Elite Dangerous players know that their game of choice is much more than meets the eye. Outside their nine-to-fives, they are commanders, dogfighting in engineered ships, defending humanity from ancient alien threats, and exploring the farthest reaches of a lifelike 1:1 recreation of our galaxy. And in that near-endless galaxy, there’s nuance - lots of it! At Just About Elite Dangerous, we’ve got a direct line to Elite Dangerous’s foremost players, so we asked them what friends, family, Redditors, and games journalists alike repeatedly fail to understand about what they do. Without further ado, this is what non-players don’t understand about Elite Dangerous:

That it’s more than entertainment

A lot more. Alec_Turner's answer was simple: “They think it’s ‘just’ a game.” To understand why, we’ll need to examine Elite Dangerous in more detail. 

The size of the galaxy

“Non-players don’t understand that space is vast and travelling takes time.” That’s CmdrTravisRobicheaux, but ‘vast’ doesn’t do Elite Dangerous justice. There are 400 billion star systems in Elite’s galaxy, of which only the tiniest fraction have been explored. The number of planets, moons, and other celestial bodies? Astronomical. In their reward submission, Luriant mathematically breaks down the three types of space travel players can undertake, noting that even at the fastest pace, players would need “44,000 years to discover the whole galaxy”.

The player autonomy

Many games offer open worlds, but very few offer open galaxies in more than name only. As Gadnok notes, that galaxy sits waiting to be explored: 

“The absolute freedom! Until you play Elite Dangerous, you won’t understand that you can freeroam the biggest open-world game map out there: a literal galaxy with no loading screens and no boundaries.” 

Elite Dangerous takes the idea of linear gameplay and throws it out of the airlock. In its place it provides the mantra: ‘blaze your own trail’. Here’s MQC: 

“You don’t have a marked path, a specific role, or a defined end. You choose your gameplay every day, every week, every month, and beyond. You do what you want, when you want, whether that’s through developing an understanding of the universe or choosing if and how you interact with other players and NPCs. 

“That same philosophy is applied to the configuration of weapons and ships, which can be fully customised both through their modules, engineering, and cosmetics. You tailor it to your personal needs, goals, tastes, and relationship with the game.” 

Stormseeker, inspired by another popular space sci-fi IP, puts it poetically: “It’s a game of total freedom. No endgame, no path, no trail to follow. Start your ship and enjoy your flight. You’re just a leaf in the wind. Keep flying.”

The thrill of flight and joy of discovery

For players to keep exploring a galaxy so vast, it must be enjoyable. According to players like XCezor, it very much is: 

“I’ve heard people say ‘It’s just a spaceship game, why are you so fascinated by it?’ They don’t understand how amazing, how beautiful a moment can be when you’re chilling in a Scarab and observing a nebula 100ly away or enjoying a sunset on an alien world. You have to experience it for yourself to really know.” 

It’s not all about the view. Enigmas are scattered around the galaxy, some of which have been gripping players for decades. Here’s RicZA:

“The mysteries! Discovery lies around every corner, be it a new planet or moon, crashed starship, or even the fabled Raxxla. There are some tremendously deep rabbit holes to jump into.”

As ScreamingRaven puts it, the appeal of Elite Dangerous gameplay is “the joy of exploration, the greatness the universe is holding for you, and the cherry on top: the great soundtrack to discover it with.” Flying itself is special too, especially when your ship is fully kitted out. Here’s mastercesspit: “Oh the joy of a fully engineered ship, be it a jumpship, tradeship, or combat ship. They’re the cutting edge, a joy to fly, faster, more manoeuvrable, and able to jump further.”

Check out our super-comprehensive Elite Dangerous exploration guide to learn how to master Elite Dangerous’s most popular pastime, or check out these video snapshots showing a day in the life of an Elite Dangerous explorer. 

The commitment to scientific accuracy

Frontier has taken great lengths to make their game appeal to what Doc describes as “true space fans”. He continues: “It’s a game that will make you think about what space is really like. After visiting Sol and nearby stars in-game, you can look up to the real night sky, filled with wonder about whether one day someone will really be where you’ve just been.”

For players like CMDR James Lauer, it’s the combination of the galaxy’s potential with its dedication to scientific accuracy that provides Elite Dangerous’s winning formula:

“What I love is the sheer amount of integrated knowledge combined with the possibility of travelling to the most distant parts of our galaxy, which we’ll never be able to do in our lifetimes and perhaps not even for centuries to come. Elite Dangerous combines real data with procedural generation. I can learn about the stars, the planets, chemistry, and physics. If players are asking about how to earn money in-game or how to grind this or that, I sigh. They’re missing the point. Don’t look into your wallet, look up to the stars and dream of all the opportunities and marks you can leave on the galaxy.” 

Jimmy0916 / Cmdr Donald Duck makes the point powerfully, describing Elite Dangerous as “the closest anyone living on our planet today will ever get to interstellar travel.”

Like all great sci-fi, it’s a meeting point of the human experience, physics, and imagination. Here’s EidLeWeise:

“Elite Dangerous takes place in a dirty, lived universe with 40 years of lore behind it. Humans are still the scummy beings we all know and love, but there are no magic space wizards or technology that breaks physics as we currently understand it. Even the frameshift drive is based on scientific theory.”

It’s thanks to its commitment to realism that Elite Dangerous has been able to accurately predict real-world discoveries before scientists. Check out the tale of Trappist-1, #4 in our list of 30 Elite Dangerous facts for a great example. It’s also what enables lovers of science to lose themselves so deeply in the game. Back to RicZA:

“You can go full nerd! The level of accuracy in almost every aspect of the game is amazing, should you understand it.”

The complexity of the galaxy and variety of playstyles

Talking of losing oneself in the game, exploration really is just the tip of the iceberg of available activities. RicZA describes the immersion as “unmatched”, adding that it’d “take years to fully comprehend every aspect of Elite Dangerous”. JHenckes mentions other activities non-players might not know of:

“No Elite Dangerous player fully understands the complexity of the galactic simulation. You have a complex political system that’s regularly updated, living systems with population changes, community-run news broadcasts reporting on the galaxy’s biggest events, alien enemies that need defeating, and ancient secrets to be discovered. All of this can be influenced by you and your fellow players.”

As yan57436 says, those activities create a near-endless number of gameplay styles: 

“People don't understand how many playstyles Elite Dangerous has. It’s seen as just another spaceship game: you shoot other ships, receive money, and go kill more. And you can do that, but then you’d be missing out on the simulation of an entire living galaxy, you’d forgo your contribution to its evolution via economics, politics, and security. Of course, you could take the contrasting approach instead by disrupting that evolution through piracy, sabotage, and the sowing of chaos. It’s a fantastic simulator as much as it is a fantastic game, and you can only understand its depths after playing.” 

We produce in-depth guides on each of the game’s official and unofficial careers - check out this Elite Dangerous mining guide for an example. 

The fusion of these gameplay styles, systems, and features creates an intricate web of variables that could spell glory or doom, here’s chief711: 

“The game can be a relaxing stroll that turns into a nightmare moments later. The most fun aspect of the game is the interplay of variables. Mess something up and your lovely cargo transportation trip will turn into a fight for survival within seconds.”

The pace and longevity of gameplay 

All of this contributes to a gaming experience that need not get stale. It’s still many players’ first choice after a decade of play. Here’s Sin-Isha: 

“Whether enjoying the views or catching a pirate, it’s a timeless game that you’ll never get bored of.”

And here’s Solaris104: 

“The game provides an entire galaxy in 1:1 scale where you can do what you want, when you want. You’re not forced to play every day. It does a lot of things better than No Man’s Sky. It’s a game with enormous potential. Odyssey players can even get involved in CoD style on-the-ground shooting.”

Our community members agreed that it’s a game to take at one’s own speed, to be picked up and put down whenever the call of adventure takes you. Here’s MQC: 

“Elite Dangerous is not a game to ‘finish’ in a month after playing every day for eight hours and getting all the ranks, ships, or upgrades. It’s a game to enjoy at the pace you prefer, doing the activities you prefer. Some commanders enjoy conflict zones to change the BGS (Background Simulation). Others simply have fun doing trade routes, mining asteroids, or exploring the Milky Way in a fleet carrier. Others like switching between a bit of everything. Yes, ‘blaze your own trail’, but do so without rushing.”

That’s certainly what Apostryphy does: “Elite Dangerous is a game I'll come back to year after year, whenever I feel the urge to just see what's out there. I put on some chill music, drown out the noise of life, and just FLY!”

The game naturally lends itself to slower, relaxing gameplay. And CMDR Henckes says that that’s what makes Elite Elite:

“You could ask ‘couldn’t the gameplay be faster?’ The answer is: ‘Yes, if the devs wanted it that way, the game would be completely different’. But what’s the point in a 400-billion-star-filled Milky Way if you could cross it in minutes? When you play Elite Dangerous, you feel how distant planets are to one another, you feel the vastness of the galaxy even while travelling 100 times the speed of light. And all this is important; it makes you feel immersed in a real galaxy. Sometimes we Elite players are in another life, living amazing adventures we build in our own vast universe.”

The depths of the lore

Imperial Senator Bluecrash describes Elite Dangerous as “an armchair archeological adventure that can be terrifying; you’ll learn about the origin of humans and the likely evolution of the ancient species the Guardians, who may have transcended into some sort of energy.”

Part of the reason Elite Dangerous players stick around for so long is the lore. While there isn’t a traditional video-game campaign, there’s an ongoing narrative enshrined in beloved lore. As RicZA says: “The lore of the Elite games is as vast and complex as their universe. To uncover and understand it all would take a lifetime. The franchise is, after all, 40 years old.”

We celebrated that 40-year Elite anniversary with eight jaw-dropping videos. But the lore RicZA speaks of is ever evolving and ever-expanding, in no small part thanks to players. Here’s Hunter: 

“A major component that non-players don’t understand is the pace of the story and events. As an independent commander in a huge galaxy, it’s up to you whether you observe these galaxy-wide events unfolding as a citizen watching the news or as a participant doing their bit thousands of lightyears deep in the darkness of space.”

The joys of solitude and camaraderie

As Apostryphy notes, “Elite Dangerous is a beautiful game, but it won’t appeal to everyone. Potential players should be prepared to experience the lonelier aspects of living among the stars. Space is huge; we are not. If this bothers you, carefully consider what it is you're looking for in a realism-focused space sim.”

For many, the solitary nature of much of Elite Dangerous is part of its appeal. As many real-life astronauts say, being out in the vastness of space puts one in a philosophical mindset. Players like Kitilto tell of spending 200 hours repeatedly flying a single hassle-free route, just for the peace and relaxation. And yet you need not be alone all the time. Elite Dangerous players can decide whether to play solo, in a private group, or in an open galaxy where strangers meet strangers. In the latter two options, that means your pals can come too. sesheta explains how that adds to the experience: 

“Elite Dangerous is best played with friends. Trucking about the galaxy can be relaxing, but when you're with friends it's exponentially more enjoyable. VR users especially can really sink into the universe presented to players. It’s great fun, in my opinion, to set a dauntingly distant target such as Sag A*, and see the density of stars gradually increase. Make a trip together to a nebula or land on a planet just because. It is a delight to dock to a friend's carrier and chat while hanging out in the bar before the jump. The galaxy is large and barely explored. It's so low-pressure, it's a vacuum.” 

The rewards of mastery

While there may be no traditional endgame to speak of, that doesn’t mean that one can’t master one’s craft: 

“Your skill as a pilot will take you further than any number of credits. A skilled pilot in an Eagle will obliterate a newbie in a Corvette.” That was RicZA. Similarly, AndyRice talks of the high-risks, difficulty, and realism of PvP encounters, and the importance of learning how to dodge and survive attacks. Making a related point, here’s Slamscape: “The biggest, most expensive ships aren’t necessarily the best. And buying an Anaconda does not mean you’ve ‘beaten the game’.” 

Talking of beating the game, another Elite mantra that’s often repeated is that what counts is the journey not the destination. In other words, it’s the sense of accomplishment one feels in progressing one’s own personal goals that’s the true reward of the veteran player. Here’s USCSS: 

“Non Elite Dangerous players don't understand that the vastness of space isn't just a backdrop: it's a place where every jump, every trade, and every mission feels earned, making the grind and exploration a deeply rewarding journey rather than just another task.”

We’ll close with an elaboration from Tryohazard:

“Two reluctances often shared by non-players are engaging in a game without a ‘plot’ or ‘campaign’ and having to learn complex controls for such a unique genre. They’re related.

“Everyone forgets that Elite is both a simulator and a game. Some people have hangups about investing time in learning new skills, so it makes sense that Elite can be a hard sell when it starts you off in the equivalent of a VTOL F-35. Like driving a car, it’s not for everyone. But those who never learn to drive a car will miss out on how fun, freeing, practical, and rewarding it is. You tell people to persevere with learning to drive, because you know how it feels to drive and you want them to feel those same feelings. Those skills let drivers experience life in a new way, taking them to new places and on new adventures. Whatever they want is theirs to find, regardless of whether there’s an end goal. It’s a nice feeling, to be free. 

“So if you're considering Elite, let this be your challenge to find out why we love it so much.”

Bonus entry: everything! 

A few of our resident non-Elite players replied to our reward too, with Paul admitting: “As a non-Elite player I can confirm we understand nothing, not a thing 😂” Well Paul, we hope our Elite Dangerous player community have cleared some of that up for you now. And if there’s anything else you want to learn, you should probably check out our ultimate Elite Dangerous starter guide. 

You finally have an article that you can share with your friends who don’t get Elite. Hit the share button below to do so! Some text has been edited for brevity, clarity, or spelling, punctuation, and grammar. You can find the original wording here. Image credit: Frontier, credited users, and cover image by RicZA.