What keeps you from playing?

[Durandal]

Whenever I'm away from Discovery for extended periods of time, it has always been due to one of three things.

1. Logistical stuff. Money, work, homelessness, hospitalization, all those good things.

2. Psychological stuff. PTSD, anxiety, relationship/social stuff.

3. Disco stuff. This is rare, and usually related to internal staff drama. The actual community doesn't bother me at all.

[sigmoidkilo]

I thought about staying away from this post, because I really think we have a good community here. But, I think this can be positive. I’ll folllow Durandal’s style and bullet my points

(1) I have a full time job where I work 50 hours a week, and also go to school to study math (full time). Add in raising two children, and it’s easy to see I don’t have much time to game at all.

(2) Some negativity does exist, but I’ve learned very quickly to just ignore it. The biggest thing I see is OORP hate which leads to “wars”. That’s certainly a real issue, and it can deter people from logging the characters for those factions. I’m not hugely into PvP, I’m here for RP. So, if I’m going to log in to be hunted, I may just log one of my traders.

(3) Many factions don’t seem to allow you to make a small commitment. I’m not going to say this is always the case, because the factions I’m in understand where my priorities are. But it is very clear to me that a huge number of faction leaders expect you you treat this as a part time job. While I’m particularly motivated to be involved in the community, this just isn’t realistic.

Now that I’ve had a bit of a whine, let’s end on a positive note. I left Disco in late 2011, and came back about three weeks ago. This means that I’ve been gone for over six years. I saw someone else talk about this, and it’s completely true. The amount that has changed in disco is incredible. When I left, PoBs were just starting to be discussed (I think). Events almost never happened. Worst of all, making credits in the game was a huge grind, and tech was not easy to attain. I’ve been hugely shocked by the fact that you can buy code names at bases...

Beyond that, this community is truly special. Upon my return, I was able to find my old faction, and was welcomed back immediately.

So to the staff, and the community: Great work, and thank you. I’m very impressed with where we are today.

[Traxit]

My internet and social life.

---

The best Video Game OST
Just Got Better

[Wilfred]

Yeah, RL.

Playing any kind of video game is a time investment. When I do log on, I can play for 4-5 hours straight, but I have a fairly narrow window where I feel it's worth it.

(I also have a self-imposed in-game restriction, where I only play one character (I own two ships, but I'm only one pilot), who isn't part of any faction. So I have no motivation to log on for PvP events, unless it's a free-for-all.)

[Lythrilux]

RL. Being an adult gives you less time to spend on time heavy space games. I remember when I could just come home from school and spend hours roleplaying, writing stories and creating lore.

I'd also say it's because the 'glory days' are gone now. There's low pop, consistently lackluster/bad (subjective) updates and stagnation when it comes to story, faction, and regional progression. I'm also struggling to knuckle down and finish stories because I've got writer's block and lack of motivation.

Lastly, there's a lot of other games to play out there that are not only kinder to my time schedule but are also more enjoyable imo. That and I've got other hobbies I like to pursue.

---

[Alestone]

Well, my latest example is a pair of "officials" that kept "RPing" after I told them I had to take a phone call and blew me up while I was talking to my wife who was driving cross country from Virginia to Minnesota.

I wish I could say it was atypical of the behavior around here, but I try not to tell pointless, petty lies.

---

Alestone Enterprises

The Power To Get You There!

[The.Wizard]

The project I started is purposely being sabotaged by typical disco faction leader behavior, like almost every project anyone starts since 2008. Not starting another project elsewhere because I know the same thing will probably happen anywhere.
Frustration at the refusal of devs to address blatant issues...

Pretty much this...
All my friends and most of the really interesting people left the game because of this.

---

[Arioch]

Wife, daughter, work, other games.

Similar to what others said - glory days are few and far between now. Yes that can be changed with activity/players putting forth effort, but yeah. I enjoy the time when I am here, and enjoy the time doing others things as well. Just finding a groove/balance.

---

[Stefz]

Mostly the fact that good old random interactions that are worth a damn are so few and far between. One of the reasons I didn't drop Discovery after the first week was just the sheer amount of people on the server. I also finally have a PC that can run games from this decade so that's a huge contribution to my lack of motivation to do anything Discovery related. It just feels pointless.

---

[Strichev]

Disco requires a hefty time investment, one can spend an hour in game before something interesting happens. The population is low and this amplifies the problem, back in the day you could spawn fly around for a bit and something would happen. The universe felt alive and exciting.

Other than that, the game just doesn't grab me as it used to, it gets boring rather quickly. Let it be damned, I'm installing FL right now.