Yes, another insurance discussion, but I really felt the need to register and add my voice to the mosh-pit this whole discussion has turned into.
Now, lot's of people seems to have a problem with the current insurance system, as it can seem extremely punishing to someone to be forced into the puny Sidewinder after crashing an Asp or what have you into a station by accident, or losing it in a battle etc. I can understand that, really, I can.
But, and here is where we are going to talk about tension and reward, this is a game, and games are not satisfying or rewarding to beat or be excel at, if there is no danger of loss. When you play monopoly against friends or family, victory is all the sweeter because you know the taste of defeat, and you know that you could have just as easily been one of the losers, had you not beaten the others, through a combination of luck and personal skill.
I like games like Skyrim a lot, even though that game contains almost no consequences for personal failure, no chance to risk it all and die horribly. But I enjoyed my ironman playthrough so much more, imposing incredibly tough consequences for failure on myself, because ever victory was mine, every victory, was personal and every victory could just as easily have been the end of my adventure.
Now, I'm not saying that a system such as this would fit an online game like E : D very well, as griefing would suddenly hurt so much more and so on, but, the fact that you do lose hardcore for making the risky decisions, such as going on a trade run with all of your spare credits invested into your precious cargo, or bounty hunting in your new Viper whose insurance you definitely can't afford should the worst come to pass, doesn't that tickle anyone's Han-Solo-bone?
I don't want to tell people who're not liking the insurance system too much to "stop whining". Simply learn from your mistakes and play safer, or do as I do, and revel in the tension you feel whenever everything you own depends on a success that is in no way guaranteed.
The tension, the triumph, the reward, is real when you actually have something to lose.
My Darkelf explorer lies dead in some falmer infested cave somewhere, he will never have another adventure, but he died with a smile on his lips, having experienced life like no other immortal dragonborne could have experienced it before him.
Now, lot's of people seems to have a problem with the current insurance system, as it can seem extremely punishing to someone to be forced into the puny Sidewinder after crashing an Asp or what have you into a station by accident, or losing it in a battle etc. I can understand that, really, I can.
But, and here is where we are going to talk about tension and reward, this is a game, and games are not satisfying or rewarding to beat or be excel at, if there is no danger of loss. When you play monopoly against friends or family, victory is all the sweeter because you know the taste of defeat, and you know that you could have just as easily been one of the losers, had you not beaten the others, through a combination of luck and personal skill.
I like games like Skyrim a lot, even though that game contains almost no consequences for personal failure, no chance to risk it all and die horribly. But I enjoyed my ironman playthrough so much more, imposing incredibly tough consequences for failure on myself, because ever victory was mine, every victory, was personal and every victory could just as easily have been the end of my adventure.
Now, I'm not saying that a system such as this would fit an online game like E : D very well, as griefing would suddenly hurt so much more and so on, but, the fact that you do lose hardcore for making the risky decisions, such as going on a trade run with all of your spare credits invested into your precious cargo, or bounty hunting in your new Viper whose insurance you definitely can't afford should the worst come to pass, doesn't that tickle anyone's Han-Solo-bone?
I don't want to tell people who're not liking the insurance system too much to "stop whining". Simply learn from your mistakes and play safer, or do as I do, and revel in the tension you feel whenever everything you own depends on a success that is in no way guaranteed.
The tension, the triumph, the reward, is real when you actually have something to lose.
My Darkelf explorer lies dead in some falmer infested cave somewhere, he will never have another adventure, but he died with a smile on his lips, having experienced life like no other immortal dragonborne could have experienced it before him.