The Newb Effort

[PH]

TL;DR
-game is hard

--

[Supreme]

Obligatory easy joke: You know what else is hard?

[kthx]

Yeah I have to agree, too many fucking pussies in todays world. Oh no someone is talking shit to me, im going to quit playing.. is that how faggots think nowadays? Someone talking shit to me makes me want to be better so I can shut their fucking mouths about it. Maybe instead of trying to make this zone into some huge faggot convention we should just accept that we are going to lose crying faggots at an alarming rate as we advertise, but in the end while we might have fewer players, the players that do stay and want to try harder because they suck will end up being our next crop of twd captains and players instead of lifelong pubbers.

If you end up fucking turning this game into a huge faggot crybaby factory you might as well not even advertise because the heart of the game will already be dead. Make people do shit for themselves for one fucking time.

[vaped]

I agree with KTHX for sure....

Making newbies more comfortable should have shit to do with how pub interaction is. If you really want to keep obnoxious shit off of the true noobs eyes, expand the ?obscene list to include more "obscene" material but we all know that isn't going to happen because it's impossible to convince our zone's owner that this is a sensible option to pursue for the longevity of the game.

Continuum may be slightly more harsh when it comes to shittalk than any other game I've played but I haven't been in a single game where there hasn't been a large amount of shittalking going on between players in a game.

As far as pub content -- The General chat on every server in SWTOR on the main space stations (basically similar to our pub) is typically MUCH worse content-wise than our pub. Especially on a RP server when they have almost zero moderation rules regarding the chat. How do you avoid the idiocy there? Basically the same as in here... remove the chat, ignore people, etc.

The idea of a multizone newbie arena is a fantastic one and I think that's what should be concentrated on. It keeps them away from the chaos at first and gives them a chance to get their feet wet before we throw them to wolves in the public arenas of any Zone.

[Crescent Seal]

I didn't really read this thoroughly, but i think i got the gist of it. I started this game in 2008 and I might be the only player who started this game that late and has progressed from pub to twd to twl with speed. I don't know there might be others, but I wanted to share my experiences as a fresh newbie. First of all, I wanted to play a multiplayer game that could be easily installed and could be handled by my laptop. My friend introduced me to this game and we played for about 30 minutes and he never logged on again. Initially I was very disappointed with the graphics and game play. Note that I'm not really a big gamer. Before playing subspace, I had played counter strike and day of defeat through steam. Anyways I logged off and told my friend he was a faggot for making me play such a lame game. Then I logged on 3 months later to decide whether I should uninstall this game or not. All of the messages in green and people talking confused me at first but I slowly got used to them and didn't care for them. I learned how to change ships and I tried to kill people. Learning how to fly and simultaneously shooting a good shot took a while. Then some newb squad approached me one day and asked me to join their "clan". I had no idea what they were talking about, but I went along with it. It took about 30 minutes for me to learn how to .?go twd and !register my name and use the twd site. The newb squad walked me through all of that but I felt that it was a huge pain and soon forgot all of these steps. Then I stumbled upon elim one day. Many people trash talked me right after killing me and this actually motivated me to kill them. I slowly realized that If i wanted to get better to own these nerds I had to get on a squad. From there on began my journey to find a squad. I learned how fun it was to twd on my first squad. After that experience, I was hooked on this game. I always wanted to dd! That same year I had the chance to spectate Quake vs Thunder LD which further motivated me into getting better for twl one day. People are always talking shit about our community of players today, but our community is one of the reasons this game has survived for this long. It was really fun getting to know people by squadding with them and you make e-friends in this game that make you want to keep playing.

if TL;DR
- there r uncontrollable circumstances than can lead 2 new active players...but we need to help simplify the learning process (maybe i was rly bad at grasping everything intially but others might have felt the same way?)
- it took me about a year to get out of pub...i think this is being worked on by ppl like Fork who are introducing newbs to twd which is very good
- i pretty much learned all the basic functions such as pming...squad tagging...using chats...attaching...after a year b/c it was tough to grasp and the info wasnt made available easily
- older players or vets who trash talked me actually helped me stick around this game...it was fun for me to improve and kill them so i could say "ez" back...it was motivation, so idk y ppl complain about that...use it to get better and surpass them
- once u get a player to experience twd...he will automatically become a regular

[Supreme]

Not appropriate for this thread. Keep it in melee and away from threads like this

[angry.chair]

"ppl have been getting illl macros and called ez newbs since this game started a real vet doesnt talk shit in pub... those are pubbbers who think they r good... u new to this game or what?"

LOL that's funny. OK let's send newbs to TWL and let the same thing I just said apply.

and ya, 2002 new to this game

"If you end up fucking turning this game into a huge faggot crybaby factory you might as well not even advertise because the heart of the game will already be dead. Make people do shit for themselves for one fucking time."
-Kthx - biggest crier in the game

[kthx]

who the fuck is this ez newbie?

[Supreme]

Someone angry, and apperently he's a chair. So what gives, also he's quite cranky. Heh.

[SpaceHiker]

I've gone over this issue many many times in the past. As a part of staff this is primarily what I worked on. Any zone has to have someone innovating from the top at all times. And, one single person can't do it forever, because people move on in their lives. Think back to the innovators in this game. Where are they now? Most have moved on or have become too involved in their day to day lives to help this game innovate anymore.

When I was sysop my focus was not to innovate, because I think I've become too much of a businessman and let my creativity dwindle over the years. Instead, I found the people in this game who were the big innovators, and I supported them in such a way that they felt comfortable bringing their best to the game.

Through all of those changes though, I never let the group lose sight of the singular vision. It was my job to listen to everyone, decide on a vision, and make sure that everyone was working toward that vision and not in a direction that was taking us away from it.

Trench Wars is no longer like it use to be. It's not about good ideas, and good ideas really aren't fostered anymore. That's why, after the public arena finally stagnated long enough, staff asked the public what to do about pub. Innovators don't do that. Innovators see what needs to happen next and they make it happen. That kind of thinking is shunned in TW from the top down, and that's why it will fail without major changes. I know that the changes we made to pub could never be permanent, but it wasn't their purpose to be permanent. It was supposed to keep evolving, because THAT brings NEW PLAYERS. What happened was, after I left, it stagnated until people couldn't stand it anymore. And now, what??? We are back to the old 1990's tileset??? Are you serious???

If we're going to bring back Subspace for the newcomers, it isn't going to be about bringing back Alpha. It is going to be about bringing every zone up to 2012 standards for gaming. The server is capable. The client is capable. I know lots of people think they're not, but they just don't have the vision. Successful new games are about two things: Graphics and Social features. The graphics have to be updated. The chat system needs to be expanded upon (smartphone clients etc...) The ships have to be refined for a new generation of players. Things have to be CONSOLIDATED when zone populations drop, and EXPANDED when zone populations grow. My vision was for all elim'ing and dueling to become part of TW's pub. That's why the little duel arenas are there. Why? Because our zone was shrinking and our player base needed to consolidate in order to stay in touch with each other and not become a handful of fragmented cliques. So what do we have now? Elim, Duel, WbDuel, JavDuel, SpidDuel..... I appreciate the effort but it's not the right vision.

Vision will save the game, a lack of vision will bury it. Innovators and their ideas have to be recognized and fostered in such a way that their work leads the zone toward a vision of the future.

I'll finish with a quote from Dock>...
DoCk>: The toughest job is trying to figure out what is good for the public, and not what is public demand. Sometimes decisions can be extremely unpopular but then grown to be accepted later on. This is a fact of life of being Sysop, and every little change or move, simply because of the size of this zone, causes a lot of heat to be turned on the zone's staff.

If TW and Subspace in general are to survive, we need people at the top who understand the above line and aren't afraid to make or break a zone with revolutionary thinking. I was never afraid to destroy Trench Wars with my actions, but I was always aware that it was possible. I trusted that I was smart enough and had brilliant people around me that the changes we were making would improve things. And what was my number one focus? Not the levi players, not the duelers, not twd or twl, it was the NEWCOMERS. Because without them, the rest of us will finally get tired of shooting each other and go away. Imagine if YOU were just now discovering this game as it currently is. How long would you stay? What would the game need to be like instead for you to hang around? THAT is the future if this game is to survive.

I've moved on in my life and lack the ability to contribute much anymore, but I love the fact that people are talking about this and I do hope that you can take this thing to the next level.

[Spock!]

Good words^^

What I don;t like it that everybody are "Graphics Freaks" No matter how fun the game is they insist on pretty colors. Just like Carmageddon. Graphics rather outdated, but the its the actual GAMEPLAY that is important. But I think this generation can;t look past graphics though, the bastards.

Like I said before, making it a little easier to use would really help. And maybe a training zone with some moving targets to shoot at or something to get them started. A little graphics improvement wouldn;t be bad too though.

Also, replacing all the ship models with ones from Star Trek would be pretty cool. But I know that isn't going to happen.

But yeah, something has to change before the game goes Kaploot. And I can;t afford to let it sink, this is the only fun online game I can play without running up my dumb limited bandwidth "Highspeed" Verizon wireless. Gosh.

[bandcampgirl]

Sure miss the good old days when spacehiker was sysop

[menomena]

I'll finish with a quote from Dock>...
DoCk>: The toughest job is trying to figure out what is good for the public, and not what is public demand. Sometimes decisions can be extremely unpopular but then grown to be accepted later on. This is a fact of life of being Sysop, and every little change or move, simply because of the size of this zone, causes a lot of heat to be turned on the zone's staff.

He's lyin that's too long to be a subspace quote he woulda got cutoff

But srsly gud post spacehiker can u fix subspace for us ans bring back arobas +

[zih]

Dude you are my hero. TY for all these ideas. I like every idea you have and i honestly see where you are coming from. I have tried many things on my part to help new players but always get rejected by lazier then shit staff and end up just killing my idea because of the lack of concern from everyone. I guess its ok to all these "big shots" to feel however since they already have a sense of security and sense of being because they talk to so many people they have met through the years on this game and could care less about other people like "noobs"

(sorry to staff just the way i and lots of people see it, i guess its just the good staff dont use these forums alot to see my ideas because they would go crazy from all the stupid hatred, not saying if you use forums your lazy tho)

[Subterranean]

Things like Pub Bucks and Super Lev Terrs are definitely not helping new players(new to the game, or new to the zone) to stick around.

Also, things like when a newb asks how to switch teams/ships/etc. and people reply with "alt-f4" or "esc. q" should get a warning from staff. But then again, you can't expect much in the way of common courtesy out of the average Trench Wars player, and to an extent the staffers as well.

Pub bucks is a good system if people actually had to play PUB to earn their PUB bucks. But most people earn them through donations or events. Usually ridiculous amounts are rewarded for said donations and events too. Nothing proportionately even to what is received through playing pub.

My solution would be to reset all pub bucks, and ONLY reward pub bucks through pub play. Also eliminate super lev terrs.