A Request To The Ns Community
MonsieurEvil
Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 4Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 4Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
<div class="IPBDescription">Everyone was new once</div> 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.
<b>This needs to be stopped pronto.</b>
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 <b>YOUR</b> 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'.
<b>These players are what will keep NS alive!</b>
They need to be welcomed, and treated with patience and respect. Again - <i>patience and respect</i>. This means that when someone asks some silly question for the 20th time that day, and you have nothing good to say, <i>then you have no reason to post.</i> 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! <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
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.
<b>This needs to be stopped pronto.</b>
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 <b>YOUR</b> 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'.
<b>These players are what will keep NS alive!</b>
They need to be welcomed, and treated with patience and respect. Again - <i>patience and respect</i>. This means that when someone asks some silly question for the 20th time that day, and you have nothing good to say, <i>then you have no reason to post.</i> 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! <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
I think I've maybe been guilty of the snootiness from time to time (I think most everyone has) but still, it's good to have this reminder so we can welcome the new people with open arms instead of trying to distance us from them. Look at CS for a prime example of the veteran/newbie divide - that's not what we want here, surely. NS is fun, friendly, and above all a social experience. Let's keep it that way.
*patriotic salute*
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edit: gg Maus, post it in the one nobody's replying in, why don't you?
Also, would be cool if some playtester/veteran wrote a small guide on the basics of command in 1.1. You have to build IP first everytime so why not just write it to a guide flat out? Same with armory. The guide could also contain some tips on how to expand, tell that upgrades are crucially important and have to be researched as fast as possible, how to put mines into your base etc. Doesn't have to be detailed like "When playing ns_eclipse, go to Station Access nozzle first for RT...", but something like "Advance aggressivly and capture resource nozzles, it is absolutely vital for victory".
It's literally a couple clicks then you never see that person again.
Useless things I want to say:
1. NS has a steep learning curve...ok... ppl make guides...ok... BUT THEY DO NOT READ THEM <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
2. These forums could be improved in user friendlyness, maybe when they do, we can post more links to a thread in which something might have been discussed before, so we can show the new guy. But most of us won't put the effort into that at the moment.
My point being:
The same questions keep getting asked over and over again... that get's tedious, some ppl made guides, or webbed threads, but they are simply ignored...
*flame shield "on"
Oh, and to sidenote what MonsE said, you must remember a lot of the new players are gonna be FROM CS, so please, try and be super nice, I repeat MonsE. Sorry about that, its just that I've had too many friends who hate NS just cause of idiots that tell them "j00 suck n00b!" and crap like that. We don't need it.
That goes for anyone - tell your friends, cousins, co-workers, aunts, uncles - COME TO NS!
Repeat after me: "I vow to be nice."
That's all it takes fellas, it's REALLY that simple!
But I don't worry too much about the ppl coming from CS. Even the worst flaming we can give 'em is like vacation compared to where they're coming from. CS is a great mod, but the fact that SO many people play it means that it attracts a lot of nasties. Still, let's show 'em LOVE!
I appreciate the New players, I appreciate their enthusiasm and vigor to a game I think some of us have become slightly jaded towards, it's no longer about the wonder of the game and has become making sure you have JP and HMG first...
However, recently I have been encouraged by a few small incidents and wanted to share them with you now..
One- A person who had never commed before and kept expecting to get ejected over every move he made finished his first commanding mission. Now we lost, but I think it was the patience and good natured fun we were all having that made this possible, not one rude or harsh word was said.
Two- two or more gorges in a game and people explaining why its inefficent instead of just flaming the poor new player out of his socks...
Three- TF's in base used to mean mass f4's.. But more people are giving other strategies a chance, and just playing for fun....
As I mentioned I have felt these forums have been unfriendly to new players for a while now, and have openly posted against such acts when I have time to post. So I'm glad to see some tightening of rules.
I hope we don't pull an NHL and let the rules slide again once 1.1 has been out for a while. I have directed many friends here and most have been turned off by the snobbish attitude. I'm going to try to bring them back...
Excellent Post MonsE, you and the rest of the team are the reason why NS will succeed....
<but I'm still hovaring with flapping, deal with it... That's the closest I'll come to anarchy <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> >
imo, someone saying on voice comm, 'Psychotix, you f***king suck, try actually shooting someone' is not very constructive or helpful at all.
-- actual voice comm message to me tonight on a oss server.
I have a few problems with the above though.
1. I got ejected by a group of "bad people" from commander, which...wasn't pleasent.
Wrong thread sorry.
=Fly Molo=
It's hard to maintain the patience to answer the same questions over and over, but keep in mind one thing. For every newbie you help to make better, to help have a better understanding of the game, the more people you have who will do the same for other newbies. It is a test of patience welcoming in a steady stream of newbies, and some communities have well...gone down the whole because they didn't have that patience *cough*CS*cough*. Just stay with it guys, and don't be snooty to the newbies.
<img src='http://www.static3d.com/gaming/bf1942/images/teachnub.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
Make sure you check out the list of new-player friendly servers:
<a href='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=17&t=36262' target='_blank'>Newbie-Friendly Server Review (courtesy of Cpl. Davis)</a>