"The game is almost a political and social experiment.”

[Stigbob]

But if you honestly look at the hours you spend in ED, most of it is loading screens or waiting for things to happen, like USS spawning. Subnautica is much more engaging as there's more activities and things that require to player to decide and react with.

How many hours have you got in each ?.

 

[Mengy]

All games are a timesink.

That’s a terribly pessimistic outlook toward video games. All games take time to play, but there is a huge difference between dynamic and engaging mechanics and time wasting repetitive mechanics. Some games challenge your mind while others test your patience. I have over 300 hours played on Civilization VI yet I’ve not once felt like it is a “timesink”. Contrary to that, I’ve often felt like Elite was one, and even logged out many times feeling like I’d wasted my time and not accomplished anything while playing. I desperately WANT to love playing Elite because I love the concept of it, but often I'm just left wondering why I keep with it.

No, not all games are timesinks, but games with lacking anemic mechanics can certainly feel like they are.

 

[RymdLazer]

So many complaints about empty space... my head is exploding. Space is space! You feel lonely and meaningless? That's space for you.
You want interactions and suprises at every turn play something that caters to that need. So many whiners who don't get what they are playing and demand it transforms into every other short term adrenaline boost. Damn! Going crazy reading some pigheaded stuff on here. Eww.

 

[Vasea Azure]

So many complaints about empty space... my head is exploding. Space is space! You feel lonely and meaningless? That's space for you.
You want interactions and suprises at every turn play something that caters to that need. So many whiners who don't get what they are playing and demand it transforms into every other short term adrenaline boost. Damn! Going crazy reading some pigheaded stuff on here. Eww.

After this extremely polite enlightenment on what Elite is I`m sure we will all go back to playing screaming NOW I GET IT! Rep +1

 

[Jex =TE=]

How many hours have you got in each ?.

Irrelevant. Every minute in subnautica has been fun so far. The same can't be said about ED and that's a fact.

 

[Cygnus X-1]

So many complaints about empty space... my head is exploding. Space is space! You feel lonely and meaningless? That's space for you.
You want interactions and suprises at every turn play something that caters to that need. So many whiners who don't get what they are playing and demand it transforms into every other short term adrenaline boost. Damn! Going crazy reading some pigheaded stuff on here. Eww.

I agree, space should be big! I just don't know how any developer can attach compelling gameplay to something this big, especially as an MMO. I'd feel different toward ED if it was just single player game and was nothing more than a galaxy simulator that I can explore.

 

[Jex =TE=]

That’s a terribly pessimistic outlook toward video games. All games take time to play, but there is a huge difference between dynamic and engaging mechanics and time wasting repetitive mechanics. Some games challenge your mind while others test your patience. I have over 300 hours played on Civilization VI yet I’ve not once felt like it is a “timesink”. Contrary to that, I’ve often felt like Elite was one, and even logged out many times feeling like I’d wasted my time and not accomplished anything while playing. I desperately WANT to love playing Elite because I love the concept of it, but often I'm just left wondering why I keep with it.

No, not all games are timesinks, but games with lacking anemic mechanics can certainly feel like they are.

I've sunk tens of thousands of hours into the Operation Flashpoint/Arma series and never once had a bad time out of it (+2 years of Dayz). Tens of thousands of hours in Falcon F4 and never once had to watch netflix or read a book.

You can't educate people that are set in their ways and refuse to recognise that there's a difference between the two.

None of the games I play a lot have a mass of loading screens, have 10's of minutes wasted literally doing nothing (super cruise) or have you doing the exact same gameplay over and over with no variety (Guardian Sites) and yet despite this, because some people have sunk thousands of hours into ED, they think that's a metric for how good a game is rather than objectively looking at the game design and critiquing that.

 

[Mengy]

I'd feel different toward ED if it was just single player game and was nothing more than a galaxy simulator that I can explore.

That's pretty much how I have spent 90% of my time in Elite, exploring it like a galaxy simulator.

I've sunk tens of thousands of hours into the Operation Flashpoint/Arma series and never once had a bad time out of it (+2 years of Dayz). Tens of thousands of hours in Falcon F4 and never once had to watch netflix or read a book.

Man what I wouldn’t give to have the Thargoid war even remotely like the Falcon 4 dynamic campaign within the Elite galaxy. A back and forth war simulator where players can accept various missions like troop transporting, evacuations, search & rescue runs, supply and resupply cargo runs, military strikes, war patrols, offensive pushes, and scouting exploration trips for intel. The player’s success or failure would impact whether the Thargoids advance or retreat into systems, and even aid to repair damaged facilities or capitol ships. Something like that in Elite would convert me promptly from exploring to fighting in the war.

Instead we have CG’s and USS signals. One is created and controlled by the devs, the other is randomized and passive to find.

 

[Cygnus X-1]

That's pretty much how I have spent 90% of my time in Elite, exploring it like a galaxy simulator.

Same here, actually. I'd play it more if the game had better tools for exploring, especially for charting and navigating planets. That's why I'm hoping that the upcoming Q4 changes are what I'm looking for.

 

[Stigbob]

Irrelevant. Every minute in subnautica has been fun so far. The same can't be said about ED and that's a fact.

So go play subnautica.

 

[Vedmo]

I think it's high time for Frontier to embrace the social experiment aspect and apply it to the forums. We have a newcomers sub forum, that's great, but it's a real slap in the face to people who set life goals around some concept art and livestreams several years back. I say Frontier creates a disgruntled old-timer sub forum and see if they can't build a proper echo chamber rivaled by no other. With minimal investment they might be able to keep these people who don't play their game on the hook indefinitely, and really inflate community activity numbers for future investor conference calls.

 

[Genus]

I think it's high time for Frontier to embrace the social experiment aspect and apply it to the forums. We have a newcomers sub forum, that's great, but it's a real slap in the face to people who set life goals around some concept art and livestreams several years back. I say Frontier creates a disgruntled old-timer sub forum and see if they can't build a proper echo chamber rivaled by no other. With minimal investment they might be able to keep these people who don't play their game on the hook indefinitely, and really inflate community activity numbers for future investor conference calls.

Bit like a naughty step.

Well within the remit of how the community is managed.

 

[crushdepth]

I think it's high time for Frontier to embrace the social experiment aspect and apply it to the forums. We have a newcomers sub forum, that's great, but it's a real slap in the face to people who set life goals around some concept art and livestreams several years back. I say Frontier creates a disgruntled old-timer sub forum and see if they can't build a proper echo chamber rivaled by no other. With minimal investment they might be able to keep these people who don't play their game on the hook indefinitely, and really inflate community activity numbers for future investor conference calls.

Or they could just fix the game.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

Subnautica has a fixed hand crafted world, and yeah it’s much smaller in scale than Elite’s, so naturally it feels “finished” quicker.

However, Subnautica is NOT shallow compared to Elite. While Elite has the larger game world it feels much less populated, and indeed it has much less variation as well. This is why Subnautica is a fantastic exploration game whereas Elite just isn’t. It’s due to how much there is in Subnautica to explore and do, compared to how little there is in Elite to explore and do. Subnautica is engaging and engrossing to explore while Elite is repetitive and so boring to explore that most players feel the need to watch Netflix while they do it. I played Subnautica for 74 hours (so far) and I didn’t ONCE feel the need to watch or do anything else while I did so. Subnautica’s mechanics are well developed and interconnected, the game plays fluidly and never feels disjointed.

Playing Elite is often a very passive and uninteractive experience, while Subnautica is an extremely engaging and very interactive game. If anything, my time with Subnautica has greatly exposed just how SHALLOW Elite actually is, even after four years of development. Pun intended!

Of course this is a subjective topic, some people might find Tetris to be a deeper game than either of these. It all comes down to what you value in a game. Personally I wish Elite was as polished from a game mechanics point of view as Subnautica is. Elite is often labeled a mile wide but an inch deep, then Subnautica is 200 feet wide but 500 feet deep. The exact opposite of “shallow”.

You won’t find any activity in Subnautica that requires you to do a singular activity 48 times to unlock something though. The game greatly respects the player’s time and efforts while Elite goes out of it’s way to disrespect the player’s time, and THIS is the single greatest lesson I wish Frontier could learn.

I play WSOP level poker, and do not get bored.

However, video games are on a competitive playing field, with many platforms to run on. Everything Mengy said seems to match with online opinion. That's pretty hard to fake, with all the social media, with competing interests, agree.

Elite needs more depth.

One ping only, please.

 

[Jex =TE=]

So go play subnautica.

And still can't accept the facts. They don't hurt you know!

 

[Genus]

Elite needs more depth.

One ping only, please.

[video=youtube;jr0JaXfKj68]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr0JaXfKj68[/video]

 

[Ralph Vargr]

And still can't accept the facts. They don't hurt you know!

Got a scratchy transmission about playing other games, from Beige Squadron. I think they wanted to play other games as well.

I have lots of suggestions. I went through Steam's catalog last night, and will be going through GOG's tonight. Found some great games, waiting on sales. Playing chess, poker, and solitaire, now. Easier to maintain interest than Elite.

So, Go Play Another Game is being actioned.

I do not think I am alone in this.

 

[Enderby]

ED’s more a ‘game’ i check in on, rather than play.

I think that it’s too poor in the game design department. Sure, it looks good but... well, that (and the “flight model”) is the only postivite thing i can say about it.

 

[ALGOMATIC]

How many hours have you got in each ?.

If you dont consider the time spent flying in SC in a straight line DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING except watching the destination counter or the loading screens aka hyperspace, you will see that the amount spent actually playing the game is marginally small.

 

[Old Duck]

That's pretty much how I have spent 90% of my time in Elite, exploring it like a galaxy simulator.

When Space Engine releases APIs, I'd be half-tempted to make my own ship, one I can walk around inside of, to explore SE's galaxy using that. Of course that will require a lot more money (gaming PC) and time (modeling and programming) than I currently have, but someday perhaps!