Hi,
Can the people who play in open play explain why they do it?
I mean, I'm totally missing the point of being in open mode unless you're meeting up to do something specific with friends so I don't get why anyone would generally play in open mode as a solo commander.
I've played ED since it released, in open and solo play... but I find myself playing in solo mode more & more often. Why?... because solo play doesn't contain the RP equivalent of psychopaths whose only motivation is to kill you. Don't get me wrong. I have no problem being interdicted for my cargo, or if I'm wanted, or carrying some dodgy goods, hey I'm a trader/smuggler it goes with the territory... but as a trader/smuggler no ship I use can ever compete with someone who is simply out to destroy you. There is very little positive in open play to compensate for this. I can type "hey how you doin?" in chat or maybe, briefly wing up with a stranger, but that's it... right?
... I _want_ ED to be a social game but I'm not seeing any mechanisms that motivate its community to produce a positive, social online experience in game. Put another way, is open play purely aimed at people who want PvP combat?
Hey, I flippin' love ED and will play it, endlessly but most likely in Solo. Just wondering what I'm missing in Open (if anything).
Thoughts appreciated. Cheers.
---- Thread Summary 1st May
So, guess I raised a point people feel strongly about. Thanks for the comments. The above was a genuine question & I've read the whole thread. A summary of what I read:
- We want Random human encounters, it adds life to the game that AI wont deliver.
- We prefer positive encounters because they're huge fun
- However, Risk brings excitement so we don't want a danger-free environment.
- It's acceptable and realistic to have "no-go" areas that you avoid if you're not equipped to cope with them.
- Ambient play experiences are available (solo, Mobius PVE) to avoid risk if that's who you are.
However, those people posting who have a more trading or exploring role-playing experience would like to see an effective security system in place that means randomly destroying another CMDR has serious consequences which balance the high losses in credits & game-time experienced by traders & explorers during such an encounter.
First let me point out that when i use the terms Psychopath I mean that in the role-playing sense to represent in-game character behaviour, not as a deregatory reference to people's motivation outside the game. Aratoth successfully captures the type of gameplay I consider role-playing as a consequence-free psychopath (let me re-iterate, a perfectly acceptable gameplay choice...)
Mengy gives a couple of examples of what traders/explorers might like to see as a consequence to this behaviour to balance the several million credit loss experiences as a result:
Sandmann also posted very coherently on page 10 how to create a more varied and encouraging open world, I've bolded what I think is a very important point. There is much more to Sandmann's post and I like it very much as an example that would create an open play system that encourages all gameplay types and gives higher rewards to higher risk activities:
Can the people who play in open play explain why they do it?
I mean, I'm totally missing the point of being in open mode unless you're meeting up to do something specific with friends so I don't get why anyone would generally play in open mode as a solo commander.
I've played ED since it released, in open and solo play... but I find myself playing in solo mode more & more often. Why?... because solo play doesn't contain the RP equivalent of psychopaths whose only motivation is to kill you. Don't get me wrong. I have no problem being interdicted for my cargo, or if I'm wanted, or carrying some dodgy goods, hey I'm a trader/smuggler it goes with the territory... but as a trader/smuggler no ship I use can ever compete with someone who is simply out to destroy you. There is very little positive in open play to compensate for this. I can type "hey how you doin?" in chat or maybe, briefly wing up with a stranger, but that's it... right?
... I _want_ ED to be a social game but I'm not seeing any mechanisms that motivate its community to produce a positive, social online experience in game. Put another way, is open play purely aimed at people who want PvP combat?
Hey, I flippin' love ED and will play it, endlessly but most likely in Solo. Just wondering what I'm missing in Open (if anything).
Thoughts appreciated. Cheers.
---- Thread Summary 1st May
So, guess I raised a point people feel strongly about. Thanks for the comments. The above was a genuine question & I've read the whole thread. A summary of what I read:
- We want Random human encounters, it adds life to the game that AI wont deliver.
- We prefer positive encounters because they're huge fun
- However, Risk brings excitement so we don't want a danger-free environment.
- It's acceptable and realistic to have "no-go" areas that you avoid if you're not equipped to cope with them.
- Ambient play experiences are available (solo, Mobius PVE) to avoid risk if that's who you are.
However, those people posting who have a more trading or exploring role-playing experience would like to see an effective security system in place that means randomly destroying another CMDR has serious consequences which balance the high losses in credits & game-time experienced by traders & explorers during such an encounter.
First let me point out that when i use the terms Psychopath I mean that in the role-playing sense to represent in-game character behaviour, not as a deregatory reference to people's motivation outside the game. Aratoth successfully captures the type of gameplay I consider role-playing as a consequence-free psychopath (let me re-iterate, a perfectly acceptable gameplay choice...)
Mengy gives a couple of examples of what traders/explorers might like to see as a consequence to this behaviour to balance the several million credit loss experiences as a result:
Sandmann also posted very coherently on page 10 how to create a more varied and encouraging open world, I've bolded what I think is a very important point. There is much more to Sandmann's post and I like it very much as an example that would create an open play system that encourages all gameplay types and gives higher rewards to higher risk activities:
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