Suggestion for making the game more accessible.

[sgallaty]

I'm a moderately hardcore sim player. I like simulationss, I build external controls for them and use three monitors for surround vision. I spend hours on the engineering side of the game, and get deeply into the mechanics of it.

In my life I also have people who are much more casual. They can operate turrets, and fly fighters or perform as infantry but they will never be dedicated captains.

My suggestion to you is to think about those people. Think of a way to create inclusion for them.

If you can find a way for 'less invested' or 'casual' players to play the game, you'll broaden your audience tremendously.

My suggestion is to have a 'free' client which players can download and play. The free client allows them to :

Hang out in stations.
Can enlist and apply to join crews which have posted openings.
Operate fighters (no jump capacity) that are launched from carriers.
Operate as crew in ships.
Can receive pay from ship captains.

I know these concepts are a big lift and features aren't there - but hear me out. There are games like puzzle pirates which work very well socially and have a set of paid players, and a very large population of free players that are content and backdrop for the paid player.

 

[Troa Barton]

I've had this exact same idea for a while now. Totally agree with there being a free to play "gateway" client.

 

[Pyrion]

And how will frontier make money out of such players? I am not totally against your idea, but somehow it has to be financially viable. This is a game from a company, not a charity.
If it would have the effect that those players are later more likely to buy the actual game, maybe that could make it work.

 

[sgallaty]

The free players are content for the paid players. They make the game more interesting and lively for you and I, and keep us involved.

The water that the farmer throws on the plants doesn't make him money, the plants not dying makes him money.

 

[Troa Barton]

And how will frontier make money out of such players? I am not totally against your idea, but somehow it has to be financially viable. This is a game from a company, not a charity.
If it would have the effect that those players are later more likely to buy the actual game, maybe that could make it work.

That's kind of the point give them a taste of what they're missing out on. Have money they gain running coach to transfer into their first save once they upgrade to the paid version. Would work well for future updates as well. Chum the waters so to speak.

 

[CravenTHC]

I'm not opposed to this idea, but I think there are many steps on such a path and right now there are things I would rather the developers focus on. Once the game is available on multiple platforms, more fleshed out, and essentially a complete experience for most paid players, then they can start down a path like this. I would think the first step would be to include a reason for having extra crew. Right now we have ships with the capacity to have co-pilots, but I'm using the term "capacity" very loosely there. An interesting thought though.

 

[CMDR Memphis]

I do not think that the casual player will like riding a hike on a plane. The dogfighting and launching from a carrier might be better.

Honestly, my idea for such a thing goes in a different direction. A web client game, where people can try to battle with each other, which basically generates missions for players. They have an income, and they can use that money to make missions for players (attack this, smuggle wares there - which can generate more income, etc...) Actually, it is a bit like the upcoming power play, but with casual players.

On the other hand, I do not think that Elite needs more casual access. I play quite casually myself, and I do not have any issues with it. In fact, the game is way more accessible than the old Frontier games (Elite 2 and 3).