PlaneShift
Fan Area => The Hydlaa Plaza => Topic started by: Hadfael on March 18, 2004, 07:58:19 am
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Hello there. I am a n00b.
I enjoyed the idea of joining a community of role players.
I started role playing in 1980 or so.
In France, we were only a few to play such silly games. D&D was only avaliable in english.
Years passed and I had to find a job and had no more time and no more friends ready to role play.
Then I finally had dsl in 2003.
I searched the web, tried a few \"so called mmorpg\".
There I learned the word \"n00b\". Most were mmofps or places for power levelers to loot low-levels.
Then I took a look at the PS website, the newbie help.
What? A community? Role Playing? no PvP? sounded good.
And it was good: Various guilds, characters with history, help for newcomers, ...
No monsters, not much to buy but parties at the tavern, hide and seek games, exploration and role play chat.
But today came the question : Why am I playing PS?
- playerID used to decide who is n00b and who must be respected. (I am n00b my pID is 72222)
- looting crystals and calling that \"crystal hunt\"
- using /shout to throw insults and ooc and off topic endless discussions (concerning 0 and sometimes 1 or 2 players), dirty jokes.
- ignoring or lying to newcomers
- no more role playing.
- no more serious guilds.
So, not to feel n00b, I did my best to enter top10 in the crystal hunt (the PS leveling).
Well it\'s done (at least today). So I have nothing more to do here.
I might come back when-CB-is-out or later.
more than 130,000 accounts?
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Thanks to the ones who helped a n00b.
Nilaya Karyuu Fenrison Dinawyn
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Goodbye and thank you to the few role players I have seen.
Aineko Bora Draklar Darktanian Sydin Agara Sangwa Monketh Aendar Zabeal
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i have to say i agree to some degree with you ...i\'ve also been very fond of people being extremely nice to noobies ...i liked that ...made me feel like we\'re a bit more then just a group of guys and gals who play an online game - that was for me the true spirit of PlaneShift :]
...now, i don\'t play it that often anymore, and never was a huge crystal hunter (usually gave away mine to noobies to show them how they look like), but i really enjoyed teaching people how to climb rooftops, get out of the dungeons, explore the outside and so on.
last few times i took a visit into the PS world, it wasn\'t like that at all, everyone was ignoring the noobies, just running on collecting crystals ...i dunno, we used to stand under a tree in the park or if there was rain at Kada\'s and talk about stuff - that was true role playing and it was actually heaps of fun! :] ...or the priceless moments when you and some other player you\'ve met go on and try to figure out how to get on top of a door or how to reach the gates over rooftops :] ...mmmm, i miss those days
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I\'ll miss seeing you in-game, Golmir. I always thought of you as a pillar others can lean on - stable, knowledgeable. It won\'t be the same.
Too many people are leaving, and those who are \"taking over\" seem to be bringing negatives with them. Thankfully I had the chance to talk to some amazing people before they left, but it\'s very disappointing hearing that they\'ll -perhaps- come back when CB is out. I hope they do. Otherwise there\'s just no point.
It\'s the players that make the community, and the best of them are packing their bags...
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And when CB comes... ;(
Things will get so worse- just imagine all the Hak\'m\'Slashers! ;(
*listening to Materialist by Bad Religion*
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Farewell, Golmir; I wish you luck where life takes you next.
I agree that the community has degraded signifigantly as of late, less and less respectable regulars can be found online, other than a measly handful of some of the greatest people here. I suppose that\'s why there was some demand for GMs as of late...
As for you being a newb, I really must disagree; you\'ve been here for quite awhile (72222, come on! As you said, we\'re up to 130000 now.) and have some reputation here.
We may not have always seen eye-to-eye, but I, for one, will miss your presence in our little world.
To those that remain here, bond with your fellows now before its too late. The road ahead will be a difficult one, lined with obstacles and traps; I speak metaphorically of the n00bs and power-levelers that future versions will bring, of course. Do your part in keeping us tight, for even one segment can unravel the ball of yarn. The core community must prosper, as all will suffer for lack of one.
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And yet another leaves us in the battle against the n00bs...
And you still didn\'t see the PS community in its greatest days... with Gil and Ravna nad Reddew and Mogs and Dagger coming online... bah, those times are over...
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Though many of you view PS\' golden age as over, or dimming i view it coming over the horizon. you probally view PS as a different game than i do. I view it as a pre alpha tech demo, that is currently a very good chat room. its fun to talk about things, even if they are off topic. However for as many of topic pointless things i chat about i chat about important things such as xtal transfers for cb, name discussion, god validity and things such as that, that one day could mold cb and future versions.
I view the golden age coming, maybe because i am somewhat of a noob and i havnt seen anything better than now, and a bit because i have played every major mmorpg out there, runescape, camelot, tibia, project entropia, EQ, UO, NWN, etc. And all of those games have the kinds of things you all despise. But are they not somewhat good games? they arent horrible if you have had some slight fun playing them. Many here stil play EQ and other games i have mentioned and even though they choose to play PS most of the time, im sure they will agree those games are stil pretty fun.
All of those games are cold, bitter and not very noob friendly, but they are good games. PS is going to almost morph into those kinds of games overnight IMO. One of the upcoming versions will totally redifine PS and make it seem like a new game. Its going to happen, you cant stop it so i view it as a golden age, when PS becomes a GAME. I dont see why you could view that as a bad thing.
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your right !
hands whemmy a plushie
the nice thing to know is that there will always be aruarn there to flame the noobs and who ever is nice to noobs will always (?) defend them can call aruarn a old old old............................. ( goes on for several hours ) gamer who can trace his roots back the the old junkwares
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Well whemy, the Golden Age is over, or at least our MB golden age. The oldest regulars we have here today are just a small sample of what we had when I started. I look fondly back to those days, but then I come back to what we have now. Its not miserable by any means, but us regulars are drowning in a deluge of n00bs and, no offense to them, newbs who just don\'t know our ways quite yet. There\'s the occassional new player that fills my heart with joy and anticipation for things they might do; but for every one of those there\'s 5 that seek to destroy us, maybe not intentionally, but they do.
When we talk about a Golden Age, we don\'t mean it in terms of psclient; we mean it in terms of the people. A free, gratis MMORPG creates a strange and wonderful effect amongst its users. Planeshift isn\'t about combat or \"loot\", its about us, the people who join together across great Earthly divides to play.
Yes, it\'ll never be the same again...
Or so I think.
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I view the golden age coming, maybe because i am somewhat of a noob and i havnt seen anything better than now, and a bit because i have played every major mmorpg out there
somewhat? You are the definition of a noob in my eyes... You are the kind that ruins the community.
I completely agree with Grakrim...
oh, it\'s good that few guilds still have some healthy communities...
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Ok I need to say something just because this really bugs the hell out of me when people use the term \"Noob\"!
You say there is less of the regulars and you are being drowned in noobs correct? Well what the heck were you when you first started then, like really think about! You think because you have been here for so long your the elite? Think again my friend a so called \"noob\" can pick up on things you elite/regular people have known forever..in a day! This is a aplha tech demo, not even a real game yet and the term \"noob\" is being tossed around to the new testers? Where will this game go without the \"noobs\" NO WHERE!! Don\'t think because you have been here longer that you are the supreme! When you look back on the old days the so called GOLDEN AGE it is no different then now, maybe a difference in population and people but you were all wandering \"noobs\" in those days to! So lay off the name calling!!
The real problem is not \"noobs\" its people who think they are better than other people and treat anyone different with no respect!
Delete the Elite so One day all \"Noobs\" can stand on two feet!
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;(;( Golmir ....
Originally posted by lynx_lupo
And when CB comes... ;(
Things will get so worse- just imagine all the Hak\'m\'Slashers! ;(
Originally posted by Grakrim
When we talk about a Golden Age, we don\'t mean it in terms of psclient; we mean it in terms of the people. A free, gratis MMORPG creates a strange and wonderful effect amongst its users. Planeshift isn\'t about combat or \"loot\", its about us, the people who join together across great Earthly divides to play.
I guess I agree with you guys- adding loot and combat will attract more non-role-players, but should still our hardest to make roleplaying work. We can still roleplay in guild for example.
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You misunderstand me, Depthblade.
My definition of a noob is an abusive or distruptive player, usually new. Noobs are troublesome folk, and not needed as they add nothing to the experience. Most powerlevelers and \"1337\" fall in the category of noob.
A newb on the other hand is one new to the game, and I don\'t see myself above them in the least. In fact, i see some newbs as being superior to me in that they have the power to redeem the community.
Back then, the regular:newb ratio was much higher; but now the balance has tipped in the newb\'s favor. That is to say, we\'re losing more players than we\'re retaining; this is a Bad Thing.
You would have had to experience the Golden Age to know our meaning; its beyond description. But it was entirely unlike what we have on our hands now...
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I will say this:
I once told an incredulous duo that PS was on the path down unless someone did something about it.(those two should remember what I am reffering to). Well I will say that a game is indeed sad if some of its players consider its golden age passed before it even begins. But I will also tell you this that you are mistaken if you think this game will neccessarily turn out like that. Rest assured if everything goes well this game will be one of the greatest games ever.
Also:
And you don\'t really need to be able to hack and blast to roleplay. Roleplaying isn\'t tied to accessories. All you need is the will and wit to roleplay.
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Originally posted by Auran
And you don\'t really need to be able to hack and blast to roleplay. Roleplaying isn\'t tied to accessories. All you need is the will and wit to roleplay.
I believe MB roleplayers know that already, Auran :rolleyes:
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Originally posted by Auran
All you need is the will and wit to roleplay.
Couldn\'t agree more with that, you don\'t need to fight and be rich to roleplay! You can always roleplay as a peasent or bum
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you can roleplay almost anything. It still depends on how much effort you\'ll give into it.
And it\'s possible to fight now. For example, two (http://www.freewebs.com/thedefenders/combat.txt) links (http://www.freewebs.com/draklar/rules.htm)...
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It is indeed sad to see you go Golmir. I would not count you as a newbie in any way and most definantly not a \"n00b\". I hope that you will return sometime in the future.
Lately there has been alot of lengthly ooc arguments and discussion. For this i just use /unshout or /ignore. There is still roleplaying, its just not as easy to find as it used to be.
More newbies and noobs come each day, at this point its typicaly only those that will add to the community that stay since there is nothing to interest powerlevelers and hack\'n\'slashers yet. They will come once combat is released though...
I have only been here for about two months so i have not experienced the \"golden age\". Though i would have liked to have been there, and met the older players that have since left or do not play as often.
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Bah we lose another good player. Sorry to see you go Golmir, hopefully CB will be coming artound soon and we will see you again.
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Geez. Another one gone. All my mentors and idols are leaving.
Bye Golmir, I?ll miss ya.
As for the ?game going down the Crapper? stuff. Smoke it.
Games have ages and this age is dying. I pray to God that the new players start seeing things on their first day like I did on mine ?Ah the RP of it all- and pull their heads out of their?
Four months, fourteen posts not a bad average:))
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hmmm, i just hope that the role playing bit won\'t disappear with next releases ...that was actually what made me love PlaneShift ...it\'s a Role Playing Game (mmoRPG, anyone?) ...it\'d be more then a pity to make it into a hack,slash\'n\'loot ...there\'s tons of those already out there :/
you don\'t need much to have some great time role playing, that\'s what we clearly proved in MB, but what was also proven was that you don\'t need much (more then a few idiots) to make a great RP die off.
...i really want PlaneShift to go on as a Role Playing Game!! i\'ll more then welcome anything new that comes to it ...but please, let\'s keep the RPing over looting :(
hmm, can\'t wait to see the old faces again in PS ...i miss those guys, especially CadRipper and Ralin, wonder what happened to them :]
p.s. a noobie/newbie is not necessary a n00b/idiot/ass
p.p.s. Golmir, you\'re not a n00b!
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Noob has become a sound for sore ears. You can\'t get through one frickin thread without hearing \'noob\' at least once. It is getting very annoying. A noob is someone who has stupid questions that get on people\'s nerve, and continually show no effort to find things out for themselves (note I said \"Continually show now effort\"). A noob is not a multi purpose word that should be used whenever you aren\'t bright enough to figure out a real insult, or said at someone because they make one mistake.
Everyone was once a noob, and this game is FAR FROM FINISHED! NO ONE HERE IS A NOOB BECAUSE THE GAME ISN\'T OUT YET! When it is realeased, then everyone still here from the forums now will be the non-noobs. SO WHAT? WHO CARES? Seriously people, get a life. Just because someone didn\'t think to use the search button once or didn\'t feel like searching through hundreds of vaguely similar topics does not make them a noob!
As for the golden age thing, what crap. There will always be new people and it is never fun to see a dedicated player leave, but don\'t go around claiming that the best age of PS is over, it\'s just ingorant!
Anyway, Sorry to see you leave Golmir, you seem like a dedicated player. Maybe I\'ll meet you in CB some day :)
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Hook: Cad is playing Planeshift like every day.
Dalec: read Grakrim\'s description of a \'noob\'
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I want to know who was the person who created the word \"noob\"! The very first person...then I would go back in time and beat the crap out him or maybe its a her! (If I had a time machine that is :/ )
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I can\'t say goodbye to my good friend Golmir? Ouch...that hurts...lucky I know you love me or I might cry :(
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Bye for now, Golmir, and see you soon I hope. It seems like you need a break, as most of us do now and then. Better that, than being completely disheartened and never coming back ;)
It\'s true the core community tends to be drowned in a lot of people who are only passing by these days. It\'s a direct consequence of the success of this wtb mmorpg, and we only need to find a way to deal with it.
One unique side of this exceptional community is the wonderful spirit we can find in most of the players. I think it\'s not unrelated to the state of the game, if those people stay it is obviously not for the crystal hunt alone. People are making friends, and are roleplaying with them or just enjoying their company. Plus all the projects which are gravitating around Planeshift.
This spirit can only be preserved if we \"educate\" the new ones and show them it\'s there. I admit it\'s not easy answering the same question thousands of times, and we don\'t always have the patience for this, however most of us do try.
But it can be easily damped down by spammers and other insulting people. We have witnessed this recently with this individual Andone who is doing a nice job of signing in every day and shouting things like this (http://rikardos.250free.com/rude.txt) (courtesy of Gartel who witnessed this today and saved the log). Fortunately we now have GMs, and hopefully this kind of people will get banned too.
Another side is the potential, obviously the development team knows where they are going. It\'s also great to see the new features being added and the game evolving. Seeing that, I don\'t think the core of players who were here at the beginning, or in the \"golden age\" like you say, are permanently gone. We see most of them peeking at the game regularly.
Hook, don\'t worry, we\'re still around :) only at a different place.
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i think it came out with Unreal or quake iam not to sure
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Farewell, Golmir. May your journeys be safe and merry. I\'ll miss you.
Originally posted by Grakrim
Well whemy, the Golden Age is over, or at least our MB golden age. The oldest regulars we have here today are just a small sample of what we had when I started. I look fondly back to those days, but then I come back to what we have now. Its not miserable by any means, but us regulars are drowning in a deluge of n00bs and, no offense to them, newbs who just don\'t know our ways quite yet. There\'s the occassional new player that fills my heart with joy and anticipation for things they might do; but for every one of those there\'s 5 that seek to destroy us, maybe not intentionally, but they do.
It\'s all true! ;(
One thing I\'ve noticed is not a regular:newb ratio being a problem, but the newb:n00b ratio is tipped horribly towards the n00b side of the spectrum. Sometimes I feel as though I am struggling against the tide. People just don\'t ask things nicely anymore, they just don\'t act nicely anymore, they don\'t even listen anymore.
Is this why people are leaving? Maybe, but it\'s really a combination of factors.
I, for one, will stay here as long as I am able. I may not always be active, but I will always be here.
The roleplayers of old, the regulars of old, they were people you admired. We now need to become like that. /unshout, /ignore, then say what you can in silence. Fight the n00bishness. Reward the newbs.
One thing that might re-energize our community and roleplayers would be a massive event on a scale never seen before in MB. A war, a plot, an adventure, something to go on rather just the day-to-day small talk. I have previously thought of trying to organize something like this, but I\'m not good at that kind of thing. Anyone up for it, or willing to try it?
-Monketh
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Cad:
Glad to hear you\'re all ok and hope to see you guys in PS as soon as find time :)
Monketh:
I agree to some point about a massive event ...but we have to take on that task carefully, to avoid making it even worse. Take these days in RagnarokOnline - they\'re fun and all, but it\'s all just about getting enough stuff to get one of those fancy event-hats/masks/t-shirts/whatever. ...the idea on itself is very good, but we have to put it in carefully.
I still think that CB will be great! ...I\'m just a bit concerned that the overall feeling will change - not because of the new features, but because of the new player population drawn by those features. ...on the other hand, there\'s still the possibility that when oldkool PS-players will hear about a new release they\'ll come back and we\'ll be a happy bunch again :]
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i have a great event, seek dorbian and give him all ur cash :D
but really i\'ve noticed it a long time ago that this game is dying, there just aren\'t any interesting things todo anymore, and i will stay untill ( if ) CB comes out to see how it will become, but my activity has droped to a new low, i\'m just not interessted in those story\'s you hear every day, day in day out, one guild screaming kill cabal the other shouting kill all, it\'s so standard and actually getting quite boring.
oh hate to see ya go although we didn\'t really knew eachother
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1. It is not surprising to me at all that the oldbies (whom I define as \'anyone who laments about the old days instead of asking what the old days were like\') are bored with chatting and hunting crystals. It\'s been a year and your loyalty thus far has been staggering.
Wait for CB and you will once again have new things to do. :-)
2. What would you like to see feature-wise in PS to encourage/help/support RPers and discourage/drive-off the non-RPers?
- Venge
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no-numbers idea was one, but like you said - nothing people couldn\'t edit.
To discourage powergaming would be very hard and the feature should be one of game\'s pillars.
I don\'t even believe it\'s possible..
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Originally posted by Vengeance
What would you like to see feature-wise in PS to encourage/help/support RPers and discourage/drive-off the non-RPers?
maybe not too much emphasis on the killing and looting ...but the most efficient one would be to make a very good skills system, with which you wouldn\'t be any good as a PC if you would only kill\'n\'loot. ...hmmm, that part with forgeting your skill if you don\'t practise it for some long time sounds pretty good right now :]
...if this (the being a poor character if you just kill\'n\'loot) was covered in an online FAQ, it\'d probably scare away quite a number of such players already before they join and find out that \"7||-||i5 5|_|Xx0i2\".
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I think the main problem here is the players - certainly not the game. I went to take a look ingame myself when this thread was just posted and it\'s pretty much true.. people were talking about their favorite music for about half an hour, ignoring all the normal newbie questions and just simply flaming all the noobs. it came to a point where I had to help a new player(who was very interested in RPing btw) through /tell since /shout was just to much spammed with flames, ooc talk etc.
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Well
This thread brings me some hope and I might finally stay.
About possible solutions I think of :
1. in MB
a. we, the not-so-n00bs should be careful in our shouts to show newcomers the way to use /shout for help and answers. We all know places to meet and have ooc conversations.
/shout could be used to tell the community \"we are talking about music at the gazebo\" instead of shouting \"Mozart rulezz\"
b. GMs have privileges. But they hesitate to use them because the rules are not clearly enouth in everyones mind.
c. We should not know the GMs names. (I have seen someone shouting 1 hour ooc and stop when a GM joined)
d. being lazy should not be an excuse to use /shout instead of /tell aHardToSpellName (/talkto was made for this in Aineko\'s mods)
2. in the futur PS
(maybe some are already implemented in CB)
a. chanels for help, ooc, guild, group
b. a help key -- \"Mogura\'s top100 newbies questions for CB :) --
c. rules carved in the stone of the website to avoid:
-non fantasy names (we have seen strange ones already)
-english as the language of Yliakum on all global chanels
-bad language
-advertising for other games (which are by the way mostly mmoFPS)
-ooc talks in RP chanels
-using macros (they are useful but think of what a bad guy can do with them)
...
d. No defined places to find loot.
This to avoid loot campers (we already have spawn campers) and renew the pleasure of discoveries to experienced players.
e. GMs with the power to warn and kick someone (a warned char should not be able to transfert stuff, waiting to retrieve it later)
d. a GM kick must cost more than a simple re-connection or new char creation.
Most of these being already in other threads, I am sure CB won\'t be a hack&slash hell.
In the remaining days of MB, I will do my best to repect 1.a
see you in Hydlaa
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Originally posted by Golmir
About possible solutions I think of :
1. in MB
a. we, the not-so-n00bs should be careful in our shouts to show newcomers the way to use /shout for help and answers. We all know places to meet and have ooc conversations.
/shout could be used to tell the community \"we are talking about music at the gazebo\" instead of shouting \"Mozart rulezz\"
b. GMs have privileges. But they hesitate to use them because the rules are not clearly enouth in everyones mind.
c. We should not know the GMs names. (I have seen someone shouting 1 hour ooc and stop when a GM joined)
d. being lazy should not be an excuse to use /shout instead of /tell aHardToSpellName (/talkto was made for this in Aineko\'s mods)
I think the change of /shout could be done if enough people supported the idea. I would be happy to help with this as I like small gatherings to talk about things a LOT better then just running around, looking for rubies and talking in /shout. the GM thing would be hard though, as the names are already public, but I still think not that many people know the current GMs, at least not those that are new or don\'t check out the forums.
Originally posted by Golmir
2. in the futur PS
(maybe some are already implemented in CB)
a. chanels for help, ooc, guild, group
b. a help key -- \"Mogura\'s top100 newbies questions for CB :) --
c. rules carved in the stone of the website to avoid:
-non fantasy names (we have seen strange ones already)
-english as the language of Yliakum on all global chanels
-bad language
-advertising for other games (which are by the way mostly mmoFPS)
-ooc talks in RP chanels
-using macros (they are useful but think of what a bad guy can do with them)
...
d. No defined places to find loot.
This to avoid loot campers (we already have spawn campers) and renew the pleasure of discoveries to experienced players.
e. GMs with the power to warn and kick someone (a warned char should not be able to transfert stuff, waiting to retrieve it later)
d. a GM kick must cost more than a simple re-connection or new char creation.
a, b and e are already done for CB(not completely sure about a), C is just a matter of strickter GMs, I\'m not sure about the two D\'s(typo ;) ).
I hope these rules will be used as I hate to see people leaving because of things like this, I also think a lot of this will change in CB since it will be a lot less like the pre-alpha MB currently is. The best thing for us to do is just wait and see how CB will turn out and in the meanwhile try to keep MB an as fun place as possible IMHO :)
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I have to agree with you people, and the problem isn\'t just in-game, it\'s in the forums too. Especially the guild board. Of course, I got flamed for bringing up the fact that they\'re all getting pretty pathetic with their repeated arguments. Anyway, in-game is right too. I mean, seriously it\'s devolving. All the experienced people get sick of trying to help newbies that all ask the same questions, so we tend to lose patience with them. It\'s all true what you guys said, especially the spamming. The GMs don\'t really do much that I can see. I mean, people are getting like, propositioned for cyber sex, and gettin harrassed and nothing is being done about it. I think that some of the people who play a lot should be GMs. I don\'t know who the GMs are at the moment, nor do I care, all I\'m saying is that it\'s not enough.
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i see things are going to get better ...i mean, it\'s already something that we started searching for solutions (and found some) ...i have faith in PlaneShift again :]
...and i agree with Axsyrus, the problem\'s not the game, it\'s the players (but we can\'t change people, so we have to find solutions in the game)
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There needs to be a level of tolerance, if they just want help and everyone ignores them or making fun of them for asking questions thats wrong. But if this person just won\'t listen to the help given and starts spamming and acting like a jerk thats a whole different situation.
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IMHO this is nonsense. Why? You want impossible stuff. The only solution would be banning all ppl that have done smthn bad. Sure there are ppl that lie to noobs and i dont defend that, but thats totaly normal. Havnt seen a community where everything is fine. PS has unbelivable much RP in this early phase. You are just another yeller. A newbie chanel would help... but wouldnt change the ppl. And ignoring newbies... dont you think its annoying to answer how can i duck down 20 times a day?
My player id is 3XX(dont relay remeber :P)! I own! Besides i played AB too, so player id isnt the only thing.
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I\'d have to agree with Axsyrus, too; its not something that can easily be solved with new features. Although there are a few things that might be of some use...
Its not a popular idea, but if there was a RP rewards system that might motivate some people to RP. I\'m not sure of the ideal implementation precisely, but I would say that players would be able to anonymously commend or scold a player\'s performance. These commands would either increase or decrease the targeted player\'s RP ranking; naturally, greifing would be of paramount concern, so I suggest some restrictions placed on the commands. First of all, the regular player\'s commands should be weighted far less under, say, a GM or whatever other kind of support/enforcement classes there are in the future. Also, perhaps only allowing a player to distribute so many commends or scolds over a specific period of time.
As for what to do with these RP rankings, I\'m not sure... You could have a leaderboard as we have with the crystals at the moment, definatly. You could possibly have a store with various innane prizes, such as Forum Titles or perhaps some rather rare weapons/armor. Its a rather flawed system, if I do say so myself; but its the best encouragement system I can think of... Although it might not do much to discourage those who refuse to RP, it would probably encourage quite a few that just don\'t RP.
On the player\'s side of things, I had an idea for a \"Yliakum Player\'s Groupe\" awhile back that could do wonders, I think. (Link to post will be here, eventually)
I also agree that GMs should be anonymous.
I don\'t support the idea that we should squeltch /shout, although being a bit more considerate would be a good idea. Personally,if someone asks a question and a conversation is going on, I\'ll typically help them out in /tell, or, being a GM, I\'ll just /teleport over and help them out in person.
Finally, if anyone requires the services of a GM on-line, I\'m on #Planeshift at Quakenet almost all day, every day, and I occasionally get on AIM.
Welcome back, Golmir