What George R R Martin taught me about ED
- Thread starter Mars
- Start date
Death death death - oh woe is me and death in games.
I played Eve online heavily for 2 years many moons ago (left just as capital ships were becoming trendy) and the harshness of death was, if not directly, the main reason I left. It was the cause of all the other problems the game had for me. Everyone was so careful it all became generally hours of yawning boredom with short, very exiting and hugely exhilarating moments of action, followed by several more hours of boredom.
Sure this led to moments of genuine adrenalin, fear and excitement I've not had in a videogame before or since, but this was the only upside. The downside (the huge boredom felt for the vast majority of the time playing it) meant it stopped feeling like playing a game at all. I felt it made me forget why I play games in the first place. I remember a strong sense of liberation when I went and played some more classical video games again (ie portal, half-life, Mario etc etc....) - it made me vow never to go down that dark videogaming path ever again :smilie:
Someone said near the start of this thread in regards to a more severe penalty on death "equate more meaningful gameplay and thus more fun"
It's the exact opposite in my eyes. I guess my definition of fun differs greatly to theirs.
While I don't want no consequence, it needs to be tailored to allow the majority to still feel they get fun without too much fear.
This is a game after all. Real life has enough on the line for me thank you very much
The option to play the so called ironman mode seems a decent compromise that isn't forced on you.
I played Eve online heavily for 2 years many moons ago (left just as capital ships were becoming trendy) and the harshness of death was, if not directly, the main reason I left. It was the cause of all the other problems the game had for me. Everyone was so careful it all became generally hours of yawning boredom with short, very exiting and hugely exhilarating moments of action, followed by several more hours of boredom.
Sure this led to moments of genuine adrenalin, fear and excitement I've not had in a videogame before or since, but this was the only upside. The downside (the huge boredom felt for the vast majority of the time playing it) meant it stopped feeling like playing a game at all. I felt it made me forget why I play games in the first place. I remember a strong sense of liberation when I went and played some more classical video games again (ie portal, half-life, Mario etc etc....) - it made me vow never to go down that dark videogaming path ever again :smilie:
Someone said near the start of this thread in regards to a more severe penalty on death "equate more meaningful gameplay and thus more fun"
It's the exact opposite in my eyes. I guess my definition of fun differs greatly to theirs.
While I don't want no consequence, it needs to be tailored to allow the majority to still feel they get fun without too much fear.
This is a game after all. Real life has enough on the line for me thank you very much
The option to play the so called ironman mode seems a decent compromise that isn't forced on you.
Death death death - oh woe is me and death in games.
I played Eve online heavily for 2 years many moons ago (left just as capital ships were becoming trendy) and the harshness of death was, if not directly, the main reason I left. It was the cause of all the other problems the game had for me. Everyone was so careful it all became generally hours of yawning boredom with short, very exiting and hugely exhilarating moments of action, followed by several more hours of boredom.
Sure this led to moments of genuine adrenalin, fear and excitement I've not had in a videogame before or since, but this was the only upside. The downside (the huge boredom felt for the vast majority of the time playing it) meant it stopped feeling like playing a game at all. I felt it made me forget why I play games in the first place. I remember a strong sense of liberation when I went and played some more classical video games again (ie portal, half-life, Mario etc etc....) - it made me vow never to go down that dark videogaming path ever again :smilie:
Someone said near the start of this thread in regards to a more severe penalty on death "equate more meaningful gameplay and thus more fun"
It's the exact opposite in my eyes. I guess my definition of fun differs greatly to theirs.
While I don't want no consequence, it needs to be tailored to allow the majority to still feel they get fun without too much fear.
This is a game after all. Real life has enough on the line for me thank you very much
The option to play the so called ironman mode seems a decent compromise that isn't forced on you.
Yup, I'd agree with that. Let people play 'dead is dead' mode if they want to, but have a 'minor pain in the @rse' mode for those who prefer to have fun. I dunno, maybe you lose one randomly rolled bit of equipment off your ship when you respawn in a station or whatever. Something not too bad, but enough of a pinprick to make us wanna avoid blowing up all the time.
I've got two EVE accounts that are over ten years old, and frankly, the death penalty and the possibility of ganking simply makes me avoid places in the game that I'd otherwise like to check out. So in effect, I'm paying for large sections of the EVE universe where I can't go and have an enjoyable game, simply because of the game being in large part populated by t*ssers who are more interested in spoiling it for others than they are in enjoying it for its merits.
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Exactly. The "minor pain in the @rse" mode where you can actually pick up a tour not necessarily starting docked at a space station. Maybe 'inside' hyperspace, or attached to an astroid or something. Or later of course on the ground on a planet, but not mandatorily on an inhabited one, like the current model seems to have to enforce.
The appeal of deep space exploration for me is the fact that I can travel so far away and feel so cut off from civilized space that I have to rely on myself alone to get back alive with any data I've collected. That's one of the greatest challenges of the whole exploration feature and it should give people a great sense of satisfaction when they're successful at it.
And here's me thinking your original post was about the erosion of realism via quick travel pods that take you back to a shipyard when you mess up. I see the complete opposite is true - you want it even easier and with as little consequence as possible. Well, each to their own I guess.
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you want it even easier and with as little consequence as possible. Well, each to their own I guess.
Not at all!
I do want failure to sting, and I accept punishment for mistakes.
Actually all I want is an alternative coninuation point than docked at a station.
Just like you wrote:
With the current death model you would just have to crash to 'beam' yourself back to inhabited space.
All just for the prize of some credits and your cargo.
Too easy!