Was just wondering if anyone has tried/is playing Seed. I'm so bored with all the big name games at the moment that I fancy trying something new and different.
The free trial is allways a temptation as well of course
Basically what Delta9 said. Very promising but it was realease far too soon. You can repair, and when I left the only running quest was one where I had to take blood samples. The problem from that was the instrument used for doing that cost so much I would be forever repairing (the only form to make "money" currently). Bringing this up on the forum I was told to just ask someone else for the equipment. The problem is there was noe one else to ask, and those I did ask either were looking for one themselves or wouldn't trade.
Again all this is the problems with trying to accomplish one (and the only) current story/quest in the game. The game also has problems abound with servers, connecting, holes in the world, movement etc.. In the end it's just a glorified chatroom.
Hey. I have played seed pretty much from the start and some of things said about it is very right, it is buggy, sometimes very laggy, and the random crahses can turn you crazy sometimes!
*however* The roleplaying in this game is great, the storys going on are great and imo the community is very helpful (as are the devs)
The game was not relased becouse runestone got greedy, they had to release it or they would have run out of money (Investors seems to be giving money based on specific milestones, releasing the game was one of them i guess) I saw someone mentinoned the story with the gathering of bloodsamples. The "tool" require to do this is rather expensive (60k AP i think, doing a normal repair job will give you max 200-300 ap or so) but what many people are forgetting that this is truely a RPG. If you do not have a tool, ask around, see if you can offer your serives to someone in exchange for that tool. You can also earn AP by producing materials and items, or getting voted into an admin position (admins are those who controles what the rest of the population in the tower can produce becouse they decide which "add-ons" they put on the factorys, these admins are voted in each week) where you will also get AP based on how many people are useing your factory.
There are constant improvments being made on the game, around a week ago a patch was released which fixed some very nasty lag which would sometimes make you wait up to 30-60 secs simply to open your inventory...now it opesn right away. My point is that the game is being worked on, the devs know it is very far from perfect and have been very open about this fact as well.
Hope you decide to check it out later once its a bit more stable or you get bored with all the other mmos
I have to really disagree with the community, AND the amount of role playing that is done. Either I had extremely bad luck or I apparently didn't fit into the little RP circle.
I couldn't get the tool that cost 60k AP, so I asked (in character) if anyone could help me get one. I asked multiple times over a few days, and in different areas. Do you know the answer I got? Complete silence, no one offered me anything of the sort, no one even acknowledged my exsistance. I don't know if maybe I wasn't RPing the right way or what, but I was completely ignored.
As for the roleplaying itself, the amount of interaction I heard, for the most part went somewhere like this
"How do u repair?"
"Want to group?
There was some middle ground RPers who I could tollerate.
Then there were the ones who try and roleplay to people how to train in a skill. I mean seriously, just give people a straight answer so they can start playing before you start trying to force feed them RPing. Chances are they want to RP, that's why they are there, but let them at least learn the basics of the game before you try and force them to speak in character.
I'm glad to hear someone had a good experience with that commuity, because I sure as heck didn't.
I sure can understand if you got a bad experince from that! Did you play right around launch? To be honest the start was very confusing and many people simply had no idea what to do (lack of tutorial, there is a text tutorial now that explain the basiscs + an offical manual as well)
I think that if you give it a try now you might have more of a chance at seeing what the game is like.... i havent meet a singel person who isnt happy to help newcommers out.
To be honest, the story with the gathering of bloodsample isnt that interresting. It's point is to make people interact with each other (you have to request other PC's for a bloodsample) but both becouse of the cost of the tool required and the lack of other static storys like it it is pretting borring The real interresting gameplay, imo, takes place when the GM's step in. They are makeing sure that the stories the games official story deparment are working on comes to life. At the mo. there are a few pretty big projects in the works that requires interaction and lots of roleplaying with different people to suceed.
(not sure how to use quotes on this forum so:) "Then there were the ones who try and roleplay to people how to train in a skill. I mean seriously, just give people a straight answer so they can start playing before you start trying to force feed them RPing"
Heh, i might have been one of those persons actually Anyway, I think you are right. problem is (imho) that the term "roleplaying" isnt what it once was, imo many people dont really know what RP'ing is and thinks its all about levels and loot (note: i am not bahsing games with levels and loot... i enjoy those games myself ) My point is that most, if not all, of the community cares deeply about the roleplaying so they try to introduce new people to it right away. Hopefully with the in-game tutorial and the official manual at the Seed Site things like this wont happen so often. I can understand if people simply want to enjoy the game from the start without getting a weird roleplayer reply
I played beta and launch, was disgusted and cancelled my account. I reactivated in June and I saw more of the same. There was honestly no one who would help me get a tool. And if I had to take the blood from PC's I guess I'd be screwed anyways because at the moment the place is far too large for it's small population. And yes, don't get me started on moving.
The sad point is while the blood sample story might have been boring it's currently the ONLY OTHER OPTION (or was when I quit playing). You can only repair for so long before it just gets absurdly tedious. Even gathering blood samples would at least be more intersting because I could at least hunt down people. Although that's a sad fact itself.
And I never was logged on and saw any sort of GM event. And I think it's very poor design that a person has to be online at just the right moment to actually enjoy the game.I've been hearing about things they will do, but I've been hearing about that since beta. I think they should have had several long term story options ready in release to keep people busy. But I gave them two chances and they failed to deliver twice. Because they decide to actually add engaging content to the game this long after launch won't bring me back.
And forced RPing is just another way of driving off customers. So many people from that community act so high and mighty if you don't RP "their way". Aside from the fact that a person to the game wants to learn to play not how to RP. RP isn't something you teach, it's something you encourage. But you don't encourage it while the person is still trying to figure out how to walk. Heck I've been with that community since beta and was intimidated by how some people were talking to someone who didn't "RP" I'd hate to think what it was like for a newbie.
In the end this is a game I really wanted to like, but bad planning, and a strangely agressive community (is this the product of a RP-only MMO?). It's just not the game I had hoped for.
(hm, starting to a feel a bit to much like a fainboy by keep posting in this thread and defending seed but....)
Seed is a very different game. Often the stories wont come dumping down your lab, and you cant find an npc with a yellow "!" over his head to tell you what you should do. You have to interact with other PCs (or npcs) to know what is going on. The storyline is always moving forward with new things going on, an other reason why the bloodsample story isnt exactly interresting in itself. The outcome of the dissease that is the reason that the story (=quest) is interresting (imo). The fact that you have to seek stuff out yourself can be both good and bad for a game I think. It makes sure that people interact but at the same time this interaction is also a required part of gameplay so I can understand if some people wouldnt like this style of game. My point is that there are many alternatives to gathering blood samples, as i mentioned in my last reply that story is a way to make people interact in the hopes that this interaction would maybe start up a new and interresting storyline for the players. The player created storylines are vey interresting in my opinion. An example of this is that a ring did not wish to follow the path that was set for a npc-story, so they came up with an alternative and that alternative is currently the biggest project going on right now. Player created events are also going on in-game... the thing is that the players are there to get the story on the way as much as the GM's and the games story department is.
You do not have to be online at the right moment to enjoy the game. If there is no GM around it is not the end of the world, you will be able to enjoy the storys and roleplay just as much with any other player in the game as you can with a GM.
About forcing people to roleplay.... well other games are forcing you to kill stuff arent they? It is not bad marketing, the game is made for roleplayers and the devs are well aware that some people will not like their game becouse of it. I think it is great that a game company is brave enough to try something new I get sad when you say you do not like the community, i truely do. I think the people playeing seed are a great bunch and I always enjoy a chat with them (both IC and OOC ). It does worrys me a bit that you say you were intimidated by some people forcing their own style of RP on others... All I can say is that I have not experinced this myself and if I do I will be sure to bring it up with a GM as I am sure many others who play seed would. RP'ing is very different from person to person and of couse there should be room for all kinds of RP.
But your missing my point. I'm not saying forced interaction is bad. But if you are introducing a player to a game, and the first 'quest' causes them to talk to rude people before they can even start the quest, it isn't working very well. I found that I would overhear conversations between established roleplayers and newbies and many times it sounded like they were talking down there nose to the newbie. That is not healthy interaction, and that is not interaction I want to be a part of.
And you claim you can enjoy the stories, but what is there, a player run quest, and a blood sample storyline. Which to your own admission the NPC one is boring. As for roleplaying although this game is meant for roleplaying, it lacks many basic requirements for roleplaying. The closest place for a gathering place is the garden which is nothing more then a pile of factories and trees, real stimulating in terms of roleplay. Thereis no real "social area", like a bar. Now that fits with the storyline, but I don't think I ever saw poeple just casually roleplaying in there. What other forms of roleplayin are there, you could roleplay a repair team, but we both know how fun that is. Or you could try and create your own storyline. Given that extreme difficulty it can be to get even some basic items at times, that's not even always feasible.
About forced roleplaying, again I think you missed my point. I don't think anyone can expect to join Seed and not expect to rolelplay. My point is even with the minimalist tutorial you can't expect someone to roleplay right out of the door. Give them time to watch other people, get to know how people respond to different rolelplaying styles, encourage people to roleplay by roleplaying yourself. (again though, not if they are asking how to move! Give them a break and just give them a straight answer).
The problem with the seed community is it definately has almost two societies going on. The accepted roleplayers, and the to be determined. The to be determined can be treated quite harshly at times. Since they have not established themselves as roleplayers.
By no means is this saying that everyone in Seed is evil, I also saw plenty of actual helpful people. But through my own experiences, and just spatial chat I saw, I more often then not saw snobby, condecending or downright rude behaviour from quite a few people towards newbies.
It wasn't even the community that caused me to quit, I was actually a lot like you, I defended the game up until I quit. I continued to play after I canceled my subscription hoping before my time ran out some amazing patch would appear and fix everything. Only after cancelling and really observing people did it hit me how these people really came accross as, how often I'd actually seen it before but dismissed it as "inexperienced roleplayers".
Indeed you are correct that if the first thing new players experince is rude people then something is clearly wrong.... However once again I can only point out that I havent meet these people myself (and i spend quite a bit of time in-game). I have not meet a single person who was rude to new people. Rude to established roleplayers (as you call it) is something completly different... I am, for example, rude to specific people in-game but that is becurz it is all taking place in-game and IC... Those very same people are people I enjoy chatting with in IRC or on the forum, sometimes I fear some people may confuse this and think that the community got a bunch of bad people becouse of what is sometimes going on in-game.
You are right that seed still lacks some basic "roleplaying features" (for lack of better term) but I have seen people do some casual roleplaying as well. Often you can hear people talk about the nice running water in the garden (or the posibilty of maybe having fish in that pond someday..), or share some of the rumors they heard around in the tower. I think there are many chances to roleplay...also by doing other things then repairng (which is borring as you pointed out..I surely hope that this part of the game will improve when injuires get in-game!)
-"Give them time to watch other people, get to know how people respond to different rolelplaying styles, encourage people to roleplay by roleplaying yourself."- You are absolutly correct about this... simply starting roleplaying in a new setting and game is very hard to do without wandering around a bit first. I do however think that the thing with encouraging people to roleplay by roleplaying yourself is exactly what most are actually doing in-game. I do not think there are 2 camps/societies going on, right around launch/open beta you may be right (beta testers and newcommers) but I do not have that feeling anymore. If I see someone who doesnt roleplay i dont start to be rude to him, I just try to stay IC as much as I can but also talk about gameplay ect if he asks any questions, as do most(always hard to say everyone...but close to everyone ) else I have seen.
When I join a game I am very thoughtfull of what the community is like, I do not wish to be part of someone who thinks they are all high and mighty with no respect for newcommers, or general respect to other humans so I am sorry you think of some people in the seed community as being unhelpful or snobby and rude. Again, all I can say is that I havent experinced this myself and if I did I would be one of the first to speak up against that kind of behaviour! About the wonder patch...I am afraid it still havent come hehe, but there have been quite a lot of improvements lately and I think it wont be long before the injuire and damage system gets in-game (it is already on RGD's internal servers, a matter of finding the right balance and fixes I guess)
I do understand that what you have posted is simply your own observations and it may seem strange that I keep commenting on them, but it is only becouse my own experince is so much different from yours I guess.
Originally posted by poopypants Christ, they would have to work for another year in order to actually make this thing a game!
They don't need a year, but they do need to do a bit of "spit and polish."
I think I am in agreement with the consensus here that says the game was not ready for launch. I can't say I blame anyone for thinking this game deserves to be pulled. I mean, if my experience is any indication of the typical experience...well...I wouldn't blame anyone for not even finishing the free trial, let alone pay $15.
However, I don't think that there is a person subscribing to Seed today that doesn't truly believe that if we can just give Runestone a bit more time, they can turn it around fast.
I mean, they just put in two new major activities within weeks of eachother (the medical bay and the data mining). They are also actively involved in creating story arcs. They have so many new ideas, and so much ability to implement, that if they can just get a little stability, optimizations in the codebase, and rework the interface to make it a bit more user-friendly (hotkeys for menus, a more stable GUI template, etc.), and squash some bugs, they'll be in some good shape.
You see, a game like Seed could use as much hard-coded content as it can get, but it doesn't necessarily need it right away to keep a playerbase. Remember that back in the old text-based MUSH days, simply a robust DIKU chat system was all players needed to entertain themselves for months. Character driven players are by nature very patient, and do not need "bling and flash" like the 1337s do.
However, what the game does need is some QC...big time.
What the game needs are tools that don't crash you to desktop when you equip and use them.
The game needs to be played in fullscreen, not in a window. That DOS debugger window should be hidden, and only should come up upon command.
I'd like to see the code optimized for less latency, the GUI issues with the menu windows properly landmarked, with a minimize option.
Hotkeys to open up things like the chat bar, inventory, and tradeoff window would make navigating so much easier, would make the players so much happier, and happy players are helpful players.
I'd like to see if Runestone can give us some background mood sounds and mood music perhaps, and a new skin on the launchpad, so that people who download the client don't get scared and run away before they try it.
If Runestone does those simple things I mentioned (and this can all get done really quickly), now we have a game people can feel safe in subscribing toward, and that can grow.
I personally feel that this game is just too important to let it wither on the vine. That being said, I can't blame anyone for leaving it, or being scared of it. It is really rough right now, and frankly, not ready. Those who are there like me are doing it because we hope something really good can come of this game. If (and I admit, its a big if) the game can get through this period, I have confidence that it will become the most innovative MMO since Tale in the Desert, or EVE. It just has that whole "deep space jockey" vibe to it in the spirit of 2001 Space Oddessy, or Silent Running, The Black Hole, or Alien (the Ridley Scott original), and it really showcases that a non-combat, character driven game is still viable.
__________________________ "Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it." --Arcken
"...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints." --Hellmar, CEO of CCP.
"It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls." --Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE
Im sorry to be the one to inform you all that the best online game ever is now closing...!
It seems that the company behind the development of the game has run out of funds.
Well I would not be the ideel person too grade this game against others as this is the only real online game I have ever played - but it must be the best game ever - im sure.
Yes it never got as good as it could but the game was one of a kind and that makes it the best ever.
Im just sad that no other company is willing to bring the game further - I gues that did not dare.
There was just so much I never got the chance to do, like join a ring, cast a vote, or manufacture some goods. I always thought I'd have the time, but it looks like time ran out for Gristof.
__________________________ "Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it." --Arcken
"...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints." --Hellmar, CEO of CCP.
"It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls." --Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE
By no means am I happy about this, Seed had the potential. At the same time though, I will put the blame squarely on runestone, I feel they could have given people more things to do from the start. Lack of content killed this game. With an already small playerbase they needed to make sure they kept those players, but everytime I played I never saw nice big changes. I'm upset that it came to this, in all honesty I'm not that suprised, I thought this would eventually happen, just not this soon.
Comments
so much potentaial wasted as money became too important for them so now the game is in release - and its not even beta quality!!!
avoid like the plague lol - dont waste yer cash or time
Basically what Delta9 said. Very promising but it was realease far too soon. You can repair, and when I left the only running quest was one where I had to take blood samples. The problem from that was the instrument used for doing that cost so much I would be forever repairing (the only form to make "money" currently). Bringing this up on the forum I was told to just ask someone else for the equipment. The problem is there was noe one else to ask, and those I did ask either were looking for one themselves or wouldn't trade.
Again all this is the problems with trying to accomplish one (and the only) current story/quest in the game. The game also has problems abound with servers, connecting, holes in the world, movement etc.. In the end it's just a glorified chatroom.
Amazing concept, but released to soon and rather poorly done all around.
I would pass personally. A good concept is not enough to carry a game this buggy and incomplete.
I've decided to take a look at Ryzom for now then, but will keep an eye on Seed in case it picks up
Cheers
I have played seed pretty much from the start and some of things said about it is very right, it is buggy, sometimes very laggy, and the random crahses can turn you crazy sometimes!
*however*
The roleplaying in this game is great, the storys going on are great and imo the community is very helpful (as are the devs)
The game was not relased becouse runestone got greedy, they had to release it or they would have run out of money (Investors seems to be giving money based on specific milestones, releasing the game was one of them i guess)
I saw someone mentinoned the story with the gathering of bloodsamples.
The "tool" require to do this is rather expensive (60k AP i think, doing a normal repair job will give you max 200-300 ap or so) but what many people are forgetting that this is truely a RPG. If you do not have a tool, ask around, see if you can offer your serives to someone in exchange for that tool.
You can also earn AP by producing materials and items, or getting voted into an admin position (admins are those who controles what the rest of the population in the tower can produce becouse they decide which "add-ons" they put on the factorys, these admins are voted in each week) where you will also get AP based on how many people are useing your factory.
There are constant improvments being made on the game, around a week ago a patch was released which fixed some very nasty lag which would sometimes make you wait up to 30-60 secs simply to open your inventory...now it opesn right away. My point is that the game is being worked on, the devs know it is very far from perfect and have been very open about this fact as well.
Hope you decide to check it out later once its a bit more stable or you get bored with all the other mmos
I have to really disagree with the community, AND the amount of role playing that is done. Either I had extremely bad luck or I apparently didn't fit into the little RP circle.
I couldn't get the tool that cost 60k AP, so I asked (in character) if anyone could help me get one. I asked multiple times over a few days, and in different areas. Do you know the answer I got? Complete silence, no one offered me anything of the sort, no one even acknowledged my exsistance. I don't know if maybe I wasn't RPing the right way or what, but I was completely ignored.
As for the roleplaying itself, the amount of interaction I heard, for the most part went somewhere like this
"How do u repair?"
"Want to group?
There was some middle ground RPers who I could tollerate.
Then there were the ones who try and roleplay to people how to train in a skill. I mean seriously, just give people a straight answer so they can start playing before you start trying to force feed them RPing. Chances are they want to RP, that's why they are there, but let them at least learn the basics of the game before you try and force them to speak in character.
I'm glad to hear someone had a good experience with that commuity, because I sure as heck didn't.
I sure can understand if you got a bad experince from that!
Did you play right around launch? To be honest the start was very confusing and many people simply had no idea what to do (lack of tutorial, there is a text tutorial now that explain the basiscs + an offical manual as well)
I think that if you give it a try now you might have more of a chance at seeing what the game is like.... i havent meet a singel person who isnt happy to help newcommers out.
To be honest, the story with the gathering of bloodsample isnt that interresting. It's point is to make people interact with each other (you have to request other PC's for a bloodsample) but both becouse of the cost of the tool required and the lack of other static storys like it it is pretting borring
The real interresting gameplay, imo, takes place when the GM's step in. They are makeing sure that the stories the games official story deparment are working on comes to life. At the mo. there are a few pretty big projects in the works that requires interaction and lots of roleplaying with different people to suceed.
(not sure how to use quotes on this forum so:)
"Then there were the ones who try and roleplay to people how to train in
a skill. I mean seriously, just give people a straight answer so they
can start playing before you start trying to force feed them RPing"
Heh, i might have been one of those persons actually
I played beta and launch, was disgusted and cancelled my account. I reactivated in June and I saw more of the same. There was honestly no one who would help me get a tool. And if I had to take the blood from PC's I guess I'd be screwed anyways because at the moment the place is far too large for it's small population. And yes, don't get me started on moving.
The sad point is while the blood sample story might have been boring it's currently the ONLY OTHER OPTION (or was when I quit playing). You can only repair for so long before it just gets absurdly tedious. Even gathering blood samples would at least be more intersting because I could at least hunt down people. Although that's a sad fact itself.
And I never was logged on and saw any sort of GM event. And I think it's very poor design that a person has to be online at just the right moment to actually enjoy the game.I've been hearing about things they will do, but I've been hearing about that since beta. I think they should have had several long term story options ready in release to keep people busy. But I gave them two chances and they failed to deliver twice. Because they decide to actually add engaging content to the game this long after launch won't bring me back.
And forced RPing is just another way of driving off customers. So many people from that community act so high and mighty if you don't RP "their way". Aside from the fact that a person to the game wants to learn to play not how to RP. RP isn't something you teach, it's something you encourage. But you don't encourage it while the person is still trying to figure out how to walk. Heck I've been with that community since beta and was intimidated by how some people were talking to someone who didn't "RP" I'd hate to think what it was like for a newbie.
In the end this is a game I really wanted to like, but bad planning, and a strangely agressive community (is this the product of a RP-only MMO?). It's just not the game I had hoped for.
Seed is a very different game. Often the stories wont come dumping down your lab, and you cant find an npc with a yellow "!" over his head to tell you what you should do. You have to interact with other PCs (or npcs) to know what is going on. The storyline is always moving forward with new things going on, an other reason why the bloodsample story isnt exactly interresting in itself. The outcome of the dissease that is the reason that the story (=quest) is interresting (imo). The fact that you have to seek stuff out yourself can be both good and bad for a game I think. It makes sure that people interact but at the same time this interaction is also a required part of gameplay so I can understand if some people wouldnt like this style of game.
My point is that there are many alternatives to gathering blood samples, as i mentioned in my last reply that story is a way to make people interact in the hopes that this interaction would maybe start up a new and interresting storyline for the players.
The player created storylines are vey interresting in my opinion. An example of this is that a ring did not wish to follow the path that was set for a npc-story, so they came up with an alternative and that alternative is currently the biggest project going on right now. Player created events are also going on in-game... the thing is that the players are there to get the story on the way as much as the GM's and the games story department is.
You do not have to be online at the right moment to enjoy the game. If there is no GM around it is not the end of the world, you will be able to enjoy the storys and roleplay just as much with any other player in the game as you can with a GM.
About forcing people to roleplay.... well other games are forcing you to kill stuff arent they? It is not bad marketing, the game is made for roleplayers and the devs are well aware that some people will not like their game becouse of it. I think it is great that a game company is brave enough to try something new
I get sad when you say you do not like the community, i truely do. I think the people playeing seed are a great bunch and I always enjoy a chat with them (both IC and OOC
But your missing my point. I'm not saying forced interaction is bad. But if you are introducing a player to a game, and the first 'quest' causes them to talk to rude people before they can even start the quest, it isn't working very well. I found that I would overhear conversations between established roleplayers and newbies and many times it sounded like they were talking down there nose to the newbie. That is not healthy interaction, and that is not interaction I want to be a part of.
And you claim you can enjoy the stories, but what is there, a player run quest, and a blood sample storyline. Which to your own admission the NPC one is boring. As for roleplaying although this game is meant for roleplaying, it lacks many basic requirements for roleplaying. The closest place for a gathering place is the garden which is nothing more then a pile of factories and trees, real stimulating in terms of roleplay. Thereis no real "social area", like a bar. Now that fits with the storyline, but I don't think I ever saw poeple just casually roleplaying in there. What other forms of roleplayin are there, you could roleplay a repair team, but we both know how fun that is. Or you could try and create your own storyline. Given that extreme difficulty it can be to get even some basic items at times, that's not even always feasible.
About forced roleplaying, again I think you missed my point. I don't think anyone can expect to join Seed and not expect to rolelplay. My point is even with the minimalist tutorial you can't expect someone to roleplay right out of the door. Give them time to watch other people, get to know how people respond to different rolelplaying styles, encourage people to roleplay by roleplaying yourself. (again though, not if they are asking how to move! Give them a break and just give them a straight answer).
The problem with the seed community is it definately has almost two societies going on. The accepted roleplayers, and the to be determined. The to be determined can be treated quite harshly at times. Since they have not established themselves as roleplayers.
By no means is this saying that everyone in Seed is evil, I also saw plenty of actual helpful people. But through my own experiences, and just spatial chat I saw, I more often then not saw snobby, condecending or downright rude behaviour from quite a few people towards newbies.
It wasn't even the community that caused me to quit, I was actually a lot like you, I defended the game up until I quit. I continued to play after I canceled my subscription hoping before my time ran out some amazing patch would appear and fix everything. Only after cancelling and really observing people did it hit me how these people really came accross as, how often I'd actually seen it before but dismissed it as "inexperienced roleplayers".
Indeed you are correct that if the first thing new players experince is rude people then something is clearly wrong.... However once again I can only point out that I havent meet these people myself (and i spend quite a bit of time in-game). I have not meet a single person who was rude to new people.
Rude to established roleplayers (as you call it) is something completly different... I am, for example, rude to specific people in-game but that is becurz it is all taking place in-game and IC... Those very same people are people I enjoy chatting with in IRC or on the forum, sometimes I fear some people may confuse this and think that the community got a bunch of bad people becouse of what is sometimes going on in-game.
You are right that seed still lacks some basic "roleplaying features" (for lack of better term) but I have seen people do some casual roleplaying as well. Often you can hear people talk about the nice running water in the garden (or the posibilty of maybe having fish in that pond someday..), or share some of the rumors they heard around in the tower. I think there are many chances to roleplay...also by doing other things then repairng (which is borring as you pointed out..I surely hope that this part of the game will improve when injuires get in-game!)
-"Give them time to watch other people, get to know how people respond to
different rolelplaying styles, encourage people to roleplay by
roleplaying yourself."-
You are absolutly correct about this... simply starting roleplaying in a new setting and game is very hard to do without wandering around a bit first. I do however think that the thing with encouraging people to roleplay by roleplaying yourself is exactly what most are actually doing in-game.
I do not think there are 2 camps/societies going on, right around launch/open beta you may be right (beta testers and newcommers) but I do not have that feeling anymore. If I see someone who doesnt roleplay i dont start to be rude to him, I just try to stay IC as much as I can but also talk about gameplay ect if he asks any questions, as do most(always hard to say everyone...but close to everyone
When I join a game I am very thoughtfull of what the community is like, I do not wish to be part of someone who thinks they are all high and mighty with no respect for newcommers, or general respect to other humans so I am sorry you think of some people in the seed community as being unhelpful or snobby and rude. Again, all I can say is that I havent experinced this myself and if I did I would be one of the first to speak up against that kind of behaviour!
About the wonder patch...I am afraid it still havent come hehe, but there have been quite a lot of improvements lately and I think it wont be long before the injuire and damage system gets in-game (it is already on RGD's internal servers, a matter of finding the right balance and fixes I guess)
I do understand that what you have posted is simply your own observations and it may seem strange that I keep commenting on them, but it is only becouse my own experince is so much different from yours I guess.
Just one question, Is it dead yet?
Christ, they would have to work for another year in order to actually make this thing a game!
They don't need a year, but they do need to do a bit of "spit and polish."
I think I am in agreement with the consensus here that says the game was not ready for launch. I can't say I blame anyone for thinking this game deserves to be pulled. I mean, if my experience is any indication of the typical experience...well...I wouldn't blame anyone for not even finishing the free trial, let alone pay $15.
However, I don't think that there is a person subscribing to Seed today that doesn't truly believe that if we can just give Runestone a bit more time, they can turn it around fast.
I mean, they just put in two new major activities within weeks of eachother (the medical bay and the data mining). They are also actively involved in creating story arcs. They have so many new ideas, and so much ability to implement, that if they can just get a little stability, optimizations in the codebase, and rework the interface to make it a bit more user-friendly (hotkeys for menus, a more stable GUI template, etc.), and squash some bugs, they'll be in some good shape.
You see, a game like Seed could use as much hard-coded content as it can get, but it doesn't necessarily need it right away to keep a playerbase. Remember that back in the old text-based MUSH days, simply a robust DIKU chat system was all players needed to entertain themselves for months. Character driven players are by nature very patient, and do not need "bling and flash" like the 1337s do.
However, what the game does need is some QC...big time.
What the game needs are tools that don't crash you to desktop when you equip and use them.
The game needs to be played in fullscreen, not in a window. That DOS debugger window should be hidden, and only should come up upon command.
I'd like to see the code optimized for less latency, the GUI issues with the menu windows properly landmarked, with a minimize option.
Hotkeys to open up things like the chat bar, inventory, and tradeoff window would make navigating so much easier, would make the players so much happier, and happy players are helpful players.
I'd like to see if Runestone can give us some background mood sounds and mood music perhaps, and a new skin on the launchpad, so that people who download the client don't get scared and run away before they try it.
If Runestone does those simple things I mentioned (and this can all get done really quickly), now we have a game people can feel safe in subscribing toward, and that can grow.
I personally feel that this game is just too important to let it wither on the vine. That being said, I can't blame anyone for leaving it, or being scared of it. It is really rough right now, and frankly, not ready. Those who are there like me are doing it because we hope something really good can come of this game. If (and I admit, its a big if) the game can get through this period, I have confidence that it will become the most innovative MMO since Tale in the Desert, or EVE. It just has that whole "deep space jockey" vibe to it in the spirit of 2001 Space Oddessy, or Silent Running, The Black Hole, or Alien (the Ridley Scott original), and it really showcases that a non-combat, character driven game is still viable.
__________________________
"Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it."
--Arcken
"...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints."
--Hellmar, CEO of CCP.
"It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls."
--Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE
Im sorry to be the one to inform you all that the best online game ever is now closing...!
It seems that the company behind the development of the game has run out of funds.
Well I would not be the ideel person too grade this game against others as this is the only real online game I have ever played - but it must be the best game ever - im sure.
Yes it never got as good as it could but the game was one of a kind and that makes it the best ever.
Im just sad that no other company is willing to bring the game further - I gues that did not dare.
/Birkus - still crying
Yes Birkus, I'm crying too.
There was just so much I never got the chance to do, like join a ring, cast a vote, or manufacture some goods. I always thought I'd have the time, but it looks like time ran out for Gristof.
__________________________
"Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it."
--Arcken
"...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints."
--Hellmar, CEO of CCP.
"It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls."
--Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE
Not to mention the damn narrow minded mmo(-RPG!) players....