[A18] Users aren't immediately understanding the "invert" feature for areas

[YokoZar]

Popular Rimworld thread on Something Awful: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&threadid=3598337&perpage=40&pagenumber=420#pti19

On that page at least 3 people reported having manually created an animal area for the whole map rather than making a new blank animal area, inverting it, and then removing the parts they wanted.

It seems like the primary use case for "invert" is to start with the entire map and then remove the undesired areas.  The managed areas section could offer to do that directly.
For instance if the buttons read:
- New Animal Area
- New Animal Area (entire map allowed)

[Calahan]

I'm not sure where the bug is here. If some players don't know the meaning of the word invert, or don't know how it's used in the game then... maybe this could be made into a suggestion for an extra tutorial step or more tooltip info. I don't know. But unless I'm missing something there is no bug here, so I'm moving this to... general discussion I guess (although if you edit the OP to turn it into a proper suggestion then I'll move it to suggestions instead).

Oh and non SA members can't read that forum link as it's behind a paywall. So if there are relevant posts there you want people to see you need to copy and paste them here (and maybe ask the people who's posts you are copying first if it's okay to do that).

[YokoZar]

I'm not sure where the bug is here. If some players don't know the meaning of the word invert, or don't know how it's used in the game then... maybe this could be made into a suggestion for an extra tutorial step or more tooltip info. I don't know. But unless I'm missing something there is no bug here, so I'm moving this to... general discussion I guess (although if you edit the OP to turn it into a proper suggestion then I'll move it to suggestions instead).

Oh and non SA members can't read that forum link as it's behind a paywall. So if there are relevant posts there you want people to see you need to copy and paste them here (and maybe ask the people who's posts you are copying first if it's okay to do that).

Put it where you like.  I'd prefer suggestions over bugs if you're moving it, as the suggestion is to add a new button and name it more clearly.

On my programming teams (open source and commercial) we just call usability issues like these bugs, and track them as such.

[Canute]

The bug is part of the human itself.
They are too lazy to check out their options.
Why should a lazy gamer open the area managment ? Because he just need a new zone. But this don't happen very often.
Then people forget about the "invert" option and just repeatly expand their  zone over and over.

Too bad we can't invert growingzones ! :-(

[Kirby23590]

Kind of sad most people don't even understand the invert or meaning of the word...

I used that option in notepad++ to gimp in those programs. it's like they don't understand what an inverted color is.

I use the internet and my understandings to research things first and to know what i'm doing... kind of sad really

[Bozobub]

Just remember, 100 IQ is defined as the human median/average intelligence; sadly, the average in the US is 98 .  Now, reflect on the fact that roughly half the people you meet are dumber than that.

[CannibarRechter]

Topical

[YokoZar]

This isn't a 'let's go feel superior about ourselves' thing.  The feature can still be better than it is in its current state and make everyone happy.

Every time you want to press invert it's after creating a new blank map.  So just save us a button press and instead of having "new" and "invert" buttons, just have "new" and "new (all allowed)" buttons.

[Bozobub]

I personally think that with expanding the "Invert" label to "Invert selection", its purpose will become a lot clearer right away, with minimal fuss.

[Renegrade]

It's actually not a new feature, I've been using it since.. well, since I started with RimWorld, several alphas ago.  Sometime around A13-A15.  I have saves that are definitely attributed to A15, so at least that far back.

I thought 'invert' was fairly clear.  I wouldn't be opposed to changing it to 'invert selection' though as suggested above.    That being said, I'm sure people will still "stupid out" of using it--their intellectual laziness actually results in them (ironically) having to do more work.  You'd be amazed at how few people explore interfaces these days.

Anyhow, one thing that I'd like to see there is a "clear" button.  You can always delete and re-create an area, but it then loses it's name and color (and a color button wouldn't be amiss either, come to think of it.  I have a mod installed that adds such a button, it's quite handy  ).  Being able to reset my 'FOCUS' area to nothing easily without losing it's name or blue-ish color would be quite nice.

[Bozobub]

I personally think that similar QoL changes is what RimWorld needs most (well, OK, pathfinding, pathfinding, pathfinding, but BESIDES that ).  That also meshes well with going to a beta release, imo; I'd be willing to bet we start seeing a LOT of polish incoming =).

[YokoZar]

Some more observed confusion in the SA thread.  I suggest someone on the dev team get an account to get a more naive view of the game -- the audience is more general and often playing for the first time; you already have to be pretty into Rimworld to come to the Rimworld forums.

Users with reasonable amounts of gaming experience shouldn't have to come to a forum asking for step by step instructions on how to lock animals out of the freezer.

[Bozobub]

I think it's basic common sense to go to a specific game's official forum, for advice on that game.  No, not as the *only* source, but why wouldn't you?  Where did I go for info on playing Stellaris, for example?  Why, Paradox's forums, and that worked out just dandy ^^'.

Asking about RimWorld on Something Awful is just about as silly as asking important health or legal questions on Quora, or even worse, Facebook (*shudder* ); it might work just dandy, sure, but it's really NOT where you should be asking.

[YokoZar]

I think it's basic common sense to go to a specific game's official forum, for advice on that game.  No, not as the *only* source, but why wouldn't you?  Where did I go for info on playing Stellaris, for example?  Why, Paradox's forums, and that worked out just dandy ^^'.

Asking about RimWorld on Something Awful is just about as silly as asking important health or legal questions on Quora, or even worse, Facebook (*shudder* ); it might work just dandy, sure, but it's really NOT where you should be asking.

It depends on how serious you are or committed to the game.  Joining the "Rimworld community" is a step above talking about Rimworld in some other community you're already participating in.

[Bozobub]

Yes, it is.  And when those people don't know, you look more widely.