I've been playing Elite: Dangerous for a long time off and on, and each time I boot up the game for a couple more weeks' worth of playtime I can't help but think the same thing: this game has so much untapped potential. Your game is great, it's literally the best game available for VR in my opinion. The graphics are beautiful, the ship mechanics are just deep enough that it takes a competent pilot but not so complex that you have to be a sim enthusiast to pick it up, and needless to say - space is huge and you've managed to impress that on anyone who plays the game. There's always room for improvement, but I think you've done great so far - and I think you could do even better.
Ultimately, I think three things need to be implemented:
There's a downside, though. Players that don't enjoy grinding aren't going to stick around, and folks who find out that the only way to get a viable ship for the activities they do want to engage in is to grind up against almost every feature the game has to offer they might not purchase at all. Variety is the spice of life, and Elite is great at making sure that you're rewarded for everything you do - but it's also great at forcing you into the parts of the game that you don't enjoy. We're not talking about doing those things you hate for a couple hours, either - you're going to have to grind out those things. You're going to have to land on a planet and take off the headset for a few hours to drive around because driving the SRV in VR makes you sick. You're going to have to go out to those asteroid belts and mine to get materials.
Trading fixes all of that with no impact on the viability of grinding to get what you want. If you enjoy the grind, fine: go do it. If you don't you can still do the things you enjoy as virtually every activity in this game results in credits - one way or another. Not only that, but it opens a whole new gateway for player interaction. The community now creates a whole new Elite economy where the possibilities are only limited by the mechanics of the game.
Not only that, but if you open up the possibility for players to exchange credits and the like then entire new avenues of potential features open up. Squadrons could have a pool of donated funds that members of a certain rank can use for rebuying their ships. You can create goals for groups of players to work towards, like purchasing a mega-ship or a space station. Player factions can become a real part of the game that matters. You don't have to build any of those new features, obviously, but the options are there.
Don't get me wrong, it's not all rainbows and unicorns. The first short while that this system is implemented is gonna have some serious cash cows floating around the galaxy with enough credits to cause some serious mayhem. That's fine, though - their funds can't last forever, and eventually the scales are going to balance themselves out. You'll have some players that will buy the game because their friend promised to buy them the best ship credits can buy, so after a short while if they don't integrate with the community they're not going to have anything to do. That's fine, too - odds are those players wouldn't have stuck around long-term anyways, and they bought your game - didn't they? You can still leave restrictions on the Federal and Imperial ships, they're bad-ass - and maybe you should still have to put some time in grinding that rank if you wanna fly one of them whether you bought it from a player or not.
The long and short of it is that if you let the community interact with each other in new ways they will create new content for you. Trading is a fundamental part of just about any RPG, and that's what Elite really is: it's a in' awesome space RPG. Open up the possibilities and watch your community do the work for you.
Ultimately, I think three things need to be implemented:
- Players should be able to trade credits with each other.
- Players should be able to trade materials with each other.
- Players should be maybe be able to trade ships & components with each other.
There's a downside, though. Players that don't enjoy grinding aren't going to stick around, and folks who find out that the only way to get a viable ship for the activities they do want to engage in is to grind up against almost every feature the game has to offer they might not purchase at all. Variety is the spice of life, and Elite is great at making sure that you're rewarded for everything you do - but it's also great at forcing you into the parts of the game that you don't enjoy. We're not talking about doing those things you hate for a couple hours, either - you're going to have to grind out those things. You're going to have to land on a planet and take off the headset for a few hours to drive around because driving the SRV in VR makes you sick. You're going to have to go out to those asteroid belts and mine to get materials.
Trading fixes all of that with no impact on the viability of grinding to get what you want. If you enjoy the grind, fine: go do it. If you don't you can still do the things you enjoy as virtually every activity in this game results in credits - one way or another. Not only that, but it opens a whole new gateway for player interaction. The community now creates a whole new Elite economy where the possibilities are only limited by the mechanics of the game.
- Maybe I really enjoy mining, but I don't need the materials I'm getting. Now I can sell them to other players that don't enjoy that activity.
- Maybe I was hauling cargo yesterday and a player blew me up, I can now offer a bounty of my own to hunt down that player and take them out.
- Maybe I'm the leader of a player faction a power play leader can hire for a cycle to defend a system from would-be underminers.
- Maybe I enjoy kitting ships out. I can now buy a ship, outfit it, buy the materials to engineer it, and sell it to other players for a profit.
Not only that, but if you open up the possibility for players to exchange credits and the like then entire new avenues of potential features open up. Squadrons could have a pool of donated funds that members of a certain rank can use for rebuying their ships. You can create goals for groups of players to work towards, like purchasing a mega-ship or a space station. Player factions can become a real part of the game that matters. You don't have to build any of those new features, obviously, but the options are there.
Don't get me wrong, it's not all rainbows and unicorns. The first short while that this system is implemented is gonna have some serious cash cows floating around the galaxy with enough credits to cause some serious mayhem. That's fine, though - their funds can't last forever, and eventually the scales are going to balance themselves out. You'll have some players that will buy the game because their friend promised to buy them the best ship credits can buy, so after a short while if they don't integrate with the community they're not going to have anything to do. That's fine, too - odds are those players wouldn't have stuck around long-term anyways, and they bought your game - didn't they? You can still leave restrictions on the Federal and Imperial ships, they're bad-ass - and maybe you should still have to put some time in grinding that rank if you wanna fly one of them whether you bought it from a player or not.
The long and short of it is that if you let the community interact with each other in new ways they will create new content for you. Trading is a fundamental part of just about any RPG, and that's what Elite really is: it's a in' awesome space RPG. Open up the possibilities and watch your community do the work for you.
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