Enforced "rookie friendly" policy for first 10 hours of game time, good or bad?
chewycentre
UK Join Date: 2014-02-22 Member: 194230Members, Reinforced - Supporter
UK Join Date: 2014-02-22 Member: 194230Members, Reinforced - Supporter
I had an idea after the Steam sale slashed the price of the game, bringing a fresh faced bunch of players into our small community once more. I never post on forums for games, usually I see boards full of threads with people pushing for their point of view to turn the game into what they want it to be and usually, it is not in everyone's best interest. My idea, to keep greens out of white servers during the time they are green, isn't a new one. It is why there are two server types in the first place, but there is nothing actually in the way of them logging on for the first time and joining whichever server is the biggest or has the most interesting name.
If there was a way of limiting the choice of join-able servers available to greens, while still allowing the full server list to be shown, I think there would be a number of improvements to their experience. To make it clear, I don't mean forcing players with experience out of rookie friendly servers as their tuition and insight is invaluable if they behave responsibly.
- It might help with the complaint most people have and that everyone here is fully aware of, that this game as a high learning curve. Playing against players with similar skills is much less frustrating than the alternative, I really don't think I need to explain this much but this addition would mean it is less likely that a new player would join a server full of good players that outclass our rookie in every area.
- Servers with the "less than X hours only" have a chance of being filled once more. When I first started playing ns2, I played on "AI's noobs only less than 100 hours only." Since the total number of players has been steadily declining over time up until this point, I have noticed that my old server and those like it, have all been left behind, being filtered out with the rest of the empty servers as the rookie messes with the server browser options. Now I'm not saying that we should force rookies to populate these servers, if they want their trial by fire and to learn the game the hard way with the rest of us, that is fine. However it will mean that they can be taught by commanders with experience, as the rules stipulated that commanders for either team may have over 100 hours on AI's. It can also mean they won't be punished as badly for dying as those around them are in the same boat.
- White servers with the tag "50 hours required" or similar, will be enforced to a greater extent. If a server admin adds this title to a server, it is on them to enforce it. Not every green is going to realise and respect the etiquette of the server browser we all get a sense of overtime and they will inevitably end up finding their way onto one of these servers. Admins are not always going to be present to ban these rookies however, and if there are no working server mods to enforce this rule, these rookies will have a harder time keeping up with the rest of the players for the reasons outlined in this post. A personal account of this happening to rookies in my game won't mean much to you reading this, but this can become an issue on the most frequently populated servers.
- "Rookie stacks" on white servers will cease to be a problem. Ever feel frustrated at some of the paste eating rookies that will join the marines over and over with 5 other rookies? Don't want to force even teams because the vote is bias or disabled? Shouldn't be a problem with this change. Yes, bad players will still group up, but the psychological effect of joining a game in which one team is clearly imbalanced will be reduced for those playing on white servers. Eliminating rookie stacks takes a step towards reducing stacking in general, as the blame in this situation rarely relies on the "pro" players if they are forced on to a team together.
- Rookies usually cannot pull their weight, which is fine, they should not be expected to. Exactly the reason we want to keep them out of games people are playing for keeps. If you don't mind picking up the slack or teaching new guys, go rookie friendly. If you are sick of the green tide and not being able to hold your natural RTs while those around you are biting on blue power nodes, you can fill up a white server, as it was intended.
- Rookies will generally have a bad experience if they find themselves on a server with nsl players by accident. I forget the name of the server, but one instance stood out in particular to me. There was a rookie on a server filled with high level players that were just trying to play some relaxed ns2, they were not out to farm rooks. Our rookie got a grand total of 0 kills and 1 million deaths (give or take) that game and was never seen again. It will stop rookies from wandering off onto these servers and putting the game down after being destroyed.
If anyone here disagrees, then don't hesitate to jump in and talk about this, I'd like to see those that join the community have a positive experience learning the game as I did when I started, especially when their choice of servers becomes more and more limited over time as players fall away.
If there was a way of limiting the choice of join-able servers available to greens, while still allowing the full server list to be shown, I think there would be a number of improvements to their experience. To make it clear, I don't mean forcing players with experience out of rookie friendly servers as their tuition and insight is invaluable if they behave responsibly.
- It might help with the complaint most people have and that everyone here is fully aware of, that this game as a high learning curve. Playing against players with similar skills is much less frustrating than the alternative, I really don't think I need to explain this much but this addition would mean it is less likely that a new player would join a server full of good players that outclass our rookie in every area.
- Servers with the "less than X hours only" have a chance of being filled once more. When I first started playing ns2, I played on "AI's noobs only less than 100 hours only." Since the total number of players has been steadily declining over time up until this point, I have noticed that my old server and those like it, have all been left behind, being filtered out with the rest of the empty servers as the rookie messes with the server browser options. Now I'm not saying that we should force rookies to populate these servers, if they want their trial by fire and to learn the game the hard way with the rest of us, that is fine. However it will mean that they can be taught by commanders with experience, as the rules stipulated that commanders for either team may have over 100 hours on AI's. It can also mean they won't be punished as badly for dying as those around them are in the same boat.
- White servers with the tag "50 hours required" or similar, will be enforced to a greater extent. If a server admin adds this title to a server, it is on them to enforce it. Not every green is going to realise and respect the etiquette of the server browser we all get a sense of overtime and they will inevitably end up finding their way onto one of these servers. Admins are not always going to be present to ban these rookies however, and if there are no working server mods to enforce this rule, these rookies will have a harder time keeping up with the rest of the players for the reasons outlined in this post. A personal account of this happening to rookies in my game won't mean much to you reading this, but this can become an issue on the most frequently populated servers.
- "Rookie stacks" on white servers will cease to be a problem. Ever feel frustrated at some of the paste eating rookies that will join the marines over and over with 5 other rookies? Don't want to force even teams because the vote is bias or disabled? Shouldn't be a problem with this change. Yes, bad players will still group up, but the psychological effect of joining a game in which one team is clearly imbalanced will be reduced for those playing on white servers. Eliminating rookie stacks takes a step towards reducing stacking in general, as the blame in this situation rarely relies on the "pro" players if they are forced on to a team together.
- Rookies usually cannot pull their weight, which is fine, they should not be expected to. Exactly the reason we want to keep them out of games people are playing for keeps. If you don't mind picking up the slack or teaching new guys, go rookie friendly. If you are sick of the green tide and not being able to hold your natural RTs while those around you are biting on blue power nodes, you can fill up a white server, as it was intended.
- Rookies will generally have a bad experience if they find themselves on a server with nsl players by accident. I forget the name of the server, but one instance stood out in particular to me. There was a rookie on a server filled with high level players that were just trying to play some relaxed ns2, they were not out to farm rooks. Our rookie got a grand total of 0 kills and 1 million deaths (give or take) that game and was never seen again. It will stop rookies from wandering off onto these servers and putting the game down after being destroyed.
If anyone here disagrees, then don't hesitate to jump in and talk about this, I'd like to see those that join the community have a positive experience learning the game as I did when I started, especially when their choice of servers becomes more and more limited over time as players fall away.
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