Greetings Cmdrs,
I am a 60+ male SciFi writer in North Wales. Started playing Elite Dangerous on Xbox One a couple of months ago after buying it over a year ago. It sat in my collection for a year because to be honest I was having a great time in ESO. Then One Tamriel came along and it got crowded, especially in the former veteran zones. I found this broke both the challenge and sense of wonderment in what is an amazing world.
So time for a change in the amazing Galaxy of Elite Dangerous Core. I love exploring it, have made the trip to Saga* in a Cobra III (25ly jump range), as a detour returning from Colonia (no more long trips like that for a while methinks). Deep space in the game conveys solitude; and the fragility of life in a harsh environment is depicted really well throughout.
As a young teenager I was fascinated by 2001 A Space Odyssey; went to see it three times in a week while it was in the local cinema, also read the book multiple times. I felt huge empathy for the Bowman character, his isolation, the seemingly hopeless situation he faced, but still going on with his mission. It was that sense of space being so big, even within the solar system, and this human so isolated and alone in it that struck me most. The monolith representing something else other than us, and so mysterious, was the right approach (better in the film than the book, where Arthur C Clarke provided some explanation).
So I love the way this game keeps extra terrestrial life in the realm of mystery. Let's face it, advanced civilisations are measured on a scale of 1-3 and we are still at zero on that, except in our imaginations. And that's where our dreams of space will stay, I think, until there is a working theory of gravity - if we are ever allowed to find it.
Oh, and it would be nice to occasionally spot another player in game, maybe tag along in a wing. It's kind of lonely out there
