Why Elite: Dangerous fascinates me
When I discovered Elite was returning to computers I could not resist and signed in. I have played the game since the Premium Beta and I don’t think I will ever grow tired of it. Here are some of the reasons why.
Elite was one of the most exciting games I played on a 8bit Spectrum machine back in the 80’s of last century. I never made it very far in the game, really, but the idea of being in space and travel the Universe amazed me, even if we had to imagine most of the scenery, as the crude lines of an 8bit game were only giving us the concept, not the real thing.
Well, with Elite-Frontier and the expansion that Horizons offers, we’ve more than I believe, any of us at that time thought was possible. I guess that’s the same feeling as David Braben has towards the game (he mentioned this in a recent interview). Now we can see the Universe inside our computers, and not just inside our heads. We still have to imagine the story, helped by the Galnet news, but now we’ve a whole playground that… looks like the Universe.
While many have bought the title looking for a kind of shoot ’em up game that, being online, should be a PVP (Player Versus Player) experience, I am looking for a completely different adventure, and I am not alone at that: more people think like me and prefer a PVE (Player Versus Engine) experience. You see, I come from the old game, which was played solo, and I don’t mind keeping that way when it comes to combat… because although I like some aspects of it, I rather travel amongst the stars and experience the feeling of loneliness Elite can offer you.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind sharing Elite’s universe with other players, but in a real world, not everybody is after a fight, and that should be also respected inside the game… as it, to a certain extent, mimics the real Universe. Because it isn’t (respected) I’ve turned to a closed group — Elite: Dangerous PVE — Mobius — where I know no one will stab me in the back. That allows me to pursue my dreams of traveling the Universe without being afraid of someone just shooting me down. I already have enough trouble with some NPCs… no need for sneaky humans to spoil the fun.
I’ve not been as far as many of the expeditions that make the news in Elite’s pages, but simply going outside the bubble where all action seems to happen makes you feel alone. Traveling to Barnard’s Loop or California Nebula already gives you a sense of being alone, of the emptiness of space, and makes the simple return back to inhabited areas a painful — because it seems to take forever — and a joyful ride.
With Horizons, and the possibility to go to the surface of planets, things became even more interesting. When you leave your spaceship and travel around in a SUV specially made for those trips, you get an even more stronger feeling of loneliness, of how small you are. The images published here give you an idea of the feeling, while at the same time show you the detail and colour of the Universe as seen inside Elite. It’s the exploration of those moments that really attracts me to the game and makes me return over and over. There is a whole Universe waiting for us out there. And according to Frontier Developments, it is expanding. That’s the reason why I bought a Life Pass for Elite.
Note: article first published in April 2016 in a Wordpress blog that I decided to moved to Medium this March 19, 2017
