How not to learn a game.
Jan. 30th, 2006 04:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gridloreOver in ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
gurps, one of the more common types of post is the rules question. GURPS is a complex game, after all, and nobody can be expected to master all of it on the first pass.
So I wasn't too surprised when I saw a post asking Okay, what are we doing wrong?
I found my copy of the Campaigns book, and set about answering his questions. However, as you can see in my reply, I was getting frustrated. He kept asking about rules that weren't just obviously placed, but were in bold text, in clearly-labeled boxes, and in their own sections with Large Titles Showing That the Relevant Rule Was Here.
In frustration, I asked if the poster had bothered to read the rules.
He hadn't. Instead, he had read the combat rules in GURPS Lite. Which take up 5 pages. And then tried to run a full on tactical combat using all the bells and whistles without reading the complete combat rules.
Those take up 61 pages, more or less.
Let me repeat that: this guy didn't even skim the full combat rules. Then has the gall to complain when trying to run a full combat leaves them scrambling for the rulebook every other second. And since he had never looked at the full rules, of course things were difficult to find.
To give an idea of the gulf here for my non-gamer friends, it'd be like trying to build an online store with Flash animation and a secure order page after skimming HTML for Dummies.
Yes, I got a little snarky in my response, but when it became obvious to me that this person had never cracked the book, I got a little pissed. Therefore, I present to you Doug's Fifth Law:
Asking For Aid When You Haven't Taken The Most Basic Steps To Educate Yourself Will Result In Scorn Being Heaped Upon You
gurps, one of the more common types of post is the rules question. GURPS is a complex game, after all, and nobody can be expected to master all of it on the first pass.So I wasn't too surprised when I saw a post asking Okay, what are we doing wrong?
I found my copy of the Campaigns book, and set about answering his questions. However, as you can see in my reply, I was getting frustrated. He kept asking about rules that weren't just obviously placed, but were in bold text, in clearly-labeled boxes, and in their own sections with Large Titles Showing That the Relevant Rule Was Here.
In frustration, I asked if the poster had bothered to read the rules.
He hadn't. Instead, he had read the combat rules in GURPS Lite. Which take up 5 pages. And then tried to run a full on tactical combat using all the bells and whistles without reading the complete combat rules.
Those take up 61 pages, more or less.
Let me repeat that: this guy didn't even skim the full combat rules. Then has the gall to complain when trying to run a full combat leaves them scrambling for the rulebook every other second. And since he had never looked at the full rules, of course things were difficult to find.
To give an idea of the gulf here for my non-gamer friends, it'd be like trying to build an online store with Flash animation and a secure order page after skimming HTML for Dummies.
Yes, I got a little snarky in my response, but when it became obvious to me that this person had never cracked the book, I got a little pissed. Therefore, I present to you Doug's Fifth Law:
Asking For Aid When You Haven't Taken The Most Basic Steps To Educate Yourself Will Result In Scorn Being Heaped Upon You
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 31 Jan 2006 04:22 (UTC)Getting ready to roll out new equipment. Basic test does not pass. I turn to engineer
Me: "You did verify all this, right?"
DS: "What? They said they completed it."
Me: "But you didn't verify it?"
DS: "No, should I have?"
Me: "So what did you ask for?"
DS: "Blah, blah, blah."
Me: "What about X, Y, & Z?"
DS: "Those arn't listed anywhere."
Me: "They are documented in {Install Guide}."
DS: "I never read it."
Me: Urge to kill surpressed.
I since found, that others in the room would have gladly held him down.
Doug's Fifth Law, Abbreviated...
Date: 31 Jan 2006 04:34 (UTC)*Read The Fucking Manual.
Re: Doug's Fifth Law, Abbreviated...
Date: 31 Jan 2006 06:41 (UTC)I always begin my technical queries with somethign along the lines of ("I've read the man page on the 'snozzify' command, and scanned the FAQ at snozzify.org, but I still can't figure out how to make the snozz rays come out purple." I find this vastly improves both the speed and helpfulness of responses.
Re: Doug's Fifth Law, Abbreviated...
Date: 31 Jan 2006 10:45 (UTC)Worse, many of them won't let you find things unless you use the search term that the writer thought was obvious, but makes no sense to you (try finding out how to set up a parallel or serial port file-sharing link under Win 95 or 98. The required keyword has none of those words in it)
I actually read manuals. And once I've read them, I can flip to the right spot when I can't remember the details. But since there is no manual, I'f stuck...
You see, help files are "easy" and *look* useful. Manuals are hard top write and expensive. So guess what gets dropped...
Re: Doug's Fifth Law, Abbreviated...
Date: 31 Jan 2006 19:42 (UTC)Except that most people don't need to learn how to use the tool -- they need to learn how to accomplish a task, which probably involves several tool in succession.