02-18-2015, 03:29 PM
Hi folks.
I'm new to this forum, and I've been playing Xonotic since last spring, and before that I hadn't played shooters much.
It seems that currently I am in the process of migration between two categories, from "Absolute Noob" to "Still Noob 'cause Can't Learn".
So I think it's the right time for me to share some Valuable Noob Feedback before I've forgotten all the Genuine Noob Experience ː)
In this issue:
The beginning of the story is trite, you must have heard it already: "There's not enough games on Linux". That's basically why I tried all the shooters available through the Ubuntu repos, although shooters weren't my favorite genre. None interested me, and I didn't search for more info. Until at some point (perhaps after upgrading Ubuntu to 12.04, not sure now) I saw a new icon in the Games section, labelled "Nexuiz". I tried it, and it was different. I completed the whole local campaign suite, and started to watch people playing on open servers. And even to play against humans myself. And to search the web for tips.
I think I saw a couple mentions of Xonotic on some forums, at that point. Nothing to get excited about. However, search results were too often spammed by discussions of the *other* Nexuiz, so I began to search for game-specific terms without the name of the game itself: "minsta", "grappling hook", "crylink" and the like. And... found Halogene's Newbie Corner on *this* site. I understood that it was about a fork, and much of the info could be relevant; I read it attentively, twice, still thinking about Nexuiz and checking how the tips worked there. It took me a couple more days to digest some news: Nexuiz Classic is essentially a fossil, and the living-and-kicking beast is called Xonotic now.
After some hesitation, I downloaded 0.7 from the site, and upon fixing a couple problems I can't recall now, it worked. Happy End ː)
Well, obviously, there's something in this story that feels wrong. I mean, it is, like, year 2015 now, and it's still easier for a potential player to find Nexuiz Classic.
In fact, it's even worse than that. There are about as many people on Nexuiz servers as on Xonotic servers, still. Even more embarrassing: since the moment when I discovered Xonotic, the number of Xonotic players seems to have been shrinking (haven't checked the stats, just my impression). Despite some migration of old players from Nexuiz. Despite the release of 0.8, which must have attracted some curious ones.
OK, "we're still beta", OK, I'm not going to dispute this policy. However, guys, do you know what you did?
Well, OK, this is just what some players think; but, you know, it's sort of an informed opinion, actually. For example, take me: due to addiction to Xonotic, I got interested in shooters in general, tried a couple more, saw tons of frag movies, video tutorials, and the like; no other game looked comparable.
Sure, it has crashed for me, occasionally. Like, five or six times in, what, nine months of playing nearly every day. My browser has crash stats differing by an order of magnitude. Yeah, there are things that can be improved... which means, the game still has a huge potential, too. It seems to offer a flexible platform for adding mods, new features, whatever. Anyway, it was the best FPS already as 0.7; 0.8 is still better; there's absolutely nothing to be shy about. Perhaps it's not the time for advertising the game actively yet, but it's not the time to hide it from potential users anymore, either. For example...
I don't know how difficult this will be, technically and organizationally; but it will be necessary anyway, I believe, at some later point. So why not start working on this now? Write "BETA" in the description, in boldface and all-caps. Linux users, generally, don't mind testing betas; for example, they don't fear malware or system crashes as much as users of commercial OS's do. And they don't have enough games to play, see above. And where do you think the people who may start to experiment with, and provide sensible feedback on, or even contribute to, a free and open-source software, are? Perhaps, they are already using some free and open-source software? Including, as their main OS?
I'm new to this forum, and I've been playing Xonotic since last spring, and before that I hadn't played shooters much.
It seems that currently I am in the process of migration between two categories, from "Absolute Noob" to "Still Noob 'cause Can't Learn".
So I think it's the right time for me to share some Valuable Noob Feedback before I've forgotten all the Genuine Noob Experience ː)
In this issue:
A STORY ABOUT A NEWBIE DISCOVERING XONOTIC
The beginning of the story is trite, you must have heard it already: "There's not enough games on Linux". That's basically why I tried all the shooters available through the Ubuntu repos, although shooters weren't my favorite genre. None interested me, and I didn't search for more info. Until at some point (perhaps after upgrading Ubuntu to 12.04, not sure now) I saw a new icon in the Games section, labelled "Nexuiz". I tried it, and it was different. I completed the whole local campaign suite, and started to watch people playing on open servers. And even to play against humans myself. And to search the web for tips.
I think I saw a couple mentions of Xonotic on some forums, at that point. Nothing to get excited about. However, search results were too often spammed by discussions of the *other* Nexuiz, so I began to search for game-specific terms without the name of the game itself: "minsta", "grappling hook", "crylink" and the like. And... found Halogene's Newbie Corner on *this* site. I understood that it was about a fork, and much of the info could be relevant; I read it attentively, twice, still thinking about Nexuiz and checking how the tips worked there. It took me a couple more days to digest some news: Nexuiz Classic is essentially a fossil, and the living-and-kicking beast is called Xonotic now.
After some hesitation, I downloaded 0.7 from the site, and upon fixing a couple problems I can't recall now, it worked. Happy End ː)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Well, obviously, there's something in this story that feels wrong. I mean, it is, like, year 2015 now, and it's still easier for a potential player to find Nexuiz Classic.
In fact, it's even worse than that. There are about as many people on Nexuiz servers as on Xonotic servers, still. Even more embarrassing: since the moment when I discovered Xonotic, the number of Xonotic players seems to have been shrinking (haven't checked the stats, just my impression). Despite some migration of old players from Nexuiz. Despite the release of 0.8, which must have attracted some curious ones.
So I have a MESSAGE for the devs.
OK, "we're still beta", OK, I'm not going to dispute this policy. However, guys, do you know what you did?
You created THE BEST SHOOTER EVER, ABSOLUTELY.
Well, OK, this is just what some players think; but, you know, it's sort of an informed opinion, actually. For example, take me: due to addiction to Xonotic, I got interested in shooters in general, tried a couple more, saw tons of frag movies, video tutorials, and the like; no other game looked comparable.
Sure, it has crashed for me, occasionally. Like, five or six times in, what, nine months of playing nearly every day. My browser has crash stats differing by an order of magnitude. Yeah, there are things that can be improved... which means, the game still has a huge potential, too. It seems to offer a flexible platform for adding mods, new features, whatever. Anyway, it was the best FPS already as 0.7; 0.8 is still better; there's absolutely nothing to be shy about. Perhaps it's not the time for advertising the game actively yet, but it's not the time to hide it from potential users anymore, either. For example...
IT SHOULD BE IN THE UBUNTU REPOS. YEAH, AS IS AND ASAP!
I don't know how difficult this will be, technically and organizationally; but it will be necessary anyway, I believe, at some later point. So why not start working on this now? Write "BETA" in the description, in boldface and all-caps. Linux users, generally, don't mind testing betas; for example, they don't fear malware or system crashes as much as users of commercial OS's do. And they don't have enough games to play, see above. And where do you think the people who may start to experiment with, and provide sensible feedback on, or even contribute to, a free and open-source software, are? Perhaps, they are already using some free and open-source software? Including, as their main OS?
PLEEEEASE!
![[Image: 38443.png]](http://stats.xonotic.org/static/badges/38443.png)
![[Image: 0_e8735_c58a251e_orig]](https://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/60015/73987442.5/0_e8735_c58a251e_orig)
