Upfront, I will admit this is a contentious topic and I know I will receive some abuse, ridicule and belittling for raising it - so be it, I fully accept what is coming to me but I think this topic needs some discussion.
This community is great, it is one of the best I have been associated with in the realms of online gaming. If a new player (or even an old player I guess) asks a question there is a line up of eager Commanders willing to offer advice. And not just advice but offers to help out with transport, with getting goods to unlock Engineers, even offers of easy credits. But at times I think we can be too good, too generous with our advice, too helpful and as a result, creating a group of new players that have a very defined view of how the game is played. Let me explain:
Say a new player creates a thread asking about getting mats for his first engineer. Rarely do I see someone patiently explaining about how to outfit a ship with an SRV, Frameshift Wake Scanner and/or Collector Limpet Controller, do a little research to find out exactly what the player needs, how and where to do that research (and why it is okay to use 3rd party tools) and where to go to find the mats they need. Unfortunately (in my opinion at least), these new players get told to head to the Crystalline Shards to fill up there and then use the Mat Trader. Doesn't matter that the nearest Shards could be 10k lys away, a newbie in an unengineered beginners ship will have no trouble with a journey of that length for their first excursion out of the bubble. Or they get told to go to Dav's Hope and endlessly relog until they get enough to head to the nearest Mat Trader. And if they need Encoded Mats, yep, directions are given to Jameson's crash site.
Or even the basic, a question is asked on making credits. Is the player asked what type of activities they like doing, would they prefer mining over trade, do they enjoy running missions, or is bounty hunting more their flavour. Nope, they get told immediately what the latest gold mine is, which may seem as grindy as hell to someone new.
There is nothing wrong with the information given, just I don't think that sometimes is the right information for the situation. Are we developing a whole group of players than have never driven on the surface of a planet looking for outcrops? Ones that have no idea on how to interpret the scanner on the SRV. Will there be a gaggle of newbies who don't know the difference between an Degraded, Encoded or High Grade USS? What will we do when someone complains that they can't get the Grade 1 or 2 Enc Mats via mission rewards because they don't know they could scan wakes right outside of the station they are in and get them for free? Will some of these players eject the pacifier and throw the toys out the cot the first time they have to do something mundane or basic in the game? Are we forgetting to teach these new players the basics?
So what is the consensus here, should we, as the Community, be trying to educate these new players, or is telling them the quickest solution the right way to go?
This community is great, it is one of the best I have been associated with in the realms of online gaming. If a new player (or even an old player I guess) asks a question there is a line up of eager Commanders willing to offer advice. And not just advice but offers to help out with transport, with getting goods to unlock Engineers, even offers of easy credits. But at times I think we can be too good, too generous with our advice, too helpful and as a result, creating a group of new players that have a very defined view of how the game is played. Let me explain:
Say a new player creates a thread asking about getting mats for his first engineer. Rarely do I see someone patiently explaining about how to outfit a ship with an SRV, Frameshift Wake Scanner and/or Collector Limpet Controller, do a little research to find out exactly what the player needs, how and where to do that research (and why it is okay to use 3rd party tools) and where to go to find the mats they need. Unfortunately (in my opinion at least), these new players get told to head to the Crystalline Shards to fill up there and then use the Mat Trader. Doesn't matter that the nearest Shards could be 10k lys away, a newbie in an unengineered beginners ship will have no trouble with a journey of that length for their first excursion out of the bubble. Or they get told to go to Dav's Hope and endlessly relog until they get enough to head to the nearest Mat Trader. And if they need Encoded Mats, yep, directions are given to Jameson's crash site.
Or even the basic, a question is asked on making credits. Is the player asked what type of activities they like doing, would they prefer mining over trade, do they enjoy running missions, or is bounty hunting more their flavour. Nope, they get told immediately what the latest gold mine is, which may seem as grindy as hell to someone new.
There is nothing wrong with the information given, just I don't think that sometimes is the right information for the situation. Are we developing a whole group of players than have never driven on the surface of a planet looking for outcrops? Ones that have no idea on how to interpret the scanner on the SRV. Will there be a gaggle of newbies who don't know the difference between an Degraded, Encoded or High Grade USS? What will we do when someone complains that they can't get the Grade 1 or 2 Enc Mats via mission rewards because they don't know they could scan wakes right outside of the station they are in and get them for free? Will some of these players eject the pacifier and throw the toys out the cot the first time they have to do something mundane or basic in the game? Are we forgetting to teach these new players the basics?
So what is the consensus here, should we, as the Community, be trying to educate these new players, or is telling them the quickest solution the right way to go?
