The Meaning of Oolife!

[Captain Baz]

Well obviously the meaning of Oolife is 42, but what I meant was...

What does Oolite mean to you? I don't really mean it in some sentimental "Oh my, what wonderful people you all are for making blah blah blah" even though they are pretty damn cool and have my utmost respect, and... Oh crap, I'm doing it aren't I?

To me, Oolite is a way for me to do all over again what I have already done several times, but better, and cheaper than before.

I bought Elite on the BBC Micro B (which I played at school, naughty me), the Commodore 64, the ZX Spectrum, the Amstrad CPC464, the Atari ST and the Commodore Amiga. Ok, it wasn't the huge price tag that a game is in this day and age, but it represents a fair few quid.

I got to the dizzying heights of Elite on the C64 and Spectrum, not sure about the rest. Hours of play was had, and hours of fun.

Now I get to do it all over again from scratch, but with much, MUCH prettier graphics and thanks to expansions I get to do more, with more ships, and you know, it's still got the same appeal it had in the 80's. I find that astounding for any game, especially one as simple in concept as "Load up on cargo, fly to planet, shoot stuff, dock, unload cargo, rinse and repeat!"

I am interested in modding, but haven't taken the bull by the horns yet. I design websites using php and javascript so I should be able to come up with some good scripts when I get down to it. I hope! I have also done a lot of 3D modelling so maybe I will design some sexy new ships and such too. But that's in the future, not for now. For now, I'm still in Zaonce loading my cargo bay for a trip to Isinor where I am hoping not to have to shoot anyone because my pulse lasers are as rubbish as my aiming.

So, what's the meaning of Oolife to you?

>logoff Captain Baz
Captain Baz logged off Zaonce successfully. Come back soon, or we'll presume you got squished in Isinor.
>_

[ClymAngus]

I played a little when I was younger. Although seeing oolite on the net struck a cord. It was the graphics and the upgradability that got me. Then I found out that it's not too tricky to programme stuff. It's just been good news all the way.

[Cody]

‘The memories of a man in his old-age, are the deeds of a man in his prime’, as the song goes.

I’m getting to re-do the deeds of my prime, at least as far as Elite is concerned, but with Oolite, I’m re-doing them in a far more leisurely way, with much nicer graphics, and much better gameplay.

[Darkbee]

Well, to be quite frank the reason for me is sentimental. It's an opportunity to recapture in part the dreams and imagination of a boy since long gone; dreaming of drifting in space, ruling the space-lanes, amassing a fortune. A dream of what might be a thousand years from now. A dream of hope for humanity, although we'll still all be trying to kill each other in the future. *sound of needle abruptly skipping off the record*

[Captain Baz]

A dream of hope for humanity, although we'll still all be trying to kill each other in the future. *sound of needle abruptly skipping off the record*

Indeed, we don't seem to learn from our mistakes, do we?

[Bugbear]

I just love the fact that with Oolite being open source, and there being such an active community supporting it, I can explore a rich universe, have it customised to my liking, and even have a small voice in the future direction of the game.

Thanks to everyone for all the thousands of hours, thousands of lines of code, and the thousands of forum threads, for giving this game a life of it's own.

For me Oolite is all about immersion, whether it be in the game or on the forums. Both aspects are as important as each other.

Not that I've looked too hard, but I don't think I could find a game in the shops that comes close to offering the value of Oolite. You just can't put a price on this.

[Switeck]

Indeed, we don't seem to learn from our mistakes, do we?

Even the ones that do still die of old age. So everyone's a newbie and doesn't know (by 3100) it's probably all been done before.

[Ganelon]

It's adventure. Heading off into the dark and not knowing what you'll see or find or what sort of fights or opportunities you may run into.

I agree with Darkbee for the most part. And for most of us, a game is the only spaceship we're ever likely to own or fly.

But hey, Oolite is a considerable upgrade from the cardboard box and crayons that made a kid's spaceship in the era before home computers and video games. LOL

Amazing that it's open-source and free. I can't think of any commercially produced games that are actually better. It has an active community, and so one has the chance to chip in on "the space program" with whatever one can do.

[Selezen]

Elite was (and still is) the record holder for "Game Played For The Longest Time" - meaning that I played Elite constantly and exclusively more than any other game before or since.

When I read this question I asked myself why. Why did Elite hold me for so long? I think it was the open-ended nature of the game, added to the building blocks of a universe that Robert Holdstock (RIP) gave us a glimpse into with the manual and The Dark Wheel. That set my imagination off and I filled in the rest myself...

That it inspired me to start writing and trying to illustrate the universe is what made me so interested in fiction and art today. I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said that if it wasn't for Elite I may never have started drawing or started dabbling in 3D art (the first 3D object I created was a Cobra 3 in 3DStudio V4 for DOS).

Oolite brought it all back with a rush. Here was the perfect game made better - add your own ships, missions, planets and ideas into the game you love. How could I resist? The fact that it's become a beautifully rendered universe with stories all over the place proves that it wasn't just me that felt that way, and restored some of the faith in the fact that Elite fans are basically just nice people.

I just wish I had enough time these days to really sit and get into the modelling/scripting side of things and then just sit and concentrate on becoming Elite for the third time!!

[Smivs]

I loved Elite way back...it was a great, fun game, as good as anything else available for the computers of the day.
Oolite, though, is something more. It is so much more rounded and can be whatever you want with the OXP customisation options, and (so important to me for 'immersion') the eye-candy. It allows me to leave my rather dull day-to-day life for an hour or two a day. For me it's an escape into an exiting and stimulating World I think a part of me would like to inhabit (although if I actually did it would probably terrify me!).
But it's more even than that. It's a friendly community composed of like minds and spirits, and as a maker of OXPs it's also a way for me to express myself and exercise my creative side.

[onno256]

hey Everybody,

To me Oolite is what Elite used to be in my head. I played Elite+ till I was archangel, sometimes, lying in bed, I would still see starclusters rotating.

I love the open gameplay, and the fact that you can develop your own playing style. Sometimes you are just cruisin' along with a full cargo hold, sometimes you are in the midst of a fullfledged spacebattle. It's a game for and by fans.

Plus the immersion factor can compete with the best of games!

Greetz,
Onno.

[ElectricViking]

I used to sit and watch my older cousin play Elite when I was younger. He could never get off of it long enough to show me how to play! Anyway I was cruising the internet recently when all of the sudden I ran into an article on Elite, which eventually led me here. Needless to say I have finally gotten to play this great re-imagining, and am thoroughly enjoying it. I'm actually getting hopelessly addicted to it...anyone else addicted?

[Disembodied]

Hi, ElectricViking, and welcome to the friendliest board tis side of Riedquat! I don't think anyone here is addicted. We can all stop any time we want. No, really. We just don't want to, is all ... some people's partners do seem to refer to Oolite as "That Game" or even just "Tsk!" or "Tchoh!", accompanied with sighs and eye-rolling, but to date there's no record of anyone undergoing anything like an actual intervention ...

[ClymAngus]

Addiction? Well major fetish I would say. To be honest I haven't been playing for quite some while. Screwing around with oxps now that is fairly Moorish.

[Cody]

some people's partners do seem to refer to Oolite as "That Game"

From the days of Elite, I can recall two occasions where ‘that game’ was mentioned in divorce proceedings.