Tell us a feel-good story from Elite's history

Alex Sinclair · 2024-12-25T10:55:09.153Z

Merry Christmas, Commanders! Like space itself, we know that the holiday period can be a dark place for many, and we want to do our bit to spread some cheer. So we're asking you to share touching, feel-good stories from Elite's history. The tales could be great generous undertakings, rallying behind players in need out-of-game, or just a simple gesture of kindness that stayed with you You don't have to have been personally involved in the story to tell it. But if it's not a first-hand account, try to find a source if possible, then retell it in your own words. Text entries can win $2 each, whereas video entries can receive $10. We hope you're all enjoying the holiday period and we're sending our warmest wishes!...

MQC 12/25/2024, 2:02:23 PM

In-Game Memorials

On 1 March 2021 the Frontier Developments team announced the wonderful idea of bringing a piece of us into the game; offering player memorials by creating in-game memorial beacons.

The memorial beacons can be found in the following systems:

Sol
Achenar
Aliot
Shinrarta Dezhra
Colonia
Aselo Primus
Dromi

As I have already mentioned several times, it was my father who passed on his passion for Science Fiction to me. When I was a kid, we spent many afternoons playing like crazy on our Amstrad CPC a strange and novel space game that didn't tell us what we had to do, where we had to go, or what was the final goal of the game, it just asked us to play, enjoy the space, and have the freedom to visit and do whatever we wanted... because those white dots and lines on a black background for us were real ships, stars and space stations.

Sadly my father left me long before Elite Dangerous existed, he never got to see those white lines turned into something you could almost touch with your hand...

But somehow, thanks to this great idea on Frontier's part, he is now inside ED...

Travelling to Sol, visiting that beacon, scanning it, seeing the list of names and looking for my father's name... and suddenly seeing him... it was something difficult to describe. From the bottom of my heart, even though it was just a few jumps and a scan, nothing that takes you more than a few minutes and without any playable complexity, I consider it without a doubt the most intense and beautiful gaming session I've had in these 10 years of gaming.

Infinite thanks Frontier team for this detail with so many of us.

I love you and I miss you, Francisco Chamorro.

Y0EMINENCE 12/25/2024, 2:42:48 PM

MQC

Great story! Godspeed to you and your father!

AndyRice 12/26/2024, 5:32:26 AM

MQC

o7 commander. The whole solar system was made of star dust, including us. We’re all sons and daughters of a star. And when the Sun die, we’ll return to dust. We’ll reunite with those we love and those we lost. They will be waiting for us at the end of time.

Alex SinclairMod1/8/2025, 10:07:50 AM

MQC

This is beautiful. Thank you for sharing it.

CMDR Henckes 1/7/2025, 11:39:17 PM

Michael's Journey

That is a good story with a sad ending, but Michael let a great legacy and good memories among the Elite Dangerous community.

Unfortunately Michael was just a kid with 15 years old Elite Dangerous player, a passionate one, but he had to go to another journey because of a illness that he endured for 6 years. but before he departs on his new voyage, the Elite community and Frontier team come together to make his final moments unforgettable and I hope it was.

During his final moments he received a visit from Frontier team and get help to accomplish some achievements in game and he even started streaming that was on of his desire. And the thing that made me know the story on Michael was the script/book that Drew Wagar wrote in one day for Michael called Michael’s Story, and then the other day it become an Audio book. And it was one of the last things that Michael parent put to him to listen, a story about himself in universe that he must be brave and strong.

You can read about the final and unforgettable moments of Michael in the link bellow, and write those few words fill my eyes with tears, it is a sad story, but there are so much joy how the community and frontier gave so much attention to Michael and made this moment special to him, it is fantastic to see how great this community is!

An Open Letter to Frontier and Friends – Mathew Westhorpe.net

mypets 1/7/2025, 7:38:53 PM

After six collective years at Frontier, Sally said goodbye to her current role, starting out as a production assistant and progressing to product manager for the game. She was most notable for her frequent participation in live broadcasts with Will Flanagan. These very outgoing broadcasts ensured that she became a legend in the community. After a period of other projects, she returned as community manager and then senior manager. Always very kind and humorous when asked (there were people who reported anxiety about her patches). Still in broadcasting, now alongside Arthur Tolmie, she once again made her mark, as she was already much loved. I'm still not sure what position she holds today, but I believe that her departure was very impactful and will be missed to this day, showing how an administrative figure can connect with all players. I take an example of this great affection and consideration from what the Buur Pit did when they heard she was leaving, a big farewell salute.

yan57436 1/7/2025, 5:53:04 PM

Among the stories in Elite Dangerous, I really like the one about the rescue of Commander “Deluvian”, a pilot who was trapped for more than three months in the void beyond the galactic disk. But let's understand how it all began.

We set off with Commander Deluvian with a great goal: to set a record for the longest distance traveled from the Sun. However, when we arrived in the region of great vastness between galaxies, marked mainly by the difficulty of locomotion, since no star could serve as a reference for long-distance jumps, even though he had planned his entire route, Deluvian didn't count on an error in the calculation of fuel use, which ended his isolation 141 light years beyond the galactic disk.

Our commander found himself without fuel, with no means of locating him and no way of calling for help, which was rather desperate.

From that moment on, we have to understand who the Fuel Rats are, basically heroes recognized for their activity in rescuing stranded commanders. And, obviously, Deluvian's case would be another one of their adventures. As soon as they heard about it, they set off on this journey, organizing themselves into multiple teams that covered huge areas. By the way, their motto is directly related to your wedge: “We have fuel. You don't”. The challenge was incredible, given that communication with Deluvian was very scarce, as logging into the game would consume his remaining fuel.

After WEEKS of traveling through the void, Commander Highwaywarrior finally appeared on Deluvian's scanner in a cheerful voice: “Did I just hear what I think I heard? There's a limpet coming my way!”. The limpet (a drone designed to transfer fuel) delivered the cargo and Deluvian's ship came back to life. The total break is estimated to have lasted 3 MONTHS, making it a great story of perseverance.

R

Rac 1/7/2025, 11:26:16 AM

I would like to share a little story of my own, and I'm not even interested in a reward, I just want to say thank you.

On 01.06.2021 I joined the Squadron “Cosmic Independent Agency” [TCIA] and in the following years a lot has changed for the better and that thanks to the [TCIA]!

I met a lot of people there, learned a lot about the game and ultimately about myself.

I became calmer and more social and even discovered and explored my passion for sewing and embroidery through two special members. (See the t-shirt for the 10th Elite birthday)

Even though I am no longer part of the Squadron, I would like to thank all the members of the community, both positive and negative.

You are also a reason why I feel better now and why I dare to post a little story here ^^.

Thank you Elite Community, Frontier and of course Just About.

Ein besonderer Dank an Esme Wyrd , ist vlt nicht das beste Foto aber trotzdem danke.

StarGoid 1/7/2025, 2:12:17 AM

Sound Up. Full Screen. ...and grab a box of tissues.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Cxo0GZSpQN0?feature=oembed

JHenckes 1/6/2025, 11:11:04 PM

The best story I have to tell is a personal experience I had with Fuel Rats. As every ED player already knows, they are a non-profit organization that only seeks to help players (mostly newbies) who end up experiencing the humiliating defeat of running out of gas during their commute...

And it is from this that I was able to experience the rescue of a Fuel Rats. I was in my 3rd month of playing the game, I've always played a lot with my brother who is a more experienced player, but that day I was alone. I had planned a rare item trade mission which involved a long way to go, but because I was in a hurry and didn't have much time to play that day, I didn't plan the mission the way my brother had instructed me... And the ending is as expected, on the way back with the goods I ran out of gas! I was in shock at the time hahaha, I swear I spent a while not understanding what was going on, it was almost like a denial that it had actually been fuel.

In the face of such despair, I was lucky enough to run out of gas near the station I was trying to get to, and I think that's what allowed a player to find me and contact me.

I knew about the existence of fuel rats at the time, but I thought it was something almost impossible to witness, but I managed the experience quickly.

So I explained my situation and he helped me and I was able to complete the mission. I swear it was a magical experience, I was amazed that there was such a community in the game and it made me want to play more and more!

P

Psykokow 1/6/2025, 10:27:08 PM

https://www.youtube.com/embed/JCsaGVpHHDY?feature=oembed

Over 9 years ago Frontier opened up a competition to allow players to suggest and then vote for a new rare item to be added to the game. This sparked many zany and crazy ideas and then a very heated and passionate vote took place.

The Hutton Mug won, and then the real work started, Frontier weren't going to make it that easy.

A community goal was set up to deliver scrap to Hutton Orbital station in Alpha Centauri, doesn't sound so bad... except it was a 1hour 45minute real time journey to cross the 0.22 ly gulf between the star to the station. How on earth would we convince people to support the goal and help us see the rare appear in game?

Vingtetun, Mike Snoswell and myself Psykokow came together to work out how to make people support our winning rare, we decided bribery was the way, and also shameless plugging for players who made the journey. We created a physical mug to give away weekly in a random draw for players who delivered scrap, we ran a radio station with live broadcasts, we ran scheduled convoys with protection against pirates (The Code was enjoying taking us out). We made it a nightly event for the duration of the community goal right up to the last day.

I had the great honour of opening the community goal delivering the first lot of scrap, and causing a massive queue outside the station, it only had 3 landing pads, 2 small 1 medium.

Cmdr Winnard in his floppy banana crossed the first goal level making it a success, then the push remained to get that goal to the highest we could.

At the end of the goal we had created a community of crazy and fun people, we had a night shift in the US with Buck Naked leading the US contingent. It was a huge moment of collaborative fun and just when we thought that was the end of it.

The radio station did not shut down, no instead it became a weekly show Thursday nights 8pm http://twitch.tv/huttonorbitaltruckers (Still running today). We created a player ingame faction, we ran charity events, we cemented friendships in the real world and created so many events to let players truly play with players. We made the grind feel fun and the trucking way was formed.

The Hutton Truckers will forever be a group I am so very proud of having been a part of, and I the spectacular generosity and kindness of the trucking community is one of the greatest experiences I have had in Elite Dangerous, more so than any other game I've played.

B

Beetlejude 1/6/2025, 4:24:24 PM

https://www.youtube.com/embed/uNT6kG_gv1Y?feature=oembed

Here's a video I made about an impressive team effort by lots of commanders to recover a lost treasure in Elite's history - the missing Glowing Green Giant of Cmdr Kelly Eldridge.

There are links in my video description if you want a better retelling than me rambling on.

I considered submitting a few of the other feel good stories like the repair of the Golconda or the admittedly more heart wrenching Dove Enigma, but this is simply a nice one for me cause I went there and I like drawing gas giants!

LiquidMorkite 1/1/2025, 6:07:32 PM

You're not alone in Elite

It was a couple of months ago when I was still a fresh pilot, second community goal required to haul some commodities and higher rewards included some paintjob which I really wanted. But time was not on my side, instead I screwed up by having the deadline mixed up. So I was there, brooding on system chat about how bad I wanted that paintjob and now all I get was gonna be some insignificant credits, that's when cmdr Findo saw me and decided to recruit me to his squadron.

I've never run across any squadron recruitment before time, thought it was a very minor thing. But I was wrong, like any other online games, having a community is a big win, especially when you have a great one. EFRC is the name of the squadron, they used to be bigger and more active on Playstation, then the console split happened, cmdr Findos, among others, moved to PC to keep on with Odyssey and live version of the game, and until today, we're still rebuilding EFRC as a reborn of The Elite Fleet on PC. Lots of missions sharing with hefty credits, group PvP, aids in missions, jolly cooperation in every activities, knowledge sharing or just messing around, for so long after a while I've experienced again the joy of having a community in a video game.

Also, to any other cmdrs here on Just About. If you're looking for a squadron or a community, you're welcome to join us. We're Mahon pledged, looking forward still to expand our number and hopefully being able to reach the top spots on the squad leaderboards again, just leave a comment below.

Fly Dangerously o7

M

MrT 12/30/2024, 2:57:27 AM

There's one story from Elite Dangerous I vividly remember as I was watching the whole thing unfold on the official forum at the time:

In short, CMDR Felix Macedonica had made a jump too far and didn't have any germanium left for a boost to the next system. He was stuck where he was without a way to any other system. CMDR Chiggy Vonrictofen went a long distance to help him, equipped with mining lasers in the hope of mining some germanium in one of the planet rings for him to capture. Eventually, germanium was mined and the stuck CMDR was able to get to jump to the next system. This story also made it in the Elite Dangerous newsletter at the time, in November 2016 (#150).

Keep in mind, this is way before Fleet Carriers existed in the game so that wasn't a rescue option.

USCSS 12/26/2024, 10:54:14 PM

Hello Commanders!!

Since I don't have any personal stories, I'm going to talk about the Fuel Rats.

For those who don't know, the Fuel Rats are a group of players dedicated to rescuing other pilots who have run out of fuel. They operate altruistically, asking for nothing in return.

Their altruistic work is reminiscent of the Christmas spirit of selfless giving, fostering community, and offering hope.

Greetings, Commanders!

(Translated with Google Translate)

Y0EMINENCE 12/25/2024, 3:00:25 PM

In Elite Dangerous, CMDR Michael Holyland's story touched many hearts. As he faced his last days, both players and the game's developers came together to craft a special audio narrative just for him. This gesture of compassion was featured in the Netflix documentary "Not a Game," illustrating the profound community support in gaming.

https://twitter.com/Freebooted/status/1128264710678372353

https://twitter.com/elitedangerous/status/1377320040421265409

https://www.youtube.com/embed/3cdSxlEeUWI?feature=oembed

https://www.youtube.com/embed/_6iLLS9fQdI?feature=oembed

In the vast cosmos of Elite Dangerous, the story of CMDR Michael Holyland became a beacon of hope and community spirit. Facing his final days with terminal illness, the game's players and Frontier Developments' team rallied around him.

Players organized in-game tributes, including flyovers and memorials, but the developers went a step further. They crafted an exclusive audio narrative for Holyland, integrating his personal in-game journey into a story where he was the protagonist. This gesture was far more than entertainment; it was about providing comfort and companionship during his challenging time.

The tale was captured in the Netflix documentary "Not a Game," highlighting how video games can serve as more than just pastimes—they can be lifelines of connection and support. The community's response was immense, with many players moved by the solidarity shown, reminding everyone of the profound bonds that can form in virtual worlds.

This story exemplifies how games can break the fourth wall, turning digital interactions into genuine acts of kindness and solidarity, leaving a lasting legacy of what gaming communities can achieve when they come together for one of their own.

A

AdaptiveGamerX 12/25/2024, 9:48:06 PM

The story after the ww3 we got better and grew up to expand our influence

OneNutPunch 1/3/2025, 7:43:06 AM

https://player.twitch.tv/?video=61695130&parent=justabout.com

I know people hate PvP and they even hate PVPers but this was during a Golden Era in Elite Dangerous when Pilots would do some Crazy things. Here is me with some people that were part of a player group called The Code and SDC (Smiling Dog Crew) going after someone who tried to dock in station after interdicting one of us.