Too easy to get bored? Ideas?

[Jessen21]

i've noticed that once certain things are done, it gets too easy for people to get bored, and then want to just call the shuttle and can kind of screw up other people's work. Maybe there needs to be more things that can occupy time in cases of long rounds? I get that technically long rounds are probably everyone's least favorite thing, but thats because theres just not a lot to doo after genetics are all found, research is all done, ect.

what kind of ideas we got, anyone? And please, for the love of god, don't complain here about '1h30 should be max round, then lone ops spawn', that doesn't really help. Overall while the game has antags, its also somewhat sandbox so we SHOULD be able to come up with stuff to do, right?

[Lumbermancer]

Civilian objectives.

[zaracka]

If you get bored you should hit X.

I think the majority of the current playerbase, at least on bagil, does jobs to strengthen themselves against antagonists. However, doing things just for the sake of doing them can be fun too.

A few ideas I've come up with throughout playing (in no particular order):
- turn yourself into a changeling with xenobiology
- make pyroxadone and run around as the human torch (come up with ways to keep yourself on fire, napalm, alcohol, etc.)
- break into places and steal something you want without leaving a trace (RCD, hacking tools, weld down a wall, quickest route, low traffic route)
- make over 9000 posibrains to bring people back into the round
- give the AI interesting laws (don't overdo this one)
- figure out ways to do mandatory jobs as efficiently as possible, maximize quality and quantity within a small timeframe (most power output, least changes to the default piping supermatter setup; best healing chems, easiest recipes)
- make an AI and carry them around in an intellicard, pAI+ (ultimate metabuddy trick, you can actually give them AI-controlled cyborg shells too)
- build a cloning lab for plasmamen (plasmamen don't combust if there's no oxygen in the air, fill it with plasma so they can breathe)
- turn the showroom/corporate lounge into a public medbay, plasmaman lounge, or anything really, repurpose unused parts of the station, empty rooms, parts of maintenance, etc.

Can't think of anymore, but I'll add them if I remember them.

[NanookoftheNorth]

Civilian objectives.

Acknowledging successes of regular crew in the round with civilian objectives is good. Really, there should be greentext for non-antag players in specific. Seeing "build bluespace artillery" with greentext to me means so little.

Here's something I'd like to see:
Janet Humber succeeded in ordering the Bluespace Artillery.
Andrew Saxton succeeded in assembling the Bluespace Artillery.
Janet Humber succeeded in assembling the Bluespace Artillery.
Alan Jackson succeeded in assembling the Bluespace Artillery.
The crew failed in completing the DNA Vault.

Crew objectives should mention people who worked toward it, and mention those who succeeded multiple times. For the DNA vault, show who added the most DNA first and show the numbers, even if it wasn't completed:
Dan Ander succeeded in adding 20 plant DNA.
Dan Ander succeeded in adding 2 human DNA.

People like greentext. It would give a ton of incentive. I think adding it to the crew notes (since nothing goes there if you're a non-antag) would help a bunch too. It would also give something to distract players from valid hunting.

[Lumbermancer]

I believe we had a whole thread about civilian objectives years ago. My idea was to have job specific stuff: chef makes X unique meals, janitor keeps % of the station clean etc. and then rewarding success with cosmetic effects for subsequent rounds, similar to space beards we had a for a moment.

[Jessen21]

those might help, yeah, although giving greentext stuff should at least give us some kind of reward at some point to make that a bit more viable. Maybe like a small stat system or something that can increase running speed or decrease the speed of how hungry you get. But I digress.

Building on to the station is definitely a thing people could do, or starting up the auxiliary base. White ship hunting is another one, as can searching for that omnilathe board. If we had maybe regenerating mobs in off station locations in space, it might give maybe a few incentives to go hunting for gear.

[cacogen]

I believe we had a whole thread about civilian objectives years ago. My idea was to have job specific stuff: chef makes X unique meals, janitor keeps % of the station clean etc. and then rewarding success with cosmetic effects for subsequent rounds, similar to space beards we had a for a moment.

This would be good. I'm don't remember the argument against civilian objectives that prevented it from happening last time.

[aradsten]

Dungeons and dragons in late game

[bman]

in my experience ss13 is the most fun when you're an absolute newbie who just downloaded byond, you come here because of rumors of incredible depth and a new sandbox experience, and more or less you find that, but as you keep playing and the more you uncover of the game's secrets you rapidly approach a wall of having nothing to do. you'll get disillusioned with the game and wanna leave, and there's nothing you can do about it, you cant avoid it or run away from it.

the air of mystery will get dispelled and you'll feel bored, at this point you either leave or push the game's limit by making your own fun either via gimmicks, or personal objectives (or hell, you might start fucking with exploits or some shit), but even those are a distraction from the real issue and once you cook 50 spaghettis for the nth time you'll get sick of it. this is also why tc trades seem so attractive, they give you back the sandbox experience in a virtually limitless way. the best advice i can give you is to drop the game for 3 months or so then come back and rediscover its features. tl;dr crew objectives wont magically fix boredom of ss13 and any player will get sick of them eventually.

at the same time, it's very hard to quit ss13 for some reason, my working theory is that the freedom you get in ss13 is unique and isnt recreated anywhere else that other games seem shallow so you come back for more

you can go "fuck u bman u dont know shit u dumb nigger" but hey that's what i felt and frankly im not the only one who believes this