I'm following the PS compiling guide for Windows and MSVC, I'm using MSVC 9.0, following the guide pretty well, but for some reason when I tried to build CS I got two errors (so it looks like two of the libs weren't built?) but the rest of the libs built fine. So I proceeded, and tried to build CEL. Nothing built, and I got the linker error: linker cannot find: libcrystalspace_d.lib

I searched my "C:\development" directory for libcrystalspace_d.lib, and was unable to find it. What's up? Can anyone help? Did I make a mistake somewhere?

As much fun as it is to play against AI, the AI in most games isn't very good. Also there's a tendency for AI actors to have less magical powers (and in general to be "lesser") than the players...I prefer a fair fight, and find much more challenge/reward in fighting against other players.

Interacting with players is an important part of online gaming. There are various ways we can interact - chatting, emoting (similar to chatting in many ways), trading, or, uh, fighting & stealing. I think it's silly to limit what is perhaps the most powerful and potent way that players can interact - with the combat system. In a good game, there's some stakes on the competition (maybe that's just the gambler in me speaking), so I like games where people can loot each other after they slay each other. DragonRealms and GemStone 3 (Which I believe was either the first or one of the first MMORPGs...it was on AOL & Prodigy before the interweb was popular) both allowed unlimited PKing (with consequences - if you PK'd without a good reason, then they'd lock you in the inescapable prison for a few days) and also graverobbing of all carried/equipped equipment/items.

Without the game punishing griefers, the players all formed an loose, unwritten alliance against graverobbers. Graverobbing was a death mark from the other players, and was pretty rare. (Although it did happen, very stealthily...) This kind of necessary alliance really could bring players together and form nice bonds.

Of course, trying each PvPer each time they PvP with a judge (GM) isn't the most resource friendly way of doing things...that being said, if PvP was allowed fully then the players would have to form a loose alliance with each other to slay anyone who would dare PK...

Sometimes you have to build a sandbox, and then let the users build a castle.

Okay, I ran around in PS for a while, looking for people. I found a few people running around, but their names were blue (does that mean they're NPCs?) and they did not respond to "Hi" or "How do I mine?"...

I'm totally stumped on how to play this game, much less develop for it! (Well, actually I'm less stumped as a developer, that must be easier than playing...) How the heck am I supposed to learn how to mine if there's no responsive players near the starting location, the help channel is unmanned, and people aren't allowed to discuss mining on the forums???

I noticed that the PS population is kind of small (150-200ish concurrent users, making it a mini-MMO...heck I think BF2 allowed, uh, 128 players?) so I thought of some ways to increase the population. Uh, actually I just thought of one idea, and that's logging in to other forums and then joining the discussion and then plugging PS.

I can't think of any other ideas (PS spam?), do you guys know some ways we could market this game to more people? Maybe send in some letters to magazines to get reviews? Or even sending in letters to game-sites online to get some press?

Well, I finished the tutorial (it took me 3 tries!!!), and now I've got a shiny new mining pick as a reward, and no idea where to start mining...

Just out of curiosity, are there any pre-drawn mines that I can explore / dig in? It seems like most cities would have a mine nearby (not too close, since they're prone to cave-ins), I know that the big American mines are spread out a bit, but since this is medieval there should be at least one or a few mines near the big cities...maybe a noobie mine where the noobs start out?

Also what's up with the server population? I didn't see anyone...how many players can the server support, and is there a way to see how many are logged in? Who is with the marketing department on this game, anyways? (I'll volunteer for marketing if someone needs some free marketing...)