Welcome.
PlaneShift is not PhotoShop, we are at version 0.6 only.
To check the game server, visit its website. This is currently:
http://planeshift.teamix.org/ — if "Time" and "Report time" are in sync, the game server is probably working. Or ask in the IRC channel #planeshift on Freenode if anyone is currently playing.
If you are pretty sure that the game server is running and people are in general able to log in, then there are some a lot less common, but still possible, issues:
If you are behind a firewall, like in a NAT routed network (quite usual for typical "DSL routers" or in company LANs), and you know a bit about its setup (or someone who certainly does), try to check if it allows UDP connections in general, listening at ports just opened for sending. This should be the default behaviour. But there might be administrators who restrict networking further. And there are also exotic types of internet connections (e.g. via satellite) which don't support UDP well. Also there are annoyingly restrictive ISPs, blocking technologies other than "surfing the web".
