In Dune: Awakening a player experienced perhaps the most unlikely traffic accident imaginable. The developers are to blame, though bad luck surely played the biggest role.
What happened to the player? In a post on Reddit, user MonsterArcher shared a video showing him in flight through the deep desert. While he is focused on his surroundings and potential ground hazards, there is suddenly a loud bang.
The bang comes from a crashing spaceship that has just spawned. The player quickly looks around to see where the spaceship might land; after all, there is potential loot waiting! But in the next moment, he is rammed by the burning object and violently taken out of the air. His ornithopter crashes to the ground.
After the accident, the player can respawn, but his vehicle is heavily damaged. In the final scenes of the clip, it becomes clear that the attempt to repair the ornithopter fails due to a lack of materials.
You can watch the clip yourself here:
Low Chances but Still Not Impossible
What are the chances of such an accident? In the comments on Reddit, user Monowakari took the effort to calculate the chance of such an accident. He clearly states that many of the figures are just estimates as he lacks tools to perform accurate measurements.
The calculation suggests that the chance of being hit by one of the approximately eleven spaceships crashing per hour in a 500 km² desert is about 1 in 100,000 to 1 in 1,000,000. Thus, such an accident would be about as likely as being struck by lightning (chance 1 in 200,000 via Chip.de).
How do players react to the accident? Some players are shocked that one can have such bad luck, while others explain that they have experienced similar situations. Some even joke about the player’s potential loss of their ornithopter:
- nightwarmedsoul teases the user on Reddit: “Excuse me, sir, we’d like to talk to you about extending your thopter’s warranty.”
- notatechnicianyo says on Reddit: “I wondered why the ship was getting bigger. Then it hit me.”
- adarragh21 recounts on Reddit: “The same thing happened to me within half an hour after I got my first thopter. It only damaged the tail, but I haven’t stopped looking up since.”
But even the developers find themselves in the players’ crosshairs. Although the comments were made in jest, the developers of Dune: Awakening are ultimately responsible for the crashing, burning spaceships:
- Rasples1998 finds on Reddit: “Griefers are getting more creative /s”
- 2Sleeepyy blames the developers on Reddit: “Turns out Funcom is the king of griefers.”
Being hit by a crashing, burning spaceship and ending up stranded in the deep desert is likely one of the most unlikely things that can happen to a player in Dune: Awakening. Instead of being stranded in the desert, a player is sad and tries to find Ben: Player worries about his neighbor in Dune: Awakening, his “message to Ben” goes viral
