Topic

I think I'm starting to get it now!

I've been alpha testing this glorious (and addictive) game for a while now. However, I've been mainly playing "lone wolf" with my play style. Mainly because I'm not the most social person (this might surprise many of you), but also because I don't want to hinder people with my sporadic play style (i.e. "where the hell is blogkitten?! We're supposed to be smelting metal rock tonight!").

But last night, upon getting the 9-second peat harvest quest, I put out a "hey, who else needs this quest?" query on the general chat forum, I got to meet (and friend) some awesome people who collaborated to work to get this achievement for at least (by my recollection) 9 people. Great fun!

I also paid attention to the general group chat and discovered the party in Estevan Meadows (can I buy a house there, please? I have a great treehouse in Pasha's Quarter for trade!). Unbeknownst to me, I would find the wonders of interacting with other Glitchians. Conga line levitation. Mosh pits. More alcohol and other delights that would boggle the mind.

I now understand how the social aspect is being built into the game and encourages -- subtly or not -- the player to interact with others. Even a pseudo-antisocial binge gamer like myself can enjoy themselves!

Wondering how you all feel about the passive-aggressive nudging of interaction? Admittedly, I didn't notice it was working until after it happened. But, I'm glad it did!^_^

Posted 23 months ago by blogkitten Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • i'm glad it did too!

    i missed the test ending party because of a real life social life, so inconvenient : ] we did have an end of test party a few test sessions ago where a bunch of us got together and took turns using a trick where a player would use spinach and levitation during the same jump to "pull" a bunch of following players *up* the other drop. it was a blast.

    re. passive-aggressive nudging of interaction - i think it is a good thing, but i do know that a number of players have told me they don't like it, and that the more Glitch is about interaction and collaboration, the less interested they will be in playing it.

    the game ought to be playable in a solo capacity indefinitely without getting bored. this doesn't mean anti-social gaming whereby nothing you do is affected by other people and vice versa .. after-all, it is a shared world with shared resources that is seemingly only expanded through collaboration .. but it should be possible to play through the game without having to make any friends or join any groups.

    this might mean ignoring some social quests like the peat one, and ignoring things like projects almost entirely .. but it shouldn't mean being bored out of your skull for lack of sustained solo gameplay.

    "(can I buy a house there, please? I have a great treehouse in Pasha's Quarter for trade!)"

    we are due for a full game reset fairly soon, and the devs open up new streets within the residential quarters each test .. so it is a safe bet that you'll be able to buy a house in Estevan Meadow next test.
    Posted 23 months ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • No houses on my block, sorry.

    I also liked the way that people just sucked you in to the game. It is important that we shape the world personality now in a good way. Unfortunately some people chafe under this kind of community and will probably drop out because community is not what they are for.
    Posted 23 months ago by Ani Laurel Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Well, in-game community makes me slightly claustrophobic and I moved out of Groddle Meadow, but I really like my half-inhabited quarter block in Groddle Heights. As long as the game keeps expanding in proportion to the number of players, there will always be depopulated rural areas for dropouts to live, I think?
    Posted 23 months ago by EgIantine Subscriber! | Permalink
  • i'd like to see homesteads with about 3 times the garden space and tree patches, for playing an almost totally anti-social game.
    Posted 23 months ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 for survivalist glitches!!
    Posted 23 months ago by EgIantine Subscriber! | Permalink
  • oh my goodness - this is me!
    "I've been alpha testing this glorious (and addictive) game for a while now. However, I've been mainly playing "lone wolf" with my play style. Mainly because I'm not the most social person (this might surprise many of you), but also because I don't want to hinder people with my sporadic play style (i.e. "where the hell is blogkitten?! We're supposed to be smelting metal rock tonight!"). "

    I didn't know what to do about the darned peat test! I figured I might happen to be around somewhere when someone else needed help and that'd be the way I got it done. As it was, I still had other things to do and so I was able to ignore it. Maybe next test I'll josh myself along enough to actually *ask* for some help.

    I do appreciate games where there is an option to do things on one's own. When I played Guild Wars there were so many places you could get stuck by having to rely upon others to get through a mission, whereas in LOTRO ( Lord of the Rings online) generally you could get everything done, even if it meant having to wait until you had more skills.
    Posted 23 months ago by Wren Bramble Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Loving the game so far! I'm also an independent player and would really prefer if the quests were do-able solo (assuming they'd be much harder and require a higher level and/or a drink effect bonus).

    On a semi-related note, does the map highlight open projects in any way? I looked all over for one this weekend and turned up zilch.

    My only other problem was the rook quest. I didn't get much of anywhere with that, either because of server lag or lack of mad platforming/levitation skillz.
    Posted 23 months ago by Quanta Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "It is important that we shape the world personality now in a good way."

    I think the world personality is going to change no matter what, so if you like it right now, enjoy the heck out of it, but don't fool yourself into thinking it's going to stay the same. It may feel right now like you are living in the center and you can see and shape to the edges, but if the game has real success, at some point you will realize that what used to be the center has become a node.

    I also think that no matter how you nudge people into teaming up, there will always be as many different reactions and approaches to it as there are people.

    One-off quests that require players to band together temporarily can either be a real bonding experience or just a bullshit one. The peat bog quest worked well because people had to coordinate to work the game programming, counting down, indicating "go", etc.. But a lot of quests in other games involve four or five total strangers agreeing to quest, and then basically running through a gauntlet of monsters individually fighting, and then dividing the spoils. My husband plays a game like that. He does quests all the time and he doesn't even know how to work the chat in the game--he has never spoken a word to another player despite doing several team missions.

    Glitch is small right now...you totally see all the corners, and that is comforting. And it may be that people who want to be alpha players on a game have all kinds of extra desire to commit, and bring all kinds of care to it. It might be that it is easier for lone wolves to let themselves be brought to hang out with the puppy dogs in such a mellow environment (I play lone wolf style too), while still letting them retain their essential wolfishness.
    Posted 23 months ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I haven't managed to get drawn into any of the social shenanigans yet - apart from a brief stint of barnacle scraping on the previous test.

    Somehow I always seem to miss it. Either I forget to open the Help channel (why isn't it open by default?), or even when it is open, whenever I look up at it it seems to be just people asking for pointers or answers to questions etc. Maybe it's the position of the chat windows, or the fact that I tend to play on small screens (netbook or macbook) and it's all kinda squished up a bit, but I really struggle to pay attention to the chat windows -- any of them. Many times I've missed messages in local chat, even IMs I've only noticed some time later.

    Then I read on here how much fun you all had with your scraping/projects/jumping/congas/parties/peat digging etc.
    Posted 23 months ago by RealJimBob Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "My only other problem was the rook quest."

    There is one critical point where you need to climb up that is not at all obvious, 'nuff said.
    Posted 23 months ago by Smackem Subscriber! | Permalink
  • RJB

    you basically have to give up on questing, achievements and levels.

    those are all incredibly distracting from social play. social play and questchievemnets aren't really compatible unless a questchievement forces you to play socially, such is the attention black hole that questschievements create.
    Posted 23 months ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Hi there. Im one of the newer added testers and so far can't get enough of this wonderful game. Also to add I just love the idea of helping the dev's develop ideas and testing out their new add-ons etc etc. Never taken part in any kind of alpha testing before.
    I have belonged to a small group of friends, made while playing another type of game, through wifi and forums. Most of us have managed to get in on the testing and so far have loved the social accepts of Glitch. While we can all play individually there have also been so far many occasions where the help of a "friend" has been invaluable. Non of us as yet have been able to take part in a group quest [saying that I did try to help someone on a peat/bog? quest who went off in a strop because he could not get us to all dig at the same time lol ]
    But just being able to help someone out has been great. Examples are holding something while a friend is jiggling bags and items around. Picking up meat because they have no more room or taking it in turns to hold the Orb to top up energy/mood because as yet they can't afford to buy one. Is'nt that just a fantastic way to play a game. I am a very sociable person who will chat to anyone who is prepared to listen lol and not offended if there not. I am slowly picking up new friends and hope to be able to learn from them and help out if needed. It is so far easy to play on ones own but also so much fun to team up.
    I got very lost on my first visit to the caverns and into the drop. On shouting out for help a sweet person said "click me and say follow" Before I new what was going on I was running on air, jumping up and right out of there. I'm sure I would have gotten out eventually but one shout out made a new friend and another lesson learnt in the game play :)
    I know as in real life not everyone is so nice and friendly but there is only one way to find that out ;)
    Posted 23 months ago by Misha Subscriber! | Permalink