GlobusDiablo wrote:Xebeth wrote:...All the SDC have succeeded in doing with this is to make themselves slightly more hated, get ridiculed for 70 odd pages on the FD forum, and drive up membership in Mobius.
On that note, one could argue that SDCs event succeeded in adding content and "life" to Elite: Dangerous? Something to get excited/inflamed about?
All they did was play and emphasise a broken game mechanic in my opinion. Not even very well at that. But based on the attention they're getting, I would say that the mission has been a huge success for them, and Elite: Dangerous.
We can all argue about they're agenda and how they go about it, but at the end of the day SDC adds tension to Elite: Dangerous, and personally I think Elite: Dangerous would be poorer without them.
Getting themselves to be the center of attention again has obviously been a success. That is of course what kids nowadays yearn for. Look at the popularity of Yourube, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, etc. It’s all about fame for fame’s sake. “Look at me, look at me” cries the child yearning for some small modicum of notice and affection, in a world filled with noise.
As for their contribution to Elite. That can be debatable. The game would be just fine without them.
Let’s face it. ED is not really a multiplayer focused game. We all share the same universe and can see each other if instanced together, but if this game were pure solo mode how would it be any different? We can affect each other through the BGS which is a PvE thing and really the way the “influences” in the BGS has been set up it seems to be more for a single player game imo.
PvP in ED really has no meaning. To me, it seemed like ED was actually conceptualized as a single player game and then someone probably DB suddenly decided, one day, why not join the trend and make it multiplayer. A central galaxy server instead of having each individual run their own galaxy. A central galaxy server would also allow for more “factions” to be included without overburdening someone’s PC and let them essentially run a “thin client”. Since the single player game foundation is already in place, treat other players as no different than NPCs (but special case NPCs). IMO that’s why we can shoot each other (and makes sense from a immersion POV.) I think that the limitation place by the single player ED framework is what led to the “Players and NPCs will not be treated any different” philosophy.
I’ve played other games where NPCs and Players were treated differently and where PvE and PvP made sense and had meaning. These games were designed for their modes from the ground up. I have played one other MMO where PvP completely did not make sense for the game’s design philosophy and was later shoehorned in because of player demand, and it was completely meaningless.
Oh well. Just my opinion.