Among Elite Dangerous’ many player groups, there may be none better known than the unerringly altruistic Fuel Rats. The leaderless collective has one mission and one mission only: to rescue pilots stranded in the ever-ravenous vacuum of space. Recently, one of them completely screwed that up. Because of a cat.

The ambitious plan was guided by the collective curiosity of Elite Dangerous’ exploration-loving player base. A player-owned megaship would use its unique abilities to jump into a previously inaccessible portion of space. Thousands of players who had docked their ships on the megaship would hitch a ride. It was to be…

Imagine if you could explore the universe at your leisure. Where would you go? How would you leave your mark? One Elite: Dangerous player decided to draw the game’s logo across the infinite night. It took him a month.

Since January 12, a group of Elite: Dangerous players has been journeying across the galaxy to reach Dove Enigma station, named for a member of the expedition, Brandon “DoveEnigma13” Keith. Keith is fighting terminal cancer.

Elite: Dangerous’ enigmatic Thargoid aliens have been splattering players’ ships for months in apparent self-defense. Now, they’ve gone on the offensive. The outer-space starfish have begun destroying space stations, forcing players to rescue their inhabitants.

Aliens have shown up on Elite: Dangerous’ doorstep, and they have zero chill. This has provoked, among other things, an anti-alien arms race, as well as heated debates over whether or not wholesale slaughter is the right call. Amidst all that, one player is trying to communicate with the Thargoids, and he won’t let…

Earlier this week, Elite: Dangerous’ players found themselves struggling with a moral quandary. They’d figured out how to kill aliens, but they weren’t sure if they should. Now, though, they’ve been hit with a curve ball: the aliens are growing wise to human weapons and tactics.

Last week, Elite: Dangerous’ mysterious aliens finally went on the offensive after months of poking and probing. Now, players have figured out how to fight back, but not everybody’s feeling super rah-rah-rah gung-ho about it.

Elite: Dangerous’ aliens, once prone to terrifying yet ultimately peaceful encounters, have started reducing players’ ships to space dust. Of course you know, this means war.

Since 2015, Elite Dangerous players have felt some kind of alien presence hovering on the periphery of their space trucking adventures. Recently, things came to a head, with players making direct contact with Thargoid ships on multiple occasions. Where is this all going? I spoke with senior designer Sandy Sammarco…

Over the weekend, Elite: Dangerous’ years-long Formidine Rift mystery transformed from a pseudo-ARG into a full-blown event. A character named Salomé, carrying precious info, was set to traverse a treacherous route. Players could protect her ship or try to blow it up. A notorious troll decided to do both.

The Elite Dangerous community, no stranger to long-running and elaborate in-game mysteries, is currently in the midst of another, with players having followed some clues to find a massive ship that’s just drifting out there, alone in space, with nobody left alive onboard.

NASA had some big news this past week. No, it wasn’t aliens. It was the next best thing: the discovery of seven new “Earth-sized exoplanets,” a few of which could be hospitable to life. Now, it turns out that Elite: Dangerous actually predicted the existence of the TRAPPIST-1 star system where they’re located.

Last year, following the release of its 2.2 patch, Elite: Dangerous players started noticing something weird: some of the game’s planets, normally detailed and full of alien colour, had started looking a little more drab.

In video games, we’re used to being heroes, saving hapless innocents from villains, monsters, and their own demons. Sometimes, though, we need a hero to save us. Here are stories of players coming to each other’s rescue, not because they had to, but because they could.