible for a new player who does not already have some sort of relationship with other players outside the game to easily team up and find new compatriots in-game except through chance encounters. Personally I've always viewed this as a shortcoming, but it is presumably the way FD wants things to happen.

In my not so humble opinion the game would be enhanced by the addition of some degree of optional open text chat channels (even if limited to local station traffic, faction traffic, combat area traffic etc.) but FD are not interested. Either it does not fit their concept of the game, or the P2P structure and Cobra engine can't handle it.

 

[Varrag]

Once -and if- they implement proper clan gameplay with certain standard features that usually come with it, I will certainly join or create one. Lack of group play features and very limited freedom we were given in this regard are main reasons why I am staying away from so-called groups in ED, and why most of my buddies I brought to ED stopped playing in the meantime. Poor gameplay mechanics currently associated with groups and cryptic BGS simply do not make things interesting, nor engaging for us.

 

[Roberto]

led by a glorious leader

Sounds like – to borrow a phrase from the late, great Christopher Hitchens – a celestial North Korea. No thanks. I like encountering other CMDRs, and even teaming up with them occasionally, but I prefer to be my own man. Plus, practical reasons. Atm I have a fair bit of free time, but generally I can only play (assuming I'm in the mood) for an hour or two here and there.

 

[smiths121]

I have no interest in joining a large group with hierarchical structure, which if you try to organise fun for more than a handful of people is needed.

I think the game caters for smaller groups, around a dozen (up to 8 online at one time) - its enough fire power for the BGS in any system up to 100s of millions of population (if not larger, never tried) allows multiple wings (OK technically its a sort of hierarchy), The only bit of comms missing is store-and-forward messaging for a group of this size to work, to avoid more complex planning in the open using a thread in the forums.

I do not have an interest in larger groups, so this way colour my opinion but the style of the elite universe and the mechanics of ED do not suit larger groups. I actually like it how it is, but I suspect the larger groups may feel a bot "shoe horned" into the game.

Simon

 

[Asp Explorer]

Once -and if- they implement proper clan gameplay with certain standard features that usually come with it, I will certainly join or create one. Lack of group play features and very limited freedom we were given in this regard are main reasons why I am staying away from so-called groups in ED, and why most of my buddies I brought to ED stopped playing in the meantime. Poor gameplay mechanics currently associated with groups and cryptic BGS simply do not make things interesting, nor engaging for us.

What is proper clan gameplay?