Forums » Suggestions
I was thinking about what it is that a person gets from this game the first time they play it, and it occurred to me that it's a bit disengenuous. People are lured in with bot-fighting/trading, and then later, introduced to the real meat of the game, PvP.
But if someone doesn't get the chance to see it, well its going to seem like a lot of work for no good reason.
Look at the reviews of the game, PvP is barely mentioned, and yet its probably the main reason that the majority of people stay on for any length of time.
The only way I can see to show people this side of the game that early, is, in fact, to SHOW it to them.
By having in the new UI, a spectator mode for certain sectors of interest, B8 for example. The player could fly around and watch what was happening, without having to get their freebus blasted.
Even better, you could have cameramen, who would be players endowed by the devs/guides with the ability to broadcast their POV to the other players.
When people see these things, they're going to start getting excited, and do what they can to get down and start fighting. It would be a great hook for players.
But if someone doesn't get the chance to see it, well its going to seem like a lot of work for no good reason.
Look at the reviews of the game, PvP is barely mentioned, and yet its probably the main reason that the majority of people stay on for any length of time.
The only way I can see to show people this side of the game that early, is, in fact, to SHOW it to them.
By having in the new UI, a spectator mode for certain sectors of interest, B8 for example. The player could fly around and watch what was happening, without having to get their freebus blasted.
Even better, you could have cameramen, who would be players endowed by the devs/guides with the ability to broadcast their POV to the other players.
When people see these things, they're going to start getting excited, and do what they can to get down and start fighting. It would be a great hook for players.
It would make the Dened and Corporate runs also a spectator sport
Jamay
Jamay
Just my opinion, but I've never been very fond of "spectator sports", regardless of what the "sport" was. If it's something I think is fun, I'd prefer doing it myself rather than watching someone else do it, and if it's not something I think is fun, then I'm not interested in either watching it or doing it.
I'd like to see more missions that would introduce players to PvP. Have a few low level missions that give slightly higher license equipment to the player, but only for that mission - say the BP mission gives the player 2 Neutron Blasters, even if the player's too low a level to buy them, but if the player doesn't get to the mission sector in a certain amount of time, they get a standing penalty ("You are only allowed to use the equipment we issued you to patrol the border!"). Then lower level players won't have as much of an equipment handicap, and will be able to get into actual combat quicker.
[edit] I'm not saying a spectator mode wouldn't be nice, I just think there're a lot of things that should come first. [/edit]
I'd like to see more missions that would introduce players to PvP. Have a few low level missions that give slightly higher license equipment to the player, but only for that mission - say the BP mission gives the player 2 Neutron Blasters, even if the player's too low a level to buy them, but if the player doesn't get to the mission sector in a certain amount of time, they get a standing penalty ("You are only allowed to use the equipment we issued you to patrol the border!"). Then lower level players won't have as much of an equipment handicap, and will be able to get into actual combat quicker.
[edit] I'm not saying a spectator mode wouldn't be nice, I just think there're a lot of things that should come first. [/edit]
I'd enjoy being able to watch other players duking it out in B8 without actually having to be there myself. It would also be nice to use when two players are duelling.
I often enjoy watching skilled people show their stuff in many ways, it's also a great way to learn. adding such a feature would have one downside only, it'd take time from other projects.
Beo, if you say "I think there are a lot of other things that should come first" again, I will go stark raving mad. It is your most predictable response to any suggestion, and I suggest you closet it for a while.
Considering that the devs are working on the UI ...RIGHT...NOW...
This is something that can either come now, with a little extra effort. Or later, with an enormous amount.
It would give people in the Bar something to watch, and make it more of a Bar environment, rather than just an embedded chat tab.
Missions are all fine and good, but people aren't going to see the thrill of fighting based on a few low level bus wars.
People want to see a battle, and go "Hey! what's THAT weapon, I WANT THAT!"
If we're not going to have advertising OUTSIDE of the game for a while, lets at least have a bit INSIDE the game.
Considering that the devs are working on the UI ...RIGHT...NOW...
This is something that can either come now, with a little extra effort. Or later, with an enormous amount.
It would give people in the Bar something to watch, and make it more of a Bar environment, rather than just an embedded chat tab.
Missions are all fine and good, but people aren't going to see the thrill of fighting based on a few low level bus wars.
People want to see a battle, and go "Hey! what's THAT weapon, I WANT THAT!"
If we're not going to have advertising OUTSIDE of the game for a while, lets at least have a bit INSIDE the game.
I like the idea, there's been plenty of times that people want to see something happening, but are way too far away to get there on their own... being able to fly to a station and watch something far away is an excellent alternative to rushing halfway across the universe only to find that whatever happened is already over.
This brings up a couple of questions though:
- Should the camera be something that has a physical manifestation, or should it be a free-roaming F9-style view that you control?
- Should players be aware that they are being watched?
It could turn into a big-brother kind of situation that could be exploited by players to quickly find other players for whatever reason.
Secondly, if there were observers, there's also the problem of them being used to mess up races by flying them in front of players, and they could generally get pretty annoying if abused, or too many are around.
I think the best solution would be a nano-observer... no real manifestation, but they do show up in the sector list and can zip around at extremely high speeds. No ability to sector-chat and possibly the ability to get a sector list of only what is 3000m around them. Also, I'd like to see being able to select ships of interest and see the ships health displayed on the side of the screen (eg. select 2 duellers ships and watch their health drain as they fight)
I guess, for the bar, it could all give way to some automatic camera, but it would be nice to still optionally control your own view and watch what you want.
Extending this idea to cap-ships would be cool as well... though I'd prefer pilotable observers be deployed... they could be used as scouts or for other tactical purposes.
Thumbs up
This brings up a couple of questions though:
- Should the camera be something that has a physical manifestation, or should it be a free-roaming F9-style view that you control?
- Should players be aware that they are being watched?
It could turn into a big-brother kind of situation that could be exploited by players to quickly find other players for whatever reason.
Secondly, if there were observers, there's also the problem of them being used to mess up races by flying them in front of players, and they could generally get pretty annoying if abused, or too many are around.
I think the best solution would be a nano-observer... no real manifestation, but they do show up in the sector list and can zip around at extremely high speeds. No ability to sector-chat and possibly the ability to get a sector list of only what is 3000m around them. Also, I'd like to see being able to select ships of interest and see the ships health displayed on the side of the screen (eg. select 2 duellers ships and watch their health drain as they fight)
I guess, for the bar, it could all give way to some automatic camera, but it would be nice to still optionally control your own view and watch what you want.
Extending this idea to cap-ships would be cool as well... though I'd prefer pilotable observers be deployed... they could be used as scouts or for other tactical purposes.
Thumbs up
okay, I don't like the idea of having continuous, accessable coverage of 'interest sectors', because it's a tactical issue - you could lurk in a station and watch for activity in other sectors in order to pirate people without doing any of the work... like waiting at a choke point.
I -DO- however, like the idea of allowing devs/guides a broadcast camera, which could be used to feed video/audio to a station tab screen (mainly for big events/races, etc...) so noobsand other non-participant players can see what's happening (like in the deneb run, CSR, capship/levi battles). think of it as a news channel, and the guide with the camera is the press.
I -DO- however, like the idea of allowing devs/guides a broadcast camera, which could be used to feed video/audio to a station tab screen (mainly for big events/races, etc...) so noobsand other non-participant players can see what's happening (like in the deneb run, CSR, capship/levi battles). think of it as a news channel, and the guide with the camera is the press.
New commands for everybody! Or at least until there are shiny candy-like buttons for all of these functions.
/spectate join "Pilot"
/spectate leave
/spectate invite "Pilot"
/spectate uninvite "Pilot"
/spectate kick "Pilot"
/spectate inviteall
/spectate disable
/spectate list
/spectate join "Pilot"
/spectate leave
/spectate invite "Pilot"
/spectate uninvite "Pilot"
/spectate kick "Pilot"
/spectate inviteall
/spectate disable
/spectate list
Great idea, but one word... wait. After other things, this would be great to impliment, but I also think people should only see what certain broadcasting players are seeing, to keep the idea in context. It would add a whole new demention to the game: TV. Half of American's, and probably 1/5 of the world's favorite pass-time is to sit on their lazy asses and stare at a bunch of pixels changing colors, so why wouldn't Vendetta players like this?
Great idea Shape, but we're going to have to hold our horses on this one.
Great idea Shape, but we're going to have to hold our horses on this one.
Voyeurs.
Otherwise... it's a great idea.
Otherwise... it's a great idea.
you want to look, use a cent mk2 and don't forget the zoom button is your friend. This is just another feature in which people say wow cool for 1 - 2 weeks and then not use it for the rest of the game.
Invite newbies to come and watch, it will be far more effective then any of the proposed items. And ow, don't forget it does mean you should not shoot them when they are watching. But we all know how high the chance is for that. Not to mention that i would consider it even more bandwidth intense then playing in a regular fashion.
Invite newbies to come and watch, it will be far more effective then any of the proposed items. And ow, don't forget it does mean you should not shoot them when they are watching. But we all know how high the chance is for that. Not to mention that i would consider it even more bandwidth intense then playing in a regular fashion.
This kinda reminds me of a suggestion, I dont know anymore who made it, it was way back, about putting cameras on the racetrack that goes through that station. Whenever you dock with that station and a race was going on, you could watch it on the screens in that station. This is somewhat in line whit that, and I love the suggestion. (btw, if im not making sence here, im drunk right now :p )
Yeah but then you run into the problem of those who will kill the n00bs any way, and then you have to get them out there. But if you just had a buttion that said spectator mode they would be like oh shiny...
Rene:
the point is not that there should be a spectator mode so that no one has to fly. Its a spectator mode so that everyone in the galaxy can watch fights/events that the Devs/guides deem worthy.
and Its something that can go in the station UI! You're flipping through the news, and suddenly, YAY BROADCAST!
I'm not against only certain players having this functionality, but lets be serious, this is not a major addition. Having this sort of thing broadcast to the stations would give people a reason to stay logged in, even when they're not trading/fighting.
the point is not that there should be a spectator mode so that no one has to fly. Its a spectator mode so that everyone in the galaxy can watch fights/events that the Devs/guides deem worthy.
and Its something that can go in the station UI! You're flipping through the news, and suddenly, YAY BROADCAST!
I'm not against only certain players having this functionality, but lets be serious, this is not a major addition. Having this sort of thing broadcast to the stations would give people a reason to stay logged in, even when they're not trading/fighting.
I LOVE this idea.
Having spent my fair share of time in bars, hanging out having a few drinks and watching the Packers lose, I think this is an OUTSTANDING idea, Shape.
Have channels that watch Sedina B-8 and Deneb C-10 (Maybe Verasi C-2?), and there are invisible camera-bots that gravitate towards weapons fire. The bar patrons can switch the channel if they like.
And ArAsH's idea of racetrack cameras is kickass too.
Moofed's ideas about "/spectate" commands would be frikking awesome.
This would be awesome. Of course, we'd see a lot more sitting around in stations watching fights. Good for the Makchuga.
Having spent my fair share of time in bars, hanging out having a few drinks and watching the Packers lose, I think this is an OUTSTANDING idea, Shape.
Have channels that watch Sedina B-8 and Deneb C-10 (Maybe Verasi C-2?), and there are invisible camera-bots that gravitate towards weapons fire. The bar patrons can switch the channel if they like.
And ArAsH's idea of racetrack cameras is kickass too.
Moofed's ideas about "/spectate" commands would be frikking awesome.
This would be awesome. Of course, we'd see a lot more sitting around in stations watching fights. Good for the Makchuga.
>>"Have channels that watch Sedina B-8 and Deneb C-10 (Maybe Verasi C-2?), and there are invisible camera-bots that gravitate towards weapons fire. The bar patrons can switch the channel if they like."<<
No.
having dedicated sector cameras is a bad idea for the reason I already stated - it would remove the need to travel and gather your own tactical intelligence. It would be best to have only one or two broadcasts at once, and always at the discretion of a deg, guide or other specifically-entrusted player (ie. in big events, matchup fights, epic stuff..)
The racetrack camera is the only dedicated camera idea I support, and it should only be viewable from the track station. (maybe have all the tracks watchable from the track station, but no more)
No.
having dedicated sector cameras is a bad idea for the reason I already stated - it would remove the need to travel and gather your own tactical intelligence. It would be best to have only one or two broadcasts at once, and always at the discretion of a deg, guide or other specifically-entrusted player (ie. in big events, matchup fights, epic stuff..)
The racetrack camera is the only dedicated camera idea I support, and it should only be viewable from the track station. (maybe have all the tracks watchable from the track station, but no more)
OK the invisible "camera-bots" are uncontrollable by players, they do what they want. The only "tactical intelligence" you would get is a view of fights by two unnamed competitors in the sector. I don't see the risk. You might be able to tell if a large trade convoy passed thru in the background, but that's it.
Whoa!... I love this idea... Shape, very nice...
I have *always* been a "lurker" in B-8 for just this reason... I really enjoy watching a good fight... and I have even learned from watching... and in fact, *had* to learn because of the occasional watching-created interplay sucked me into playing, so that I *could* watch...
cudos to those that followed that logic thread...
/me agrees...
I have *always* been a "lurker" in B-8 for just this reason... I really enjoy watching a good fight... and I have even learned from watching... and in fact, *had* to learn because of the occasional watching-created interplay sucked me into playing, so that I *could* watch...
cudos to those that followed that logic thread...
/me agrees...
As Person said, I believe that the easiest way to implement this is to allow ppl to watch a fight (or anything for that matter) from your perspective (or 3-rd person with you centered like F9) with your permission. Having an invisible "camera" bot seems like it would take a lot of AI (if even possible) to get figure out a good point of view.