The Economy of Loss

[Ukkoa]

Hey everybody! I thought I would make my inaugural post on the forums a good one so here I am, hopefully you think likewise.

I’m a very recent addition to the Discovery Community as I’m sure you’ve already gathered and last night I had my first instance of being involved in a PvP showdown which I ultimately lost. I raged a bit, knowing that my hard earned Bumblebee and its cargo had been destroyed. I knew that losing my ship had set me back a good amount of time. As a new player, I don’t have very many credits.

After respawning however, I noticed that the server had provided me with a new bumblebee. I hadn’t even lost the weapons or other fittings equipped previous to my destruction. The only thing missing was my 1800 units of Rice – not a huge loss – barely a loss at all.

And that’s the problem.

I feel that if a game is being utilized in the role playing experience, it should at least attempt to reflect a believable alternate reality. On a role playing server, how can any of us truly be immersed in the world and the characters we play if such an important facet of life, perhaps the most important dichotomous relationship of all, doesn’t even exist? How can you portray a character in a specific light – as a crime fighter or a serial killer if your actions fail to have any real consequences? Is it possible to be the loser in this game? Perhaps most importantly, how does the absence of this mechanism affect the way players interact with their surroundings?

(And what do you do with all of your money if you don’t have a time sink like repurchasing lost ships and equipment?)

So the tl;dr version: Would gameplay be improved if you lost your ship and all its contents upon destruction?

What are your thoughts? I feel as a new player I still have the perspective of an outsider looking in on the Discovery Community. Obviously, players who have been here for extended periods of time enjoy it a great deal. Also, if this ship replacement thing is an introductory period thing for new players and it disappears after a week or two, I apologize immensely for wasting your time.

Ukkoa