The Majority of Players, Play Elite as a Single-Player Non-PvP Experience?

I do mostly play alone but have about 5 commanders that I have gotten to know over the years that will play with.
I have noticed that the threat of being ganked keeps many from interacting and many time just running away.
I have been on expeditions where out in the black commanders won’t play in open because they are afraid of being ganked.
I have had conversations telling commanders that getting killed is rare except some high danger areas but they are conditioned to not trust anyone or any place.

I believe that the threat of getting killed for no reason pushes many to not play with others, and this comes from the way Fdev has structured the game.
sadly the majority have voiced their concerns to Fdev over the years falling on deaf ears.
 
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Deleted member 182079

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I'm curious as to how this preference of being alone most of the time also stems from the fact that finding another player, instancing with them, interacting with them (whatever form that takes, pew-pew, trading, socializing etc.) from a matchmaking standpoint is an ordeal because of the fact that the game still uses P2P and thus is difficult to instance with another player properly, friends specifically.

In other words did people develop this preference as a form of acceptance of the fact this game doesn't connect two or more players very well.

PS. Also ironic considering this is supposed to be "An MMO"
For me it certainly did, although I'm not the most sociable player - left a squadron as I didn't want to deal with emotional baggage that can come with it (even though the Squadron was very easy going).

I do enjoy organic PvP (be that co-op or hostile CMDRs) but it doesn't happen very often and I'd have to go way out of my way to find it (Deciat or CGs basically, and the latter isn't a guarantee either these days).
 
First up this isn't about solo vs open, so don't even go there. :D This is about how people play regardless of mode.

Here's an interesting stat. Naturally it's from YouTube, so comes with all the usual conditions (non scientific etc).

30k votes so far, representing a sizeable chunk of players.

View attachment 236200


Now, I'm known for being a solitarily exploration player - some of my video content is aimed at that. You would be excused then for assuming that my viewers are naturally similar. So, to balance out the audience, here's a question from Exigeous a very social player who is PvP focused.


View attachment 236201



And finally, another question from Exigeous about PvP.

View attachment 236202

Like your last poll, this is very flawed and you are insinuating information based on incomplete data.

The reason so many people play it as single player is due to how it is set up, how vast the galaxy is, and how FDev simply refuses to put deep coop and natural+meaningful competetive systems in place to allow a good multiplayer experience. If FDev added those 2 things, many many many of us would play it as multiplayer, and would actually prefer that.

Currently the only method of killing other players is Griefing which most of us are morally unwilling to do, set up pvp matches/tournies which takes too much time, or find the very very very few people RPing directly against you (like actually does PP in open) and hunting on hours for those 2 people is not fun.

No offense, but you either need to think through these posts more or stop posting.
 
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Like your last poll, this is very flawed and you are insinuating information based on incomplete data.

The reason so many people play it as single player is due to how it is set up, how vast the galaxy is, and how FDev simply refuses to put deep coop and natural+meaningful competetive systems in place to allow a good multiplayer experience. If FDev added those 2 things, many many many of us would play it as multiplayer, and would actually prefer that.

No offense, but you either need to think through these posts more or stop posting.
He did actually give that proviso, but nevermind reading his post, ai?

It's also the case that all the improvements are wish lists, and the state of the game is, well, how it actually is. How people play reflects that.
 
I am a totally biased pve solo only player, mostly for performance reasons. The connected galaxy with injected updates peaked my interest early on but having seen what it effects I would completely ditch all server related actions in favour of more performance.
 
Idk why people get so hung up about getting ganked. I've been ganked a few times and I thought it was fun and hilarious, and it inspired me to get into pvp which imo is the best part of the game.
 
Did the whole MMORPG thing where you'd have to be extremely social all the time, which usually means you'd have to adhere to schedules and plan around that. Otherwise peeps would get disappointed, etc.

Can no longer be bothered to deal with that noise.

One of the best aspects of a game right now is the ability to ALT-F4 at will and no-one cares because you're doing your own thing - alone.
 
Were do I find these polls? Doesn't make much sense to "vote" here in a thread...
But since you asked: Usually I play in Solo, even when there is absolutely no reason for (e.g. 5 KLY from the bubble), just as a statement to Frontier. But when I play in Open, I'm either totally drunken or - you guess - 5 KLY from the bubble. Which is pretty much the same as Solo.

Or in short: As single player. Always.

The polls are on our YouTube channels. I can't link to the polls here as it's against the forum rules.
 

Ozric

Volunteer Moderator
Me I play solo 80-90% of the time. It's mostly because of my playstyle and being an explorer, but when I'm in the Bubble I play in Open though that's not guaranteed to play with others.

I do group up occasionally for things like some Buckyball races, or helping out people with their factions. But I mainly play Elite to escape from things and just enjoy the sights of the galaxy.


The reason so many people play it as single player is due to how it is set up, how vast the galaxy is, and how FDev simply refuses to put deep coop and natural+meaningful competetive systems in place to allow a good multiplayer experience.
On top of, as others have said, the OP is caveated. You should also try reading most of the responses in this thread to see that's not the case here.
 
I didn't count the player kills. I believe it's under 10, but I took part in combat CGs. Why would I count those? Got killed maybe a handful times more than being killed, mostly in ambushes. Again, not counting combat CG. Took part in limited powerplay and sometimes attcked other players. Good times before the cancerineers, when all you needed was credizts and skill to fight other commanders.
After the power creep and arms race I saw no reason to do the same dreadful grind and MP lost all its fun. Soon after they increased the AI HP and PvE lost its appeal as well.
 
I used to do a lot more piracy in Open, and played with friends, but that only lasted so long before I (and mainly my friends) could no longer suffer through the limitations of the multiplayer implementation and the game mechanics conspiring to make it a miserable experience, not to mention how little piracy makes sense contextually, doubly so in MP.

I still play in Open mainly, but on my own for the most part. As I have no interest in any of the Thargoids content, there is no motivation, no content that could justify the hassle of grouping up with other players and having the failings of the game as an MMO rubbed in my face. There's enough of that in the solo aspects already.
 
Like your last poll, this is very flawed and you are insinuating information based on incomplete data.

The reason so many people play it as single player is due to how it is set up, how vast the galaxy is, and how FDev simply refuses to put deep coop and natural+meaningful competetive systems in place to allow a good multiplayer experience. If FDev added those 2 things, many many many of us would play it as multiplayer, and would actually prefer that.

Currently the only method of killing other players is Griefing which most of us are morally unwilling to do, set up pvp matches/tournies which takes too much time, or find the very very very few people RPing directly against you (like actually does PP in open) and hunting on hours for those 2 people is not fun.

No offense, but you either need to think through these posts more or stop posting.
That is literally the very point he brought up, and offered supporting information from a PvP Cmdr, and the very question I JUST asked. Catch up man.
 
Yeah, I'm more of a lone-wolf and survivalist type player. I've gotten together with others for expeditions a number of times though and CGs a few times.
In general I just like to muck around and do my own thing, not play the meta game.
 
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