I have made an account specifically to address this one point and that's it, otherwise I recognize that an innumerable amount of items are works in progress and can (and likely will) be addressed at some point.
I have found the one major drawback, so far, is that the overall mood of the introduction NPCs, as well as many of the tips found throughout the game, some of the support documentation, and so forth are both insulting and uncalled for. I can fully appreciate that this is an indie game developed OpenSource without recompense, and have myself even been the target of team pressure at work (Verizon) for developing programs that I am under no obligation at all to do (free programming by a non-programmer for the company to make my job and my team's job easier with no extra money, no recognition, nor even any extra time to turn a 20-man job into a 5-man job). I 100% understand what this kind of work is like, but the ATTITUDE that seeps through into the game is needlessly barbaric and, I believe, inexcusable. This same point that is being made through RTFM-preaching and condescension is double-edged -- one friendly programmer is more valuable than two unapproachable and crotchety ones, and one genuinely friendly game with a few bugs is better than a polished one that treats the player base like expendable and incompetent malcontents.
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The average WASD-savvy player should ideally be able to sit down and figure the game out in minutes, with little to no action halting or documentation. That is the goal. Manuals, NPC lectures, and further reading aren't where the normal player wants to go when playing a game -- it's about having fun as fast as possible, and getting engrossed in the world without feeling like a legal expert on a game. It's not about boning up on highly nuanced instructions. This is ALSO a form of killing the RP experience which is inflicted by the programmers -- legalese and getting drowned in documentation, tedious slow-paced monologues, and preachy lectures on how to approach RP before simple and concise instructions about game mechanics and interface. Do keep in mind: there are literally millions of other places to learn how to RP -- there are perhaps a few dozen to learn about how to play PlaneShift.
A fairly inexpensive observation: we can probably start the reformation with the very name of this forum section... it somewhat demeans anyone who posts here, quite frankly, and could afford a change of tone to something more aligned to its ostensible purpose, being an uncategorized/unsorted aesthetics and presentation bucket rather than where whiners go to game flame.
As mentioned above, too, the programmer's folly strikes repeatedly: as though the average player should dutifully sift through hundreds of pages of potential documentation to find the answer to their questions. Worth asking is: 1) Why is the player confused? What about the game (not the player) could be improved to make this more apparent? If the answer is "nothing" and the game is perfect, the player will simply have to suffer, and congratulations on making a perfect game! 2) Could the introductory parts be made
more concise (not more verbose) to
better address these questions, if they can not be made blatantly self-explanatory (like WASD movement -- a simple pop-up pictogram could, in mere seconds, explain what is presently being delivered by a lengthy monologue). Don't say, "go learn about the world/races by reading our literature". I think it's fair to say that everyone already knew that this was an option. Make it engaging! Make quests that encourage you to learn about the places and people by participating! Not multiple-choice quest answers or skill-testing questions either; make it memorable, not about memorization. It can be completely engaging to go see the sights! Make those delivery quests count for something. Make those talk-to quests short and fun! Talk to noteworthy characters, or participate in cultural events and customs to teach players about the world.
"... 20 snobs who only talk to their Role-playing friends" -- this was from a MOTD upon logging in and sounds like someone's personal axe to grind with a very unprofessional and accusatory tone about it.
"If you don't use the bugtracker, don't complain!" -- Do we really not see a nicer way to say this? "Complain"? Again, a rather unprofessional and starkly accusatory tone. I can't find the quote again either, but I remember another one to the effect of, "This isn't a professional team of full-time developers so don't ask for the world." Imploring for politeness, likewise, can be accusatory or it can be a reminder and sometimes it's not clear which is which.
Even certain NPCs will use the negative voice, expecting a negative response for an affirmation, likely as a trick, such as the Rat Eye quest given by Levrus. (i.e. 'Do you want to not be killed? -- Yes.') This is bad for players who do not natively speak English, seems like a trick for those that do to test their reading skill, and is therefore unclear.
Some of the documentation and instructions of the game are condescending and/or tedious/verbose in this same manner, with the opinion that it's the player's assumed duty to dig through multiple needlessly long documents before playing. How much documentation did you read to play WoW, or Guild Wars, or SWTOR? Virtually or actually none? Exactly.
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I could go on substantially longer but, taking a pinch of my own advice, I won't. The point is made, and I hope it is followed up on.
I do like the game and think this is a WORTHY project, and a million thanks to the devs for putting in their time to make this real.
