How did you find planeshift?

[Tulkhan]

Found it on the Glest (free RTS game) forum, in a thread about cool open source games

Fleshing out the game further should be all that's needed to attract more players. As I see it,
there are lots of new players joining every day, but never to be seen again. I've stopped
counting how many swords and trias I've given away to newbies, trying to get them started.

Alas, hard as it sounds, a few of my friends I've tried fixing on PS were incredulous that I'd
waste my time on such a sub-standard game, when I could play WoW or whatnot.

I do appreciate the efforts of the whole PS team very much, last but not least it's cross-
platform.

Cheers,
-tulkhan

[Elvicat]

Found it via a "friend"
Tried it, went off abit then came back and been here ever since literary almost every single day.

How to get more in hm... maybe actually say it's totaly free and in development, the last should actually tell most that the game may have bugs but still is playable

[Piker]

I found PS via a link on an MMO site, i was curious and downloaded.

As for atracting more players, well... i think it would be better if you found a way of retaining the ones curious enough to download the game.

I recomended the game to a RL friend of mine. His comments were : What's with that tutorial (It took him 4 attempts due to crashing and getting stuck) When he finally got into the game he found few willing to help, only to chastise him for not RP'ing.

He also mentioned that he found the forums quite offputting, especially the help section for noobs (he visited it quite often to get to get tips) His comment was : "why is everyone so rude?"

I also found this statement quite interesting....

The one way I can think of to get more players of the right kind  is to have players get some feelers out among their old pen and paper friends.

I'm not sure what you are trying to say, but what the hell is the "right type" for the DEVS? Isn't everyone welcome to play the game?

[Eodun]

You won't find any game (to be honest, anything) that is aimed for everyone. The "market space" of this game is very specific: mmporg with a special accent in RPing, so people who just don't know what's that, or that look for something like Diablo aren't the "right kind"

I would try to spread voice between roleplaying sites, being for computers or not.

[Myriel]

I got DSL and wanted to try a MMORPG, so I looked for free ones in Google

[Liadan]

How did I find planeshift?

* Liadan thinks for a bit

The mac website of course. Was cruising through the games sections of downloads and chanced across this as a freeware (YEY!) which stood out because every other game was horrible or demo or had that annoying shareware label (it's mostly free but to get at the good stuff, you have to pay....). That was, oh a year ago. But I signed up, never got a response, downloaded the software, couldn't get it to work, so just stuck with my sims (yes, the sims, don't make fun of me), until that got boring.

* Liadan taps her chin

Then decided to see if i could get that elusive game called Planeshift working. But within that year I played an MMO that was not role-playing called Eternal-lands (competitor to RS), but is still nothing like PS. I like how when you die you don't lose things (oh...that was a pain in the ass until you got a perk that allowed you to wander through monster-infested maps without being killed). And that the server is in Singapore (did I mention I used to live there?) Summary: It was free, mulit-platform playable and despite being a RAM hog, great graphics.

I think someone mentioned somewhere on this thread that there is a problem with people being ignored if not RP-ing...unfortunately it's slightly true. You do get better responses when asking questions via RP but not everyone is equiped, so to speak, to roleplay (and there are a few things that aren't obvious...like where do i go to train strength/endurance? either I run around and click on every NPC, which takes forever, or I ask someone...but how do ask that in RP?). Although I will admit my sins and have slipped a few pop culture references, but not explicitly, into RP, it's not as if they haven't fit the conservation. I guess quoting Shakespeare without directly referencing it to him is okay...is it?

Anyways, my point is, there should be some tolerance for those who find RP difficult; Not all of us have a great imagination and if you don't jump down their throats for not RP-ing, then possibly they will learn from positive encouragement.  Even though there is a RP guide somewhere in this forum, it really doesn't give someone the kick that they need...I think one person, who was new, said "they really push you into the deep end with this RP stuff don't they?" And even though the tutorial does give some info, its a bit shaky and c'mon seriously, who really reads that big paragraph when they're itching to play the game. What I do suggest is there to be a more realistically formative guide (I'll be willing to do it too) about roleplaying specifically in PS.
Summary: If you want people to join, you are going to have to be *gasps* nice to them in regards to RP-ing for the first little while until they get the hang of it. Some kids can swim, but most end up drowning in the deep end if thrown in before they know to swim.

[Zwenze]

I heard a lot from an hype game called "world of warcraft", I had a co worker who played WoW alot and I knew WoW is a mmorpg. So I googled "mmorpg gpl" and got here.

It took me some time to learn the details about planeshift. Heck, I can remeber finding my first npc, or so I thought. Well I managed to find kada els. And I saw a char behind the desk. I was sure no one would wait for hours there and therefore I was so sure this is an npc. I talked to him using his name, he answered, I asked what I need to do to learn magics and he told me how to get to Levrus. Heck, I was impressed from the npc implementation, that conversation felt very natural from me. It didn't last long 'til I realized my missunderstanding tough 

Well, I had no clue about roleplaying. Someone told me in game, I have to use [] for ooc as this is a medevial world. The first time I played alot with or against the game mechanics, read I powerlevel 'til my char had at least some useable stats.

 I got engaged in pvp a lot, that was fun at that time.

Only after a while it happened that I got dragged into and hooked by role playing.

I don't know if my player biography ( pl > pvp > rp ) is common or seldom, but the recent changes to dueling are not that great. If I would start Planehift today I guess I would leave it without ever getting hooked on rping because pvp at the moment makes no fun at all.

Edit:
Maybe I should also state here what I like most on planeshift. Its the diversity of actions you can do. You can roleplay, you can do quests and some times some sort of events like races or tournaments. I never know what will happen when I log into pllanehift.

[miadon]

Linux Format magazine

erm to attract more players PS really needs more mundane items, they don't have to actually work but better than holding an invisible latern or whatever.

[Jeraphon]

I'm not sure what you are trying to say, but what the hell is the "right type" for the DEVS? Isn't everyone welcome to play the game?

I think he means "the kind who stay"

[Xillix Queen of Fools]

Anyone is welcome to play the game, and if you search the forums you will find many instances of me encouraging the rpers to calm down and take more time with new players. I also personally spent many months working for 8 hrs a day to teach new players how to RP in my role as xillix queen of fools in front of the temple.

The fact remains however that this is an rp focused game. I can do nothing to force the rpers to be nice to leet haxors who dl ps and come in game and make a fool of themselves and there is little i can do to make them stay.

Piker as for your buddy, I can do nothing to save people from crashes. As you have noticed the server is much more stable now, as is the npc client. Already this should be much more simple. As for the tutorial itself, well anyone who reads at a 5th grade level should be able to get through it, if they actually READ. For those who have difficulty doing this we have provided a walk through for the tutorial. I honestly don't know what more my team could do to open up the game to new players.

When one considers that how to rp is covered in the tutorial (at least well enough to get in game rpers to not be asshats toward the newb if the newb actually takes the advice), if someone still makes it in game and finds themselves ignored there are only two places to place the blame: either the newb did not heed the advice, or our players are uber leet rp snobs. Neither of these situations is something that the settings team can do much to help.

I do encourage oldbies to actually be nicer to new players, but I think if someone is to invite a friend to come play planeshift that person should probably be a friend and hold that person's hand until they find their bearings, at least in the current state of development.

Maybe if we offered free twinkies that would be more successful than expecting people to read and follow directions, but I don't have enough twinkies for that.

Thank you everyone for your answers thus far.

[steuben]

i'm going to add to the "someone posted in the forums" tally. well it was back in the days of mb. someone posted on an anime forum i was on at the time. "hey check out this free game. it doesn't have any monsters, all you can do is run around and gather these crystals. there's no monsters and only two quests and one of them is broken. but it's still in development." so i headed on over to the website read through it, and gave it a run. though looking back, i'm not sure if mb had enough to hold me for long. but i as i lurked in the forums i saw this little thread, and that was the seed that developed into "steuben and the refugees". and i had to stay around to finish that, didn't i? and well i haven't left. well i have a few other stories to finish, and i won't leave until they are... though judging by one of the ones that i have, i may never leave.

[Einnol]

I discovered Planeshift by reading a short (one or two paragraph) review of it in Lockergnome, a "geek" e-mail newsletter.  Planeshift was the featured "internet download of the day" and I saved the e-mail so I could check it out later on.  About a month later, I got around to checking out the link.    This was roughly around 0.3.011.

This has been touched on briefly in a few recent posts, but I was already thinking it before I read that far so I'll blurt it out anyway.  I think the best way for us to increase the player base and still retain the feeling of community is for each of us to introduce one RL friend or relative to PS.  Explain to them beforehand about the development status of PS, the bugs, the server crashes, and that patience is a virtue.  That way, they are a bit more prepared and know what to expect.  Help them thru the bumps of account registration, client installation ('do not update'), and character creation.  Since you know them personally, you are in a good position to help them on the phone or maybe even *gasp* face-to-face if absolutely neccessary.  Once they are in-game, help them ease into everything (mechanics, RP, the community itself).  This isn't really something that the devs can do, but rather the community.  Still, it's my opinion and I'll stand by it until I think of something better. 

[Duraza]

I found ps through google 

I was playing one of those all text web browser games before but the guy shut the game down (I think it was a money problem) so I went on a search for a good game. Thats when a friend introduced SilkRoad to me (first time I played a MMORPG that needed a client) and while I liked it I couldn't get it for the mac. Then I googled games for the mac and after trying many different ones PS was the only one that kept my intrest and still does.

[Socius Rockus]

I was finally finished playing Wizardry 8  when i was bored so i searched the web, not with google though, but I'm not sure with what it was

[Leama]

In my opinion before the game can expand to new players I think the existing players need to learn how to help the new players we have now so they can enjoy the game and stay. Once the community can become like a family again then it would be a good time to add new players. Also it could not hurt if current players who still talk to their friends that ‘used to’ play ask them to come back. This is how I feel Xillix, sorry. We seem to be at odds sometimes. I also agree with Einnol, word of mouth is the best way to share a great thing! We need that feeling of family back first before adding new people. It is not the amount of people that play it is that they enjoy the game and stay. That will bring back the community feeling of seeing familiar faces in game all the time then you can think about expanding it.

(I remember seeing Arka in the plaza and almost knocking her over with a hug. It was great to see an old friend.) I hope you understand.

Oh, I found PS through a family member and a friend that no longer plays.