The achillies heel of Tribes success.
You can argue physics, you can argue gameplay, debate over graphics, piss over scripts but what's the one REAL thing that keeps most gamers away from Tribes (besides Tribalwar)?
The Learning Curve.
We've seen single player campaigns, tutorials, "newbie" servers and the like in a attempt to acclimate new players to Tribes as we see it. Here's the fundamental problem for those approaches: It requires the gamer to consciously choose to "educate" themselves. The gamer would need to say, hey, Tribes looks cool, I want to learn out to play this game.
In my opinion, those gamers that want to learn how to play Tribes will do so by whatever means necessary. Reading FAQ's, reading the manual, looking for tutorials within the game, joining newbie/training servers whatever they can find to help them be a more proficient player.
So, that leads us to the vast majority of gamers that simply want to plop down in front of a game, click a few buttons, join a server and get immediate satisfaction. At the very least, these guys will look at a quick reference card or take a glance at the controls within the game to find out what to do. As a last resort, they'll be filling the chat hud up with "how do I..." questions till they get kicked.
The Solution: (Puts on flame retardant suit) LT/Spawn CtF. Now before you start with the flames and the newb calling, hear me out. We've already agreed about what the problem is with Tribes (maybe we didn't, but let's pretend we did) the learning curve. Now, let's strip out all the complicated procedures and measures that make Tribes what is Tribes and let the newbies focus the single most important aspect of Tribes, movement. LT/Spawn CtF provide this. It's a no frills way new players can get into Tribes with knowning little more than Jet/Ski/Aim/Shoot.
Of course we'll have our traditional CTF as the pinnacle of true Tribe veteran status, but it gives new players a chance to come in a see what it's all about, have some instant fun and then aspire to become a true Tribes player by joining the ranks of Veteran CTF (renamed for your pleasure).
LT/Spawn CtF is a blast. It's super fast-paced, easy to pick up and lots of fun. This is what we want new players to see.. just how fun Tribes can be without all the frustrations and agony of the long learning curve. This is just a "taste" of what Tribes is about, it'll leave them wanting more (Vet CTF) instead of them wanting their ground pounding Quake/UT/BF style of boredom.
I'm almost positive this is been brought up before (and maybe I brought it up) but I think it's a great way to package future version of Tribes (Ascension, Legends, Legions?).
Even if all it did was garner a few thousand gamers that ONLY play LT/Spawn CtF leaving the Vet CTF servers full of leftover has-beens of Tribes past, it keeps support alive for the Tribes we love, now coined, Vet CTF.
DISCLAIMER: This post is not an advertisement or promotion for LT or Spawn CtF and condones any action by a true Tribes player as what Tribes "should be". It is a guide or a path to what the future of Tribes can be by proposing a potential solution to the age-old problem of Tribes Mass Appeal (TMA): the learning curve.
You can argue physics, you can argue gameplay, debate over graphics, piss over scripts but what's the one REAL thing that keeps most gamers away from Tribes (besides Tribalwar)?
The Learning Curve.
We've seen single player campaigns, tutorials, "newbie" servers and the like in a attempt to acclimate new players to Tribes as we see it. Here's the fundamental problem for those approaches: It requires the gamer to consciously choose to "educate" themselves. The gamer would need to say, hey, Tribes looks cool, I want to learn out to play this game.
In my opinion, those gamers that want to learn how to play Tribes will do so by whatever means necessary. Reading FAQ's, reading the manual, looking for tutorials within the game, joining newbie/training servers whatever they can find to help them be a more proficient player.
So, that leads us to the vast majority of gamers that simply want to plop down in front of a game, click a few buttons, join a server and get immediate satisfaction. At the very least, these guys will look at a quick reference card or take a glance at the controls within the game to find out what to do. As a last resort, they'll be filling the chat hud up with "how do I..." questions till they get kicked.
The Solution: (Puts on flame retardant suit) LT/Spawn CtF. Now before you start with the flames and the newb calling, hear me out. We've already agreed about what the problem is with Tribes (maybe we didn't, but let's pretend we did) the learning curve. Now, let's strip out all the complicated procedures and measures that make Tribes what is Tribes and let the newbies focus the single most important aspect of Tribes, movement. LT/Spawn CtF provide this. It's a no frills way new players can get into Tribes with knowning little more than Jet/Ski/Aim/Shoot.
Of course we'll have our traditional CTF as the pinnacle of true Tribe veteran status, but it gives new players a chance to come in a see what it's all about, have some instant fun and then aspire to become a true Tribes player by joining the ranks of Veteran CTF (renamed for your pleasure).
LT/Spawn CtF is a blast. It's super fast-paced, easy to pick up and lots of fun. This is what we want new players to see.. just how fun Tribes can be without all the frustrations and agony of the long learning curve. This is just a "taste" of what Tribes is about, it'll leave them wanting more (Vet CTF) instead of them wanting their ground pounding Quake/UT/BF style of boredom.
I'm almost positive this is been brought up before (and maybe I brought it up) but I think it's a great way to package future version of Tribes (Ascension, Legends, Legions?).
Even if all it did was garner a few thousand gamers that ONLY play LT/Spawn CtF leaving the Vet CTF servers full of leftover has-beens of Tribes past, it keeps support alive for the Tribes we love, now coined, Vet CTF.
DISCLAIMER: This post is not an advertisement or promotion for LT or Spawn CtF and condones any action by a true Tribes player as what Tribes "should be". It is a guide or a path to what the future of Tribes can be by proposing a potential solution to the age-old problem of Tribes Mass Appeal (TMA): the learning curve.
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