A retrospective on government action (or how the community as changed)

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Hey all,

I’m not writing this to reopen the debate on the actions of the last week but more so to give my thoughts looking back. I do not claim to have come up with all of this myself, it is the distillation of thoughtful conversation I’ve had with numerous players.

About me to esthablish my credibility when talking about things, I have played this game for 4 years, about half of that time actively. As such, I can have a reasonable claim to understanding the game and its community. Throughout this time, I have always been looking to do novel things and push the limits. This as been done through trade, loans and now politics.

Regarding what transpired in the last few days, I expected backlash but was truly surprised by the level of anger over what is frankly a minor plot. To see unimpacted players quitting simply at the toughts of what was done is making me reflect on the chasm between how I see the game and how a vocal portion of the community does.

As such, the main point I’m trying to make is that the community has fundemental changed in the last year or two, and it is bringing the game with it. Tolerance for competition is now non existant from a portion of the player base and I think it’s because the game itself and how it approaches new players as itself changed. When I started, loans didn’t exist, grants didn’t and the CX was sparse leading to more competition and real risk of overproduction.

Nowadays in comparison, a player starts by being given a free million for joining one of the main corp, they get access to near break even loans, subsidized material and can produce anything with much fear to overproduction. While all this is commendable, I think it is serving to retain a specific type of player and slowly overtime changing the composition of the game.

I find it telling that I received many messages of support (tho not necessarily agreement) from older player while the newer player where the most vitriolic. When newer player tell me this isn’t the game for that, all I can think is that they didn’t join the same game I did. While the game was about building your company, it is now more thought of by many as a communal economy builder than a business cim. I think that is fine, but when I see players discussing required feature, they seem to be more focused on enforcing that view than enabling different playstyles.

I think this is something worthy of dev consideration when deciding to respond or not to calls for change. They have every right to decide how to direct it but I think it’s a slope that can go unnoticed. I would also like to add that when people say it’s bad for new players, we were effective at recruiting new players despite all this, this tells me that while the super player friendly and cooperative community attracts a certain player, it actively punishes and pushes away another.

(PS: Just to clarify, not trying to say this is good or bad, simply trying to point out the perceived evolution of the community for it to be considered in future game decisions)

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So just to summarize how Celebdil looked from the pov of the peaceful players: It was a unprovoked hostile takeover with no realistic way to counter it or get the planet back and any planet could be the next target so anyone could be affected next. And also way more players have quit silently, also ones that aren’t on discord.

You don’t have to join any corp for this, you just need to go by your local organization to grab it. And this is also a competition: who can develop their region better.

The problem with that is the political system is barely functional to just keep planets alive, let alone politics or political PvP. I think nobody would have a problem with having PvP (political and combat) in this game if it would be opt in, for example outside faction systems. But for that the faction has to be able to claim systems. In fact many “new players” (including me) would be interested in that kind of PvP but not without proper systems in place.
The biggest problem with Celebdil was that there just wasn’t any way to conter it except locking down every other planet worth something. This would force the PvP playstyle on PvE players, something you complained about the other way around, just that here it would be a group of <20 people changing the whole game in their direction.

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In hindsight, I think this was inevitable.

I am of the opinion that this is not a new evolution of the community, but rather a manifestation of two things: one, the growing playerbase, and two, the increased mechanics with which players can affect the universe. Since I joined the game 715 days ago, what has always struck me is just how much the player base is involved in the actual running of the game. This of course allows for actors (good, bad, neither) to try and turn the system to what they desire. Around when I first joined, the big drama was the player BraveCaperCat, who was performing rampant fraud and piracy. That was eventually resolved by molp, but it had a similar reaction to what had occurred recently: much outcry from the community, a sense of “oh shit, things are getting worse”, and generally a lot of anxiety. As the playerbase has grown, I see it as inevitable that more players would join who wish to challenge what is happening, and so we enter a new era of community development and discovery. At the same time, more has been added to the game, which has given players more opportunities to engage and turn the universe how they like. As such, I see the current situation as having been inevitable.

To address the root causes of the problem: molp. Unfortunately, molp is only one person, and as we are all (I hope) aware, the development of this game is slow and arduous. molp has to prioritize his time, and the sense I have gotten of his development style is to try and put everything out there first, then see what needs tweaking. As such, we are living in a universe that is still heavily under construction, meaning there are fundamental imbalances in game mechanics that allow for exploitation by motivated characters. We saw this readily with the First and Second Promitor Incidents, we are seeing it again with the Celebdil Incident, and I expect we will continue to see it as mechanics are developed and refined. I make this point for two reasons: one, that it is difficult to determine where molp’s priorities lie, and where he would like to see the game go, and two, that we should not expect massive change soon. This is going to be a long, slow process, and no matter how hard molp tries to direct the universe, we’ll find a way around it regardless.

I’d like to conclude with my own opinion on recent events, as well as my hopes for the future of the game. I was directly affected by both the First and Second Promitor Incidents, and have suffered at the hands of one who decided to attempt emulating that idea. What made that so bad was the callousness and recklessness with which the actors chose to act. Many have likened this game to a sandbox, and what happened there was the equivalent of a small child trying to jump on as many sandcastles as possible. I have less of a stake on Celebdil, but I imagine the sentiment there is the same. Having said all that, I actually fundamentally agree that this game needs more conflict. Part of that comes from the lack of “engagement” this game generates on its own. Part of that comes from the fact that there is very little in this game that cannot be solved with copious amounts of money. Some form of PvE and (possibly, though I hesitate), PvP combat would I think breath life and energy into the game. Add in some true mega projects, like terraforming, and you suddenly are looking at a far more dynamic and interesting game. HOWEVER. My caution is what has been repeated time and again: make this optional. New players should not need to worry about people like me seizing their production or bankrupting them due to fees. I think it would be reasonable to make faction space “safe”, and force the players who want those mechanics to duke it out on the fringes. Whatever does end up happening, I trust that molp will be receptive to feedback, so keep it coming, but beware of pointless arguments that do not help development.

In 15 days my company will reach exactly 2 years in age. In that time I have made it my goal to interact with as many mechanics as possible. I took very little money when I started, have not participated in CORPs except for in temporary and limited positions, and as a whole have tried to act as a steward for the parts of the game I like best. Like I mentioned before, part of the joy I had in finding this game was the level of community input and control. But I also found it amazing that extremely knowledgeable people would devote professional level time and energy to helping run and maintain the game. My hope is that we do not lose sight of the immense potential the game has, in favor of smaller, snappier mechanics. It is far easier to destroy than to build, and so it is in the building we find power and strength. I ask that whatever is advocated, we not lose sight of that.

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