Horizons Will Karma be necessary with widespread pre-emptive blocking?

[Chaparral]

Since it is now understood that the matchmaking process prioritizes instance population based on blocked status of commanders you might be paired with, will the likelihood of encountering pirates / gankers / or even opposing faction members present within instances drop to the point that karma will be irrelevant?

It does not take a genius to realize that commanders will pop into CGs or major ports, scan the commanders for anyone on SDC rosters, or even with a wanted status and simply block them as they appear on the recent contacts tab. If an individual blocked commander happens to fly in a wing at a given CG, then you'll have a magnified reduction in contact chance with anyone on your potential blocked lists. Over time, there will be an isolation effect - essentially generating Open PVE and PVP server type experiences.

So do we really need Karma?

 

[Shadowdancer]

Oh look, an attempted sideshow for https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...abused-or-was-it-intended-to-be-this-way-FDEV

 

[Chaparral]

Actually my question was about Karma, and not the blocking mechanic itself - or it's impact on gamelay.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

What's the point of karma in solo mode?

 

[Shadowdancer]

What's the point of karma in solo mode?

Seeing how it's aimed at player interactions, take a guess The topic at hand is a recent phenomenon where apparently some people have gotten in-depth knowledge of the global state of blocklists.

 

[Robert Maynard]

So do we really need Karma?

Whether "we" think we need it or not (opinions vary) Frontier would seem to be implementing it - to deal with those player / player interactions that Frontier consider to be detrimental to the health of the game (and yes, that includes Combat Logging [ungraceful exit from the game]).

 

[CMDR Josky]

SDC :/ will probably enjoy karma system. I hope they empliment an in game solution to go after bad karma players

 

[Para Handy]

Forgive me if I am wrong but don't you have to actually meet (or have met) a Commander in-game to be able to block them?

 

[Shadowdancer]

You can add them as a friend and block from the friends list. No need to get intimate.

 

[Chaparral]

Forgive me if I am wrong but don't you have to actually meet (or have met) a Commander in-game to be able to block them?

So you pop into a cg location look at everyone on the contacts tab. If you see they are wanted or happen to appear on a list you dont'like you block them. In the future, the game will try to place you in instances where people on your blocked list are not present. Not saying everyone uses the feature this way, but if you do use it in this way, it becomes less and less likely you will run into pvp contacts. IMO if enough players apply his strategy there will be a broad based filtering pve / pvp that will occur. If that happens - why bother with karma?

 

[Gunnet]

Blocking could only practically take the place of karma if block lists could be conveniently shared and synchronised between players. For example, players being able visit an ingame menu where they can browse block lists made by community members, then subscribe to one or more lists based on what behaviours it includes and whether or not they trust the player(s) who maintain it.

Even then, it would still be leaving the community to deal with problems which are really up to Frontier to solve.

 

[Chrystoph]

IMO if enough players apply his strategy there will be a broad based filtering pve / pvp that will occur. If that happens - why bother with karma?

What a round about way of saying, I don't want to be responsible for my actions, so don't implement a Karma system.

 

[Chaparral]

I'm actually a proponent of improved C&P and Karma seemed to be the FDEV path to implement it. Systematic blocking seems like a short-term player-moderated response to the lack of C&P. By the time Karma shows up, will the dedicated pvp'rs already be isolated?

 

[Ian Doncaster]

I'm actually a proponent of improved C&P and Karma seemed to be the FDEV path to implement it. Systematic blocking seems like a short-term player-moderated response to the lack of C&P. By the time Karma shows up, will the dedicated pvp'rs already be isolated?

I suspect at this rate the systematic blockers will be the ones who end up isolated. If you've got a CG supercruise full of PvPers and people trying to run the blockade in Open ... and you come in having blocked the "bad" PvPers, then you're not going to instance with anyone except the other blockers (at which point you may as well just set up a private group and have it work reliably)

In practice, given the tiny proportion of players who
a - read the forum
b - don't want PvP of any sort
c - haven't solved 'b' (in a more reliable fashion) by joining one of the many well-publicised PvE private groups or using Solo
d - can be bothered to pre-emptively construct and maintain a blocklist of everyone who might be a threat
I think it'll have a miniscule impact on the game.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

I suspect at this rate the systematic blockers will be the ones who end up isolated. If you've got a CG supercruise full of PvPers and people trying to run the blockade in Open ... and you come in having blocked the "bad" PvPers, then you're not going to instance with anyone except the other blockers (at which point you may as well just set up a private group and have it work reliably)

In practice, given the tiny proportion of players who
a - read the forum
b - don't want PvP of any sort
c - haven't solved 'b' (in a more reliable fashion) by joining one of the many well-publicised PvE private groups or using Solo
d - can be bothered to pre-emptively construct and maintain a blocklist of everyone who might be a threat
I think it'll have a miniscule impact on the game.

Sounds like Dynamic Match-Making - based on user preference. I think that's quite ingenious.

 

[Shadowdancer]

Systematic blocking seems like a short-term player-moderated response to the lack of C&P. By the time Karma shows up, will the dedicated pvp'rs already be isolated?

You are assuming that there is "systematic blocking" to a degree that would be "damaging" in any way. That's the part where this thread is a straight dupe of the one mentioned above.

 

[Chaparral]

I suppose the question I posed on this thread is premature. It takes time for folks to realize something like Quince exists, and then there is a gold rush to cash in. Shadowdancer, you make a fair point about the closeness of the topics. I did not want to be off-topic posing the karma question there, but I suppose they are close enough to move the conversation there.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showth...-this-way-FDEV

 

[DukeIronHand]

I'm actually a proponent of improved C&P and Karma seemed to be the FDEV path to implement it. Systematic blocking seems like a short-term player-moderated response to the lack of C&P. By the time Karma shows up, will the dedicated pvp'rs already be isolated?

Does anyone care?
Except the "dedicated pvp'rs" of course.
Why do folks insist on telling others how they should be playing their game?