Banter about BotFodder's unofficial FAQ

Re: the FAQ being a sticky -

I've had this suggested to me by two people so far. I debated posting anything about it, as I don't like tooting my own horn that much. But as it's come up to me more than once, here's my thoughts about it ...

First off, I'm not going to ask for that myself; all I really need is that keybinding that has the tinyurl in it and I'm good to go for any noob that comes into the game. And the tinyurl is in the first post of the FAQ, if you want to use it too.

After that, you'll notice that the topic area it's under already has it's fair share of stickies and really doesn't have room for much more. If it's possible to move a thread from one topic to another, then it might be less of an issue. If an authority figure lets me know they'd make it a sticky in another thread, but that I need to repost (and re-tinyurl) it to another forum due to technical issues, I'm game as long as they leave it up so that I can pull off all the updated BBCoded posts (I have backups on one of my computers but they're dated).

If you want it a sticky, post your vote here, or PM/email someone who can do something about it! Telling me on game doesn't do any good (well, it strokes my ego which is always nice, but is usually not productive) - you have to let the forum mods/admins/owners know.

I was just going back and reading through this and I definately think this should be a stickie.

I remember when I first started playing on DC, and after reading the server faq, I went to the forums looking for information but really had to dig and dig.

The main thing with a faq is it has to be as impartial as possible. Present the information such that the player can make an informed decision, but by no means do you make the decision for them, or say "this is better than that". To that end, this faq could still use a bit of work, IMO, but not too much. It is much more neutral-toned than the first iteration.

Let me know where you think I've interjected too much opinion - I'm always open to review. In that issue moreso than others.

It would be nice to see some info on the loaded artifacts stuff. Which permanently boost weps and which only affect weapons when they are activated?

That's a good question ... it's borderline newbie though.

A lot of that information is covered in the following two main FAQ articles, which are linked to from the newbie FAQ:

Artifacts
RPG Skill Description - specifically, the item covering "Loaded Artifacts".

However, I will admit that it might not be 100% clear which ones do what you are asking about, so I will append a post to the "Adrenaline Master how-to" that's linked from the Newbie FAQ that covers this in more detail.

cplmac wrote:

So are you getting paid by the word?

Well obviously I'm not getting paid, and considering that you missed at least two posts suggesting that there be no responses to that thread, but that responses be posted here to keep the newbie FAQ clean, I'm now wondering why I bothered.

Here is just my general opinion on your FAQ (don't think too much about it, this is just my pov, do with it as you wish):

I think you are wasting a lot of time putting too much detail into things. I think a Web Based Page would be a lot better than the Forum Thread thing you got going on (but it does serve a purpose). I don't like the order of the information listed, kind of jumps back and forth. If it was web-based you can list a context so it would be easier to find what you are looking for by just clicking on the link. I made this DAWGA FAQ page for the DAWGA Server a couple years ago and I never got a chance to complete it since I was Banned. I also made another page that listed all the Monster information with a picture of the Monster with characteristics of each Monster listed. I had no clue on how to build a wepage, but it turned out okay. Good luck.

Or you could add the DisastrousConsequences to the WikiPedia and link it here

If I had access to or was asked to provide some kind of (obviously better formatted) HTML code for a web based FAQ, I'd have done it. But I didn't want to foist my work off on Dru and Shan.

The forum was the only place I had any authority or access to put something like that.

The format was dictated mainly by two things:

1. The forum format
2. The order by which I became aware of the questions needing answers

And, of course, I do tend to write (at least initially) in stream of conciousness. Of course, if I had access to or was asked to provide something that was slightly more flexible in its editability, I'd probably have a multipage FAQ/TOC formatted that was much better organized, and it would have gone through several major revisions already.

Now, one other thing that you all might not be aware of is the PM exchange Dru and I had on this very topic after the first one disappeared. I don't like speaking for someone else (especially when relying on my memory as to what they might have said), but IIRC, he stated that he thought the general concept was quite useful, probably needed, and was perfect for a forum post - because it was subject to peer review with immediate feedback. And I agreed, seeing as how I personally didn't have the authority/access to do more than that, and Dru and Shan had enough to do already.

I could have said "To heck with Dru and Shan, I'll write a web based FAQ of my own and host it on my own site," but that would have been inappropriate (crossing several lines I don't want to cross) in so many ways. I go out of my way in my Newbie FAQ *not* to duplicate their information (as if I did, I'd have to correct my stuff when they corrected theirs, duplicating work).

I'll make the offer now that if Shan and/or Dru (and boy I hope I don't start a fight between them, cause Shan will win and Dru will take the loss out on me) that if they like the info that's there, and that it's accurate enough for them, and they'd like me to provide a fuller FAQ (that would include the information of the current FAQ as well, completely up to date since I can follow Dru's instructions regarding the decompiling of the mod into source and pull as much information as I can from there), so that they can provide it on the website, I'll write it up off line and then give it to them. The only problem that pops up is that I have little to no experience with JSP, and they've got the main site coded in it. For the most part, all I'd need to know really is what to put at the start and end of the file, because *somewhere* in there it's going to be pretty much straight HTML (or some kind of include of a straight HTML file) ... really, just a sample of the raw JSP file would do it. *My* goal would be to provide them with a zip or a tar.gz that I can say "Just pop this into a directory and link to .../dc/faq/index.jsp" Anyway, they know how to get ahold of me.

Um. Obviously I've never really thought seriously about it (as my thoughts are not well organized on the topic) but obviously I've also thought about it (as there is a lot of verbage there).

So yeah, it's not the best format, it could probably use some rewriting too ... but this is what we have now, and there are reasons why things are the way they currently are.

BTW, Thanks to FodderFigure for restating what was posted twice in the FAQ itself in response to, well, the responses.

Its an incredibly good work BTW.

But, is there a reason why you did not add the "How does XP work" question?
With Spree Bonus, etc.

If you did already sorry, i may have missed it

Good question ... couple of reasons ...

1. I didn't know that info off of the top of my head.
2. It's a bit beyond "newbie" as far as questions go. Though that line is of course arbitrary based on my mood. Basically, while that question is on rare occasions asked, it's not "frequently" asked (not yet anyway).
3. The info is actually someplace else on the forums, but I don't know where off the top of my head.

If Dru and Shan ever asked me to put together "The Ulitmate DC FAQ" I'd include it (providing I can find the info again and it is verified as actually still accurate).

Here's my two cents as far as the whole website vs forum thing goes:

Putting a FAQ on the site is something that I've been thinking about for a long time, but as you can tell by how outdated the site is, not something I've been able to get around to. I just got back from my last official work function for the summer, so there is a good possibility that this is something I will look at in the next month as I am updating the site. I'm sure Bot and I will chat about what to include or not, and ways to make the info more accessible, so if you have thoughts on that feel free to post them here.

Thanks for all the hard work, Bot.

You're welcome.

Question about your "stat reset" post - is this a new thing and I'm just remembering what was done previously, and it's no longer valid? Did I miss something? Or is it just best to say "we don't do it" to set it up so you only have to consider it in really special cases?

Or have I just lost it?

BTW, I've eliminated that portion of the "stat reset" item completely.

"I used to be with it, but then they changed what it was. Now, what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems weird and scary to me." Abe Simpson

(btw, I forgot to mention in my previous post that I knew to a fair certainty that the FAQ stuff was Shan's area and I didn't want to at all step on her toes.)

There you go Bot.

http://www.disastrousconsequences.com/dcforum/posts/list/1378.page

In regards to partial stat resets, it is not new. This has always been our policy, due in part to the large number of reset requests, as well as how much more complicated it is to do line-item resets.