Elite: General talk

26 Nov 2020, 10:13pm
ZentzlbHad a noob friend that had been playing the game for less than a week that got ganked while he was trying to land at farseer yesterday. He was not deterred from playing in the slightest. The ship insurance policy in this game is incredibly forgiving, most other games you would just lose the ship. Repeated ganking can be toxic but dying one or two times is only a roadblock if you have a bad attitude.

A rebuy or two is not a big deal. Losing a week of exploration data on the other hand...

Explorers should always switch to solo when returning.
26 Nov 2020, 10:15pm
Sakashiro
ZentzlbHad a noob friend that had been playing the game for less than a week that got ganked while he was trying to land at farseer yesterday. He was not deterred from playing in the slightest. The ship insurance policy in this game is incredibly forgiving, most other games you would just lose the ship. Repeated ganking can be toxic but dying one or two times is only a roadblock if you have a bad attitude.


A rebuy or two is not a big deal. Losing a week of exploration data on the other hand...

Explorers should always switch to solo when returning.


that is literally the only real setback in this game. People who call a couple minutes or hours a setback haven't played games where you actually lose stuff like ships
26 Nov 2020, 10:26pm
M. Lehman
Aleksander Majjam
M. LehmanLike it or not, the game allows for this kind of behavior. It seems like a far more productive use of your time would be to learn evasive skills and outfit properly. If that's something you can't be bothered to do, then select the mode most appropriate for your skill level and risk tolerance.



And I'll say one more thing: it's okay for new players to not know everything. It's okay to experience setbacks in one's early game. These are the experiences that enable people to develop skill and proper expectations.

Open isn't for everyone, and that's okay too.




LMAO. Holy shit. I swear I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here.

Players in fully engineered ships blowing up new Sidewinders to bits for fun and you want these new players to make better use of their time? How can they possibly do this when they're griefed? The idea that some of you think gankers are "teachers" is absolutely laughable.

No one, and I mean no one, should have their first MMO experience in Elite dictated and ruined by gankers. These aren't setbacks. Forgetting my limpets when I get to my mining location is a setback. Getting killed in PP is a setback. Losing some of my cargo to pirates is a setback.

Sorry, I just don't understand the normalizing of ganking. I really don't. But hey, when there are people condoning this I can understand why people go into solo and just stay there and/or never stick around long enough. This probably even wouldn't be a discussion but we have players that come on these forums and antagonize others for playing in solo as well, so there's that.



Of we two, who has the more realistic approach for helping a new player successfully navigate open? The one urging that players learn from setbacks so that they see the importance of developing proper evasive skills and outfitting, or the one who is stamping his foot because sometimes players get attacked?


You thinking ganking is the only way that new players can learn evasive skills and outfitting? When a baby is born, do you punch it in the face and tell yourself that said baby will learn from its setbacks and the importance of defending itself by getting punched in the face early in its life by someone stronger and more knowledgeable than it?

I won't even entertain getting into the second portion of your comment because you have no clue about what I do in terms of helping others, especially new players, beyond Inara. If you think I'm stamping my foot because "sometimes players are getting attacked in open" ..then you have got no idea what my gripe is about, because it isn't that.
26 Nov 2020, 10:36pm
Aleksander Majjam
M. Lehman
Aleksander Majjam



LMAO. Holy shit. I swear I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here.

Players in fully engineered ships blowing up new Sidewinders to bits for fun and you want these new players to make better use of their time? How can they possibly do this when they're griefed? The idea that some of you think gankers are "teachers" is absolutely laughable.

No one, and I mean no one, should have their first MMO experience in Elite dictated and ruined by gankers. These aren't setbacks. Forgetting my limpets when I get to my mining location is a setback. Getting killed in PP is a setback. Losing some of my cargo to pirates is a setback.

Sorry, I just don't understand the normalizing of ganking. I really don't. But hey, when there are people condoning this I can understand why people go into solo and just stay there and/or never stick around long enough. This probably even wouldn't be a discussion but we have players that come on these forums and antagonize others for playing in solo as well, so there's that.




Of we two, who has the more realistic approach for helping a new player successfully navigate open? The one urging that players learn from setbacks so that they see the importance of developing proper evasive skills and outfitting, or the one who is stamping his foot because sometimes players get attacked?



You thinking ganking is the only way that new players can learn evasive skills and outfitting? When a baby is born, do you punch it in the face and tell yourself that said baby will learn from its setbacks and the importance of defending itself by getting punched in the face early in its life by someone stronger and more knowledgeable than it?

I won't even entertain getting into the second portion of your comment because you have no clue about what I do in terms of helping others, especially new players, beyond Inara. If you think I'm stamping my foot because "sometimes players are getting attacked in open" ..then you have got no idea what my gripe is about, because it isn't that.


Setbacks are a fantastic teacher, in both life and video games. Run out of fuel in the middle of a bunch of non-scoop able stars? Lesson learned. Approach that high-g planet too quickly and you ate a rebuy from impacting the surface? Lesson learned. Sacrifice shields and armor in a place where a lot of PvP happens for the sake of getting extra cargo space? Well, you take your chances.

Also, your baby metaphor is beyond insulting, both to those of us who have a mature view of what to expect in Elite and to new players in general- whom you apperantly view as infantile specimens, incapable of learning, too delicate to handle a setback, and wishing to play not a fleshed-out game but a never-ending tutorial.

EDIT: praytell, what do you do to help new players prepare for open?


Last edit: 26 Nov 2020, 10:47pm
26 Nov 2020, 10:46pm
M. Lehman
Aleksander Majjam
M. Lehman



Of we two, who has the more realistic approach for helping a new player successfully navigate open? The one urging that players learn from setbacks so that they see the importance of developing proper evasive skills and outfitting, or the one who is stamping his foot because sometimes players get attacked?




You thinking ganking is the only way that new players can learn evasive skills and outfitting? When a baby is born, do you punch it in the face and tell yourself that said baby will learn from its setbacks and the importance of defending itself by getting punched in the face early in its life by someone stronger and more knowledgeable than it?

I won't even entertain getting into the second portion of your comment because you have no clue about what I do in terms of helping others, especially new players, beyond Inara. If you think I'm stamping my foot because "sometimes players are getting attacked in open" ..then you have got no idea what my gripe is about, because it isn't that.



Setbacks are a fantastic teacher, in both life and video games. Run out of fuel in the middle of a bunch of non-scoop able stars? Lesson learned. Approach that high-g planet too quickly and you ate a rebuy from impacting the surface? Lesson learned. Sacrifice shields and armor in a place where a lot of PvP happens for the sake of getting extra cargo space? Well, you take your chances.

Also, your baby metaphor is beyond insulting, both to those of us who have a mature view of what to expect in Elite and to new players in general- whom you apperantly view as infantile specimens, incapable of learning, too delicate to handle a setback in a new game, who wish to play not a game but a never-ending tutorial mode.


I'm oh so very sorry you're insulted. However, where do you think the term "baby seal clubbing" comes from? I didn't just pull the baby metaphor out of my ass. Anyway...

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't consider being killed by other players in Open ganking. I don't consider killing players for any in-game, lore-based reasons ganking. I don't consider players interdicting others, especially new players, beating their shields down and maybe taking a bit of hull, as ganking. I've seen videos where players do this, don't kill the player, and explain to them the who, what, where, and when of PvP. Again, I don't consider these things ganking.

This https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIwOzfnzQuQ&feature=emb_logo ...is ganking/griefing. And if THIS is what you're condoning then we have nothing more to discuss here.
26 Nov 2020, 10:52pm
M. LehmanSetbacks are a fantastic teacher, in both life and video games. Run out of fuel in the middle of a bunch of non-scoop able stars? Lesson learned. Approach that high-g planet too quickly and you ate a rebuy from impacting the surface? Lesson learned. Sacrifice shields and armor in a place where a lot of PvP happens for the sake of getting extra cargo space? Well, you take your chances.

Minor setbacks can be handled, major ones can be devastating. I still remember the day when I docked my Sidewinder in Colonia after weeks of jumping, scanning and mapping. I had no shields (too heavy), no docking computer (not enough room), and I was still a newbie who hadn't docked at a station for weeks. I was so damn nervous, my hands were shaking, lol.

If I had lost my ship at that point, I don't think I would have started over. I guess I would have quit the game and played something else instead.
26 Nov 2020, 10:52pm
M. Lehman
Aleksander Majjam[quote=M. Lehman]



Of we two, who has the more realistic approach for helping a new player successfully navigate open? The one urging that players learn from setbacks so that they see the importance of developing proper evasive skills and outfitting, or the one who is stamping his foot because sometimes players get attacked?




You thinking ganking is the only way that new players can learn evasive skills and outfitting? When a baby is born, do you punch it in the face and tell yourself that said baby will learn from its setbacks and the importance of defending itself by getting punched in the face early in its life by someone stronger and more knowledgeable than it?

I won't even entertain getting into the second portion of your comment because you have no clue about what I do in terms of helping others, especially new players, beyond Inara. If you think I'm stamping my foot because "sometimes players are getting attacked in open" ..then you have got no idea what my gripe is about, because it isn't that.



Setbacks are a fantastic teacher, in both life and video games. Run out of fuel in the middle of a bunch of non-scoop able stars? Lesson learned. Approach that high-g planet too quickly and you ate a rebuy from impacting the surface? Lesson learned. Sacrifice shields and armor in a place where a lot of PvP happens for the sake of getting extra cargo space? Well, you take your chances.

Also, your baby metaphor is beyond insulting, both to those of us who have a mature view of what to expect in Elite and to new players in general- whom you apparently view as infantile specimens, incapable of learning, too delicate to handle a setback, and wishing to play not a fleshed-out game but a never-ending tutorial. New players aren't babies, and being realistic with them about how to navigate open isn't "punching a baby in the face", but the best thing one could possibly do for them.

Note that I'm not a ganker- but I'm virtually ungankable even in a Sidewinder because I bothered to learn the game instead of complain about it. And on those occasions when I've eaten a rebuy screen? I shrug, get over it, and ask myself what I could have done better because that's what adults do.


EDIT: praytell, what do you do to help new players prepare for open?
26 Nov 2020, 10:59pm
M. Lehman
M. Lehman
Aleksander Majjam
M. Lehman



Of we two, who has the more realistic approach for helping a new player successfully navigate open? The one urging that players learn from setbacks so that they see the importance of developing proper evasive skills and outfitting, or the one who is stamping his foot because sometimes players get attacked?





You thinking ganking is the only way that new players can learn evasive skills and outfitting? When a baby is born, do you punch it in the face and tell yourself that said baby will learn from its setbacks and the importance of defending itself by getting punched in the face early in its life by someone stronger and more knowledgeable than it?

I won't even entertain getting into the second portion of your comment because you have no clue about what I do in terms of helping others, especially new players, beyond Inara. If you think I'm stamping my foot because "sometimes players are getting attacked in open" ..then you have got no idea what my gripe is about, because it isn't that.




Setbacks are a fantastic teacher, in both life and video games. Run out of fuel in the middle of a bunch of non-scoop able stars? Lesson learned. Approach that high-g planet too quickly and you ate a rebuy from impacting the surface? Lesson learned. Sacrifice shields and armor in a place where a lot of PvP happens for the sake of getting extra cargo space? Well, you take your chances.

Also, your baby metaphor is beyond insulting, both to those of us who have a mature view of what to expect in Elite and to new players in general- whom you apparently view as infantile specimens, incapable of learning, too delicate to handle a setback, and wishing to play not a fleshed-out game but a never-ending tutorial. New players aren't babies, and being realistic with them about how to navigate open isn't "punching a baby in the face", but the best thing one could possibly do for them.

Note that I'm not a ganker- but I'm virtually ungankable even in a Sidewinder because I bothered to learn the game instead of complain about it. And on those occasions when I've eaten a rebuy screen? I shrug, get over it, and ask myself what I could have done better because that's what adults do.


EDIT: praytell, what do you do to help new players prepare for open?



Okay, yeah. We're done here. Insinuating that people who have been ganked have no reason to complain and/or those that voice their displeasure about it aren't adults because they don't suck it up.. yeah. See ya, buddy.
26 Nov 2020, 11:09pm
Have you guys seen these on Elite's Twitter today?





IMO they look great.


Post edited/moved by: Artie, 27 Nov 2020, 3:07pm
26 Nov 2020, 11:12pm
Sakashiro
M. LehmanSetbacks are a fantastic teacher, in both life and video games. Run out of fuel in the middle of a bunch of non-scoop able stars? Lesson learned. Approach that high-g planet too quickly and you ate a rebuy from impacting the surface? Lesson learned. Sacrifice shields and armor in a place where a lot of PvP happens for the sake of getting extra cargo space? Well, you take your chances.


Minor setbacks can be handled, major ones can be devastating. I still remember the day when I docked my Sidewinder in Colonia after weeks of jumping, scanning and mapping. I had no shields (too heavy), no docking computer (not enough room), and I was still a newbie who hadn't docked at a station for weeks. I was so damn nervous, my hands were shaking, lol.

If I had lost my ship at that point, I don't think I would have started over. I guess I would have quit the game and played something else instead.


Yes, that would have sucked. But on the other hand, it would have been fair.

And I'm not saying this to be a "git gud" type of jerk. I'll admit that I'm absolutely injecting my real-life worldview into this discussion, which is informed heavily by classical Stoicism. "Fairness" to me isn't some artificially-enforced parity, though I think that for the purposes of gameplay it was a good idea for Frontier to create something of a beginner zone for new players. But that's where it does, and indeed should stop.

As harsh as it might sound, it is 100% fair for a player in an engineered Fer de Lance to dominate in combat against a new player in a Sidewinder. It is 100% fair for a seasoned explorer to be more skilled at using a neutron star to supercharge their frameshift drive than a player who has never seen one. It is 100% fair for a player group with a hundred dedicated players to win a BGS war against a smaller group of fifty.

Once a person separates the expectation of fairness from the expectation of winning, the entire world falls into place.
26 Nov 2020, 11:18pm
Aleksander Majjam
M. Lehman
M. Lehman



Setbacks are a fantastic teacher, in both life and video games. Run out of fuel in the middle of a bunch of non-scoop able stars? Lesson learned. Approach that high-g planet too quickly and you ate a rebuy from impacting the surface? Lesson learned. Sacrifice shields and armor in a place where a lot of PvP happens for the sake of getting extra cargo space? Well, you take your chances.

Also, your baby metaphor is beyond insulting, both to those of us who have a mature view of what to expect in Elite and to new players in general- whom you apparently view as infantile specimens, incapable of learning, too delicate to handle a setback, and wishing to play not a fleshed-out game but a never-ending tutorial. New players aren't babies, and being realistic with them about how to navigate open isn't "punching a baby in the face", but the best thing one could possibly do for them.

Note that I'm not a ganker- but I'm virtually ungankable even in a Sidewinder because I bothered to learn the game instead of complain about it. And on those occasions when I've eaten a rebuy screen? I shrug, get over it, and ask myself what I could have done better because that's what adults do.


EDIT: praytell, what do you do to help new players prepare for open?





Okay, yeah. We're done here. Insinuating that people who have been ganked have no reason to complain and/or those that voice their displeasure about it aren't adults because they don't suck it up.. yeah. See ya, buddy.


Yes. Indeed we are. I wish you better luck in managing your expectations next time you purchase a game that explicitly allows, encourages, and equips players to attack each other.


Last edit: 26 Nov 2020, 11:23pm
26 Nov 2020, 11:23pm
Zentzlb

Had a noob friend that had been playing the game for less than a week that got ganked while he was trying to land at farseer yesterday. He was not deterred from playing in the slightest. The ship insurance policy in this game is incredibly forgiving, most other games you would just lose the ship. Repeated ganking can be toxic but dying one or two times is only a roadblock if you have a bad attitude.


I didn't say it was a roadblock, but that it was discouraging and potentially aggravating.  Some players have limited time to play due to real life.  What is a small setback to one player might be a wait for a week and then another day of play to another player.  And the rationale that causes it has an effect as well.  That behavior which has no excuses chases players into PG and Solo and then the whining about "there is no one in Open, Frontier should make parts of the game Open Only" starts up.  If you don't see a connection, it is because you choose not to.

So, Frontier allows it, absolutely. It is not a violation of the rules.  Some players are coming from potentially much more toxic games and for them, ED has NO issues at all or minor ones at best.  just like a destroyed sand castle, for some, just an opportunity to start over, for others, it is a destruction of their time and effort for no real reason.  And spare me the "we are performing a public service to the player base" crap.  No one is fooled by that.  No one that says it actually believes it either.

So, again, I completely agree, people that want to avoid that negative and completely pointless, from the game perspective, behavior should be in PG or Solo.  But, I will also reiterate that when the PvP community is trying to call for Frontier to lock parts of the game behind Open in order to increase their pool of potential victims, admit the hypocrisy.

The thing that I really don't get is that the most egregious ganker behavior has a much more significant impact, not on the total player base, not on the game, and certainly not on people that move to PG or Solo, but to PvP. The more people that leave Open, the fewer resources there are to engage the PvP community. And, I know for a fact, because I hear it all the time, that every single PvP player feels the dearth of players in Open available for PvP.

The very players most negatively affected by the immature behavior are the ones most likely to defend/condone it. It is like a dysfunctional relationship, PvP players are in an abusive relationship with gankers and just keep saying, they really love us, they are just misunderstood.

SMH


Last edit: 27 Nov 2020, 1:12am
27 Nov 2020, 12:23am
M. LehmanAs harsh as it might sound, it is 100% fair for a player in an engineered Fer de Lance to dominate in combat against a new player in a Sidewinder. It is 100% fair for a seasoned explorer to be more skilled at using a neutron star to supercharge their frameshift drive than a player who has never seen one. It is 100% fair for a player group with a hundred dedicated players to win a BGS war against a smaller group of fifty.

That is absolutely reasonable.

The problem with baby seal ganking though is the absence of motivation in the context of the game world. As a writer, you know that quality stories require characters driven by motivation. Even the villains need some reason to do what they're doing. So what is the motivation of a ganker to club baby seals? There certainly is one, but it exists outside the game world only. There's no narrative, no roleplay, no purpose in it other than to fill someone's Twitch stream and generate clicks. You can literally see these people as three-year olds in a sandbox, destroying things their peers have built, "for the lulz".

The result of course is that the sandbox will become a little more empty every time that happens. Other children will leave and play somewhere else. In ED, "somewhere else" means solo or private groups. The fact that Mobius has 40,000 members should be reason for concern (not to FDev but to us), because it means at any given moment there are likely more players active in that group than in open. Considering this, it's not surprising that PvP'ers keep begging FDev to make powerplay open-exclusive. Mobius has taken their proverbial ball -- along with a large chunk of ED's player base -- and gone home, leaving the three-year old sociopaths behind in the sandbox.
27 Nov 2020, 12:51am
Sakashiro
M. LehmanAs harsh as it might sound, it is 100% fair for a player in an engineered Fer de Lance to dominate in combat against a new player in a Sidewinder. It is 100% fair for a seasoned explorer to be more skilled at using a neutron star to supercharge their frameshift drive than a player who has never seen one. It is 100% fair for a player group with a hundred dedicated players to win a BGS war against a smaller group of fifty.


That is absolutely reasonable.

The problem with baby seal ganking though is the absence of motivation in the context of the game world. As a writer, you know that quality stories require characters driven by motivation. Even the villains need some reason to do what they're doing. So what is the motivation of a ganker to club baby seals? There certainly is one, but it exists outside the game world only. There's no narrative, no roleplay, no purpose in it other than to fill someone's Twitch stream and generate clicks. You can literally see these people as three-year olds in a sandbox, destroying things their peers have built, "for the lulz".

The result of course is that the sandbox will become a little more empty every time that happens. Other children will leave and play somewhere else. In ED, "somewhere else" means solo or private groups. The fact that Mobius has 40,000 members should be reason for concern (not to FDev but to us), because it means at any given moment there are likely more players active in that group than in open. Considering this, it's not surprising that PvP'ers keep begging FDev to make powerplay open-exclusive. Mobius has taken their proverbial ball -- along with a large chunk of ED's player base -- and gone home, leaving the three-year old sociopaths behind in the sandbox.


It seems that the healthiest possible attitude in this case will be to take stock of what one can and can't control in terms of the behavior of others. Would it be better if every player, benevolent or malevolent, had a lore reason for doing what they did and communicated said reasons to us? Absolutely. Sadly, such will never be the case. The only thing that I can control is how I respond to the actions of others, and in the context of Elite being a game I daresay that the reason that others act as they do is irrelevant. I might not like that I or others can be attacked for any or no reason, but my approval or disapproval of such is moot. This leaves the onus on me to prepare for the game I have, not the one I want.

Incidentally, the unpredictable behavior of others can sometimes make for a better story than one would have otherwise written, as (if you'll forgive the shameless plug) both I and Drew Wagar have found out when we wrote our Elite: Dangerous novels!

(note: his are canon, mine are not!)


Last edit: 27 Nov 2020, 1:31am
27 Nov 2020, 1:02am
Man. 90's ED was.. something else.



Post edited/moved by: Artie, 27 Nov 2020, 3:10pm

Post a reply

You must be signed in to post here.
Anything at least partially related to the Elite:Dangerous, but doesn't exactly fit the Game talk thread. Elite community, astrophysics and so on...