I asked the question in the "pirate ID discussion" thread - but it might need a separate discussion - or so i feel.
The premise is that Discovery kind of needs a steady flow of new players off of which some will stay and eventually become new veterans to keep the place active. But how newbie friendly is that place anyway?
I am not talking about social aspects of how welcoming the community is - but how accessible the mod is in terms of enjoying the facets of the entirety of factions and RP.
Now i will exaggerate a little in my next examples
in 4.83 - the default ID read something like that:
- may engage in piracy
- may attack its enemies
- may fly fighters, freighters, transports, bombers, gunboats, cruisers and battleships
in 4.87 it may read like that:
- may engage in piracy within the factions ZoI, in Tau-43, in Sigma-13 and Omicron Theta
- can only engage in piracy against transports and freighters
- may engage Planetform IDed ships in Rheinland core systems and Munich
- cannot ally with lawfuls
- may assist allies in combat
- Can only attack enemies in fighters, bombers and gunboats
- Cannot demand Cargo
- may fly fighters, freighters, transports, bombers, gunboats and battleships
- is not allowed to dock outside the ZoI with ships bigger than 4300 cargo hold unless on Junker bases and bases of its own ID (unless it is PoBs which never count as faction bases are are always considered forbidden if outside of the ZoI)
While the above is clearly not what our IDs look like - i believe that we might well be on the way there. IDs were meant to give the player a very vague guideline of how to conduct roleplay. They were vague to allow a lot of ranges of roleplay - and yes - it was possible to conduct the very same RP with a number of different IDs .. making some IDs eventually redundant.
Today however - IDs trump the general server rules. Now the implication is that the general server rules are of course the "law" - and violating the "law" can get you sanctioned. IDs trump the law ( or rather add to it - or alter it ) - and violating the ID rules can also get you sanctioned ( or in the best cases - warned )
One might be surprised how much information one has to remember in order not to violate the rules on that server these days. - And while many veterans learned the extensions one by one, read countless sanction reports to get an idea about the extend of those and the severity, a newbie is kind of overwhelmed by it all.
A newbie today needs to remember the general server rules - but that does not allow him not to get on the bad side of fellow players and/or admins.
While many of those additions kind of make sense - i still wonder if they really are that beneficial to enriching the server. Truth be told - if i just found out about DiscoveryGC - and gave it a casual try .... i would almost 100% violate the rules without malicious intent within the first days.
If by any chance i happened to run into someone who had a bad day - who reported me - i would get a warning or sanction. If that happened - i d instantly quit that mod and move on.
So in my opinion - all those detailed little rules and exceptions are cool - but make the mod horrible inaccessible. And while veterans kind of benefit from a more streamlined experience - causual newbies "might" be scared away. Even some veterans certainly have to Alt-Tab every now and then to make sure that where they are actually is their ZoI - and if being shot at by a CD by some particular faction is an attack that allows them to shoot back or not.
Can t there be a trend to simplify many things again? - at the cost of running into some more silly RP every now and then. - Just keep in mind (although it was a very different time) ... Disco grew when players had a lot of freedom to do what they liked - and only now that many established "their" kind of roleplay are restrictions put in place.
Before Disco, I was RPing on a WoW server and we also had a big set of rules. Even bigger than Disco.
Games are not made with RP communities in mind. They are a nieche. Any person who wants to join the community needs to understand that RP is a fickle thing and cannot be enforced only through game mechanics. If the person is level headed enough, they can get their head around it.
This is not just about Disco being newbie friendly. Newbies also need to be willing to learn and put effort into understanding the community and the game- something gamers in general do not do these days.
Spoiled by by-the-nose tutorials and railshooter-type rules, they come and expect for a game to be picked up and played. Disco is not one of those games. That is something we need to understand- not every new player that comes here will be able to handle Disco. Not even half of them.
Your focus should be making sure the other half stays, rather than trying to save -every- single newbie there is. Pick through the potential additions to the community, guide them and help them. As for the rest, they will leave one way or another.
This is what Disco has always been.
As for the complexity of the rules- that is simple. The amount of deuchebaggery in Disco necessitates the need for strict rules. Removing such players would be easier than making these rules work.
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PSA: If you have been having stutter/FPS lag on Disco where it does not run as smoothly as other games, please look at the fix here: https://discoverygc.com/forums/showthrea...pid2306502
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Actually, concerning the first question itself. Disco, as compared to 84 days, has become MUCH more newbie friendly. Back then newbies were left to their own thing, which spawned a lot of bad things, such as the stigma that surrounds New York. In those days, we did not have a faction, which would openly seek out or allow newbies to join- just so they could keep their reputation.
Nowadays it is completely the opposite. Players are recruited on the spot, helped to adapt and guided by official factions and non. The player itself just needs to show that they are willing to be helped.
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PSA: If you have been having stutter/FPS lag on Disco where it does not run as smoothly as other games, please look at the fix here: https://discoverygc.com/forums/showthrea...pid2306502
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Yes, because there are people who are keen to help you, to give you some starting money or even introduce you into minor player factions, provided you follow ID rules.
No, because you need to know certain server ruleset, if you are going to e.g. fly as Junker or Bretonian Privateer (Nagano was described as Tau BW in game, but by rules it is Kusari, what made some confusion to me in the past), because they are not aware of the server rules.
To be honest, I have been corrected recently, because someone of the official faction said that I can return to the system after PvP death for trade purposes - and I was following that, because I thought that was one of the exceptions from the 2 hour rule.
I resonate with what Jinx said.
Way more things to remember and consider when playing compared to few years back,way more "can" and "can`t" "do"s.
If you are new or casual player,there is no way you will not brake the rules at least few times.
However i do believe the admins are very aware and have understanding of this,since they go trough all the logs, reports, etc..
"Your words are powerful; write carefully, with precision and meaning. Use them to nurture, not destroy." - Jools Noctru of the Order of Krath
The server rules serve a dual purpose. Not only the obvious one of limiting actions ingame so that we have a better RP atmosphere unhindered by mindless shooting, scamming, OORP chatter and other disruptive moments, but it also doubles as a sort of mental test.
Roleplay requires a certain amount of intelligence, knowledge of the english language and effort.
If a new player has no regard for the server rules just because they are ''too complicated'', they are removed from our community in a natural way- sanctions.
If you read the sanction threads, I am sure you have already seen such players, who come to disco and act as if we owe them something. Do we need members like this? No. The rules are hard, but they act as a filter.
You need effort to stay here. Those who cannot handle our usual drama and other assorted nonsense are better off not being a part of this community. For their own sake as much as ours.
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PSA: If you have been having stutter/FPS lag on Disco where it does not run as smoothly as other games, please look at the fix here: https://discoverygc.com/forums/showthrea...pid2306502
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Warnings early on can be a positive thing as long as admins recognize that the person is new/a first-time offender and are lenient, making it clear that it's intended to be more of a learning experience than punishment. They make players aware of the importance of the forums (or even their existence if the starting commodities/server messages are overlooked), full rules, and larger community.
Personally, I'm for a less heavy-handed approach, giving people the benefit of the doubt since motives can be hard to read, but that's just my preferred management style.
As Spazzy mentioned, it's also been important for us as fellow community members to help out. I know it was disregarded in the OP, but being welcoming and understanding of our peers plays a significant part. At the same time, some people simply won't fit in despite our best efforts.
Until new players learn all the important rules, others should be tolerant to them. Recognizing a newbie is not hard. Spamming "lol" in system chat is a first sign. Attacking you without warning is another one. You fight them back and notice they're not strafing or using engine kill. Confirmation, a newbie. In most cases they try to flee after they realize they can't kill you. What do you do then? Do you just shoot them down to get an easy blue (and ruin their day), or do you let them go and PM them (in positive spirit) what went wrong (shouting "lol", engaging without RP, not EK-ing etc.)?
I think many players avoid Liberty because they simply can't be arsed to deal with newbs. But that's just avoiding the responsibility of welcoming new players and teaching them how to play properly. Angels help a lot but they can't be ingame all the time.
Also, a good rule I practice (on my trader char) is to greet everyone regardless of their rank, tag or ship.