A first "Hello" from the new guy

[Mactavendish]

Wilkommen Danathur!

I am looking forward to your knowledge of economics to help us develop a thriving economy, that is based on NEEDS ( yes, I did catch what you said and have high hopes! )

What you are tasked to do seems to fit very will with your real world experience. I personally am very glad you joined the team.

I play every day, regardless of the current state of the game for a couple of reasons...

I believe the game will improve, because what you have so far is a breath of fresh air compared to many games I have played and left.

And, When those features are in game, I hope to have a leg up on the competition

Now if I could only figure out how to turn structures on a 45 degree angle...

[oneyedwang]

Maybe read again what I said, there might be a difference between being a newcomer and having no experience. I think I have a lot experience in the fields which are needed to become a game designer ...

But the bottom line of your post is, that you dislike the game and do not want to help us building a better game, did I get your intentions right ?

Danathur

What a lovely passively aggressive response to a legitimate gripe about bringing in people with a lack of experience to a game that is in need of people who have it.

Since you are clearly one in need of constructive criticism even from anonymous people over the internet let me give you some. I think the general tone of my post is that notorious is a mess atm and bringing in more inexperienced personnel is a wonderful idea.

Here are a few of the things that I'll list

There is no communication with us or internally about what content is coming and when. Your own lead tester doesn't even know if there will be a patch until a mere hour or two and he's the guy who is testing all this that wreaks of poor communication internally.

The list of things for us to expect over the next couple of months shows me there are 20-30 projects that were half completed leading me to believe there were no goals set and people were spreading their time working on multiple projects at once. Which is ok except it looks like they never finished anything.

The two russians that were hired are in charge of core concepts of a game that is having a large number of issues and we have no information on whether they've even worked on something similar.
Then the one new guy we do get information on is an accountant who likes to code.

That should about sum it up and in such a neat little way for such a passive aggressive gentleman like yourself.

As for me or others wanting to help you "fix" the game. This has been going on for months with little to show in the way of progress as a matter of fact the game has progressively gotten worse since beta. It's less stable more laggy, there are no animals, trees and the combat system is in need of short term changes to stabilize the current system and a complete overhaul to achieve an enjoyable experience that falls inline with what ever internal vision you guys have.

How am I doing so far?

If you need any further information about flaws or various draw backs I'd be glad to help you out. As for my frustration in my earlier post, I'm sure you're excited about this opportunity but as for me it looks like another misstep by a game who constantly half ass'ed things and lacks any semblance of communication both internally and with it's customers.

Heres a list of books to help you out http://www.dummies.com/how-to/conten...tion-to-c.html

[orious13]

Don't whine for more communication and shit on it when it comes oneyedwang.

[oneyedwang]

Don't whine for more communication and shit on it when it comes oneyedwang.

lol. What about this is communication?

Hi, I'm stan the accountant and I'm here to build your game......

[shava]

So clearly inexperienced people fix crappy games.

Hey Danathur, can you program us a forum mute function for the haters?

More seriously, welcome! I have a few ideas about how to make this into a real society, but it requires a system with a lot of dependencies, doesn't it? Crafter and fighter synergy, as we have in Eve, is one that we can build. In the indigenous societies Xsyon echoes, the greatest penalty is ostracism, because of just what you are discussing -- without the support of a village, a naked ape has a hard time living well at all.

But in addition, there are strong codes of honor (some of which we wouldn't appreciate in modern terms -- particularly those of us of the female persuasion). These are often associated with religion and purity codes, but I don't see shamanism on the list of Coming Soon(tm) anywhere. Early in the game, it was worthwhile, for example, for people who wanted to build their combat skills to just ravage anyone outside of totem safe territory, so crafters were constantly getting ganked to get a small fraction of armed combat for the ganker (and for the lulz, which like evil, doesn't show up as a stat on the character stats).

In an indigenous culture, generally if an individual from TribeA slew non-combatants from TribeB, it was a declaration of war. In some case, the killers own tribe would deliver his head to the aggrieved party, along with weregilt (bloodmoney) to avert war. Or the killer was ostracized, removed from the protection of the tribe, which made him fair game to anyone who found him in the wild, or especially if he tried to associate with villagers. War was incredibly costly, and when it did happen it was vicious and usually over within days. While guerilla in tactics (no thin red line in these cultures!)

Raids between traditional enemies had different dynamics.

There were councils in North America that were as complicated in diplomacy as anything up to the 20th century, and whose decisions backed by the high context of the cultures that called the councils, were more successfully binding than anything the UN produces today.

So perhaps some of these factors will require a little culture jamming by the players themselves. That's a game I think I could get into. If you and Jordi haven't (and I bet Jordi has at least) y'all should read The Book of the Hopi, for the customs and creator myths particularly. And for history, the Ghost Dance cult (both the peaceful and warring factions) seems to fit nicely with (post)apocalyptic stories of the Sierras.

Regrowing trees is vital -- in an ideal world, the entire original tree map would just be restored. To me, part of the reasoning of this world is that we are supposed to not totally spoil it again. But the rush of the beginning of the game, with no agriculture and no (reasonable) combat system, means that a lot of the folks in game right now are doing Minecraft in the Sierras, building fortresses, cutting a zillion trees to grind up weaponsmith or architect, or...

The lag of certain features has imbalanced the natural and human spheres of influence badly. Can we get a mulligan on the destruction of habitat between launch and the introduction of agriculture? Otherwise, those of us who favor more harmony with the world around us (at least, the environment if not our neighbors!) don't have to despair that we're on our way to destroying the world faster this time.

All that said, there are two things I'd love to see quick and dirty -- first, please expand the ACL function of the baskets to include a title that also displays on mouseover. Unless for some reason you are saving literacy, signs and portents for the introduction of Shamanism, a basket that can display a label (and, ideally, a decay timer) is going to be pretty basic. It's basic *now* and it will be FUNDAMENTAL when decay sets in.

Second, please give us a leathercraft recipe for a waterskin that holds perhaps 1/2 or 1/4 day worth of water, and fits in a belt slot. I don't mind if it still takes me 3 minutes to drink out of the thing, or if there's a dex penalty that means half of it gets spilled on the ground if you're a klutz, or whatever. But please give us portable water! In native American societies, both wax or oil treated baskets and pottery (what craft would that be? Pottery is so basic to civilization!) were used to carry and store water for drinking, crafting, and washing for use in dwellings away from the water. There is nothing more iconic -- even today -- as a group of women and children carrying skins, baskets, pottery, or glass jars to the nearest water to fetch the day's supply.

Since we're talking about the Sierras, you'd expect a rare scavenge to be a nalgene water bottle. At the point that everything imploded, there must have been at least half of the plastic (and perhaps more rarely, intact glass) in the middens that would be water bottles, especially near the old ski resorts!

Shava/Ani
reporting from the clearcut nearest her totem...

[Mactavendish]

Well said Ani .. again

I have to say at this point, what the haters say seems to be driving folks aways just as much as anything.

The simple fact is, that those that wanted combat at the start are the most vocal since it was not put in. And most of those have left. What is left now, are older more patient folks willing to build and see what happens next.

With a game like this, patience will pay of big for those that can wait it out. Granted it makes it hard for those of us that do play each day, but its been refreshing to see new players in the game. We are still growing our tribe and get new members each week.

Do I see the issues the game has? of course, I just don't let childish emotions rule what I say or do.

If Any of you thinking about playing here read this, know that, many players in game will be friendly, helpful, and willing to teach you the ropes. Feel free to look me up in game at the Sugarpine starter area and /w LaughingOak. I am always willing to lend a hand, some tools or gear and help any way I can.


This game takes time and effort. it's not instant gratification. So, take a deep breath and dive right in... the waters fine!

[Azhul_NS]

Using words like "haters" and "childish" isn't helping promote polite discussion, BTW.

[Hanover]

This game takes time and effort. it's not instant gratification. So, take a deep breath and dive right in... the waters fine!

It's blindingly obvious the water isn't fine. Hell, even many of the "Life Guards" are gone. I'm all for the success of the game, but please don't misrepresent it. Doing so will only hurt the game in the long run, its called Prelude for a reason.

The waters cold,shallow and smells funny, but the scenerys nice and theres talk of a water slide.

[MrDDT]

Who is this new guy and can I have his babies?

Great posts.

[Mactavendish]

How can I misrepresent this game by simply stating my perspective.

I do not have the same view as some here, and quite frankly thats a good thing. I am worried about many of the same things as you guys, but have been in games for years that were not as good as this game IS in its current state... and then we learn that the game will get better, my concerns are known and being addressed and I may very well get exactly what I want...


And you think I'M misrepresenting things? How about a bit of balance my friend. Your perspective seems jaded by unfulfilled desires.

If I speak of my emotions not being childish, its more an attempt to encourage folks to act their ages, than to point at any individual.