For the love of *insert whatever here* people .....

[ShadowKat]

*drags out her big soapbox and drags it to the square*

mkay ... look ... now some of you are going to think this is "brown-nosing", others are going to think I'm just being b*tchy ... however, I"m going to say it anyway...

I'm not without my own frustrations with the game. Trust me, I have several.  But there are two things I always always try to keep in mind ....

1) PS is totally and completely free.  No ads, no fees, no nothing.  The only thing it costs is my time.

2) PS is still in many many stages of development. It's even still called a "tech demo".

Some things change quickly (and repeatedly), others take a long long time to change.  Live with it.  In my own little head I believe that if you're at all familiar with coding, programming, R&D, and any large scale gaming you will understand that very few things happen quickly.  It cannot be done.  If you aren't familiar with the technical aspect, then you really have no room to gripe at the devs for how long anything takes ... simply because you have no clue what you're talking about.  Not only that, the admins and devs give their time freely to do what they can when they can.  Silly people that they are, they want a life too.  They have jobs and families just like the rest of us.

I will say to any and all (and even to myself) ... If you're that flippin unhappy with the game, don't play.  It's that simple.  There's tons and tons of RPG's, MMORPGs, etc etc ... go find something else**.  If all you're going to do is whine and b*tch about how miserable you are ... go away.  It's not helpful to anyone.

The devs and admins both have repeatedly asked for your help.  They want your suggestions.  What most devs and admins (in general) don't want is "whine, b*tch, piss, moan .. this is horrible .. fix it now, and fix it my way or i'm leaving".  It's not useful or helpful.

Better yet ... if you think this world sucks and you can do it better ... go do it!  Don't beat them up about it ... go build yer own mousetrap.  I've done it.  I (and several others) got so pissed at the way several forums were run, we finally went and made our own.  Not that it was a raving success ... but I tell ya what ... it sure gave me a much better understanding of what the admins were going thru. (Though I still think ours is better than theirs ... but I'm biased).

Guess what else ... at the end of the day ... PS is going to go the way it's going to go.  If I remember what I've read on the main page correctly, PS was started as part of a bigger project, and now is a project of it's own.  So it will go as it will.

Anyway ... that's just my $.02    Let the beatings and the flamings commence.

*steps down and drags her soapbox away*


~*~*~ EDIT ~*~*~

**  For any of you that are interested ... here's a link that provides a TON of MMORPG's of various genres:
http://play-free-online-games.com/games/games_rpg.html

[Dihenis]

i was wondering when someone was going to do something like this. many people come here because they have heard about it on some site, that it is a good free mmorpg and never bother to read anything on the site. then they come and sign up on these forums and go to the linux game tome and say the game sucks, but they never thought about helping the project along, or that it isn't even close to done. they don't actually need to learn any coding or how to use any art programs, they can contribute by just playing the game or offering unique ideas. It says somewhere that we are first testers, then gamers so by just playing the game, supporting this project, and finding bugs, those people could help it along. I am learning how to use blender and i hope to be able to one day, make something that can go into the game(i hope so ).

[saladasalad]

  Bravo. I totally agree. People here tend to think that the devs want to ruin their game, what an idiotic belief. No-one wants to spend countless hours, voluntarily, to make a crap game! Every change is implemented to make the game better. If you disagree that certain changes make the game better then calmly explain why you think that and make your own suggestions. Stop acting like 3 year olds.

[Aerianna Kzin]

Tottaly aggred! you rock ShadowKat 

[Roderyck Slywolfe]

*drags out her big soapbox and drags it to the square*

[EVERY word of it.]

*steps down and drags her soapbox away*

 

[Suvok]

I agree completely.

I only think constructive criticism should be dealt out, this helps devs. Otherwise it's just meaningless ranting.

[Shauri Sutlar]

For the first time in so very long, I am moved to post.  *curtsies deeply to ShadowKat*  I not only agree whole-heartedly with what you said....you said it very well.
I would go so far as to say that if you had the time, look into actually becoming a dev.  They work hard, and have been putting out some really amazing things for us lately; with even more astounding things to come I'm sure. 

Anyway, Bravo and Kudos on a brave, beautiful and well-spoken post.

[Coneitic]

dont forget we are all testers and just as vital as the devs to this game. whether its constructive or not every word we speak about this game helps it develop. so dont just get it stuck in your mind its free dont whine.  thats why its open beta.

also it will always be in beta. so get used to it.

[Crj]

Dont tell people to try develop their own game, because they dont like PS. They might actualy try it. There have been many people that have started wierd and very unsuccessful MMO projects on their own. Its not like they say - "Yay, what a revelation! Now i see how hard it is and Planeshift is the gratest game of all time!" afterwards. Please dont encourage them. I think PS has already lost a lot of staff because of it, tho i am not exactly sure about it.

Somehow i dout your target audience will read this thread, because they are just here to complain, not to listen to the opinions of other people. Take me for example!

[Karyuu]

Crj: We haven't lost a single developer because they moved on to start their own game project. Some developers have left because they now work on professional games, but that's real-life-job related so it's a bit different

Some devs have also left for other reasons, a good portion of which was being driven away by the whiners, actually - so careful guys. Even if you have good intentions, the way you voice your opinions or complaints can push away the very people you're trying to help. It doesn't always work to come in and say "I complain to you because I care about this project," when you seem to very obviously not care about the people who make this project possible. I will tell you right now - there will always be players. But there won't always be the talented and skilled developers we've had over this project's time.

(A disclaimer: there are many incredible players who bring a lot of life to the game, as well. By no means do I mean to brush their contributions off as insignificant. I am pointing out that without developers to continue the project, these players will have little to use for their stories.)

But then again, no one listens anyway... :]

[Xillix Queen of Fools]

whether its constructive or not every word we speak about this game helps it develop. so dont just get it stuck in your mind its free dont whine.  thats why its open beta.

also it will always be in beta. so get used to it.

Wrong and wrong.

and particularly in your case . . .wrong

To everyone else thanks for the kind thoughts. Do what you can to take the time to beat back the trolls with your own posts so we are free to stick to our work. Perpetual accusations, demands, whining, threats to quit, bla bla bla, really do nothing to promote the game's development.

Only good ideas further the projects as a whole.

I can tell you I answer well stated friendly complaints faster than the crappy mean ones .

[bilbous]

I do not wish to be crappy or mean but it seems to me that the 'official voice' of PS on these forums has become a little overly defensive. I understand that it can at times feel like you are unappreciated and sometimes distinctly targeted for abuse and sometimes you really are. I think, however, that a return to your patient forbearance is in order with response to specific cases by PM when necessary. If you think that a complaint is without much merit and your initial rebuttal is ignored, that is when to take it to PMs or write it off as an insolvable difference.

I do understand that some people cannot let a dead horse rot in piece and that is where the thread lock comes in handy.

Try not to let it be your head in somebodies soup. If they get your goat they will think they won.

All that said, I have not tried to run a forum nor respond to a user community so perhaps my perception is a little unrealistic. Take it for whatever it is worth and nothing more.

[Leama]

Is it human to complain? We want everything now and we want the best. I have learned that patience does really pay off. If we wait patiently for things to improve it will happen. If we do not the end result can be worse then we even thought possible. Can we not be grateful for what we have? Think of all the
people who have put endless hours into this project for our enjoyment. It is the idea that the ‘squeaky wheel gets the grease’? This is not always true. For that matter is can make matters worse. Is true that if we complain enough we might loose the developers that we have? Can you imagine not having anyone to make this game? Then it would be gone. As I said before in “My Complaint” let us all be nice to Talad, the developers, game masters, and our fellow players. Once in a great while let us say ‘Thank you’ instead of saying, “If I have control of this project I could do it better.” Stop complaining unless you really do not have something constructive to say. I really do hope the complainers do read this, it may open their eyes. If you cannot do anything but complain then maybe you should leave so the rest of us can enjoy what we have come to know as our ‘home away from home.’

You do not know how good it is until it is gone. Trust me I know.

[Aerianna Kzin]

* Aerianna Kzin watches Bambi

"if you don't have anything nice to say....don't say anything at all..."

hehe sorry that's what this is all reminding me of. I will be quiet now.

[Xillix Queen of Fools]

Np Bilbous, just realize that there is less malice in my words than people may think.

the whole idea of feeding the troll applies, although i do not think ignoring is the best approach in all cases.

if responding to someone's trollishness is something that brings more trollishness out of them, a pm is only worse.

Believe me I have some amazingly poisonous pms in my mail box.

I prefer to air grievances, people cannot curse at me here .

I cannot speak for everyone on the dev team but I can say a vacillate between wanting to stay in touch with the player community, and wanting to never open the forums or main irc channel again, due to what i feel are the worst members of the community and the general silence of those who enjoy our hard work.

To your credit Bilbous, imo, when you have something to say you tend to say it well and without ugliness.

I think threads like this, which sporadically pop up, do help morale, the underlying thing stated here is players taking the trolls to task.

If anyone wants the ultimate way to aid us, apply.

If anyone want to make me personally feel better about the state of RP in ps, stop hanging out at harnquist's 

My thanks to everyone who has positive constructive ideas to contribute and does so elegantly.