<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<rss version="2.0">
    <channel>
        <title>BYOND RPG</title>
        <link>http://www.byond.com/members/BYONDRPG</link>
        <description>The place where role-players unite!</description>
        <lastBuildDate>Sun, 11 May 2008 06:15:56 GMT</lastBuildDate>
        <language>en-us</language>
    
                <item>
            <title>Behaviour Guidelines</title>
            <link>http://www.byond.com/members/?command=view_post&amp;post=41852</link>
            <guid>http://www.byond.com/members/?command=view_post&amp;post=41852</guid>
            <pubDate>Sat, 19 Apr 2008 21:09:22 GMT</pubDate>
            
            <comments>http://www.byond.com/members/BYONDRPG?command=view_comments&amp;post=41852#comments</comments>
            
            <description>Community Standards as seen on &lt;a href='http://www.byond.com/members/BYONDStrategy'&gt;BYOND Strategy&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do Not Assume Bias&lt;/strong&gt;:  The site is patrolled by volunteers who are not active at all times.  It is possible for one offence to be caught while another escapes punishment.  It is not a matter of certain people being favoured.  It is still wrong to commit the offence in either case.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Administrative Decisions Are Final&lt;/strong&gt;: Do not start a thread to plead your case. Likewise, do not have others do it for you. Although we strive to create a fair environment, this is not a democracy. If power was misused, it is likely other staff members are already discussing the situation. Getting fifty John Does to agree with you and spam a thread will not make things any faster, but will hurt your case more than help it.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Language&lt;/strong&gt;: The language of hub entries, forums and submitted blog posts is English.  Different cultures are appreciated, but speakers of other languages should not expect thoughtful replies nor moderation.  Naturally, you may speak whatever language you like in your own blog and forums.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Swearing&lt;/strong&gt;: Cursing is to be avoided in hub entries, forums, and submitted blog posts.  Note that moderators should not be expected to know what constitutes cursing in every culture.  The standards will usually be based on phrases spoken in the United States.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Flame Wars&lt;/strong&gt;:  Keep discussions civil.  Do not throw insults.  Do not slander.  Note that controversial topics, such as politics or religion, might be closed without warning.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Indecency&lt;/strong&gt;: Hub entries, forum posts, submitted blog posts, and the links therein should be work-safe.  They should not contain porn, scantily-clad people, nor nude graphics of any type.  Further rules of decency are at the staff's discretion.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spam&lt;/strong&gt;: Flooding a forum with multiple copies of the same post will not be tolerated.  Those who spam will be banned.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Crossposting&lt;/strong&gt;: Posting the same message in multiple areas is not allowed.  Though posting across separate guilds may be tolerable, posting the same message across forums within a single guild is not.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bumping&lt;/strong&gt;: Replying to one's post to add more information is fine.  However, replying to one's post just to make the thread look more recent is rarely tolerable.  Consider the standard message view preference to be Topic View, which often lists posts going back multiple months.  If you did not receive any replies, consider the idea that either nobody knew the answer or nobody cared.&lt;/li&gt;</description>
        </item>
                <item>
            <title>Seika Review</title>
            <link>http://www.byond.com/members/?command=view_post&amp;post=41387</link>
            <guid>http://www.byond.com/members/?command=view_post&amp;post=41387</guid>
            <pubDate>Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:08:44 GMT</pubDate>
            
            <comments>http://www.byond.com/members/BYONDRPG?command=view_comments&amp;post=41387#comments</comments>
            
            <description>Seika is an amazing game once you get the hang of it. It may take a while for some people but not so much others. Seika offers alot to its players. Alot of original features reside here. &lt;/center&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
The game is very entertaining in that it has some features that I have yet to see on byond. One of these features is a pet system that involves the ability to ride certain pets such as rats, horses, lions, and more. The game is centered around a skill system, everything other than running around and talking to people will put up a certain skill. There are many skill sin game such as: Black smithing, mining, magery, taming, and even skills such as slashing. There are more skills but to go in depth with them all would take forever.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Seika had alot of things that players didn't like. One of these things being the info window. You no longer had tabs you had a seperate window, and the constant selecting got pretty annoying really fast. This window was however replaced when the game owner gotr on and experienced game play for himself.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Seika is updating rapidly to prevent these much disliked interfaces and such.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
One thing that was fixed was a bug known in the game as &quot;Duping&quot;. Duping is the process of duplicating an item to get more money or materials for crafting. There was a real problem with this bug before the update. People would Dupe untill they had enough money to buy the houses and the materials to make all the equipment they needed.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
The game is now updating quite rapidly. A new ferry system has been added. For a fee you can ride a ferry to certain islands. The great in depth modeling of your character gives players plenty to do. Such as becoming a powerfull mage or fearless warrior. There is only one thing I can say about this games creator, good job Iccusion Entertainment. You have created a very fun and satisfying game.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
The game overall I think, would get a 7 out of 10. Any lover of a good RPG would simply love this game.</description>
        </item>
                <item>
            <title>Thanks Foomer!</title>
            <link>http://www.byond.com/members/?command=view_post&amp;post=41023</link>
            <guid>http://www.byond.com/members/?command=view_post&amp;post=41023</guid>
            <pubDate>Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:04:17 GMT</pubDate>
            
            <comments>http://www.byond.com/members/BYONDRPG?command=view_comments&amp;post=41023#comments</comments>
            
            <description>This brand new and flashy CSS stylesheet was created by Foomer. He's done a wonderful job making it compatible for BYOND RPG and I'd like to express my thanks for taking care of this job for me.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
By far the best CSS we've ever had.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
There are some minor compatibility issues with Internet Explorer, but that can't be helped by us. The only way to fix them is to help yourselves and get a &lt;a href='http://www.firefox.com'&gt;decent browser&lt;/a&gt;.</description>
        </item>
                <item>
            <title>Zelda Online Reviewed after too long!</title>
            <link>http://www.byond.com/members/?command=view_post&amp;post=41004</link>
            <guid>http://www.byond.com/members/?command=view_post&amp;post=41004</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:35:33 GMT</pubDate>
            
            <comments>http://www.byond.com/members/BYONDRPG?command=view_comments&amp;post=41004#comments</comments>
            
            <description>&lt;span style='color: #009900;'&gt;The author of this review is slightly biased towards the game. - BYOND RPG&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Ok, this is my first review but yet again this was the first game i ever played on BYOND!&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
i will start off with the sprites ok&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
you get a pretty basic sprite design but with a twist ... they give you all of the primary colours and tell you to choose how much of that colour you want in ..... i think if this had have been in the original zelda games it would have made it all the more EPIC!&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
you talk to some weird dude and get your dads sword (pitty cuz we dont EVER meet links dad in any of the games just i think his brother)&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;img width=352 height=352 src=&quot;http://www.byond.com/members/Shiniru/files/2008%2D03/Shiniru%2D0001/old%20dude.png&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
walk over to the chest press &quot;a&quot; DUN DUN DA DA!!!!! your first item .... oh wait its a crappy bottle .. this will prove more useful as you go along .... i will tell ya later&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
ok so you equip the bottle ... just cuz youve got a crappy item dosnt mean you shouldnt show your bling to the people who are about to get it in like .... what ... 4 .... 5 seconds&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;img width=352 height=352 src=&quot;http://www.byond.com/members/Shiniru/files/2008%2D03/Shiniru%2D0001/bottle.png&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;http://www.byond.com/members/Shiniru/files/2008%2D03/Shiniru%2D0001/inventory.png&quot; rel=&quot;thumbnail&quot;&gt;&lt;img width=160 height=160 src=&quot;http://www.byond.com/members/Shiniru/files/2008%2D03/Shiniru%2D0001/inventory_thumb.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
walk out of the house and you walk down the path and see a blocked path OH NOES WHAT AM I GOING TO DO .. oh wait i have a sword .. go in there and you get to your first TEMPLE!!! the temple in itself is pretty easy i do have to say the boss can be tricky at times ... but i also have to say that it is a REALLY well scriped dungeon ... hell .. the whole game is .. with the exception of the water fall were you need to fill up a bottle and get a zoras mask from somebody on a beach*HINT*&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;http://www.byond.com/members/Shiniru/files/2008%2D03/Shiniru%2D0001/waterfall.png&quot; rel=&quot;thumbnail&quot;&gt;&lt;img width=160 height=160 src=&quot;http://www.byond.com/members/Shiniru/files/2008%2D03/Shiniru%2D0001/waterfall_thumb.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
the artwork is almost the best byond art ive seen for fan games&lt;br/&gt;
it is superb its alot like the art for LOZ - a link to the past&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
ok ... im going to start to give away too much so ... i will summarise this &lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
ART: 10/10&lt;br/&gt;
Gameplay: 8/10 (can get a little repettitve)&lt;br/&gt;
Commands 10/10 .. it is all macroed to your keyboard so there is no clicking attack on your tabs which can get VERRY annoying&lt;br/&gt;
NPC's:there are a few RANDOMERS just put there to fill in spaces and give hints and the MOBS are very well made i have found no problem with them the vendors all work aswell yet again they are like the old a link to a past vendors&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;http://www.byond.com/members/Shiniru/files/2008%2D03/Shiniru%2D0001/Vendor.png&quot; rel=&quot;thumbnail&quot;&gt;&lt;img width=160 height=160 src=&quot;http://www.byond.com/members/Shiniru/files/2008%2D03/Shiniru%2D0001/Vendor_thumb.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
PK: 8/10 there is a PK system in play were you can get bounty points added to your card for killing a certain person with theese points you can buy a special reward &lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
BUGS: I HAVE FOUND NO BUGS WHATSOEVER IN THIS GAME!!!!!!&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
it is no longer hosted by stray (strai) I loved this game and i think many of you did too and i think it is about time we try get this game back up ... i have  file to host this game but byond cannot host that file right now .. if you want it add me to your friends i will send you it &lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
but i want all of you guys who have a copy of the file to start hosting this game to make it popular again ... as i am speaking i am hosting a server right now .. i will try to keep it up as long as possible but i have school lol :P&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
i hope you like this game too&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
HERE IS SOME ZORA PWNAGE!!!&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;http://www.byond.com/members/Shiniru/files/2008%2D03/Shiniru%2D0001/ZORA%21.png&quot; rel=&quot;thumbnail&quot;&gt;&lt;img width=160 height=160 src=&quot;http://www.byond.com/members/Shiniru/files/2008%2D03/Shiniru%2D0001/ZORA%21_thumb.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;img width=352 height=352 src=&quot;http://www.byond.com/members/Shiniru/files/2008%2D03/Shiniru%2D0001/zora%20pwnage.png&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
</description>
        </item>
                <item>
            <title>A closer look at SS13 player dynamics</title>
            <link>http://www.byond.com/members/?command=view_post&amp;post=40937</link>
            <guid>http://www.byond.com/members/?command=view_post&amp;post=40937</guid>
            <pubDate>Sat, 29 Mar 2008 05:01:58 GMT</pubDate>
            
            <comments>http://www.byond.com/members/BYONDRPG?command=view_comments&amp;post=40937#comments</comments>
            
            <description>&lt;B style='color: #009900'&gt;This review contains stories of player experience as well as a review to the game itself. - BYOND RPG&lt;/B&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
As a forewarning, this review is huge. As it is an RP game, I felt it &lt;br/&gt;
necessary to review player interaction dynamics as opposed to just &lt;br/&gt;
gameplay aspects, and that takes a fair bit of explaining. If you can't &lt;br/&gt;
be bothered reading long-winded rants, now is your chance to escape.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;b&gt;-Introduction-&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Space Station 13. When the game first came out, I paid it little heed. &lt;br/&gt;
It sounded way too much like an action game, and as I was running on a &lt;br/&gt;
56k modem, that would put me at a huge disadvantage. Many months later, &lt;br/&gt;
I was bored and since my connection had since been upgraded, I decided &lt;br/&gt;
it was time to give it a go.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
So I invited a friend to join me in this epic space oddyssey which &lt;br/&gt;
seemed to be so popular that players were bursting out the game's seams. &lt;br/&gt;
Well... hilarity ensued. After battling with the awkward popups with &lt;br/&gt;
confusing options, searching for a way to start the game (fortunately, &lt;br/&gt;
watching other people move helped us), and then finally joining midway &lt;br/&gt;
through an extended round, she and I were finally in... wearing nothing &lt;br/&gt;
except our underwear and holding our ID cards in our hands like some &lt;br/&gt;
kind of weapons to fend against our complete ignorance of what was going &lt;br/&gt;
on.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Now, the average new player's &quot;intelligence&quot; (aka ability to play the &lt;br/&gt;
game without looking like a noob) level depends heavily on the &lt;br/&gt;
intuitive..ness of the game's interface and controls. A help menu or &lt;br/&gt;
mini tutorial also increase their ability to play competently. However, &lt;br/&gt;
how many of you would buy a brand new game, and read the manual cover to &lt;br/&gt;
cover before you plunge in? Yeah that's what I thought. On top of that, &lt;br/&gt;
the &quot;manual&quot; for SS13 is freaking ENORMOUS and wayyy too detailed to be &lt;br/&gt;
of any help to a new player hoping to actually play in the same day they &lt;br/&gt;
decided to open the game. And since there are no tooltips or anything &lt;br/&gt;
else to explain gameplay, new players are more or less on their own.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
So what happened? Well, when faced with a confusing and complex HUD, &lt;br/&gt;
completely alien controls, and a verb panel the size of Oklahoma, we did &lt;br/&gt;
what any newbie players would do... ignored them. &quot;Oh hey, we're &lt;br/&gt;
practically naked!&quot; I said, &quot;Let's try and get some clothes!&quot; So, (the &lt;br/&gt;
controls for moving were still mapped to the arrow keys) we approached &lt;br/&gt;
the nearest closet which someone had left open for us, and tried to &lt;br/&gt;
figure out how to put clothes on. Ok remember how I mentioned hillarity? &lt;br/&gt;
Well imagine you put two monkeys in the room (as I was doing at that &lt;br/&gt;
point, since neither of us knew how to behave much like rational humans &lt;br/&gt;
in that world) and they are shown clothing. What would you expect?&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
*Kira hits the brown shoes with Kira's ID card 0&gt;0-0-0!*&lt;br/&gt;
*Kira hits the brown shoes with Kira's ID card 0&gt;0-0-0*&lt;br/&gt;
*Kira hits the brown shoes with Kira's ID card 0&gt;0-0-0*&lt;br/&gt;
*Kira hits the brown shoes with Kira's ID card 0&gt;0-0-0*&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Yep.. our experience with SS13 was going REAL well for us there. It took &lt;br/&gt;
me about 20 mins to figure out how to switch hands so I could &lt;br/&gt;
appropriate the correct clothing and then another 15 mins to figure out &lt;br/&gt;
how to apply it without hitting myself in the face with the shirt. (Yes, &lt;br/&gt;
that happened)&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Anyway, skip ahead a few WEEKS. My friend quit the game about 5 minutes &lt;br/&gt;
in because I was laughing so hard at her beating the shoes with her ID &lt;br/&gt;
card. I however, had soldiered on, and through a painfully slow learning &lt;br/&gt;
process had more or less delved into all of the secrets the game had to &lt;br/&gt;
offer. Now, I'm a fast learner. I pick up games fairly quickly and it &lt;br/&gt;
doesn't take me long to become competent. The fact that it took over a &lt;br/&gt;
week for ME to learn how to play SS13 as a veteran player is not only &lt;br/&gt;
worrying, it's one of the reasons the game is dead in the water. While &lt;br/&gt;
it's true that the finer points of games SHOULD take a long time to &lt;br/&gt;
master, it wasn't the finer points that I was missing out on, it was &lt;br/&gt;
important information that you could not ROLE PLAY without.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
For example, what kind of engineer doesn't know how to build things? A &lt;br/&gt;
new one, that's who. New players can be ANY position on the ship from a &lt;br/&gt;
lowly research assistant to the all-important CAPTAIN, and yet there are &lt;br/&gt;
essential skills which they don't get taught. There's no info telling &lt;br/&gt;
them how to do it either, for some reason it's considered a secret and &lt;br/&gt;
only players who are &quot;in the know&quot; can actually do more than hitting the &lt;br/&gt;
proverbial tiled floor with the proverbial metal plating. And of course, &lt;br/&gt;
let's not mention DISMANTLING said walls. Can you imagine what would &lt;br/&gt;
happen if someone went and just built walls wherever they wanted and &lt;br/&gt;
nobody knew how to get rid of them? Yeah well it's happened and it &lt;br/&gt;
happens a lot.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;b&gt;- And so it begins...-&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
So finally, we get to the beginning of my review. As an RP game, Space &lt;br/&gt;
Station 13 is fundamentally flawed because the positions in the game &lt;br/&gt;
that players can occupy do NOT correlate with the experience the players &lt;br/&gt;
have, and on top of that, there's nothing that tells them how to learn &lt;br/&gt;
those skills! Can you imagine crewing a space station with a doctor &lt;br/&gt;
who'd never held a syringe before in his life, and couldn't even put his &lt;br/&gt;
own coat on without help? That would never happen in reality, and that's &lt;br/&gt;
the first of the two big reasons why RP goes down the drain before the &lt;br/&gt;
game has even begun.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
The game doesn't cater to newbie players. It's an expert game designed &lt;br/&gt;
to be played by experts who know all the secrets, can perform all the &lt;br/&gt;
tasks, and probably have 2/3 of them macroed anyway (see tazer fights). &lt;br/&gt;
Furthermore, any new players have to deal with jaded oldbies who are &lt;br/&gt;
bored out of their skulls or just simply interested in wreaking some &lt;br/&gt;
havoc to vent some anger on the defenseless majority. Insert clubbings, &lt;br/&gt;
being welded into emergency closets and shoved out airlocks, death by &lt;br/&gt;
toxins, death by bombing (very popular), or sudden tazering, stripping &lt;br/&gt;
and imprisonment. A smart expert player will often carry 1 or 2 backup, &lt;br/&gt;
completely non-RP plans in case something happens.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
For example, I would often shove a welder and a screwdriver/wrench into &lt;br/&gt;
my pockets (&quot;No, I'm not happy to see you, that's just my tool... &lt;br/&gt;
What?&quot;), in case some noob knocked me out and locked me in a room as &lt;br/&gt;
happens all too often with the players of SS13. With these two tools, so &lt;br/&gt;
long as I wasn't handcuffed I could break down the walls and escape to &lt;br/&gt;
collect the items necessary to beat them at their own game. Of course, &lt;br/&gt;
that plan would only be useful in maybe 1/8 times something bad happened &lt;br/&gt;
and of course in terms of RP, it makes no sense for anyone except maybe &lt;br/&gt;
an engineer or technician to have his pockets stuffed with tools.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
So are you beginning to see the trend here? The new players, all &lt;br/&gt;
bright-eyed, bushy tailed and completely oblivious to the seedy reality &lt;br/&gt;
of the game are subjected to the old players who very closely resemble &lt;br/&gt;
war veterans, going nuts at the slightest suspicious activity (shoot &lt;br/&gt;
first, ask questions later tends to be the unspoken rule), screaming &lt;br/&gt;
blue murder when something goes wrong, and keeping their weapons even &lt;br/&gt;
closer than their tools. Really, SS13 resembles some kind of maafia &lt;br/&gt;
convention where everyone walks around pretending to be normal but &lt;br/&gt;
secretly suspecting everyone else and planning their escape route... and &lt;br/&gt;
that's not even in traitor mode!&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Of course, the old players have very good reason to act like that, which &lt;br/&gt;
is the second big reason RP doesn't work. See, oldbies can be split up &lt;br/&gt;
into two groups: the people who are still willing to try and make RP &lt;br/&gt;
happen, and the people who just want to blow things up or play with the &lt;br/&gt;
many secrets that the game has that do absolutely nothing productive and &lt;br/&gt;
yet are so much fun to mess with (we call these people griefers). For &lt;br/&gt;
example, did you know that you can clone people using the monkeys in the &lt;br/&gt;
DNA lab? Yep. You can even raise the dead with that same machine. Of &lt;br/&gt;
course, where are you going to get a dead person with only a limited &lt;br/&gt;
number of people on the station? Hmmm... hey look here comes someone... &lt;br/&gt;
I bet I could knock him out before he alerts the guards. Then just give &lt;br/&gt;
me 5 minutes and I'll have a clone of him ready and nobody will ever &lt;br/&gt;
know! MUAHAHAHAHA!&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Yeah, it gets messy. And of course, the more people learn, the more they &lt;br/&gt;
want to test it. Let's admit it... it's damn cool to blow someone up by &lt;br/&gt;
triggering the laser tripwire hidden in the men's bathroom linked to the &lt;br/&gt;
explosive that's in the backpack you just gave to your colleague to wear &lt;br/&gt;
as he goes to perform repairs on a leaky plasma tank in the engineering &lt;br/&gt;
sector. And believe it or not, with careful planning, people can do &lt;br/&gt;
stuff like that. Or heck, you may just feel like exploring the far &lt;br/&gt;
reaches of space in a closet. Yes, a closet, and not one welded shut on &lt;br/&gt;
you either.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
So in any game of SS13, the player breakdown will be roughly as follows: &lt;br/&gt;
Between 1/2 and 1/8 will be oldbies who want to RP properly. Between 1/2 &lt;br/&gt;
and 1/4 will be oldbies who want to blow stuff up or do stupid stuff &lt;br/&gt;
just because they can, and the rest will be newer players who may not &lt;br/&gt;
know what they are doing at all or be midway, and thus unintentionally &lt;br/&gt;
detract from RP when they (as the doctor) start asking the security &lt;br/&gt;
officer how the med bay cryogenic storage works. Given that mixup, how &lt;br/&gt;
can ANY match be RP related? In short - it can't. That's why SS13 is &lt;br/&gt;
getting all these bad reviews, because it's just not possible to have a &lt;br/&gt;
proper RP if even one person is in there to mess it up. After all, newb &lt;br/&gt;
questions can be forgiven, but when the prison officer tazers the &lt;br/&gt;
captain and steals his badge whilst shoving said captain out of the &lt;br/&gt;
airlock, the RP has long gone.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
The only reason the game is still counted as fun is the thrill you get &lt;br/&gt;
when you best someone who's actually good at the game. Consider this: I &lt;br/&gt;
was once locked into a gas room by the traitor in one round with toxins &lt;br/&gt;
slowly being injected into said room. Sure of his victory, he turned and &lt;br/&gt;
ran off, leaving my to my slow, toxin-filled death. What he didn't know &lt;br/&gt;
is that as the atmospheric technician (or more accurately, because I was &lt;br/&gt;
afraid of that happening), I had a spare gas mask and oxy tank in my &lt;br/&gt;
backpack. After donning those, I fell to the ground as if I was dead, &lt;br/&gt;
which he came back to check on and, satisfied, he left. Now truly, he &lt;br/&gt;
had all the power. Had he paid attention he would have noticed that I &lt;br/&gt;
was simply lying down, but he was too sure that he'd done his job and &lt;br/&gt;
continued on to try and bomb the ship. Well I escaped, disarmed his bomb &lt;br/&gt;
on the station, then told everyone what he did. He ended up killing &lt;br/&gt;
himself with another homemade bomb, but that didn't matter. I was the &lt;br/&gt;
hero of that round!&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Or even the time I was chased by a super-powered robot, complete with a &lt;br/&gt;
shield, body armor and a freaking sword. I hid in a closet to await the &lt;br/&gt;
shuttle, but he found me. Boy did he ever find me. That day was the day &lt;br/&gt;
I, one of the only 3 survivors of his rampage and still quite new to the &lt;br/&gt;
game, introduced his head to my oxygen tank I'd had ready as a backup &lt;br/&gt;
plan. Sirus 1, Robot Assassin 0. The remaining survivors escaped on the &lt;br/&gt;
shuttle, and I got to keep his sword and cool gear. Rock on.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
When stuff like that happens, you get this rush like nothing else. You &lt;br/&gt;
feel amazing, godlike even. I once won a tazer fight against two people &lt;br/&gt;
at once. I'll always remember that as a good day, no matter what else &lt;br/&gt;
happened on the station at the time. &lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
However, none of that was truly RP. I can't say that in any of those &lt;br/&gt;
rounds EVERYONE acted in character. Many times even a veretan will log &lt;br/&gt;
on to the game, and die from a completely stupid method such as some &lt;br/&gt;
cloaked moron bashing your skull in as you attempt to stroll through the &lt;br/&gt;
corridoors minding your own business.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Lastly, the game rounds themselves aren't very condusive to RP. (Note, &lt;br/&gt;
blob mode etc are new and I haven't played them yet, so I won't review &lt;br/&gt;
them) Let's start with the worst: Monkey. In case you don't know, monkey &lt;br/&gt;
mode involves about 1/3 of the players becoming infected with a deadly &lt;br/&gt;
virus that turns you into a monkey and turns anyone you bite into a &lt;br/&gt;
monkey too. Sounds like a decent premise until you actually try it.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Big flaw #1: The monkeys appear STRAIGHT AWAY. EVERYONE in the ship, no &lt;br/&gt;
matter what position, actually has to take about 2-3 mins putting on &lt;br/&gt;
their uniform and collecting all their equipment BEFORE they start &lt;br/&gt;
playing properly. Now what happens when a bunch of unarmed people are &lt;br/&gt;
plonked together in one room, and suddenly one of them becomes a monkey? &lt;br/&gt;
Of course, monkey wins, 9 out of 10 times. It's also completely removing &lt;br/&gt;
any chance for RP because the monkeys spawn before anyone can even get &lt;br/&gt;
their characters established. It's like &quot;This is the captain spe- AAH &lt;br/&gt;
GOD IT'S A MONKEY! *laser firing noises followed by monkey screeching &lt;br/&gt;
and the sudden feeling you no longer have a captain aboard the SS13*&quot;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Big flaw #2: Those monkeys are damn smart. You try being a new player &lt;br/&gt;
and suddenly getting an oldbie who knows every trick in the book chasing &lt;br/&gt;
you down in monkey form! Now while you may be able to attack with an &lt;br/&gt;
oxygen tank, Mr Monkey there can tazer you, gas you out, THROW THINGS at &lt;br/&gt;
you, bomb you, break down or build up walls to get at you and a massive &lt;br/&gt;
host of other things to make the fight completely one-sided. Newer &lt;br/&gt;
players don't stand a chance and quickly join the rapidly growing monkey &lt;br/&gt;
horde.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Big flaw #3: Monkeys kick ass. I'm sorry but did the game designer not &lt;br/&gt;
think about the possibility that making a monkey bite IMMEDIATELY &lt;br/&gt;
transform a person into a monkey would make things a bit one-sided? It &lt;br/&gt;
takes one bite. ONE. Whereas as a human you may have to bludgeon a &lt;br/&gt;
monkey 3-4 tims before they stop being a threat, and even then it needs &lt;br/&gt;
another 3-4 before you can be sure they won't get up again. Not fair. &lt;br/&gt;
Humans don't even get any time to prepare, while the monkeys' weapons &lt;br/&gt;
come inbuilt. This means that within about 5 mins, the games are usually &lt;br/&gt;
over as the monkeys have about 15 people on their team and there's maybe &lt;br/&gt;
2-3 humans hiding who will soon be flushed out and converted. In the &lt;br/&gt;
very least, they could make it so monkeys couldn't wear freaking oxygen &lt;br/&gt;
masks etc. I mean, it's just ridiculous when you see a monkey waltz into &lt;br/&gt;
0 oxygen areas perfectly fine because SOMEHOW he knew how to apply a &lt;br/&gt;
freaking mask and oxygen tank to his body and therefore be able to cross &lt;br/&gt;
areas of no oxygen just fine. Not only that, they can use tools, so your &lt;br/&gt;
heavy airlocks protecting you from nasty bites will be more or less gone &lt;br/&gt;
in a matter of moments. And guns? THEY CAN USE GUNS?! ALL HAIL MONKEY &lt;br/&gt;
HITLER, THE SUPERIOR RACE HATH COME!&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Final flaw: The shuttle takes 10 MINUTES to arrive. If the games end for &lt;br/&gt;
humans within just 5 minutes, there's no way the humans can actually win &lt;br/&gt;
a game unless they kill all of the monkeys IMMEDIATELY. And if that's &lt;br/&gt;
the case, then why do we need a shuttle? The game is therefore obviously &lt;br/&gt;
over and thus makes the calling of the emergency shuttle moot. Speaking &lt;br/&gt;
of moot, where'd the RP go? There's no time for it while there's a &lt;br/&gt;
screaming monkey trying to force it's own patented hair-growth formula &lt;br/&gt;
down your throat. With it's teeth.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
The other modes are LESS screwy, but still have flaws. Traitor for &lt;br/&gt;
example, works pretty well unless someone decides &quot;Hey I feel like &lt;br/&gt;
griefing&quot; and starts killing people even though they aren't supposed to, &lt;br/&gt;
even worse if one of those people IS the traitor. Also a problem is if &lt;br/&gt;
the traitor is smart and picks a cloaking device then they need &lt;br/&gt;
neutralise only one person on the entire ship because the rest won't be &lt;br/&gt;
able to see them or fight back. (Only the security officer gets thermals &lt;br/&gt;
for some reason)&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Furthermore, traitors usually cheat and do stuff like flying off to &lt;br/&gt;
Command Central to hijack the shuttle from there as opposed to playing &lt;br/&gt;
properly and actually calling it from within base. And in a proper RP &lt;br/&gt;
environment, it's pretty hard to find good reasons to accuse someone of &lt;br/&gt;
being a traitor given that nobody is supposed to know about that.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Meteor is just an average mode. It gets annoying pretty fast because the &lt;br/&gt;
meteors don't stop and are even capable of smashing the computer that &lt;br/&gt;
calls the shuttle so then everyone is stuck on SS13 and has to either &lt;br/&gt;
die or fly to CC directly, which isn't how the game is supposed to work. &lt;br/&gt;
Oh and nothing beats getting your face smashed in by a meteor as you're &lt;br/&gt;
trying to repair the damage.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Extended would work with roleplaying if the game introduced random &lt;br/&gt;
problems that needed attention. As is, nobody has anything to do and &lt;br/&gt;
that leads to griefing faster than you can say &quot;heated plasma&quot;.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Finally, nuclear mode would work really well if players stayed cool. &lt;br/&gt;
Usually one side or the other jumps the gun and soon it's just the same &lt;br/&gt;
as if there were griefers, only these griefers have like freaking super &lt;br/&gt;
powers because they get awesome suits and teleporters and cloaking &lt;br/&gt;
devices and optical sensors etc&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Also, a smart player will hide the nuclear disk long before the &lt;br/&gt;
syndicate goons arrive and believe me, a well hidden disk can take hours &lt;br/&gt;
to locate. Thus, one can win simply by bending the rules a bit and that &lt;br/&gt;
takes away from the fun of the game.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
All in all, Space Station 13 has its moments, but is mostly a spiral of &lt;br/&gt;
annoyance or boredom, interspersed with some unsavory happenings (some &lt;br/&gt;
of which I didn't even cover here but are pretty disgusting) and a lot &lt;br/&gt;
of disappointment. If you're looking for a game to get hooked on that's &lt;br/&gt;
easy to pick up and fun to play, I suggest Last Robot Standing. At least &lt;br/&gt;
then you won't get random players logging in and blowing up your game.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Well that's my review of SS13. I've tried to cover less of what other &lt;br/&gt;
people have said and more of the player issues so that you can see both &lt;br/&gt;
why the game is fun, and why it fails so miserably at being an RP. Also, &lt;br/&gt;
if you're a new player, you can expect at the very least 3-4 days of &lt;br/&gt;
being a total newbie and dying just about every way imaginable, and then &lt;br/&gt;
at least another week of not knowing a lot of really useful stuff that &lt;br/&gt;
can help you before becoming a proper player.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Whether you want that or not, you at least know enough now to make that &lt;br/&gt;
choice.&lt;br/&gt;
</description>
        </item>
                <item>
            <title>Leave of absence</title>
            <link>http://www.byond.com/members/?command=view_post&amp;post=40852</link>
            <guid>http://www.byond.com/members/?command=view_post&amp;post=40852</guid>
            <pubDate>Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:26:19 GMT</pubDate>
            
            <comments>http://www.byond.com/members/BYONDRPG?command=view_comments&amp;post=40852#comments</comments>
            
            <description>Due to undisclosed personal reasons, Audeuro, our beloved commander is going on a vacation of sorts for an undisclosed amount of time. (Of course, by undisclosed, I mean, undisclosed to the general public. BYOND Higher ups and trusted BYOND users know why, just not for how long.)&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Because of this sudden departing I'm going to keep his chair warm in BYOND RPG until he returns (so I'm going to do what I always do, only more so). No, I'm not going to replace him, as far as I'm concerned I'm still only second in command and have made that clear to him. All this means for me is I can't be so lazy on my duties.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
And I'm sure we at BYOND RPG wish our beloved commander a quick and speedy journey so that he might return to us quickly and save you all from the terror that is me.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Come back soon Audeuro, we'll miss not having you around.</description>
        </item>
                <item>
            <title>Its subpar [pictures]</title>
            <link>http://www.byond.com/members/?command=view_post&amp;post=40354</link>
            <guid>http://www.byond.com/members/?command=view_post&amp;post=40354</guid>
            <pubDate>Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:10:37 GMT</pubDate>
            
            <comments>http://www.byond.com/members/BYONDRPG?command=view_comments&amp;post=40354#comments</comments>
            
            <description>I feel like the gameplay failings on SS13 are like the giant purple elephant in the room that nobody is noticing but me. Whenever an argument is made about game quality on BYOND, SS13 is inevitably drawn up as a high quality game.  Its been driving me absolutely insane every time i play it because i keep expecting to uncover some form of coherent gameplay element that doesn't exist. &lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
First of all, everybody on BYOND will go off and criticize any other shoddy game that has such unintuitive verb use abuse and clunky GUI.  For instance, if you want to pick up a shirt, you click on it.  It goes into your right hand and then you have to click it in your right hand, and click it onto your body.  I spent the first 15 seconds trying to drag and drop expecting a game that is heralded as well programmed to have such simple features.  It takes basically  3-4 attempts before a shirt will be equipped and thats just the tip of the frustration for any new player.   Joining the game gives you a pretty good feel for what a letdown the game will be.  You pick your name and if you feel like it you can even chose to give yourself a debilitating illness for some reason.  No actual character stats or class or anything like that is assignable at creation.  Only poor vision, epilepsy and such.  Why? when i first played I thought itd be funny to give myself a few illnesses but all it did was confuse the heck out of me.  I would pass out, be unable to talk and couldn't see anything.  Attempt two would come a week later.  I would walk around and try and catch a roleplay, those who play CowRP will tell you that you'll easily get swept up into some sort of story-tangent but in SS13 there isnt anything like that at all.  Everybody is going off doing science experiments (a redeeming feature) however theres a huge lack of actual player interaction.  The closest thing to player interaction is when i for no reason whatsoever found myself being cracked on the head by a guy wearing guard apparel and being welded into a locker. That really sucked, i had to come back a while later to bother giving the game another chance. &lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
I'll evaluate the graphics quickly because its easy to. The graphics in SS13 are the worst graphics i have ever seen in a game that has more than 3 players on at at a time.  I really thought the zeta rips would have been tacky enough, however SS13 is the epitome of lazy when it comes to graphics.  The GUI is all grey gradients with terribly drawn symbols.  There are no directions for the characters and the turfs are all solid colored shapes and really the ugliest imaginable on a game.  Heres a tip guys, if a game gets even modestly popular, see if theres somebody who isnt ridiculously bad at drawing to do your graphics for you.  I know that this game is full of people who think graphics dont matter, AT ALL, however it actually detracts from the enjoyment of the game when it gets this bad. It is simply laziness considering the street credit the game has, recruiting icon help would have been a breeze.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Now to code, since most people who play SS13 will almost certainly argue that code makes up for a game i think its important for me to address the fact that this game is incredibly lazily coded. There is nothing about this game that is impressive in terms of its code. You always find situations where somebody who was good at BYOND code would have made it more convenient or more effective, but no.  Joining a game shouldn't be a matter of walking up to wall, getting a done verb, pressing it and getting a enter game verb.  Thats garbage! for gods sake why isnt there any sign of game design in that at all? The code is poor but it works I guess, the problem then becomes the lack of game design.  The game is supposed to be RP, however the game doesn't play like an RP game.  There are hundreds of ways to grief somebody and the incentive to do it is there as there is no entertaining alternative to finding an excuse to putting somebody in a straight jacket, injecting somebody with plasma or putting them in a airlock chamber.  &lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
The game is by no means the worst, obviously there is some fun to it but the content and entertainment in the game is buried and hidden and it requires a huge time investment to really get into it, and even when you do you can expect the majority of players to just ruin it for you anyway because the game really lacks any sort of guidance to keep new players from doing anything more than bashing each other with crowbars.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Now, the game is original i suppose.  I don't really see why people think it is so impressively original however.  The game basically is sci-fi, your in a space station and while it hasn't been done much on BYOND, what makes it really original? Its just a generic space themed game with an absence of ingenuities in the game play department, so originality is more than a binary evaluation, its not a it isnt based on something or it is.  This game doesn't really break any molds, it doesn't do anything that made me think, oh thats neat. And it wasn't even fun.  I think SS13 is pretty much just a big chat room.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.byond.com/members/Masterdan/files/SS131.png&quot; rel=&quot;thumbnail&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.byond.com/members/Masterdan/files/SS131.png&quot; height=&quot;200&quot; width=&quot;200&quot;&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;i&gt;The initial spawn point, where you build your character.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.byond.com/members/Masterdan/files/SS132.png&quot; rel=&quot;thumbnail&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.byond.com/members/Masterdan/files/SS132.png&quot; height=&quot;200&quot; width=&quot;200&quot;&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;i&gt;Inside the space station!&lt;/i&gt;</description>
        </item>
                <item>
            <title>Another Harry Potter game? Wrong.</title>
            <link>http://www.byond.com/members/?command=view_post&amp;post=39692</link>
            <guid>http://www.byond.com/members/?command=view_post&amp;post=39692</guid>
            <pubDate>Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:48:00 GMT</pubDate>
            
            <comments>http://www.byond.com/members/BYONDRPG?command=view_comments&amp;post=39692#comments</comments>
            
            <description>For those of you who are into fantasy, magic, and good role play, you better look up Hogwarts: A History. A game not based off Harry Potter, but more so based on the school in which Harry attends. The people there are great, the rules are fair, and the game is totally fun! It gives Harry Potter fans, and fans of fantasy a reason to stick around!&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
So how do we start off? Well basicly you start off from just exiting the train. You talk the the guy standing there and he puts you on a boat and you sail onward to Hogwarts. Once you're there, you enter the school and head to Great Hall, where a hat will assign you to 1 of the 4 houses.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
After joining a house, you may look around the school and introduce yourself to some of the other wonderful players, or you may find your house room, or library to study and wait for classes. When classes are held, a brilliant guiding system will guide you as to where the classroom is. Once you are in class, you'll be taut one of several spells!&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Overall, I give it a 9! Definitely a game I recommend!</description>
        </item>
                <item>
            <title>Space Station 13</title>
            <link>http://www.byond.com/members/?command=view_post&amp;post=38424</link>
            <guid>http://www.byond.com/members/?command=view_post&amp;post=38424</guid>
            <pubDate>Tue, 22 Jan 2008 07:02:16 GMT</pubDate>
            
            <comments>http://www.byond.com/members/BYONDRPG?command=view_comments&amp;post=38424#comments</comments>
            
            <description>Space Station 13 is a complex game that takes some time to fully understand. On the surface it doesnt look like much of a game. But dont let the graphics of this game throw you off. The game has lots of things to offer that you may not fully discover if you dont decide to play.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
The game is very much based on it's community. And I'll be the first one to point out that sometimes can be troubled. But if you find a good crowd to play with, this can be one of the most fun games you'll ever play.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
When you first start out you'll probably be tempted to pickup the nearest item and hit someone with it, but then you'll find yourself banned. The steep learning curve on this game can sometimes turn people away. On some servers the RP is strict and you'll quickly find yourself on the way out unless you know how to play. But for the most part most servers are leanent and most people will be happy to help you out when your new.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
All in all, the game is hard, but give it a chance and you'll find yourself in the wonderful world of RP.</description>
        </item>
                <item>
            <title>A Call for Help</title>
            <link>http://www.byond.com/members/?command=view_post&amp;post=38017</link>
            <guid>http://www.byond.com/members/?command=view_post&amp;post=38017</guid>
            <pubDate>Fri, 11 Jan 2008 20:45:54 GMT</pubDate>
            
            <comments>http://www.byond.com/members/BYONDRPG?command=view_comments&amp;post=38017#comments</comments>
            
            <description>K'ros Trikare, a BYOND oldbie and long-standing supporter of what was formally known as BYOND.RPG (channel), issues a call for help to all. He's looking for testers for a revival of Tara'ka/House of Morte. See his &lt;a href=&quot;http://members.byond.com/KrosTrikare?command=view_post&amp;post=37970&quot;&gt;blog&lt;/a&gt; for more information.&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;br/&gt;
Thank you.</description>
        </item>
            
    </channel>
</rss>

