What are requirements for a "StarPort Helper"

[WeGotDeathStar]

I've talked to this guy but he does not have that extensive knowledge of the game like a person that has played for a few years. 1200 achievement points seems a bit low for a person that is entrusted with being a ambassador to the game.

A nice box in the profile screen would be nice, like a StarPort Veteran box would be cool. Maybe someone that has had an account for more then 3-4 years would be a nice requirement as would having achievements over 5k.

He got Admiral Ackbar, we want a StarPort Veteran picture or some sort of recognition for our many years of supporting this game.


It's A Trap.........lol

[JesusRocks765]

you put the Ackar in the picture, right?

or does he have that on his Profile page? XD

[WeGotDeathStar]

Nope, toonces gave that to him

[Saber-Fury]

It's A Trap.........lol

i get a funny feeling that this is actually spot on

[WeGotDeathStar]

Well after being on both sides of the coin so to say in this game from my unsuccessful beginnings in this came to my current position I give the same advice to newer players.

Don't try to take on the entire server when you first start playing, it's better to remain off the radar and try to make as many allies/relationships as possible. It creates a better atmosphere for a new player as if they piss off the big corps then they are most certainly guaranteed to have a unpleasant time with this game. Meaning all the work they do will be gone in a day or two in the form of invades.

New players have to follow these basic rules in the start in order to survive. the game has a very tough learning curve. Try to have a larger corp teach you the do's and don'ts of the game and the older veterans that have indeed wiped out corps are the people to talk to. They will tell you what draws attention and what does not. And there is always one person in a corp that is willing to take you under their wing to train a new player how to build colonies and help with in-game cash.


I'm not proposing everyone that is a vet get a "StarPort Helper" designation, I would like to see some sort of recognition of older players that have seen many aspects of the game through the years. They are very helpful to new players if the new player and the vet are willing to work with one another.

Kudo's to Toonce with implementing the new solar cannon policy to the game, now a new player can be brought into a corp without fear of losing colonies for various reasons.


I say this as a person that first started playing that went from being solo using guerrilla tactics to achieve any goals and getting my azz handed to me on many occasions to making friends with the larger successful corps and enjoying a great relationship with bunch of players that I have been corped with for a few years now.

In order to be successful in this game you need to develop friendly relations with people that could very easily wipe you out. If you play with no friends then the game is no fun for you then and that is why so many new players quit after a few days.

[Henry]

From what I have gathered, some how Dark and Ninja both requested the helper symbol, while many other, more experianced players also requested but were not given it. From this, I figured Toonces only gave them to the first couple who asked for em. Then i heard that cheesy was also a helper, but instead of asking for it like the other two, Toonces offered it to him. So yea, I'm confused about the criteria.

My best guess would have to be that Toonces has been watching various players and decided whether they would be good or bad at it, doesnt sound like something toonces would bother doing, but thats about all i can figure from it.

On a side note, all three play blitz, so maybe toonces saw all 3 at one point helping out newbs on blitz.

(BTW, besides darkmaster743, ninjawarrior, and cheesy, are there any other new player helpers?)

[Bo-Fo-Sho]

Yea i think if there were to be a thing given to vets, it cant be based on just how long a person has played or how many achievements they have had, i have been playing this game almost 6 years now i think, and i would consider myself a vet, and i know a lot about the game. I frequently help out new people just because that is who i am, i dont need a badge to tell me that, i think that maybe this new helper badge thing should be given to players who have been recommended and/or referred to toonces about what they have done for that person, and it needs to be something that people cant pay others tokens to write a good report on that person.

[WeGotDeathStar]

Problem is Blitz on it's own does not represent what this game is about in any way shape or form. Honestly blitz is filled with laggers, and other people that exploit it's problems to succeed. It's not the future of StarPort...sorry but reality needs to be inserted here. Blitz is filled with people that for the most part want to buy easy trophies.

The game is made up of Perma's and Rebangs. Blitz while it may be fun is not the main focus.

And as far as these "helpers", I have never heard of any of them other then cheesy but the cheesy I remember does not qualify to be training anyone.

Perhaps a few more recognized names are needed here as the game needs to be taught with a historical perspective as well as strategy. These things are not relevant to the rest of the game based off of blitz.

I've played since Mid 2007 and would like to see some people that have the years represent this game, not some blitzers that payed tokens to get a "helper badge"

[WeGotDeathStar]

Yea i think if there were to be a thing given to vets, it cant be based on just how long a person has played or how many achievements they have had, i have been playing this game almost 6 years now i think, and i would consider myself a vet, and i know a lot about the game. I frequently help out new people just because that is who i am, i dont need a badge to tell me that, i think that maybe this new helper badge thing should be given to players who have been recommended and/or referred to toonces about what they have done for that person, and it needs to be something that people cant pay others tokens to write a good report on that person.

Then lets create a "Vet" list and put the players that deserve it on the list and give them recognition if they want it. This will include active players only not someone that logs in once a month to keep the account alive.

It would be nice to have 5-10 "Helpers" on a server that get some sort of token bonus at the end of the month with verified training of new players. Maybe make a feedback type system to keep the "Helper Players" rotated as some people play more then others and some take breaks.

Designate the list as follows.... 3 Building Helpers, 3 PvP/Fighting Helpers and 3 Invading Helpers and leave the last spot open for the most experienced well rounded player of the said server to fill in the blanks.

[Toonces]

The requirements for becoming a Starport helper were pretty simple. You had to ask me for it by contacting me, and you had to be enthusiastic about helping new players.

Having a 5 year veteran teaching new players would be great but it's not at all necessary. Helping newbies involves getting the basics across to them. How to buy a new ship. How to re-shield. What's going on here? Why are my colonies invaded? etc.

You don't need a super-expert for that, and that's why by far the most important trait for an official teacher to have is the ability to be nice and patient and available to new users.

We can talk about having a separate symbol for vets but i think that would be redundant with the trophies, medals, and achievement points so it doesn't strike me as a great idea.

[WeGotDeathStar]

Ya I witnessed similar behavior from Dark as well, Me and a corpmate took a DD Arctic one night, a easy 3 shot colony that had potential but was built wrong.

I spent some time fixing it and the next day I get a /t from Dark asking me to trade the colony to him. Upon asking why I should do that he said he had started to invade it the night before and he felt somehow entitled to the colony.

I was polite about it and passed the colony off as one that belonged to another corpmate to appease him for the moment but I wondered something. If this guy has a helper designation and can't even invade a simple 3 shot solar colony then attempts to have someone trade him the colony just because he happened to be working on it seems to be the actions of a more inexperienced player the that of a person designated to help new players.

I really don't think this quality of player should be teaching new players anything. It's the wrong approach to the game and all it will do is make you enemies. If I wasn't more of a relaxed player as I am now I would have taken every single one of his colonies just for the notion that he seemed to think that colony we took belonged to him some how.

Other then that he seems like a decent person but as far as actions as a player he strikes me as noobish.

[WeGotDeathStar]

I think a "Helper List" should be brought about in the forums, we know who the right people are for the job Toonces.

It shouldn't be awarded from some secret mail between a player and the dev, it should be in public forum as the community and the people who actually play this game on a daily basis know who would be a good "Helper"and who would not. Putting players that don't understand many basic aspects to this game is not a good idea.

In theory it's a great idea but needs to be implemented with the right people doing the "Helping"

[WeGotDeathStar]

Also in adding to my last post I have some questions. New players are able to join noobie galaxies at first to learn the game. might be a good idea to have the "Helper" players be able to go over to those galaxies and help the new players in learning the game.

After the noobie galaxies where do most of the new players go? Do they go to rebangs or perma's......that being asked I challenge the argument that Medals and Cups determine a players success. I see it as this, if a new player wants to hone his/her skills they would go over to a permaverse which has no recognition of players being successful other then the amount of followers and overall experience. How is a new player supposed to recognize a player as one that could actually help them learn more about the game then? Truth is most players learn what they need to learn on perma's then go over to rebangs for Medals and Cups.

Medals and Cups can be easily had if a player has enough time and tokens on hand to achieve this. I've seen many a rebanger go over to a perma and try to be successful only to have their azzes handed to them. Thus the amount of Medals and Cups a player has does not prove that they are well versed in the in's and out's of the game. This is true for most rebanger's, not all.

Other then the cups awarded to players of deleted perma's there is nothing that sets any players apart from one another then achievement points and Medals/Cups. The idea of a "Vet" designation is meant for people that mostly play perma's which in my opinion are where most new players end up. Surviving long term on a perma is much more difficult then a 14 day rebang where time and tokens can get you what you want.

So that being said I feel perma players need to be recognized as do rebangers with the awards of Medals/Cups. Perma players have no sort of awards or ways to set them apart from other players. In creating one I think it would be easier for a new player to find people that can help them play the game the right way instead of playing for a few days, losing interest and finding a new game to play to pass the time or for enjoyment.

Starport is a very enjoyable game but it lacks the needed influx of new players to keep things interesting for all players, new and old. They as you know are potential token buyers so anything that can help keep new players benefits everyone that plays the game and most importantly Toonce's gets his funding to keep the game going for everyone to enjoy.

[WeGotDeathStar]

Even an entry into the Starpedia with a list and links to players of which to look for with help would be easy and helpful to newer players.

Total years played, and all active participation of the game are to start......

[Toonces]

If this guy has a helper designation and can't even invade a simple 3 shot solar colony then attempts to have someone trade him the colony just because he happened to be working on it seems to be the actions of a more inexperienced player the that of a person designated to help new players.

Again it really doesn't matter if the person is not a multi-year invading veteran. What matters is that he's there and talks to the newbies.

[Toonces]

I think a "Helper List" should be brought about in the forums

The current list of official teachers is as follows:

bear in mind these are usernames, which is what i go by, not character names, so you may not know who they are.

phantomdan
dobbie
latias
shaneisace (head teacher)
gamegeek
toonces

[Henry]

Well, Toonces, I've already made bad expierence.

darkmaster aka constantine was accidently wiped by Alt and me one night. I traded him 2 good cols back so he could still build. Then he was very rude and said he didn't like the cols, so I offered him a trade, I want those 2 back and he can have any other 2 of those I took from him.
He denied and invaded me, so this time we wiped him, but on purpose, with no intention to give anything back.

Ever since then he's been crying at me, complaining and swearing at me. It wasn't all that bad and since he's still new, I didn't report him but just put him on ignore.

Now you can imagine what happened. When he got that helper symbol, he taught innocent newbes to do exactly the same mistakes that he did, and unfortunately he also taught them to swear at me.

Add-it: I don't know what kind of background WeGotDeathStar has that made him come up with this. But I can imagine his problem is this: New players see the "Helper Symbol" and think "wow, hardly one has that, not even the top guys, that must be a really good player and a nice person". and In the end, maybe that helper isn't either a good player or a very nice person...
As for darkmaster aka constantine, I don't think he is either og these 2. He seems to only be nice when he wants something.

darkmaster and constantine are not the same person, cheesy is constantine.


And for a second point, 4fun, since you seem to have such a foul memory (not even remembering who is who) then I doubt your story's validity. when you said you "wiped" constantine, as far as i know, cheesy only uses the name constantine on TOS (dunno bout rebangs), and he is clearly not wiped based on his follower count. Your description of him seems to be of dark, not cheesy, and im 100% sure constantine is cheesy on TOS.

Cheesy also has been playing atleast 4 years, longer than me since he introduced me to to the game and ive played for 4 years, i assume hes played longer plus he has over 4k achievement points plus medals, so again, your "since he's still new" statement makes more sense.


I have seen both cheesy and dark on blitz, and cheesy's and constantine's achievements and medals match while dark and constantine's do not, if you want proof that they are the same person look for yourself.

[GRAWRG.]

while i understand Toonces's effort to get newbies some personal training, i dont think this is the right way to go about it. because when someone is given the task of teaching you, you assume that they know best. not that they're just there to "teach the basics." you follow the person, you do what they do, and so far most of the people ive seen/heard of that are teachers will not lead newbies in the right direction. they cant even lead themselves in the right direction. theres a reason why people are complaining about their status and why they have no followers.

i think its safe to say that a "basic" of this game is not pissing off the big guys, and these babbling "teachers" dont know how to do that. its a step in the right direction, but it needs to be altered. whats the point in even having the pic in the profile? i mean, these eager lil newbs can go ahead and teach other newbs anyway? they dont need a badge for it? however, if a new player wants to find someone helpful who's trusted by the community to lead a new player right, a badge would be useful.

anything these kids can teach starpedia can teach better.

[Henry]

Based on that list of toonces's i can assume cheesy is probably gamegeek or dobbie, since i recognize the others. If i had to pick, it's be gamegeek. Latias should definatly not be a newb helper, dark should not be a newb helper, ninja should, cheesy should, dan idk so i couldnt make that decision, i suggest you add some one like major to that list.

[GRAWRG.]

i could make a whole list of good people. i dont recognize half the people on toonces list, and the only one on there that i think is ok is dan?

[WeGotDeathStar]

With no offense to anyone on toonces list there are plenty that are much better.

Dark.Cloud- Good all around player, knows the in's and outs well and is stable

Bardock- Again knows the game well, well suited to train PvP, Fighting. Stable

Trajan- Great builder, knows how to take care of an empire effectively. Stable

KUKA- Rebanger, Stable player....again knows the in's and outs of the game, been around forever

GRAWRG- Knows all aspects of the game, Stable player

People like this should be involved in "Helping" new players, stable players that have played for years and have all been very successful.

If you have a noob training players then you end up with more noob players that will not do well in this game.

Feel free to add to the list.

[Henry]

GRAWRG- Knows all aspects of the game, Stable player

Going to have to disagree on that one, stable? really? also i have never seen grawrg help a newb

[phantomdan]

In regards to this topic,
Ive played Starport since Feb. 2008. I was fortunate enough to have experienced players go out of their way to help me in many different ways. In a very short time i implemented what i learned from them in the form of words and what they showed me first-hand. I can demonstrate not only the basic fundamentals, but the more complex strategies that are proven to work. I dont need to throw names around. But some of the best starport player went out of their way to show me the why's and hows. And because of that i learned faster than a player would learn with no help.

So i earned my right to help.

[Joel70]

Veteran players dont need symbols indicating the fact, they know in their own mind how good they are

Their have been many topics and attempts to provide lists of Veteran players, and they dont work because its completely subjective...in the context of this particular game.

I help new players all the time and have nurtured many a player, and the majority are still here today.

I think this is just people wanting new things on their profile, just ask Toonces for some new pretty thing to be made available in the Admirals Club.

MJS

[Joel70]

I read all the posts 4fun.

I like the idea of having helpers, however the vet thing in the context of sge is totally subjective.

If u then just reward it to players who have been around for 2 or 3 years then yes in the true meaning of the word they could be classified as veterans.

However, u are more than aware that in the case of SGE, veteran means a whole lot more.

You are not the voice of starport so if someone posts with a opposite view, dont ask me whether Ive read the posts correctly.

I think the idea of recognising vets is a ridiculous idea.

Cheers
MJS

[Joel70]

Im having a small amount of difficulty understanding your English, but it seems you are just agreeing with what I posted myself.

I have no need for a symbol, and I help players and have always done so.

I do however like the idea that new players have a clear indication of who they can go to for advice on the basics of the game.

MJS

[CrazyGardenGnome]

At least one of those helpers isn't what I would call a "good role model"

Why not just get one of them to write a quick start guide and put it up on the Starport website? That would be one of the first places a new player would go to look for help (and not having it being one of the reasons for not downloading the game in the first place).

[GRAWRG.]

wtf. i put a significant amount of time/thought into the post i made here this morning, and it got deleted... why? it was a totally acceptable non-rude post.

im not even gonna bother trying to repost it, too angry about how stupid this game and apparently its forums have gotten at this point.

[Chicboy]

I got my donkey handed to me when I first started playing. Made me more determined than ever to "show them".

If you put time into the game (well, back then anyway) the rewards were great. When I was quite active I used to look out for new players on Boundless, much to Major's delight, and track their progress. If they were trying I went out my way to help them as much as I could.

Nothing worse than teaching a newbie the in's and out's of the game only for them to bail. I learned my lesson, waste of my time 90% of the time.

Some players have to be talented at a game straight away or they lose interest. That was the beauty of SGE, they determined people were the ones that hung around. Suppose you could say they added "value" to the small community.

Obviously the community has shrunk to a level never seen before. Whats to blame? The simplicity and skill was taken away, that's what

*drunk rant over*

[Major]

I got my donkey handed to me when I first started playing. Made me more determined than ever to "show them".

If you put time into the game (well, back then anyway) the rewards were great. When I was quite active I used to look out for new players on Boundless, much to Major's delight, and track their progress. If they were trying I went out my way to help them as much as I could.

Nothing worse than teaching a newbie the in's and out's of the game only for them to bail. I learned my lesson, waste of my time 90% of the time.

Some players have to be talented at a game straight away or they lose interest. That was the beauty of SGE, they determined people were the ones that hung around. Suppose you could say they added "value" to the small community.

Obviously the community has shrunk to a level never seen before. Whats to blame? The simplicity and skill was taken away, that's what

*drunk rant over*

chiccy and friends taught me everything. ...so i suppose you have them to blame.