Contribution for Allegiance

[Broodwich]

lol driz you ever finish that hangman program?
but seriously, last time we had a large influx of newbies lots of longer term players took vacations because half the players didnt know what to do, and a lot of people in the lobby couldnt figure out who to stack. you can imagine the dilemma

[Psychosis]

influx of new players =
decrease in quality of gameplay =
increase in dissatisfaction of vets =
less vets playing =
new players develop bad habits =
decrease in quality of gameplay...

[Zapper]

Players who think new players are bad for a game should be banned, they are no use to us now and never will be.

[Jimen]

I don't think it's necessarily guaranteed that new players decrease the quality of gameplay? It's not like pickup games are paradise, and surprisingly enough, newbs CAN manage to make mistakes without ruining bomb runs. Besides, there's already a mechanism to separate the newbies from the vets - an influx of newbs would be a GOOD thing. Why? The more newbs there are at once, the better the chance of there being a game running on one of the newbie servers for them to join (as opposed to joining the main pickup game because they sat alone in a newb game for fifteen minutes without a single person joining).

[fuzzylunkin1]

I have interest in developing for Allegiance but eh one look at the code stopped me . . . .

[fuzzylunkin1]

QUOTE (Jimen @ Sep 29 2009, 02:06 PM) The more newbs there are at once, the better the chance of there being a game running on one of the newbie servers for them to join (as opposed to joining the main pickup game because they sat alone in a newb game for fifteen minutes without a single person joining).

Thus not getting any better.

[Adaven]

Short answer: Yes, The more the merrier.

longer answer:
The Vets that get annoyed and take a break will come back eventually (they almost always pop in from time to time), so don't worry about it if we can have a better playerbase waiting for them when they get back.

In response to those saying to wait for R5 to be released: that's what was said before R3 came out. After R5/CSS comes out it will be something else. The fact is if we wait for the game to be "perfect" it will never happen.

The trick is to not have the rate of new arrivals spike too suddenly and then fall off due to a very intense, short, marketing campaign. If there's not enough infrastructure (technically and socially) our retention rate will plummet even lower than it is now. We need rather a more gentle increase so that the community has more time to adjust and grow. Once we've got a little more meat on our bones, then you can start ramping things up. As we grow we'll be capable of absorbing larger groups of newbies without seriously effecting current gameplay, overworking the helpline staff, and crashing servers.

What I'm saying is don't slip an Allegiance plug into Obama's next State of the Union Address. However I do think it would be great to work up a rough plan/schedule for advertising over the next couple years and what steps we can take now as well as how and when we'll expand those efforts later when the community and software is ready for it.

[Drizzo]

QUOTE (fuzzylunkin1 @ Sep 29 2009, 03:06 PM) I have interest in developing for Allegiance but eh one look at the code stopped me . . . .

Honestly this comment just says that you're an ass and you probably don't know anything about the language.

Instead of just making a one line quip, why don't you be a bit more constructive or just GTFO? Actually you're better of just getting the $#@! out, any code you would contribute would be distorted due to the amount of data lost from your craptastic internet connection.

The public conduct of Imago and Kage is/was a massive turn off. For fear of any negative retribution from peers, I didn't bother saying "hey I have a degree in this stuff and I have a respectable job developing software in the language, can I help out?". The messy code will deter people who are green to the language, yes, but honestly having 1 person make a project of cleaning it up and establishing a proper syntax for adding new segments in would ensure that the code is easy/easier to be handled.

Not to mention the way YP was handled for doing something he thought was an improvement to the game. From what limited information I have access to, he tried to help and he was seen to be the bad guy because the tools he made were used by others with a malicious intent. Why should I try to help out if I unknowingly $#@! up once and from that point on become blacklisted? (Note: I'm tackling the case of what he did with the quick chats THEN. Not his release of ASGS Black.)

I'm sorry, but frankly the waters just aren't all that appealing at the moment.

p.s. Fuzz attempted to Troll so he was handled with extreme prejudice. No tolerance for that @#(! when there's a somewhat meaningful discussion going on.

[fuzzylunkin1]

QUOTE (Drizzo @ Sep 29 2009, 02:21 PM) Honestly this comment just says that you're an ass and you probably don't know anything about the language.

Instead of just making a one line quip, why don't you be a bit more constructive or just GTFO? Actually you're better of just getting the $#@! out, any code you would contribute would be distorted due to the amount of data lost from your craptastic internet connection.

p.s. Fuzz attempted to Troll so he was handled with extreme prejudice. No tolerance for that @#(! when there's a somewhat meaningful discussion going on.

Correct I can be an ass.

Incorrect I do know something about the language.

What craptastic internet connection?

You call that trying to troll? You said there are probably others somewhat willing to contribute and I'm just trying to back you $#@!face up.

[Icky]

QUOTE (fuzzylunkin1 @ Sep 29 2009, 03:26 PM) What craptastic internet connection?

Fuzz your ingame lag is legendary.

"Once, I saw fuzz teleport BETWEEN SECTORS....in an interceptor!"

"One time, fuzz was flying a bomber...he was able to kill THREE BASES SIMULTANEOUSLY since his connection was so bad he was in all 3 sectors at once!"