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General Discussion / Voice of a lost player
« on: May 22, 2012, 08:55:30 pm »
I guess I qualify as a lost player. I haven't logged on in about 6 months, and don't feel any urge to do so. But I am impressed with the PlaneShift project, and would like to see it succeed even if it isn't in a form that engages me as a player. So with that in mind, here is what did (and what didn't) contribute to my departure. No one thing was "the killer", just the negatives outweighed the positive. Please forgive the size of the post, I felt to include just one or two things would give them undue weight.
I think the biggest problem for me was the frustration. It seemed that I couldn't just play, I had to keep asking a guild mate or a stranger how to do something that I thought I should be able to figure out on my own. I know some people claim a "no spoiler" atmosphere forces interaction and in theory builds long term ties, but for me it drove me off.
I don't mind asking for advice occasionally, or if I'm in a chatty or curious mood holding an in depth conversation where I ask how to do stuff. But sometimes I want to just play and the fastest way is to look on-line for a quick answer to my stumbling block so I can get on with it already. As Lehjr said "New players aren't going to stick around if they can't even figure out how to play the game." I couldn't so I didn't.
I also really took exception to the idea that someone else had to tell me how I'd enjoy something most. I'll enjoy it most if I have to learn it all the hard way? I'll enjoy it most if I start out a lackey, running errands for change, and have to work my way up to first class citizen? No. Plenty of other games manage to be fun having first level characters be heroes. And second level. And third level. And up to 100th level. I know that's not for everybody, but Heroism is one of the things that makes a Heroic Fantasy game fun for me.
Derula said "Many of the 'spoilers' should be information publicly available before even joining the game" and I agree but would take it even further, I'd enjoy it more if all of the spoilers were publicly available but some behind "Spoiler Alert" masks. For the people who enjoy the discovery don't read it, and those that enjoy knowing all the facts and looking for interesting ways to combine them can read them. Who's to say jigsaw puzzles are a "better" form of entertainment than Sudoku? Yet PlaneShift could easily be both if everything were public with spoilers clearly marked as such.
Roleplaying *required* - one of the things that drew me was roleplaying *encouraged*, but oddly enough rolplaying *required* made me uncomfortable once I was here. I was afraid to speak out for fear of wrecking somebody else's fun or causing a scene. I don't want to be nervous about playing a game.
The Grind - Wow, the game is grindy, and in a way very unfriendly to new players. To spend hours for a few dozen ore, and then not be able to get forge space to refine it (because somebody running a bot came in after me and could fill the forge before I could place a single ore) and all for a few skill ranks out of 100? or 400? I don't even know, after months of playing I don't think I had anything over 20.
People minding other people's business - This thread has been fairly civil, but some other forum discussions have been a real turn off. The forums are the most public view a potential player has for the game, and since PlaneShift I've read big chunks of forum chat before joining a game. To see people arguing that limits should be put in place so new players can't get X and Y and Z but have to choose one, for example, is the sign of a real problem. It's a video game, it doesn't hurt you if somebody has cool things or awesome abilities unless that enables them to beat you up and take your stuff. If they enjoy collecting it, let them. That doesn't affect me personally because that's not what I play for, but trying to keep someone else from getting something is a sign of an attitude I'd prefer to see left in the real world.
So what didn't bother me?
Well, I didn't mind the graphics - I read books and the graphics there are worse. At least in the books I read. I don't care if the graphics in PlaneShift aren't State-of-the-Art, they are recognizable and my imagination can take it from there.
I didn't mind the tutorial. In fact, I thought it was mostly helpful and if anything would have liked it to provide more information, though I would have liked the rate of information to be much faster - let me click a button to advance to the next paragraph, don't make me wait through long pauses and slow voice.
Bugs - Yeah, I encountered many, but it says it's beta, they didn't bother me. Restart, continue.
Illysia said "I told myself I would stop doing forum dissertations here but oh well. Even if I don't play the game anymore, I still seem to care about it." and that's true for me too. I'm not trying to rant or insult anyone, I'm trying to provide some honest feedback from a perspective I think is difficult to collect data from.
I'd love to see PlaneShift prosper, I admire your hard work and determination.
I think the biggest problem for me was the frustration. It seemed that I couldn't just play, I had to keep asking a guild mate or a stranger how to do something that I thought I should be able to figure out on my own. I know some people claim a "no spoiler" atmosphere forces interaction and in theory builds long term ties, but for me it drove me off.
I don't mind asking for advice occasionally, or if I'm in a chatty or curious mood holding an in depth conversation where I ask how to do stuff. But sometimes I want to just play and the fastest way is to look on-line for a quick answer to my stumbling block so I can get on with it already. As Lehjr said "New players aren't going to stick around if they can't even figure out how to play the game." I couldn't so I didn't.
I also really took exception to the idea that someone else had to tell me how I'd enjoy something most. I'll enjoy it most if I have to learn it all the hard way? I'll enjoy it most if I start out a lackey, running errands for change, and have to work my way up to first class citizen? No. Plenty of other games manage to be fun having first level characters be heroes. And second level. And third level. And up to 100th level. I know that's not for everybody, but Heroism is one of the things that makes a Heroic Fantasy game fun for me.
Derula said "Many of the 'spoilers' should be information publicly available before even joining the game" and I agree but would take it even further, I'd enjoy it more if all of the spoilers were publicly available but some behind "Spoiler Alert" masks. For the people who enjoy the discovery don't read it, and those that enjoy knowing all the facts and looking for interesting ways to combine them can read them. Who's to say jigsaw puzzles are a "better" form of entertainment than Sudoku? Yet PlaneShift could easily be both if everything were public with spoilers clearly marked as such.
Roleplaying *required* - one of the things that drew me was roleplaying *encouraged*, but oddly enough rolplaying *required* made me uncomfortable once I was here. I was afraid to speak out for fear of wrecking somebody else's fun or causing a scene. I don't want to be nervous about playing a game.
The Grind - Wow, the game is grindy, and in a way very unfriendly to new players. To spend hours for a few dozen ore, and then not be able to get forge space to refine it (because somebody running a bot came in after me and could fill the forge before I could place a single ore) and all for a few skill ranks out of 100? or 400? I don't even know, after months of playing I don't think I had anything over 20.
People minding other people's business - This thread has been fairly civil, but some other forum discussions have been a real turn off. The forums are the most public view a potential player has for the game, and since PlaneShift I've read big chunks of forum chat before joining a game. To see people arguing that limits should be put in place so new players can't get X and Y and Z but have to choose one, for example, is the sign of a real problem. It's a video game, it doesn't hurt you if somebody has cool things or awesome abilities unless that enables them to beat you up and take your stuff. If they enjoy collecting it, let them. That doesn't affect me personally because that's not what I play for, but trying to keep someone else from getting something is a sign of an attitude I'd prefer to see left in the real world.
So what didn't bother me?
Well, I didn't mind the graphics - I read books and the graphics there are worse. At least in the books I read. I don't care if the graphics in PlaneShift aren't State-of-the-Art, they are recognizable and my imagination can take it from there.
I didn't mind the tutorial. In fact, I thought it was mostly helpful and if anything would have liked it to provide more information, though I would have liked the rate of information to be much faster - let me click a button to advance to the next paragraph, don't make me wait through long pauses and slow voice.
Bugs - Yeah, I encountered many, but it says it's beta, they didn't bother me. Restart, continue.
Illysia said "I told myself I would stop doing forum dissertations here but oh well. Even if I don't play the game anymore, I still seem to care about it." and that's true for me too. I'm not trying to rant or insult anyone, I'm trying to provide some honest feedback from a perspective I think is difficult to collect data from.
I'd love to see PlaneShift prosper, I admire your hard work and determination.