How to incentivize multiplayer
## Do not split reward of missions.
Simple as that. It already happened as "a bug" and everyone loved it, but CIG got out of their way to fix it asap...
Instead, **everyone gets paid the same amount**. But **limit how many people you can recruit** into the mission (share).
~~This is exactly how it works in real life, an employer doesn't cut your pay when they recruit a new colleague. That's just bonkers and illegal in many countries.~~ edit: please ignore if it's to be hung up on it, it's an analogy ffs.
Here are a few example of typical combat mission. ### solo mission: - Job for a single fighter or small hauler - Reward: 80k - Cannot share the mission
### Small team mission: - Job needs a wing of fighters or a medium gunship - Reward: 100k - Can be shared up to 4 players
### Large team mission: - Job needs a gunship/bomber and escort, or a large gunship - Reward: 120k - Can be shared up to 8 players
### Massive team mission: - Job needs a capital ship and escort - Reward: 150k - Can be shared up to 15 players
As you can see, the pay doesn't increase substantially compared to now, but you can **share it with other players to increases the total pay**.
This also has the side effect of **discouraging soloing larger missions** just for a better pay, which is a very common issue right now. Small missions for solo players become much more viable economically. Which is more welcoming for new players as well.
The **recruit limit ensures we don't exploit** it above the expected difficulty. Just like the current Alliance Aid event with shard-wide parties. But it can still **allow players with support roles** such as gunners, engineers or dock-hands to still come onboard larger scale and more epic missions.
The **recruit limit indicates how many players are to be expected** for a mission, which is often unclear in mission descriptions.
It will **highly encourage to socialize and form groups** to do the larger missions! Solo players will have a strong need to group up even with random people and form bonds. It will reduce the toxicity between players with "screw you got mine" mentality.
We need to **foster pro-social game design** if the game means to be truly an MMO.
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Another tools that can be added to balance even better the mission pay and increase cooperation:
- **Bonus**: if the mission was succeeded faster than expected, increase reward. This can reimburse the cost of heavier ships and weapons.
- **Malus**: if the mission used up "employer resources" such as on-site medbay respawn (like Onyx). It encourages having medics or other support roles.
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Edit: of course other ways to mitigate exploits exist, such as detecting presence on mission site (Xenothreat did that with great success).