Actually, now you mention "ugly terrain". I know what every multiplayer games with a building sandbox looks like at the start:
- ugly square huts
- drawings and sculptures of penises
- a big mixture of half finished, half arsed projects.
That's something that you'll have to get used to for the first three months until the area control units go up. When sectors get claimed, the owners are likely going to clean house. I foresee that after a year a city is constructed around the Ark ship, sectors with buildings with connecting streets and lushious parks perhaps to seperate districts. HOWEVER! This will only exist if corps and orgs are dedicated at making this work.
Outside the Safe Zone there's likely a lot of litter. Destroyed hoverships, ruins of fortresses or bases, more half arsed/finished projects. It creates a perfect area for bandits and pirates to hide and ambush your ass. This will be in any direction outside the dome for perhaps a KM before you reach untouched flora and founa. You might encounter a sector here or there belonging to a large corp that can hold it's ground against griefers or have their forward base of opperations there. Large shipyard, research stations, militairy outposts or mineral factories. You're likely to be held by patrols making sure you're not a corp-spy or griefer.
From there on, your out. You are at the corner of the map with the dragons and clouds. The unfilled areas on the map.
There's also a different type of griefing which I fear the most in the Safe Zone. You can't demolish each other's creations, so you know what, I build a box around your base and will ask you to hand over all your resources or the lock-code to your storage before I demolish my box.
Also, there's a thing I learned from World of Warcraft when it comes to griefing. I've rigorously tested this on many servers because the phenomenon was quite baffeling. There's a LOT more grieving on PVE servers than there's on PVP servers. Realise that DU will be one big PVP server. For some reason I've noticed that people on PVP servers have the freedom to slaughter your low level arse right there on the spot. But they risk this danger themselves as much as you do. Most of them are busy with their own thing that they, for the most part, ignore your presence. They are, however, very alert. This, because they know the danger is there. The awareness that it creates also causes players from both sides to, sometimes, chip in and help each other with dangerous mobs.
This detail is in stark contrast to the PVE realm, where you more likely expect friendlier players to populate the server. If you wonder around, flagged as PVP, you are garaunteed to be ganked 7/10 times. 1/10 times the player of opposing faction will scope out the situation and considers the risks before deciding not to. And this is in a setting where the possibility to grief each other is lowest.
Novaquark will cut it's own fingers if they try to stear and guide too much in a sandbox in what can and can't. Obviously it's their game and they can do with whatever they damn well please, but limiting potential based on the assumption it might hinder others will result in what I've previously mentioned. Trust the community to solve these issues amongst themselves. I'm confident with a community such as this, we're ingenuitive enough to ostracize the bad apples and providing peace to less pvp capable players. You can bet 10 to 1 that orgs and corps know how toxic it can be for their growth having grievers around, so they'll be sure to flush them out root and stern.
