Hello all!
Well, seems I need to start again. My internet connection refused to work, maybe. Slightly pissed now, because my "well-considered" post is gone now.
So I'll put it short.
New user, no thread found for saying hello, but spent quite some time with trying to get into the Minetest_game. Tried about two years ago, was very bored (compared to Minecraft it felt empty). Quit, came back now, for some days now I'm trying to find the mods necessary to make this a game for me. (Probably lots of "Newbies" have the same problem)
Let me quickly introduce myself (like others, I did not find a thread for this).
I am interested in computer stuff, have some very basic knowledge of programming in Java and Python, had some first contact with TurboPascal when I was in school (which is quite a long time ago)
I hope to try some modding in LUA with this game but I am totally not sure if it will be more than the hope or some ideas. Not sure if I will stay here or will be able (i.e. find time, want to, you know...laziness and so on) to contribute much.
But after reading a lot in the forums, searching for information regarding mods and stuff, I felt to post here- this thread is the most fitting I could find for some complaints and maybe some of it can even be considered constructive criticism.
I will not quote any particular post or user, but I'll add some links to threads which made me post here.
Also, this is not meant as a reply to any post in this thread, just some thoughts.
There seem to be some problems (if Minetest is actually wanting to grow a larger community or popularity):
-right now it is more or less for geeks
-it is oss, which is great, but not exactly relevant for the average user (who cares to really check the code? who is really able to modify or improve it to ones likes?- exactly, just some freaks (meant in a good way))
-it still feels like "where is the game?" - if not modded! (if I'm not all for creative [and even then, for lots of people (i.e. players, not modders) Minecraft creative offers more]) - just an assumption but I believe users "would" come from minecraft
reasons could be:
-"ohh, the money I would spent for two (granted, now it'd be four) packs of cigarettes I will totally not pay for a game that entertains me for like hundreds or even thousands of hours" ;P
-"ohh, Microsoft (some probably weird thinking people [in this forums as well as in the webs in general] like to refer to M$ or MicroShit, Windoze (that old, not been funny even ages ago) or Minecrap, respectively--which will be my next point to possibly grow the community]) bought Minecraft (Mojang) {after the game reached its horizon (sellings-wise)} so I can totally not support this (anymore) --bullshit, see above (average user?)
Some of my thoughts to hopefully help the topic (NOT directed at any specific member):
- try not being that "LEETZ!!111!!" (as mentioned above). I like my Linux box (Arch now, Gentoo for learning- out of interest, still having a Windows (10) installation: very rarely using it, but have to admit (after some tinkering with settings, especially regarding security, networking stuff, social-network-auto-sharing-bullshit) it IS one (maybe THE best OS for the standard end user [it f*****g just works, fast, reliable, nearly no tinkering needed after first installation]- so bitching about Windows users (while often enough using Ubuntu yourself m-/) just makes you look dumb and makes people think "wow, a game for retarded freaks, better not go there"
-wiki and mods need to be cleaned up, I am still trying to figure out which mods work well together (not that easy, lots of "old", sort of abandoned (but revived by other users) mods are out there and there is little information about them (beforehand, like a main post in the mods section of the forums; documentation of the mods is usually good, though) ---> I hope to be able to contribute in this regard later, but still need to figure out lots of things for myself. Plus, there is some really promising looking mod development going on right now, (new Mob-AI-API, e.g.), that could make lots of stuff obsolete, so some waiting is needed anyways.
-Newbies will consider this a Minecraft clone (which at first glance, and second,... well,...you know what comes next;)...IS). It is a good one, though. There are advantages, like it's faster, C++ instead of Java (to my little knowledge that can only be a good thing). There are disadvantages, like, it's way behind feature-wise (of course it is, a small group of free developers do it for fun, for free, in their free time). But still (at least in the eyes of the user) it is a minecraft clone. All the denying that and telling not to compare it...of course it'll be compared to Minecraft, the game Minetest is "inspired" by, the game that sold over 1.000.000 copies even before Microsoft bought Mojang.
Promised links to forums which helped me write this post:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=9505&start=75&hilit=controlsviewtopic.php?f=3&t=9172&hilit=compare+minetest+minecraftviewtopic.php?f=5&t=15233&hilit=compare+minetest+minecraft