What do you guys think about the real-time aspect of Elite Dangerous?

[bootsam]

Thanks a lot for reminding me I left uni 12 years ago! Grrrrr

<Wibbly-wobbly screen flashback> - Ahhh 6 core subjects...6 lectures & 6 tutorials....12 hrs per wk in my final year (plus 8 hrs self-imposed study periods per day, ofc *cough*) <&...back in the room>

Great!...time to leave for work! Enjoy your day playing Elite, OP! 'Not jealous at all...

12?!? I had a 40hr lecture week and 40hr study on top. All whilst working nights/weekend packing in a robotic automaton manner with my brain trying to strangle me. 12? Oh how I dreamt of a 12hr lecture week.

I graduated over 20yrs ago. It was worth every second. I miss Uni. Drugs, sex, parties, booze and books. All I have now are books. Where did it all go wrong? Sob...

 

[jojon]

It's the job of the game to respect the player's time - not that of the player to be a virtual wage servant to the game.

I have still not gotten over the sneaky dropping of offline mode.

Once we get proper mission chains (as opposed to the single followup mission offers of 2.3), I am going to be very leery about getting into any of them, because who knows how long they could drag on, and what might interrupt you in real life.

 

[mp4x]

Thats really not a games job at all - your time is your own, manage it

It's the job of the game to respect the player's time - not that of the player to be a virtual wage servant to the game.

I have still not gotten over the sneaky dropping of offline mode.

Once we get proper mission chains (as opposed to the single followup mission offers of 2.3), I am going to be very leery about getting into any of them, because who knows how long they could drag on, and what might interrupt you in real life.

 

[DefiledDragon]

Thats really not a games job at all - your time is your own, manage it

Absolutely, otherwise games would allow you to do things like pause them, or log out and have everything be exactly where it was when you left the next time you play. You know, like every other game in existence ever, including the predecessors to this game

 

[StiTch]

Absolutely, otherwise games would allow you to do things like pause them, or log out and have everything be exactly where it was when you left the next time you play. You know, like every other game in existence ever, including the predecessors to this game

That's funny, I can't find the "Pause" button in CoD online - would you mind helping me with this?

Disclaimer: I do not play CoD online. Become one with the rhetoric.

 

[DefiledDragon]

That's funny, I can't find the "Pause" button in CoD online - would you mind helping me with this?

Disclaimer: I do not play CoD online. Become one with the rhetoric.

Of course you can't. That's a multiplayer only function of a game. Can you find the pause button in the "solo mode" of CoD?

 

[Jukelo]

It's the job of the game to respect the player's time - not that of the player to be a virtual wage servant to the game.

And how do you put that absolute pearl of truth and wisdom into practice? How do you offer a convenient experience to everyone while at the same time not watering down the mechanics, how do you satisfy both those who want to vicariously live their fantasy through video games and all those who have a family and three full time jobs and go skydiving and horseback riding in the evening (after making love to their two mistresses) before they can find some time for Elite Dangerous, and then all the types falling in the middle?

Obviously every game has to make decisions as to what it's going to be and whom it's going to appeal to, and nothing stops that game from deciding it's going to make its players virtual wage servants if there's a market for that.

 

[Alec Turner]

Personally I love it, indeed I'd go further and say it's necessary for an MMO and essential for my "immersive" model of the game. If I log off then (obviously?) the galactic clock continues to tick.

 

[StiTch]

Of course you can't. That's a multiplayer only function of a game. Can you find the pause button in the "solo mode" of CoD?

CoD solo = offline.

ED Solo mode =/= Offline.

 

[mp4x]

Absolutely, otherwise games would allow you to do things like pause them, or log out and have everything be exactly where it was when you left the next time you play. You know, like every other game in existence ever, including the predecessors to this game

None of which is because its the games responsibility to manage your time for you.

I play the same game as you, and i can do all the things listed. Barring pausing, because you cant do that in most online games. For pretty obvious reasons. And I don't choose missions i cant complete, most of the time. If i dont complete them, that isnt the games fault. Nor do i get punished.


Baffling

 

[Alec Turner]

Absolutely, otherwise games would allow you to do things like pause them, or log out and have everything be exactly where it was when you left the next time you play. You know, like every other game in existence ever, including the predecessors to this game

Errr ... except every MMO in existence ever? (unless I'm missing something)

 

[Micha]

I agree with the people arguing that standard missions should be measure in in-game time, not real-time; furthermore, they should have times ranging from generous to barely do-able (with the time-constrained missions paying more, obviously). These missions are the equivalent to offline/solo gaming in other games.

CG's have to remain real-time though as they are by nature online/multiplayer.

Just my 2Cr, fwiw.

 

[Butter of Sorrow]

This whole things makes me rather sad and angry to be honest, I've spent far too long arguing about it in the past.

What it comes down to is people have lives outside of the game and it can be difficult to predict when and for how long you will be able to play. If real life intervenes it is a tad unfair that you are then punished in game.
I don't object to missions being timed, not at all, but I think that should in game time not real-time. There would be a few interesting mission terminating edge cases but nothing that wouldn't be rather rare and nothing that couldn't be resolved sensibly.
Frontier's response to this has been to extend mission timers out but that just reduces the validity of those timers for everyone who can spend time in game while not helping everyone else that much.
So, bit of a mess and generally annoying.
There was some _very_ long ago talk about timers being in game but that never amounted to anything - I suspect it is sufficiently built in to the fabric of the game that changing it would be a right pain now.

In relation to CGs I think the real-time is probably okay, these tend to be long running events and I've always maintained that for player interactive events (which CGs sort of ought to be) or missions then real-time makes sense. Just not for everything else.

Still, I don't expect change at this point. I just have to be super careful about what missions I take when - that this care is based on factors external to the game rather than internal is immersion break and irritating but oh well.

Yeah, even if I would think of it as a bad thing I don't think it warrants change just yet, if ever. There's definitely topics in this game that deserve a lot more attention than this.

 

[Tenshi]

I like the way the mission timer is right now.

I work full time and have a house to run so my time in game is limited. I just take those missions I know I am going to complete, sometimes I will even take a few with 24 hours on them knowing that I can do them very easily the next day after work. Why would anyone in a sane mind take a mission at 00:00 to 3:00 AM knowing they are not going to be able to complete it and will fail the mission?

Starting to think that some people don't bother reading the mission descriptions and time limit, this is not the game at fault it is the player who fails to read the text.

 

[V'larr]

Don't take massacre missions at 3 AM?

It's possibly reasonable to ask for massacre missions in general to have a longer time limit than they currently do, given that the requirements for completion are a bit more difficult than going from point A to point B.

But anyone asking for missions to only count down using ingame time is ignoring the BGS and the exploits that would quickly arise around using that method.

All the other faff about "respecting player time" - everyone's time is equally valuable. If time-saving is anyone's concern, then y'all should be focusing on things like supercruise acceleration limits instead.

 

[Jools]

stardreamer>SC

 

[Arry]

I hate it with a passion.
For someone like me who plays about once a week it's impossible to get allied with any superpower due to reputation decay.
No matter how high I get my reputation, the next time I play it's back down to 75%.

This, this and THIS!

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah, I'll go with that one. I don't mind the 24 hour limit on missions so much, but the superpower rep decay is annoying.

......and this.

 

[DefiledDragon]

CoD solo = offline.

ED Solo mode =/= Offline.

Nobody is asking for a pause button. Nobody is asking to be able to quit halfway through a fight, then log in and carry on where they left off. You know this. People are asking for more time to complete missions instead of the current 24 hour limit and for superpower rep decay to be not quite so brutal. You go from 100% allied to 75% friendly in what, 48 hours of non play? Clearly FD don't want players going on holiday.

- - - Updated - - -

Errr ... except every MMO in existence ever? (unless I'm missing something)

You certainly are missing something. I haven't played SWTOR in a few weeks, maybe even a month. When I log back in, guess what the state of my game will be. I'll give you a hint. It won't be any different to how it was when I logged out. I won't have failed my current quest due to inactivity, nor will the in game NPC's think less of me because I've taken a break. That goes for every MMO I've ever played and might well go for every MMO ever, except ED of course.

Tbh, the whole debate around ED's implementation as an MMO is pointless. FD have demonstrated from the outset that they have no interest whatsoever in providing any of the tools or experiences that make other MMO's fun. They have their own ideas of what a game should be and they aren't interested in straying from that vision, for better or worse. Irritating for many people, but at the same time one can't help but admire their commitment to the vision. I just wish their vision of what a fun multiplayer experience is was one I shared.

 

[lysan]

Thanks a lot for reminding me I left uni 12 years ago! Grrrrr

<Wibbly-wobbly screen flashback> - Ahhh 6 core subjects...6 lectures & 6 tutorials....12 hrs per wk in my final year (plus 8 hrs self-imposed study periods per day, ofc *cough*) <&...back in the room>

Great!...time to leave for work! Enjoy your day playing Elite, OP! 'Not jealous at all...

Well we enjoy it, cuddling games I don't buy, that's why investigating what you buy is a good thing, im sure you learnd that at the uni!