Instructions/Documentation

[Grovy]

Before adding new planes, boats......etc.  AH really needs to do a better job of providing instructions to newbies.  The forums are great and the trainer policy is definitly a help, however AH can be very intimidating to the not so computer literate.

I myself am a semi computer geek so I've worked my way through it, unfortunatley I have friends who downloaded AH and didn't like it because they couldn't figure out how to work it.  I've walked a couple of them through the game and have a couple of MS Combat Sim converts, but just think how many are out there that didn't have someone help them.

Let's face it, this is an awesome game, but if AH can't attract and keep new players we'll all be playing damned X-Boxes online.

Grovy

[Innominate]

I have no sympathy for people too lazy to hit the HELP button.

[palef]

Originally posted by Innominate
I have no sympathy for people too lazy to hit the HELP button.

Having long experience in IT supporrt, I know that this statement encompasses 99.5% of people who use computers for whatever function. Why push the help button when some IT geek will fix it for me???

IT people in general are really bad at communication because they are engineers at heart and tend to write things in a "if you don' get it the first time you're a dummy" fashion.

I understand your attitude, but that is the very reason why consoles are so popular. Put the disc in, push play, and use the arrow buttons on your gamepad to navigate. There is less difference between PS2 and X-Bax than between Windows XP and Win98SE.

I think Grovy has a very valid point.

palef

[Innominate]

Originally posted by palef
Having long experience in IT supporrt, I know that this statement encompasses 99.5% of people who use computers for whatever function. Why push the help button when some IT geek will fix it for me???

So we're supposed to say
"Ok i know you're a lazy piece of crap who expects us to help you at our own expense, but I understand that reading it on your own might take a few minute longer, so I'm more than happy to help." ???

Why promote the attitude of "Why do it myself when someone else will do it for me" ?  Especially in a game which is rapidly being overrun by that attitude.

[palef]

Originally posted by Innominate
So we're supposed to say
"Ok i know you're a lazy piece of crap who expects us to help you at our own expense, but I understand that reading it on your own might take a few minute longer, so I'm more than happy to help." ???

Why promote the attitude of "Why do it myself when someone else will do it for me" ?  Especially in a game which is rapidly being overrun by that attitude.

I'm sorry you feel that way, but I do understand where you are coming from.

I think that online console gaming stands a very real chance of swamping the current PC based MMOG style games

We could go some way towards making sure that AH stays around by helping make the game more accessible to people who struggle with some of the more arcane PC knowledge that you need to understand to be able to get the most from AH.

People have developed an attitude to technology (that I can understand and support), that they should be able to turn it on and intuitively be able to use it. You and I know that PCs require some learning to get the most out of them and are a long way from being an "appliance" type device, where consoles are designed as an appliance.

I'm not suggesting that we promote the attitude you express above, merely that a few cogent pointers may help people to move in the right direction with regard to AH and its configuration and start learning about their PC at the same time. I've found the "softly, softly" encouraging approach garners better long term gains in terms of people taking responsibility for their education, and you will find that they ask more and more searching questions as time goes by.

Innominate, you contribute hugely to the AH community. Do you want it to grow or stay the same as it is now?

palef

[Innominate]

Originally posted by palef

Innominate, you contribute hugely to the AH community. Do you want it to grow or stay the same as it is now?

Honestly?  I think that the person who holds that attitude tends to be the type of player who brings games down, not up.  I'm a big fan of "beta" atmospheres, of small communities. Where new players are few but integrate quickly, and become the next generation of vets.  

Large floods of newbies tend to bring down the general attitude of the game, they learn to "game the game", and learn more from each other than from the vets.  They congregate, tend to never integtate with the community, and never get the chance to become vets.  These groups are almost entirely the type of person who wants everything to be given to them, and I've seen them kill more than one game.  (There are of course many newbies in these "floods" who don't end up this way)

The two most important things in any game are dev and player attitudes.  If both are good, you can have an otherwise dull game that is great.  If both are bad, the game can be the greatest ever made, and it wont matter.

More players isn't always better.  Nothing keeps a game alive in the long run like a strong community.

[Frogm4n]

the day consoles take over the mmorpg sector, ill go out and get a lobotomy(or just smoke alot of pot and or crack) so i can be just as stupid as the average console user. my roommate cannot figure out how to play medal of honor on his ps2, and bothers me to help with the idea of pointing and shooting. These are the people that dont need our help, but need our witty sence of humor and lack of self esteem to ridicule them and drive them to suicide.

[Grovy]

Weeewww......didn't mean to touch off such a firestorm of controversy.

Innominate, you're right a flood of newbies could bring down the game.....that's what I think happened to AWIII but that was after EA bought it from Gamestorm.  Which is exactly what I wouldn’t want to see happen to this game?

I think the high level of difficulty of AH will keep the average "point and shoot" pinhead away from this game.  The guy that waits outside Wal-Mart at 5AM to line up for the new play station (and I had a roommate that actually did that) is not going to have the patience to even attempt to play this game.

And you’re also right that devotion and attitude is certainly the key to a good gaming experience.  I just hate to see people that have those attributes intimidated away from AH because of something as simple as a few extra pages of documentation.

Peace Out
Grovy