This game is not very noob-friendly

[Rage McCloud]

Ok first off i want to point out that im notaiming anything i say directly at anyone... unless i say there name in front of it... anyways

I really dont like it when people get the game then immediately come here and start yelling about how they cant do anything! i mean some people dont have any common sense... like that dirk guy... the one who claimed to have a game in developement that is better than PS... he said he didnt know how to move... hmm i wonder... it couldnt be the up arrow thats used to move forward in most other games but it COULDNT be that! and its NOT w because thats used in other games aswell... and also yes if you look at the chat box one of the tabs says help<--this wasnt said to flame jsut informing...> and some people dont even ask around... they just sit and the start point seeing many people walk by then they move like five feet and whine about not knowing anything about how to get things... now im not saying anyone here in this thread does this because yall<-- im from GA its legal to say this here lol> have been nice. so yes please PLEASE ask and think before you do anything...

[Cooldewd]

i plaied most of those other games and they where pretty hard.

plainshift is just about the hardest game i\'ve played and it is harder too cuz its so buggy even tho this smart guy says the game has been around for forever years. lol pre-alpha what a joke. but the cool thing is when you get really strong it means you\'re l33t and nobody else is like you and they have to respect you.

[Rage McCloud]

well you know what... that was just wrong there... i bet someone is going to flame about the \"223N1337\" of what you jsut said... anyways... it wasnt that hard for me mainly because most of the controls are the same as many of the other games i play... like half-life and such...

[Sinbad the Sailor]

Yey, I\'m about 27% through downloading Planeshift and I think it looks like an awsome game from all the stuff I\'ve read and seen. From the speed it\'s downloading (This is my third day at it!) I\'ve built up alot of anticipation, reading some of the complaints on this thread does make me a bit angry. There\'salot of people pointing out that something is wrong but not giving any suggestions on how to fix things or thanking the devs for giving up their time to make it. People like this are just selfish and need to stop complaining.

[Moogie]

Originally posted by Malloc
I think I\'ve heard it stated that the game is \"pre-alpha\" three to four times. From a development standpoint, that\'s typically an in-house testbed, pretty close to a tech demo. PS has been in development for how many years? It\'s expected to take some time since you\'re dealing with unreliable staff (the floaters), the reliable staff (who\'ve got time constraints and real life to deal with), and the skill level that ranges from those that wouldn\'t know a hole in the wall if they stuck there head in it, to the talented would be professionals.

That said, PS is still a fully released piece of software. Free software, so really you can\'t complain either way unless you want to get your hands dirty and help out, but still it\'s open access. I\'d bet you maybe 10% at most are interested in reporting bugs or helping development. 90% are wanting to play a free online game. Doesn\'t matter either way as long as there\'s sufficient feedback from the 10% who do care.

In the end, the reason PS is not user friendly is because of the design choices by the devs to not expend resources on that part of the game. (Nothing to do with being \"pre-alpha\") May be a conscious decision, because the devs already know how things work and don\'t care, or an unconscious decision do to a lack of experience. There\'s been ample time to develop tools, manuals, and that sort of thing. In a professional environment, all that would have been designed an implemented by any stage of public use. That all goes back to what I said earlier about it\'s development. Some are probably classically trained potentially holding degrees, others home taught, et cetera. You get the picture. Some are 18 and some 30, some learned the skills, other have talent.

Some people are resourceful, and will find a way. Others will search the forum, ask in IRC, or go OOC in chat in game to find out. Some may attempt to RP it, but doubt it\'s all that common.

Maps don\'t help or kill roleplay either way. Every RPG I\'ve played has had maps of some sort (for the most part, I don\'t seem to recall Zork having maps though). Maps don\'t seem to interfere with any of the current MMORPGs I\'ve played. I think it\'s cool to implement a skill in game to create maps, but with that you\'ll have other issues to address. Maps are needed by the people whom are new, and less needed by the ones who\'ve been around. You\'ll have a skill to make an item, and a new character who can\'t afford to buy the item. Can\'t even afford a map to find the sewers, lol. Other side of things, have players who\'re nice enough to just give out such maps, then you\'re back to everyone having a map to begin with and you\'ve not gained much. (Barring things like skill level used to create the map affecting the level of detail the map contains, or some method to make the maps unique to the cartographers, etc.)

Think that about covers my random thoughts for the evening.

That is the most intelligent post I\'ve read in this forum... ever, I think. Seriously. You are absolutely right, all the way through.

[Mith]

Still have yet to play, but not worried about getting lost and not knowing what to do.  Just being placed in the world is how many MMO\'s start out.  I mean heck, Ultima Online didn\'t even provide a starter quest NPC when you first went into the game, and look at how many hundreds of thousands of people have bought and paid monthly subscriptions to that game.

The game may not be pre-alpha, but if there are still wipes going on because of major changes to the game, you could still easily consider this an early beta, and thats giving the game lenience.  There are two reasons that I could guess at having the game open to players this early in its life.  Firstly, a decent sized player population can help balance out many game issues and also help to find bugs so that the dev team may eliminate them.  The next reason (which is the reason I helped run a UO emu server for so long) is because I love the feeling of bringing so much enjoyment to people through something as simple as a video game.  Even if there are bugs, and instability issues, many people will still play because its fun to be in a game where people do this work for no charge whatsoever.  That takes a lot of love for something, and makes my appreciation for the dev team that much greater.

So yes there are problems with the game.  If you find a problem that you feel is truely game hindering, then report it in the suggestions or bug areas of the forum.  Not knowing what to do on your own when you first start on an MMORPG, well thats how most of them start.  Your making your own life, not fulfilling a pre-scripted quest to defeat a final boss.  The most enjoyable way to play a massive roleplaying game?  Role-play.

[Eolius]

Originally posted by Cooldewd
i plaied most of those other games and they where pretty hard.

plainshift is just about the hardest game i\'ve played and it is harder too cuz its so buggy even tho this smart guy says the game has been around for forever years. lol pre-alpha what a joke. but the cool thing is when you get really strong it means you\'re l33t and nobody else is like you and they have to respect you.

If you think that being a l33t (whatever that is) or a m45h3 will get you respect, well, you are wrong...
The PvP side of this game is almost unexistent (and this is a good thing) so being strong will only help you kill monsters more easy.

[Ecolem]

Originally posted by Malloc
...That said, PS is still a fully released piece of software. Free software, so really you can\'t complain either way unless you want to get your hands dirty and help out, but still it\'s open access. I\'d bet you maybe 10% at most are interested in reporting bugs or helping development. 90% are wanting to play a free online game. Doesn\'t matter either way as long as there\'s sufficient feedback from the 10% who do care....

I can agree with this (even though you could say 10% is a bit to much) due to the fact that our guild has quite a few GM\'s.

I\'ll tell you the truth when i first started back in the MB days.
As soon as i started to play i found it boring. But when i heard about PS becomeing into CB in a few months helped me stay active. Now im happy i continued playing/testing.
I learn new stuff about everything PS and RL.

Just as a side note i must of said this a few times already but if a GM is around contact them if you need help
    :]

[LigH]

About \"respect towards skill maxer\":

If someone wants to challenge me into a duel without talking to me first, I retreat. If he tries that more often, I will set him on my ignore list.

I only duelled with friends I know, so far. And only at places from where I wanted to return to my spawn place anyway...

[playerturbo]

I tried to advertise here. Obviously I didn\'t read the rules.



*A strange, Moogie-like shadow flees from the scene of the Edit button*

[Karyuu]

...What does that have anything to do with PlaneShift? You do realize that such website are loathed with a passion within RolePlay communities?

Blimey.

[JamaTKasai]

The online games you mentioned are already at late Beta Version -going mainstream!...

You\'re lucky Dude to be one of the chosen few to have found PlaneShift...

That\'s what we are here for to be of service to the Administrators...

PlaneShift is at its Infancy Stage Bro!... so Stay ChiLLin\' AirT!...

Fate brought us here!...

[T0rk]

It wasnt hard for me to pick up on this game, though the guide isnt that detailed just spend an hour exploring and you should know pretty much everything there is to know about the first zone.

[Omnia Mortis]

Originally posted by Karyuu
---->Automaps do not enforce roleplay, but destroy it.<--- Maps will be created later on by individual players using the Cartography skill.

Considering that PlaneShift is still in pre-alpha stage, complete newbie friendliness isn\'t to be exactly expected. The world isn\'t very large - given a few hours of exploration, most of it could be memorized without any problems. Instead of implementing features that must be taken away later (i.e., automaps), the development team is better using its time on furthering more permanent features.

How\'s that?

[Karyuu]

Do you have a GPS screen in the top right-hand corner of your vision at all times? :)