Okay, as a new PlaneShifter, I see myself in a few of these posts, and would like to respond a bit.
I\'m an adult IT prof who read about PS on slashdot and decided to try it out because it sounded fun.
I am not an RPG\'er-- haven\'t been since I last played D&D twenty plus years ago with my other 10 year old friends. We built characters, rolled dice, made maps and had loads of fun.
There was one important difference- There were extensive, well written books that told us exactly how things work. We understood what the constraints of the
game were.
The \'online\' aspect of PS adds an entirely new layer of complication. I cannot praise the developers enough for making this project Open Source and spending countless hours making our gameplay experience firstclass, for no monetary reward. But, you must admit, as yet, the \'instructions\' are a bit vague.
Yes, there is the help channel, but it\'s still not like a good DM. Case in point, I have figured out how to train with an NPC and then go practice some to get better. but I\'m clueless what all the pretty blue, red and yellow graph bars mean. Consequently, Gobbles gobble me 50% of the time. Before you go there, yes, I have read the player guide and noob faq\'s.
None the less, I enjoy the PlaneShift world and am enjoying \'re-learning\' how to RPG, and thanks be to a wonderful and patient Guild Leader, I\'ve made some aquaintences that are showing me the ropes.
So, please, if I do things that irritate you as a hard-core RPG\'er, please have some patience and take a moment to draw me into the game more instead of shaking your head and writing me off as a hopeless hack and slasher.