Community mindset...

[colonistPally]

I see a lot of people in the forum not contributing. Going from thread to thread, not reading the post and immediately shooting down idea. This is going to hurt RimWorld in the long run and in the short run, going to chase off a lot of the community, if it hasn't already.

They're people with really high up posts, and cool titles, and all of that, but the things they say don't even seem to support that they've even played the game.......

I was having problems with grave sites. Someone chimed in that it was a "known issue" even though there was nothing about it posted in the known issues box. Further down a poster let me know I just had my priorities set up wrong. Fixed it easily with their help.

I had a suggestion for 1-off or permanently resetting jobs from the in-game context menu. Someone said you could already do it, and so it was technically already implemented. The other people in the thread understood what I was saying just fine and kept the conversation going. Hopefully it's something we can get implemented moving down the road.

I had an idea for having multiple home zones so I could portion out my towns when they got bigger. Someone said why I would even need more than a few people and why would each of them ever need their own little home. Basically saying, "That's now how the game's meant to be played, so your idea is invalid." Everyone else seemed to understand what I was saying just fine and we're having a good time talking about it. Hopefully we can get it implemented some day.

I could go on. I get this every time I get to a new forum and I'm sick and tired of it. In fact every time I sign on to a new forum to help with a new game I IMMEDIATELY REGRET IT. Elitist trolls sitting in their forums, seated in positions where they cannot be moved, shooting every new idea down like they're protecting the developer from having to do any work that THEY don't agree with but never coming up with any new ideas of THEIR OWN. The developers need new ideas. That's why there's a suggestion forum.

You aren't the suggestion forum police to shoot down suggestions. That's why there's a suggestion forum. For new suggestions. Do the game you claim to love a favor and stop shooting down people's ideas and suggestions. You want to open it up to creativity and collaboration not be elitist telling everyone how their ideas are irrelevant and won't work. This game's in early alpha, we can make the game whatever we want it to be if management and development decide it's okay.

If we want to turn the combat into StarCraft, so what? If we want the characters to level up like an RPG, so what? If we want the characters to hook up and have babies like the Sims, so what? If we want our colonists to live in multiple giant sprawling metropolis like Sim City, so what? If we want to add new jobs, so what? If we want to add functionality to multiple menus for ease and usability, so what? If we want the farming to be like FarmVille so people have huge giant sprawling and easily manageable farms, so what? If we want to ally with other colonies but not actually control what they're doing, so what? If we want to have enemy colonies that set up and work against us an our ally colonies, so what? If it gets to be multi player some day where me and a friend can both build colonies on the same map, sharing resources toward a common goal, or against other players, so what?

This happens on every board I go on, literally every one. As I've been typing this I've actually come up with at least 5 examples of this from other games, new games still in alpha. People that do this are actually LOWERING the quality of the game by their stupid uneducated remarks. They're LOWERING the core community base by responding without even reading the post let alone actually understanding or interpreting it to anything positive. Who are YOU to tell ME that my idea is already implemented (When it's not) broken (when it's working) working (when it's broken) not needed (when it might be) needed (when it might not be). Who are you to tell me that? If you're going to, at least be right or at least be cooperative and positive...

Unless you're literally Ludeon staff, you don't have the right to come into every thread and tell me and everyone else here that our ideas are bad, stupid, invalid, etc.. You aren't hurting my *feelings* you're hurting *the game.* I want you to understand that. If RimWorld doesn't meet full expectations I want to make sure it isn't because of me, because it may be because of you with this attitude and mindset.

Encourage new ideas. Encourage collaboration. Encourage the community. If we're all getting together and having a good time and talking about new ideas, please try to collaborate, be positive, and supportive. Otherwise... You aren't contributing anything. You're hurting the game. If you love the game, be supportive of the community. The community is the game. The game is the community. You guys are the community. Be supportive of each other.

[Galileus]

I had an idea for having multiple home zones so I could portion out my towns when they got bigger. Someone said why I would even need more than a few people and why would each of them ever need their own little home. Basically saying, "That's now how the game's meant to be played, so your idea is invalid." Everyone else seemed to understand what I was saying just fine and we're having a good time talking about it. Hopefully we can get it implemented some day.

I stopped reading right here, seeing as you prefer to twist my words and openly lie than actually answer me. Let's get the facts straight:

- I clearly stated that <<I feel>> that making one colony and not multiple towns is the intended gameplay.
- I clearly stated, <<from my perspective>> your idea can be actually hurtful to the gameplay.
- I never even touched on "need more than a few people". Current and planned limit of colonists is around 15, that is a fact, and this is what I stated.
- I simply don't know how did you come up with me saying anything about "people owning homes".
- I have never stated your idea is invalid, I simply pointed out I don't see the reasoning behind it
- By "everyone else" you mean that one other guy
- You clearly say I don't understand your idea, yet you never approached me about it and tried to explain it
- You give no reason for why you believe I don't understand your idea

Basically you're saying that whoever doesn't agree with you, does not deserve to be answered, can be lied about behind his back and is simply wrong, is that it? Because you know what? I feel awful reading all these lies right here about what I wrote. And it's funny, considering this post was about attitude and manners. I think you should start working on yours, before you approach others about theirs. Especially that I know most of the cases you've mentioned, and I can safely state you over-react in each of them. You see demons where they are people. And to err is human, isn't it?

I was - and still am - ready to discuss your idea with you, and hopefully improve upon it. But to do this, we need to fix it's weak points first, and this is a co-operation between one creating and one criticizing. Who knows, maybe I'm wrong about my view? How would I know if not by engaging in discussion and conflicting my viewpoint with yours? It's impossible if you shut down any critique just because it doesn't say your idea is awesome.

[Untrustedlife]

I had an idea for having multiple home zones so I could portion out my towns when they got bigger. Someone said why I would even need more than a few people and why would each of them ever need their own little home. Basically saying, "That's now how the game's meant to be played, so your idea is invalid." Everyone else seemed to understand what I was saying just fine and we're having a good time talking about it. Hopefully we can get it implemented some day.

I stopped reading right here, seeing as you prefer to twist my words and openly lie than actually answer me. Let's get the facts straight:

- I clearly stated that <<I feel>> that making one colony and not multiple towns is the intended gameplay.
- I clearly stated, <<from my perspective>> your idea can be actually hurtful to the gameplay.
- I never even touched on "need more than a few people". Current and planned limit of colonists is around 15, that is a fact, and this is what I stated.
- I simply don't know how did you come up with me saying anything about "people owning homes".
- I have never stated your idea is invalid, I simply pointed out I don't see the reasoning behind it
- By "everyone else" you mean that one other guy
- You clearly say I don't understand your idea, yet you never approached me about it and tried to explain it
- You give no reason for why you believe I don't understand your idea

Basically you're saying that whoever doesn't agree with you, does not deserve to be answered, can be lied about behind his back and is simply wrong, is that it? Because you know what? I feel awful reading all these lies right here about what I wrote. And it's funny, considering this post was about attitude and manners. I think you should start working on yours, before you approach others about theirs. Especially that I know most of the cases you've mentioned, and I can safely state you over-react in each of them. You see demons where they are people. And to err is human, isn't it?

I was - and still am - ready to discuss your idea with you, and hopefully improve upon it. But to do this, we need to fix it's weak points first, and this is a co-operation between one creating and one criticizing. Who knows, maybe I'm wrong about my view? How would I know if not by engaging in discussion and conflicting my viewpoint with yours? It's impossible if you shut down any critique just because it doesn't say your idea is awesome.

You just summed up my opinion.

[Tynan]

If you'd like to help the game and the community grow, the best thing you can do is be helpful and accepting of newcomers. The fact that the newcomer hasn't read every thread in the last six months is not a reason to be dismissive or negative. Be friendly and inform people of existing discussions, and be ready to have new ones.

This isn't about the surface content of the discussion, but the tone. Just because you don't insult someone doesn't mean you're not being dismissive. Obviously it's fine to say if things are broken or not, implemented or not, planned or not. But it's not okay to do it in a way that pushes the other person below you socially.

This applies even if you are in the right; even if the other guy doesn't know his ass from his elbow. Correctness is not the issue - tone is.

Here's the metaphor to keep in mind: You are my guests.

If you wouldn't say it in real life, don't post.
If you're not ready to fully engage in a constructive discussion, don't post.
If you don't think I'd be cool with someone saying it to another guest at a social event I've organized, don't post.

I'm sorry I'm not around more to enforce this sort of thing. I'm rather busy making the game. However, I am considering a more strict anti-negativity policy. It's quite clear that some of the veterans here are not being as welcoming as they could. I'd like to see this change.