Problems As A Noob
Skippy_the_noob
Join Date: 2003-04-22 Member: 15740Members
Join Date: 2003-04-22 Member: 15740Members
I took the time to read the article on voicing your displeasure over the game. I do agree that if you don't like the game you should simply not play it. With that in mind I want to say, I like the game very much. I love the entire premise of the game, and it was brilliantly put together. I found it was a great deal of fun to play once I got over the only real hurdle I found.
The other "experienced" players.
Let me tell you a little story.
I am at gamespy.com reading about the gamespy games of the year. I notice that Mod of the year went to a mod I had never heard about. A few minutes reading gamespy's description of the game was enough to perk my interest and download it. Now I admit while I downloaded the file I did not read up on how to play the game. Assuming (incorrectly) that it would function pretty much like any other half-life mod I went on to do other things.
Game downloaded I installed, loaded up gamespy and looked for a server. I made no changes to any setting what so ever, didn't ever look over the configurable controls I just logged in. Movement was pretty much the same. I decided to play as a marine to cut down the learning curve since I assumed the aliens would be more complex. I walked about 10 feet before I noticed a vote to kick and ban NSPLAYER. I began to watch the chat messages go by and this poor NSPLAYER guy must really be a problem. He is being called every profane name in the world. People are talking about how they hate ^*%%ing newbs and that some people like NSPLAYER are to !@#$ing stupid to live.
I think to myself "wow I hope I do better than that guy, he has everybody ****!" I watch the vote and everybody votes the poor guy off. I see one more message about "if your to ^%!#ing stupid to change your name, your to @#$%ing stupid to play here!" I think to myself "hey I don't think I changed my name?" My connection closes and I am sitting back at gamespy arcade.
I discover after an attempted reconnect that I am now banned from every server this particular group hosts and all because I am a new player. I didn't even have a chance to show how inexperienced I am. I didn't have a chance to fire my gun. I was immediately kicked and banned because I made a simple mistake that "elite veteran" players take as an instant sign of my newness to the game, and newbie’s are not welcomed here.
I logged into a second server (name changed of course) and tried again. I got to listen to people in live voice talk about how much they hate new players. Then it happened. I got told by voice to go to someplace called "horseshoe." Well where the heck is that? To make a long story short, In 15 minutes my carefully conceived name could no longer hide my newbiness that my lack of skill was making apparently obvious. Instead of giving me any kind of direction, another vote and another kick and ban and I was back at gamespy arcade fuming.
My third server was better. They played a map and my orders came from somebody called commander and a waypoint on my map gave me a bearing to navigate to. I arrived at my point and discovered he wanted me to build some three legged tripod on some steam vent coming out of the floor. Now I froze with fear, if I admit I don't know how to build they will kick and ban me. If I don't admit it I might take to long and get killed and fail. I decided being killed and failing was easier to explain and simple logic "try the use key" prevailed. The use key allowed me to build it and presto I felt like a veteran.
However my lack of map knowledge really hindered me and I listened to people all night yelling at me for not being at the generator or the cargo bay or any of a dozen other places.
This game really looks like it will be great fun, just as soon as we get all the veterans off it so I can learn how to play instead of having to find a new server every 15 minutes.]
My first experience with this game has me wondering if I haven’t found the meanest community of players on the internet.
The first thing that I must admit, this game is the most complex half-life mod I have every played. I have in my short sessions figured out though that one player (the commander) pretty much decided when and where marine resources will be spent. He gives targets and orders in an effort to accomplish the over all goal of winning. Wandering around as a solo player is pretty much suicide and makes you practically useless to your team. I have discovered that I was a thousand times more useful when I stayed in base and waited for orders. My orders 99% of the time were to proceed to someplace with a squad of people which I could now follow there allowing my lack of map knowledge to be overcome.
But none of this really matters what matters is that new players are not welcomed to this mod. The mod, which in my opinion is awesome, needs to reach more people so they can grow will never grow if they keep driving all those new players away.
This game is harder to learn than your typical team oriented shooter. There are some finer details that lack of knowledge of really makes you a hindrance to your team. If I had a few people just tell me how to do things that hindrance would really have been cut down but I guess it is easier to vote somebody off than it is to say, "Oh you can get more ammo from that machine over there"
If you want this game community to grow and have more servers, you’re going to have to learn how to help new players get over the hurdles and not be a hurdle yourself. Yelling at the top of your voice in your mic "go read the f!@#ing forums!" is not helping, nor should somebody have to spend a few hours crawling though a forum to learn how to play a game.
There I have put my first experiance with the game, and some opinion about it to words where everybody can shred it and make fun of it.
Thank you.
The other "experienced" players.
Let me tell you a little story.
I am at gamespy.com reading about the gamespy games of the year. I notice that Mod of the year went to a mod I had never heard about. A few minutes reading gamespy's description of the game was enough to perk my interest and download it. Now I admit while I downloaded the file I did not read up on how to play the game. Assuming (incorrectly) that it would function pretty much like any other half-life mod I went on to do other things.
Game downloaded I installed, loaded up gamespy and looked for a server. I made no changes to any setting what so ever, didn't ever look over the configurable controls I just logged in. Movement was pretty much the same. I decided to play as a marine to cut down the learning curve since I assumed the aliens would be more complex. I walked about 10 feet before I noticed a vote to kick and ban NSPLAYER. I began to watch the chat messages go by and this poor NSPLAYER guy must really be a problem. He is being called every profane name in the world. People are talking about how they hate ^*%%ing newbs and that some people like NSPLAYER are to !@#$ing stupid to live.
I think to myself "wow I hope I do better than that guy, he has everybody ****!" I watch the vote and everybody votes the poor guy off. I see one more message about "if your to ^%!#ing stupid to change your name, your to @#$%ing stupid to play here!" I think to myself "hey I don't think I changed my name?" My connection closes and I am sitting back at gamespy arcade.
I discover after an attempted reconnect that I am now banned from every server this particular group hosts and all because I am a new player. I didn't even have a chance to show how inexperienced I am. I didn't have a chance to fire my gun. I was immediately kicked and banned because I made a simple mistake that "elite veteran" players take as an instant sign of my newness to the game, and newbie’s are not welcomed here.
I logged into a second server (name changed of course) and tried again. I got to listen to people in live voice talk about how much they hate new players. Then it happened. I got told by voice to go to someplace called "horseshoe." Well where the heck is that? To make a long story short, In 15 minutes my carefully conceived name could no longer hide my newbiness that my lack of skill was making apparently obvious. Instead of giving me any kind of direction, another vote and another kick and ban and I was back at gamespy arcade fuming.
My third server was better. They played a map and my orders came from somebody called commander and a waypoint on my map gave me a bearing to navigate to. I arrived at my point and discovered he wanted me to build some three legged tripod on some steam vent coming out of the floor. Now I froze with fear, if I admit I don't know how to build they will kick and ban me. If I don't admit it I might take to long and get killed and fail. I decided being killed and failing was easier to explain and simple logic "try the use key" prevailed. The use key allowed me to build it and presto I felt like a veteran.
However my lack of map knowledge really hindered me and I listened to people all night yelling at me for not being at the generator or the cargo bay or any of a dozen other places.
This game really looks like it will be great fun, just as soon as we get all the veterans off it so I can learn how to play instead of having to find a new server every 15 minutes.]
My first experience with this game has me wondering if I haven’t found the meanest community of players on the internet.
The first thing that I must admit, this game is the most complex half-life mod I have every played. I have in my short sessions figured out though that one player (the commander) pretty much decided when and where marine resources will be spent. He gives targets and orders in an effort to accomplish the over all goal of winning. Wandering around as a solo player is pretty much suicide and makes you practically useless to your team. I have discovered that I was a thousand times more useful when I stayed in base and waited for orders. My orders 99% of the time were to proceed to someplace with a squad of people which I could now follow there allowing my lack of map knowledge to be overcome.
But none of this really matters what matters is that new players are not welcomed to this mod. The mod, which in my opinion is awesome, needs to reach more people so they can grow will never grow if they keep driving all those new players away.
This game is harder to learn than your typical team oriented shooter. There are some finer details that lack of knowledge of really makes you a hindrance to your team. If I had a few people just tell me how to do things that hindrance would really have been cut down but I guess it is easier to vote somebody off than it is to say, "Oh you can get more ammo from that machine over there"
If you want this game community to grow and have more servers, you’re going to have to learn how to help new players get over the hurdles and not be a hurdle yourself. Yelling at the top of your voice in your mic "go read the f!@#ing forums!" is not helping, nor should somebody have to spend a few hours crawling though a forum to learn how to play a game.
There I have put my first experiance with the game, and some opinion about it to words where everybody can shred it and make fun of it.
Thank you.
Comments
You are also ver low on luck when it comes to finding good servers.
When I first played (back in 1.03) Sure I got yelled at a FEW times but for the most part people were helpful.
I think Most people on this forum at least are mature enough to help. It's those that DON't go ont he forums
that are probably ruining it for everyone. You're preacing to the choir.
Now for my humble opinion <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
as for the server thing... yes there are very bad servers:
define "bad":
a clan that pays about 50-100 euro's for a good server to have fun and good games of NS, has the right to do what they want, be it "right" or not.
Plz don't let an event as that make you refrain from playing the best game ever m8
It's true, most of the servers are very bad. I personally only play on 5 different ones or so <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
I learned to play NS on the "c|E clanserver ....." , they were kind enough to expalin the game to me, give me orders, help me, and be patient with me <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->.
ATM I can advise you to have a look at Roob's NS server, only thing they demand of you is a common sense of logic and to obey ingame orders => going to waypoints and so on.
Everything you say is the nekkid truth <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> I couldn't agree more. The NS community doesn't seem to be very open to newbies (yes there is a difference between newbies and noobs, and you are a newbie, and not a noob <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> ) But as soon as you know how to play the game, and indeed know where places as horseshoe and triad, and southloop are <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo--> you WILL understand... Because the places they ask/tell/bellow at you to go to, are of very strategical and tactical importance in that specific map. And they will be mentioned many many times...
One thing I'd like to say is sort of an explanation, not a comment:
Commanders have the worst job in the world, I mean it, you will not understand unless you have done it once (but don't do it untill you are familiar with the game <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> )
The players who THINK they are more experienced are very easily angered at/with newbies... because newbies go and do as they please most of the time => the newbie becomes a noob
The newbies we/I like are the ones that don't go rambo (go out alone) and say at the beginning of the game "Hi, I am new to the game, but I would very much like to learn."
You'll notice ppl will act differently and have more patience with you then.
Playing on the right server will be very important, and If they still act like some dumb lamers when you say something like that at the beginning of a round, leave, the ppl on that server bite monkeyballs, and you don't even want to play with them <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
well... this is alot of jabbering, but, don't give up on NS, because it's a wonderfull game.
All the ppl who shout at/kick new players without any reason are morons.
I advise you to read the manual thoroughly, and I mean thoroughly!
Then read the webbed threads for new players in the new player forum.
And then have anotehr go at it, preferably with friends, or someone who already knows the game
Feel free to PM me for my msn or any other questions or to play a game (I do not perform any sexual favours and I don't do windows <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> )
Comes down to this:
NS cannot be learned in half an hour, It can't be learned in a week. Everyone who says they KNOW how to play NS is wrong (yes even the design team, hehehe sorry, but hear me out guys <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo--> ) The problem is that atm NS is all about a certain set of tactics, and 90% of the players think that anything except the most common tactics will not work or are plain wrong. I mean... I have been playing the game since it came out, FOR FUN, and I still discover new vents (as an alien, dont worry bout that <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo--> ) all the time...
I recently discovered a whole new corridor!!! Because my screen settigns were so dark, and the corridor entrance is almost pitch black!!! Man, how dumb I felt at that time... lol <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
Well I dont think there is a point to my post xcept that:
-check out Roob's NS server
- don't give up
- read as many feedback as you can
- everyone who shouts or yells at you is an <<<insert obscene insult here>>>
Point is, NS is not so easy to learn, "we" dont have time to answer all of your questions ingame, because our hive is probably under attack, so we can't explain the whole story of why you shouldnt go gorge"
thats an example of playnig aliens, dont worry bout that.
Comes down to this:
A round of Ns is very hectic, and unless all the players on a team are aware of the fact that there are newbies among them, they will play for real and deadhard, but as soon as they realize there is a new guy on the team, they will help him, take the time to explain, wont mind if he/she fails in his given tasks. At least that's the way it goes on the servers I play on ( mainly Roob's lol )
I hope you persist in learning
And I hope to see you ingame
Cheers m8 <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
/edit:
My apologies for this extraordinary, repeatingfull (repeatingfull <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo--> ?) and very boring post, lol
And yes I do realise that it doesn't make any sense
But I'm kinda confused and tired atm, I've been asked out by a girl, lol, that doesn't happen much in my life, so I'm feeling very funky atm <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
I will be the first to admit that I've growled at a noob who repeatedly asks "how do I get better guns?" but in general I'd say this community is pretty helpful. We've also grown very comfortable in our skin. I remember clearly how critical waypoints used to be when trying to find the way through the official maps. Jump into one of the new custom maps (ns_hydrosity comes to mind) and it's easy to feel like a noob without directions from the commander.
I am curious though, did the "help text" popups help you to navigate some of the structures?
Other than that, I'd say don't let your first impression keep you away from this mod. IMHO, the biggest reason there are so many "veterans" out there is because NS has become their game of choice. I know I've hardly played anything else since its release. Thumb through the manual (included with the download) and don't be afraid to jump in a game. Playing marines for now is a good idea. Just try to follow your teammates unless given specific directions and you'll do fine.
Also, it might seem like a crazy idea, but if you let your team know right away that you're new to the game, they'll probly be much more helpful.
Good luck. Stick with it and you'll soon understand why so many of us are loyal to NS <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
I am not one.
As for the other servers, well, I can assue that you will never be kicked on EC's server (bacterial-gridlock), assuming we can get anyone in there.
You have played something else??? TRAITOR!!!!
That's it.. time for a Kick Ban... N00B!!!!!!
Get off my forums..
<!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
Numerous times a clan player joins a server as marines, doesn't like the strategy put forward and does 1 of 2 things
1) Publically posts the strategy his team is using (like.. Attempting a relocate to Generator but this comm is a n00b...
2) Spams voice comm and text comm with their opinion of the strat. "He BUILT A TF!!! What a N00B"
I know we would like to believe that these things don't happen.. But they do, a lot more than you would like to think/admit..
For example, last night.. Joined a server, went random (aliens) and started playing, now we didn't have a second hive, the gorge was building up O chambers.. So we pushed through to Sat. Comm. and one guy gorged I protected, a couple of marines came in and killed us both, I went back to Sat. Comm and went gorge.. There was a clan Skulk in the same room.. I heard/saw a parasited marine heading for us. So I built a O chamber to try to slow him down so I could save for the hive..
I hear "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?? BUILD A **** HIVE!!!"
He gets killed as soon as the marine hits the room, and I survive the initial attack. (Thanks in part to the o Chambers). I then get killed before I get the hive up and eventually lose...
In the RR all I hear is.. "Yeah, we had 2 n00b gorges who wouldn't build a hive" ...
Just made me shake my head and GRRRRR
So c'mon NS players.... Be kind to NSPLayer
Perhaps a few clans could part-time dedicate their servers to NEW Players only....
Then have an admin on and teaching people the game..
so in conclusion i had a good first experience, perhaps u joined a server full of ex elite CS players or something...
now i am killing left right and center and working with whichever team i am in to win its gr8.
Skulks are the best fun by far, killing a HA/HMG marine as a skulk is even better, of coarse after there exclamation after being killed by a skulk you gotta blow them a kiss. MWA.
a story of my own; probably the third time i had played, it was about 20 seconds into the game and the voice was shouting we need builders, i saw that we had no GORG or GEST, and decided that if no one else was goin builder i might as well, how hard could it be? so Gorge i became, and i really needed mroe RES, but i could see it coming in real slow, so i was going to put up an upgrade chamber for my team. how to decide which one? well movement costs 14, defense is 14 and sensory costs 10. hm... sensory sounds like something like a radar tower in an RTS game, so it logically would go early, and it is cheaper, also a hint that it should be first, so i build one.... little do i know my team goes crazy! flaming the heck out of me! im such a n00b! kick the n00b!!!
i was stunned. how could it have been such a big deal?
well as it turns out, whichever chamber the gorge chooses locks the team into a certain strategy, and 95% of the players out there are best with (and only know how to use ) the defense first strategy. effectively i had lost the game for them.
nowadays i can put sensory if i feel like annoying my clanmates, because we are good enough to adapt, it isnt a huge detriment, but to many players who dont know effective uses of the strategy that is sensory, it is a death sentence!
----
moral is, dont gorge or command for a while, till you think you kno the feel of all of the structures and technologies and upgrades. the whole leadership part is hard enough to learn the first time you COMM, dont make yourself learn more!
also don't hog up the marines team. you will have to learn to play with aliens one time, and the sooner the better. (also nice story zel)
The reason many people find it difficult is they assume the game is like most of the other half-life mods. They have no reason to know otherwise. Unfortunately when they jump on a server this person is jumping into a hot zone. Imagine a soldier on a battlefield being asked by one of his compatriots "How do I get another weapon?" It's difficult to explain things when your base is going down, fades are pouring acid down your throat, and skulks are raining down from the ceiling. Many have bad experiences, or have heard of bad experiences, where new players get in the com chair, or evolve into a gorge and do basically nothing but hinder the team.
You are different. You want to learn.
As with anything, persistance and the ability to ask questions is key. Find a place where you can ask questions. No matter how many onos are stomping all over your base in the end, it's just a game. And as always, listen. Go to the forums. Read the manual (it's outdated, but good for the basics). Take those people up on their offers to explain the game to you.
Natural Selection needs more players to grow, and these players will at first be "newbies". Evolution does not happen in small groups - it only happens on a larger scale. We need you "noobs" out there to become experienced players. Only then will we have a player base that, at large, is willing to teach new players and help the game grow.
The fate of NS is in the hands of the "noobs". Let's make sure it's in good hands.
Where have the NS Guides gone? For those of you that don't know Guides
were PT that wanted to help out the the noob NS players when NS first
came out. Anyway I haven't seen them or any server that they play on.
Maybe we could get them back, maybe recruit more Guides to help on a
teach on a server. Maybe we could setup some sort of noob night every
month or week where we teach the new players that came in that week. I
don't know those are just some ideas off the top of my head.
Oh yah don't worry about getting called a noob. Everyone does it I'm still get called a noob sometimes and I'ev played since the day it came out.
The other "experienced" players.
Let me tell you a little story.
I am at gamespy.com reading about the gamespy games of the year. I notice that Mod of the year went to a mod I had never heard about. A few minutes reading gamespy's description of the game was enough to perk my interest and download it. Now I admit while I downloaded the file I did not read up on how to play the game. Assuming (incorrectly) that it would function pretty much like any other half-life mod I went on to do other things.
Game downloaded I installed, loaded up gamespy and looked for a server. I made no changes to any setting what so ever, didn't ever look over the configurable controls I just logged in. Movement was pretty much the same. I decided to play as a marine to cut down the learning curve since I assumed the aliens would be more complex. I walked about 10 feet before I noticed a vote to kick and ban NSPLAYER. I began to watch the chat messages go by and this poor NSPLAYER guy must really be a problem. He is being called every profane name in the world. People are talking about how they hate ^*%%ing newbs and that some people like NSPLAYER are to !@#$ing stupid to live.
I think to myself "wow I hope I do better than that guy, he has everybody ****!" I watch the vote and everybody votes the poor guy off. I see one more message about "if your to ^%!#ing stupid to change your name, your to @#$%ing stupid to play here!" I think to myself "hey I don't think I changed my name?" My connection closes and I am sitting back at gamespy arcade.
I discover after an attempted reconnect that I am now banned from every server this particular group hosts and all because I am a new player. I didn't even have a chance to show how inexperienced I am. I didn't have a chance to fire my gun. I was immediately kicked and banned because I made a simple mistake that "elite veteran" players take as an instant sign of my newness to the game, and newbie’s are not welcomed here.
I logged into a second server (name changed of course) and tried again. I got to listen to people in live voice talk about how much they hate new players. Then it happened. I got told by voice to go to someplace called "horseshoe." Well where the heck is that? To make a long story short, In 15 minutes my carefully conceived name could no longer hide my newbiness that my lack of skill was making apparently obvious. Instead of giving me any kind of direction, another vote and another kick and ban and I was back at gamespy arcade fuming.
My third server was better. They played a map and my orders came from somebody called commander and a waypoint on my map gave me a bearing to navigate to. I arrived at my point and discovered he wanted me to build some three legged tripod on some steam vent coming out of the floor. Now I froze with fear, if I admit I don't know how to build they will kick and ban me. If I don't admit it I might take to long and get killed and fail. I decided being killed and failing was easier to explain and simple logic "try the use key" prevailed. The use key allowed me to build it and presto I felt like a veteran.
However my lack of map knowledge really hindered me and I listened to people all night yelling at me for not being at the generator or the cargo bay or any of a dozen other places.
This game really looks like it will be great fun, just as soon as we get all the veterans off it so I can learn how to play instead of having to find a new server every 15 minutes.]
My first experience with this game has me wondering if I haven’t found the meanest community of players on the internet.
The first thing that I must admit, this game is the most complex half-life mod I have every played. I have in my short sessions figured out though that one player (the commander) pretty much decided when and where marine resources will be spent. He gives targets and orders in an effort to accomplish the over all goal of winning. Wandering around as a solo player is pretty much suicide and makes you practically useless to your team. I have discovered that I was a thousand times more useful when I stayed in base and waited for orders. My orders 99% of the time were to proceed to someplace with a squad of people which I could now follow there allowing my lack of map knowledge to be overcome.
But none of this really matters what matters is that new players are not welcomed to this mod. The mod, which in my opinion is awesome, needs to reach more people so they can grow will never grow if they keep driving all those new players away.
This game is harder to learn than your typical team oriented shooter. There are some finer details that lack of knowledge of really makes you a hindrance to your team. If I had a few people just tell me how to do things that hindrance would really have been cut down but I guess it is easier to vote somebody off than it is to say, "Oh you can get more ammo from that machine over there"
If you want this game community to grow and have more servers, you’re going to have to learn how to help new players get over the hurdles and not be a hurdle yourself. Yelling at the top of your voice in your mic "go read the f!@#ing forums!" is not helping, nor should somebody have to spend a few hours crawling though a forum to learn how to play a game.
There I have put my first experiance with the game, and some opinion about it to words where everybody can shred it and make fun of it.
Thank you. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
*sigh*
Sorry to hear that your first experience with NS was such a terrible one. As a rule, the NS community are very newbie-intolerant, but the business about kicking you because you didn't change your name is a very extreme, worst-case scenario. In fact, this is the first time I've ever heard of someone being kicked from a sever because they're new. That's just disgusting.
What you will find, however, are people who are n00b intolerant (I'm one of those people). n00bs are newbies who refuse to listen, refuse to learn, and think they know what they're doing when they don't (or don't care). I guess people like you are collateral damage.
Well... you said yourself that you didn't read the manual. While it doesn't make you totally to blame for what happened, never ever play anything without reading the manual first. Manuals explain nuances which most people find very irritating to retel for the hundredth time. NS in particular is practically made up of these nuances.
I mean.... the NS manual isn't the best example of a manual, that's for sure. The information is poorly organised, and a lot of it is out of date. But if you didn't read the manual at all, you didn't even find that out.
But still. That doesn't vindicate the people you played with. I'd like to say that things like that don't happen (I've never seen or heard of it happening) but they obviously do, since it happened to you. Sorry.
...when they yelled at you to go read the f'ing forums, while they shouldn't have yelled at you, you should have read the forums <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->. That kind of sumarises the situation. Sorry you ran into a bunch of ****, but if you're having difficulty grasping the game first time (and fair enough, it happens to everyone), PLEASE read up on it before you ask people. Please. I personally don't mind answering questions, but a lot of people do.
Oh well. At least you weren't demanding that the commander give you weapons...
Back to the subject...
Is anyone willing to set up a server so newbies can learn. at least for a night.
-Nooby<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The two servers I listed earlier usually have people on that care about the NS community and want it to grow. The one you can most easily find me on is CoFR (207.44.180.88:27015). If you still want to practice some without having to worry about people flaming you, try to find a server with several bots (a non-human player that is an AI controlled by the server). I know that there are a couple servers like this, but the only one I have an IP for is 209.124.210.116:27015. Thing is that that server is hardly ever on <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->. But, you can check every now and then and may get lucky <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> .
Anyway, good luck to finding a good server to have an excellent first experience with NS. (BTW, thanx for the compliment you gave me in another thread Nooby. It makes me feel all warm and tingly inside <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> )
because i see newbs joining servers and getting kicked/burned by everybody, i make it a BIG BIG BIG point to say something like
"Hi nsplayer, are you new? If you are, i'll help you learn how to play." i will then proceed to teach them the basics of the game, proper binding, /unstuck, teamwork, and such.
also, i find helping nice newbs hella fun, so i host a small server named "Newbie Training" from time to time. my isp refuses to give me a static ip, and i have a small issue with my connection resetting for no reason while i'm gone. anybody who joins has the server put on sv_cheats 1, bigdig, givepoints, and spawnhive. at times like these, i WILL ask the veterans to not attack, and slay/kick for them doing so. basically, i've introduced 20 or so people to the whole idea of Natural Selection. This kind of makes me feel like a drug dealer... <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
whenever i get my server back up and STABLE, i'd be glad to host said server to help all the happy newbs i can
net name is Johnny C., and i hope to see ya there <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
I don't know how many people we can get out of this, since I get the feeling many new players are so shocked by the more complex playstyle and hostility (from some players) that they don't want to play anymore. However, even if we're able to only teach a few people, those people can teach more people / tell their friends / etc. Any little thing we can do to raise the general knowledge and courtesy of the players of Natural Selection is a good thing.
First up, I am on 56k in the UK and I regularly play on Jolt and Blueyonder servers. They are always full of nice players and people wanting to have a good game together and I often see the same people. I decided to try another UK server. My ping was fairly average, maybe slightly high, about 200-300 with the occasional spike. One player started on me about lagging the server. This player had a very similar ping to me and is also on 56k. I replied saying that he had no right to accuse me of this as if I was lagging the server, then he definately was.
The game ended and another map started and I went alien. There were no gorges for a few minutes so I decided to change and start building RT's. The abusive player was also on alien. The marines got very close to invading our 1 hive and spawn camping us so I decided to build OC's to slow their progress. A second abusive player said to me something like "STOP BUILDING RANDOMLY U F*****G FA**OT !" When I was simply defending the area. The first abusive player picked up on this and voted to kick me off, telling the entire server to kick me because I was an 'idiot noob'. Unbelievably they managed to kick me because the sheep on the server all followed his lead, without considering what he was doing.
I was fuming as I stared at the console screen, having been booted. Luckily I have never played with these two people since, not knowingly anyway, and I hopefully never will again.
I have played a few more times now and I think I see a pattern developing that is pretty much just going to have to be accepted.
First, no matter how good you actually become, there will always be somebody who thinks you suck and will make sure you know he does. Somebody will always disagree with something you do, and think your a detriment to a team.
Second, the commander has to be the least respected part of the marines team, and the hardest position to learn to play well. I will never be a commander simply because I don't ever want to endure the level of complaints and insults I see some commanders get.
Third, It is never a good time to become a gorge! I have seen the alien side play a whole game with the entire team refusing to be the gorge. They refuse because they don't want to have to deal with commander level abuse from his team who don't like the choices he makes to build. I have seen people who have tried to play the gorge get voted off, or just quit the game from the abuse leaving the team without a gorge again, and nobody willing to play the part. (A bad gorge is better then no gorge!)
Fourth, No one man can win the game. This is one of the most teamwork required games I have ever seen. While a lone marine wandering about can rack up a few kills, he really can't do much but improve his personal score. It takes a team to flush a defended hive, it takes a team to push a rush back, it takes a team to secure and area with many entrance points. I have seen a marine team with many "Rambo" style players loose the game despite some impressive high scores by individual players.
Fitfh, Some people simply can’t play outside there accepted strategies. I am sure you have seen the people who are constantly babbling about how this should be played. Giving the commander orders on what to build, where to build it, and how slow he is at doing it. I get told by these people to ignore the commanders waypoint and come to this room instead. (God forbid you encounter one of these people on the alien team, they are 10 times as bad.) They have seen the map won a certain way, or there clan does it a certain way, and that way is religion to them and they simply refuse to try another possible strategy. If you loose the game it is because you didn’t use their strategy.
…….
I think that the level of team play that this game requires to be good is the very thing that makes it hard to be happy you have a bunch of new players on your team. I understand now why some people just get so frustrated when I say, "I don't know where the triad array is!" They realize I am new and won’t be an effective part of the team that is needed to win.
On the reverse hand though, the level of intolerance being shown for people trying to learn has begun to have negative results. As I said in point 3, I have played games where people would not play a gorge because they simply don't want to put up with the anger it causes. After seeing my team all complain for 15 minutes that they needed "somebody!" to be a gorge, and then kick the one poor guy who volunteers to give it a try I can assure you I wont be playing one anytime soon.
Now some of this is just how it is going to be. It is an online game, it is very complex, it requires some good close well coordinated teamwork to be effective. There are simply going to be people who don't have many nice things to say. Maybe he got dumped by his girlfriend, maybe he lost his job, maybe he has what I think is the worst trait of an online gamer, he can't tolerate loosing. Whatever the case may be they are out there and you just have to live with that.
I have now met a few helpful people and I am grateful your out there. I would never have understood the gorge thing without one very helpful person giving me the finer details.
This is one of the best mods I have ever seen, I love the big maps, the levels of game play, the strategy (though I wish some people could be a little more flexible with that strategy), and the variety of the two teams. I wont be giving up on it, but I hope it gets a little more friendly as it gets more widely known.
Thanks for the advice and good gamming to you
They where noobs before too right?
freaking morons...
I sympathise with you but you should know that not all servers are like that - try joiining friendlier ones ... the NS community is actually much more pleasant than other mod's communities.