A Request To The Ns Community

MonsieurEvil

Everyone was new once

Heya NS fans,

Lately, the forums have been getting a little, well, snooty. People have tended to reply a bit more condescendingly, or perhaps treat new players with less respect then they are due. There's also been a tendency to try and moderate threads by people who aren't mods. And there've been too many flamewars, by NS forum standards.

This needs to be stopped pronto.

A lot of effort has been spent in the NS community to keep it very friendly, social, and PG. We want our forums, channels, and servers to be a refuge from the majority of the online world where anarchy reigns, and admins are nowhere to be seen. We can only do this with YOUR help.

In the next few weeks, the countdown to NS 1.1 is going to begin. This means that the publicity campaign is going to swing into high gear. All those screenshots, movies, battlefield stories, and the rest are going to bring a lot of new faces into the NS community. A lot of new faces that are not NS experts, who have not been playing since October 2002, have not been following the mod since July 2001. Basically, a lot of 'newbies'.

These players are what will keep NS alive!

They need to be welcomed, and treated with patience and respect. Again - patience and respect. This means that when someone asks some silly question for the 20th time that day, and you have nothing good to say, then you have no reason to post. First impressions are what counts in the online world, and if the first response someone gets to 'how do I evolve into an Onos?' is 'SUYF read the manual, n00b!' then that player is likely never to ask anything again. You and the NS team cannot afford for this to happen.

So, on behalf of the dev team, the mods, and the ops, I am asking you think before you post that flame. My moderators have also been told that we're tightening up, and they are going to enforce this new mindset with extreme force if necessary. This means you will get a thread lock and a PM if we find you getting out of hand. Then a temp ban. Then you will be gone forever. We don't want to ban anyone, but this is what it will take to maintain the peace and goodwill in here, we will.

That's all. Please make sure your friends and mates read this post (it will be stickied in a while). Ignorance will not be an excuse.

Thanks, and get ready for NS 1.1. It's going to be affecting your grades and work performance sooner than you think!

MrPink

Amen, MonsE. This should be moved to General Discusion though. I really hate to see someone post for the first time and get totally flamed though. Stuff like that really is a burdon on the community, for every newbie that joins, he tells a friend, and his friend tells a friend, and so on, but if we drive away newbies, the people who are experienced in NS will eventually get bored and it will die. So anyways, I really hope the flaming and general distaste towards newbies ends, in servers as well as here.

Rue

i dont really read these forums much but the new player forums seem to be noob friendy , i think its just people buging people with posting the same stragagies over and over ect, i dont mind anyone as long as they go to there waypoints and dont try and argue with them , but there are a few people that seen to enjoy it .

atm i still think the NS comunity has one of the best reps in the HL world and i still fell it will stay that way,

SDJason

I totally respect the newbies.. however when you release 1.1.. write on the manual thingie..... and in the game itself (make it a tool tip) DONT COMM OR GORGE IF YOU ARE A NEWB......

Doing this would help us greatly.... as its easy to teach a grunt/skulk what to do.. whereas its MUCH harder to teach a comm or a Gorge

If they know how to play the game, its easy to train a gorge/comm and still win sometimes... however you CANNOT train a newb and hope to win at all...

So just let it be known.. dont comm/gorge until uve played for a bit

SaJLenS

All I can say is this: I began playing the game a week ago, give or take. The first thing I did was to Gorge with the Aliens... It made sense you know: cheap on res and looked kind of funny to play with... I didn't even know what a Gorge actually DID and everybody got kind of **** when I gorged... But I asked around and the guys on the pub server were REALLY and I mean REALLY helpful and informative. I'm glad that there are still people out there who have the patience to deal with newcomers. A week later, right now, I'm rockin' an' goin' hell yeah

As long as there are guys that help out there NS shouldn't have to worry about not gaining new players... but sure.. many times people aren't welcomed as good as I were.. unfortunatly for us all

monkeymaster

QUOTE (SDJASON @ Jun 24 2003, 12:18 PM)

I totally respect the newbies.. however when you release 1.1.. write on the manual thingie..... and in the game itself (make it a tool tip) DONT COMM OR GORGE IF YOU ARE A NEWB......

I respect your opinion in that, but how will the newbs learn to comm or be a good gorge if they never actually gest to gorge, or go into the comm chair. keep in mind that it will most probbaly only be for 1 game that a newb goes into the comm chair to check it out, dont get so serious about a noob commander. if you lose, you lose. if you win, well then your laughing . also 1 other thing, if you have a n00b commander, just bassically tell him what do threw the mic, and if hes not a slow person then he will listen and you might have a chance, and it will make the game bit more fun, instead of other games where the comm is just screaming out command for the marines.

Marvin_The_Woo

I agree with you Monkeymaster. Everyone whon start something for the first time is a newbie, even God. I think experienced players MUST teach how to play to newbie. It's like a school. When kids go to school for the first time learning how to read, calculate, etc; the teacher won't flame them because they don't know how to calculate 9x6. It's just a question of time. If they aren't new players, NS doesn't exists anymore... But it's true that when I play sometimes with newbie, they often don't listen to experienced players. So, each one must listen to each other. So DO IT KNOW! lol

1337n007bXD

QUOTE (Marvin - The Woo - @ Sep 27 2003, 05:13 AM)

I agree with you Monkeymaster. Everyone whon start something for the first time is a newbie, even God. I think experienced players MUST teach how to play to newbie. It's like a school. When kids go to school for the first time learning how to read, calculate, etc; the teacher won't flame them because they don't know how to calculate 9x6. It's just a question of time. If they aren't new players, NS doesn't exists anymore... But it's true that when I play sometimes with newbie, they often don't listen to experienced players. So, each one must listen to each other. So DO IT KNOW! lol

God could just do his magic and make him an expert. XD

jamespsx

i could not agree more here ppl... newbies are what make games exciting, different, and more easy (well u trey going up again vetrans that have been playing this since the beta tests...) when i was a newb (long time ago mind u...) everyone on the server helped me, walked me through what did what and what would happen if that skulk got to close (eek... blood...) if u c a newb that is making ur team loose points remember this one sentence.... WE ALL HAD TO START OUT SOMEWHERE, SOMETIME!

Asal_The_Unforgiving

Well, I find the best way to deal with a newbie is to take one under YOUR wing. If you're down there in the dirt, and you notice some random newb, just call him over, and have him follow you for the game. You'd be amazed what happens. After a time, they'll wait in base for you to respawn, or give a call and ask where you are. People who start with this kind of help follow orders AMAZINGLY. Do that to a newb on a server a few games, and get him used to it, then leave the server for a month. Come back after your month, and go check on the guy. I bet you'll be amazed by what you see. THAT is why the Panda's newb training is a good thing. All you have to do is teach them right. Just remember, eventually that newb will be the man at your back, so help him out early on, give him a good man at his back, so he knows what it's like.

degamer106

yep i know what you're talking aboujt

Keiros

Reasonably new/old (ie still learning) here. Can play kinda ok but still dont have a handle on 'comm'. Are there specific servers to prac on out there?

ADag

Sandbox i think is a good comm learning server...Its 3.0b4 so you have to download that specific client.... Commanding is easy once you learn the commands but it is hard to get a good commander these days...Because commandng can sometimes be stressful.