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#1 Re: Main Forum » Give birth to the killer of your people » 2018-06-25 00:33:10

I'm just gonna post this here, since I think it quite relevant to the situation at hand:

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/tscc3e5 … y-pacifism

I like to consider myself a normal, functioning human being. Thus, I don't like being abusive to other humans. Ruining five, or ten, or even one, other person's harmless fun time is not my idea of fun. I find the idea repulsive, as I do the people that enjoy this sort of thing.

That being said, unfortunately this game favors these kinds of people. That goes double for this forum. I know internet communities tend to be rather toxic, it's in their nature, but this forum is one of the worse ones I've seen. All in the name of free speech absolutism, which I've seen kill communities before. The idea that an unmoderated community will become a bastion of rational discussion and exchange of ideas is a rather naive one; it's more likely that trolls and spammers will take over, and in the end, will be the only ones left.

The way this game and community is right now, it feels to me like the only winning move is not to play. Thus, I'll be taking a indefinite break from it all. For what it's worth, I wish Jason all the best for his game. It's one of the better games I've played, and very much a unique experience. I really do hope to see it succeed, despite any hardships along the way.

#2 Re: Main Forum » Give birth to the killer of your people » 2018-06-24 21:06:07

For the people wondering about the lineage ban, it's been reworked so that it kicks in when you've lived for a total of 30 mins on a certain lineage, and fades when you've lived a total of 60 mins on other lineages. It also kicks in instantly if you're murdered. Check out this commit by Jason:

https://github.com/jasonrohrer/OneLife/ … a25468a684

From what I've seen, the dedicated griefers have used this to their advantage, purposefully dying of starvation right before they hit thirty, so they can come back once more to get any people they might have missed the first time.

Oh, and +1 to Sin's post.

#3 Re: Main Forum » Missed Connections » 2018-06-24 15:54:35

Nopik wrote:

I was November Meredith. Born the last child of a large, boy-heavy family, I found myself the only fertile female in a rather strange old town. 8th generation, but no forge, no tools but one hoe, and no food except berries. We did have a small farm, watched over by an older cousin, who decided we needed compost (which we did, badly) so he grew some carrots and wheat. I had just enough time to help him make the first batch of compost before I had my first child. I ended up having eight children with only two boy suicides. Most were killed by animals, but two daughters lived to old age and had many children of their own.
When I died, the town hadn’t changed much. My compost mostly went to keeping the berries alive, and the rest was used to make a large patch of milkweed to the south.  The sheep pen was full of sheared sheep, but no one ever made a knife to harvest them.
I’m afraid I’m not very good at dividing my attention between different activities, but I restocked that town with people and no bushes died on my watch. We have a twelfth generation now and I hope the town will last a while.

We made it through the night and got to gen 28 only to be ended by a killer named Oran.

http://lineage.onehouronelife.com/serve … _id=389273

I was part of this family today. I was Lucas: http://lineage.onehouronelife.com/serve … &id=389874

It seems the family might have survived by moving to another location from the one you were in. When I was born, our place looked far more like a starter camp than a town (in fact, I assumed then I might be 5th or 6th gen. I only realized the family was an old one when I later checked the website). I hunted rabbits most of my life, took a brief break to begin making a sheep pen, which a little girl finished building, and hunted some more rabbits until I died.

Oran's massacre happened right after I died, or at the very end of my life, I'm not quite sure. I was quite miffed when I learned about it; so much effort ruined by a single player.

#4 Re: Main Forum » Civilization isn't civilized people » 2018-06-22 22:03:55

I was in a fledgling town today, gen 5. I spent my entire life making food and tools and fetching stuff. When I was forty-fiftyish, we had gone from zero tools to axe, shovel, hoe, froe, pick and adze, we were making stew, and all that along with teaching some new players stuff.

It took one person. One. To end it all.

He didn't need to prepare. He didn't need to do anything. He just made a bow and arrow and killed all four fertile women. He even hung around camp most of the time. We couldn't defend ourselves, because all milkweed was depleted.

I don't care if it's realistic (which it isn't), or what have you. One person being able to destroy the effort of ten other people in a heartbeat is fucked up. It's bad game design.

#5 Re: Main Forum » Missed Connections » 2018-06-21 00:38:20

To Fenna,
Thank you for showing me your 'iron road' to the mine. I tried to tell my numskull brother about it, but all he ever cared about was locking himself up in his little house with his wife and kids, so he just brushed me off. You were the only one in our family that ever acknowledged me, even though I worked my butt off for all of them. I was so saddened by their indifference, that I often thought of giving up, but I had set a goal for myself: I'd bury you near that beautiful willow tree, with a tombstone and a rose by your grave. And I managed it! I even inscribed the tombstone. It says 'uncle'; I know we were distant cousins, but you were so much older than me, I thought uncle was a better fit. I planted the very first rose bush in the city, and placed a beautiful pink rose by your final resting place. I wish you could see it; it's a rather scenic view.
Wherever you may be, I hope you make many mines, and even more iron roads.
Best wishes,
Your nameless cousin-nephew.

http://lineage.onehouronelife.com/serve … &id=369887
http://lineage.onehouronelife.com/serve … _id=369887

#7 Re: Main Forum » mothers who dont give their babies names » 2018-06-06 22:38:33

I felt like this a while ago, and then the lineage tracker was introduced. I'm cool with not having a first/last name now.

Still, I believe we should be able to set a first name for ourselves if we're unnamed, and a last name if the Eve that started our line never picked one for herself. If she did, I believe it should automatically transfer to her descendants. At least until a certain number of generations have passed.

#8 Re: Main Forum » Missed Connections » 2018-06-06 10:39:32

WomanWizard wrote:
lostlandofcarrots wrote:

To the Sun family-

Words cannot describe how happy I was when I returned to our village in my old age, after a life in the wilderness, and discovered that not only did my griefer of a mother not wipe you out, but that you were thriving even more than before. I am sorry I ran from her when I was young; I've taken a vow not to kill anyone in this game ever again. I hope you find the little camp I set up in the north; I hope it is of use if anyone griefs again.

To my nameless little sister: thank you for staying by my side until the end.

http://lineage.onehouronelife.com/serve … &id=242972

I was your nephew, Dwan! A whole bunch of us lived well enough to die of old age and my nephews were smithing by the end of my life. We had a shovel and I wanted to bury mom's bones, but I couldn't find them anywhere. You two were real troupers and the family thrived despite our griefer grandmother.

Of course, they aren't the Suns anymore since grandma didn't name you guys. That's a shame.

Hello Dwan! Yeah, it's sad the family name was lost after that. Our mother, Nami Sun, actually tried to kill, at least me, as a baby. She went out of her way to travel three screens away from the village, and dump me in a tundra. I only survived because there was a desert there, so I stood on the edge to set my temp to the ideal level, and thus managed to run back to the village, where someone else fed me.

Nami followed me around after that. Maybe she was surprised, and maybe even spiteful, because she interfered with a lot of the things I, in particular, tried doing, haha.

Looking at the family tree, it seems they survived for a while longer, without much killing, and only died off because of a lack of girls. I think it's one of the good ways for a bloodline to end, so I'm happy with that.

#9 Re: Main Forum » Missed Connections » 2018-06-04 01:17:51

happynova wrote:

This is a message for the Miller family and concerns the most dramatic plot twist I have experienced in this game.

I was born to an Eve who didn't seem to have settled down, but was instead wandering from berry bush to berry bush.  I tried to follow her, but at some point we got separated, and I despaired of ever finding her again.  Instead, I found a good spot and set up a camp of my own.  I had two boys, Jojo and Benjamin.  Jojo died young, but Ben lived to adulthood and was an all-around great kid. 

I also had two little girls, very close together, and my biggest regret was not being able to keep them alive.  I don't know what happened.  They both sounded super-competent, and we were discussing plans for what they would do when they were old enough.  Then one "F"ed, so  I went to pick her up -- I wasn't far away -- but before I got to her, she died!  I turned to the other to feed her instead... and she died!  Did I get so caught up in talking, so eager to share all my knowledge of the area around us, or oblivious in my excitement to have someone to carry on my line, that I wasn't paying enough attention to them?  Did the text of my words cover up their pleas for food?  I don't know, but I lost them, and I blamed myself.  (I should have made a fire!  Why didn't I make a fire?!  They even told me they were cold, but I just took it as a cue to tell them about the lack of desert around us and how we hadn't hunted any bunnies yet, but had a comfortable food supply.  I hang my head in shame.)

I grew old with no more children, and in my waning moments, I told Ben my story, how I had (literally) lost my mother, and that it's possible he might still have family somewhere.   Then I walked just a little way away from Ben to get more food  And, at that very moment, a stranger comes walking in nonchalantly from the west with a casual "hi."  It's my brother, Bobby!  A little brother I never knew! 

He was at the bottom of my screen, and Ben was just out of my vision to the top.  I don't know if they even saw each other.  But I think they both heard me scream, "My brother!!!"

And then I dropped dead.

And I gotta know...  Ben, Bobby, anybody from the Miller family, if you're reading this...  Did you find each other?  Did--?

Oh.  Wait.  I just reloaded the family tree as I was typing this, and the story looks like it ends sadly and all too soon.  But I'd still like to know what happened!

(And, while I'm at it, I apologize to those two girls.  I think one of them is probably around here, because I think I remember a "Q."  What can I say?  I like to think I'm gettning decent-ish at this game, but sometimes I'm still an idiot.)

Mom! I was Benjamin. Bobby stayed at the camp after you died. I wanted to make a forge, to make a shovel and chisel so I could make you a proper grave, and he helped me out by bringing stuff, but I unfortunately starved right as I was making popcorn.

The situation with my sisters might have been an unfortunate case of lag. It's happened to me before, kids just randomly dying.

I had a lot of fun in that life though! I hope we meet again in-game sometime smile

#10 Re: Main Forum » Missed Connections » 2018-06-04 01:07:20

To the Sun family-

Words cannot describe how happy I was when I returned to our village in my old age, after a life in the wilderness, and discovered that not only did my griefer of a mother not wipe you out, but that you were thriving even more than before. I am sorry I ran from her when I was young; I've taken a vow not to kill anyone in this game ever again. I hope you find the little camp I set up in the north; I hope it is of use if anyone griefs again.

To my nameless little sister: thank you for staying by my side until the end.

http://lineage.onehouronelife.com/serve … &id=242972

#11 Re: Main Forum » Missed Connections » 2018-05-30 19:48:23

To my beloved family, the Marys:

Shlomy (or Shlyn, as I named you), my daughter, you were amazing. You helped so much with the farm, with collecting resources, with everything. We were in a good place to set up camp, but there was little food. Without your help, we would never have been able to make it.

Niaomi, my granddaughter, seeing you die right before reaching the farm during a water run broke my heart. You were a bright child, and your life was cut short way too soon.

To all my other children and grandchildren: thank you. I'm so sorry I never got to bring you iron, as I promised, and see you one last time. The snake was waiting right behind that tree, and got me right before I reached camp.

-Your loving mother and grandmother, Belle Mary.

#12 Re: Main Forum » Confessional » 2018-05-09 18:58:59

Long before the first apoc happened, I was born to a rich civ with very nice people. It was, however, just being repopulated. It was in need of workers and just people in general, because there were so few of them, but instead of helping out I just stole a cart, clothes and a lot of food and went on a lifetime-long search for gold. I returned to the town in my next life, and it had died out. Sorry 'bout that.

#13 Re: Main Forum » Ducks: A city of blood. » 2018-05-07 22:27:39

Was that today? I do remember being born in a desert town with a food shortage. I brought back many wild carrot seeds from the north and helped start the farm back up, but then a full blown battle broke out between our city and some invaders. I hung around among the mayhem to see what would become of it all, but was ironically killed by a snake when I went for more seeds.

#14 Re: Main Forum » Dream Village? » 2018-04-27 22:05:41

I love cities with huge berry farms and stone walls. The carrot farm is of a moderate to small size, used almost exclusively for compost. People bake mutton pies, and sometimes, rarely - dare i say it? - berry pies. They wear sheep and muflon skins, and reed skirts. There is a leader/overseer, and they wear a crown. There's strategically placed trash pits all over the city, and its citizens take the time to throw away broken and rotted items, keeping the place clean and clutter-free - or, ideally, there is one person dedicated to that job. A tall bell tower stands in the central area, or at the graveyard. A fire burns near the kilns and forges, never going out, as there's always a firekeeper that looks after it.

#15 Re: Main Forum » Is Difficulty a Bad Trait for Video Games? » 2018-04-25 22:49:18

rodrigo wrote:

You should play a little more to see what they talk about. What are you say looks teorical and not from a perspective from who played this update.

The game is not that hard. But the way that decay system is currently makes it about grind. There is many faults that people keep talking about, like when he put baskets to decay 30min (that was insane) but you only can see it if you play.

Now tools broke, but iron is limited. No city will last for at least 4-5 consecutive generations now. Every 1 hour all baskets will be gone, and resources will be lost, there is no way to store. Think about it, each carrot farm produces 5 carrots per soil with 1 hole of fertile soil you get at least 5 soil to farm. It's 25 carrots for each 4min.

If you can't see it, you need to play a little. You will see multiples cities failing overtime and itens everywhere.

"This game is about playing one small part in a much larger story." -> but you part is useless, because no one will keep a failed city.

"This game is also about family trees. Having a mother who takes care of you as a baby, and hopefully taking care of a baby yourself later in life. And your mother is another player." -> Or people abondon children because they can't sustain everyone or everyone die because there is many people and camp is not advanced yet

"Building something to use in your lifetime, but inevitably realizing that, in the end, what you build is not for YOU, but for your children and all the countless others that will come after you." -> Realy? My cloths will be gone, my baskets, tools, handcarts, backpacks and I will dry out everything in the surrounds: stone, iron, wood. Not because someone screw up, it's because the game is now like this.

This part is hilarious now:

"Proudly using your grandfather's ax, and then passing it on to your own grandchild as the end of your life nears." -> Grandfather's ax yeah right....

+1

#16 Re: Main Forum » Current state of the games [Rant] » 2018-04-25 18:46:22

mulgara wrote:

I like the new compost system. There was very little incentive to diversify from carrot farming before. With so many better food sources out there, a carrot farm shouldn't be the end game. A carrot farm should be a small part of a town's food production.

The compost system is cool. It's also realistic, for those into that sort of thing, although this game in general is pretty far from realism. I also agree that a carrot farm shouldn't be the only thing that feeds an entire town. But the thing is, this game is lacking in content. Why should we only be able to farm carrots, berries and wheat? Why not add the ability to farm onions (which already exist!), or tomatoes, or potatoes, or cabbage? What about other fruit and vegetables? What about eventually adding more kinds of animals? Make it so that a farm with only one kind of veggie/fruit can help kick-start a base, but in order for a larger settlement to evolve from it, people have to start farming more stuff. Ideally, they would also have a choice on what kind of stuff to farm: one town could specialize in some types of veggies/fruit, another in others. Hopefully, trade would also evolve from that. And this philosophy could also apply in animals/meat, tools, etc.

By the way, I think decay was a good idea. I supported the idea before it was implemented, and I still support it now. But the mistake was, in my opinion, that it was implemented without the ability to repair. Granted, you'd still be making the same items when repairing, but at least you'd be going through fewer steps and consuming less resources to do it. And the initial effort you put into crafting the thing would mean something. And then we'd still have this: "Proudly using your grandfather's ax, and then passing it on to your own grandchild as the end of your life nears," and this time it would be even more meaningful, because you also have to maintain the ax to keep and pass it on.

What drew me to this game was the promise of family and civilization building. The concept of crafting something that others could later use. But lately it just feels like nothing you ever create matters. You could say that passing on your knowledge is what should matter, but communication is so limited in this game, that it's close to impossible to do so. It's disheartening, and depressing, and it's far from the heartwarming experience I remember when I first started playing.

I don't think anyone wants this game to be a carrot farming simulator, nor for it to become too easy. But changing the way stuff works all the time, forcing players to relearn the same stuff every week, and then taking everything they've accomplished away and forcing them to rebuild it from scratch is no fun either. No matter how many ways you come up with to farm carrots, the end result is the same: carrots. No matter how many times I'm forced to make a steel ax, in the end of the day, it's still a steel ax. There's no novelty or variance. There's no new things to do or discover. And in the end, nothing we do or create ever matters, because it's all gonna be wiped out, and we'll have to remake it, forever stuck in a loop of an age of stone-and-a-bit-of-steel. And that, I believe, is what makes a game stagnate, and eventually die out.

(This got far longer than I expected it to, lol.)

#17 Re: Main Forum » Current state of the games [Rant] » 2018-04-25 16:45:20

Honestly, for a few weeks now, every update feels like "Here's a new and more irritating way to... farm carrots!"

(This last one was "Here's a new and more irritating way to... maintain everything! Oh and also farm carrots." I guess that could be called branching out. In a really negative sense.)

I honestly miss the way the game was before the apocalypse. Yes, it was all the same towns. Yes, it was boring sometimes. But I lived so many memorable lives. There was roleplaying, and trade, and even warfare. Then the apoc happened, and people were scrambling to survive. Then things started balancing out again, and becoming interesting once more, and right before decay it was really starting to become enjoyable, a nice balance between challenging and fun gameplay, and then bam! Your village now crumbles from under you as you work. Have fun spending 60 mins making 200 baskets and 100 stone hoes. Because it's supposed to feel like a chore, not a game.

Oh, and if you're a newbie, forget being able to learn from your mistakes. Because everything is so punishing, and all resources so limited, one little slip-up of yours is gonna doom your entire settlement. And if, somehow, miraculously, you and your relatives don't starve to death, you're still gonna end up shot or stabbed, because we gotta repel new players like the infestation they are, you guys!

But yeah, let's balance the game around the playstyle of power gamers. How dare you assume it's supposed to be fun or, god forbid, relaxing to play? Didn't you know it's supposed to become your second job?!

When I bought this 3 weeks ago, I was promised an ever expanding tech tree. The challenge was supposed to have been learning new stuff every week, not having to relearn how to do the same old boring stuff over and over.

#18 Re: Main Forum » Are all towns gone? » 2018-04-25 02:07:47

I found a huge city, all stone walls and like a million berry bushes, not sure on which server. When I first found it, I just stumbled upon it as an Eve. The people there told me it was 'Berryland' and tried to kill me, but I ran away, stealing some of their pies, and later their axe. I eventually died of old age, and was reborn inside the city. My mom refused to name me because I misclicked and jumped out of her arms. Eventually more and more people were born into it, and I just abandoned it and returned to the old camp I had as an Eve.

Just... a bad place to be, I believe. Didn't really enjoy the lives I lived in/near it.

#19 Re: Main Forum » i've killed my first bear » 2018-04-24 17:38:25

Congrats! I've tried to kill bears in the past but they always manage to eat me xD Haven't been able to get one just yet.

#20 Re: Main Forum » We Need a Dedicated Beta Server! » 2018-04-24 08:21:09

I fully support this.

(Also, you might wanna post this suggestion on reddit as well?)

Edit: I just noticed, you already did. Forget I said anything, lol.

#21 Re: Main Forum » I, for one, welcome the decay update. It is the best solution so far. » 2018-04-23 11:42:59

denriguez wrote:
NyanRose wrote:

The think the idea of decay is nice, but it's far too fast. I think it would be best if it activates faster if the town has been without people for a certain period of time. Otherwise it should take a few generations to start decaying.

In real life a good basket can last for a long time. Any anything if maintained, can last. If the town is active and being maintained, it shouldn't be falling apart after one generation.

I liked the idea that the game was pitched iwth, building on what was already there and advancing as we build more. But now nothing we build lasts. When restarts happen and we are forced to log out, we can't continue at the village that was thriving. So it's a constant state of starting over. I miss being able to be reborn in a village I worked on and seeing it. I know it's not easy finding balance, but repair should be possible and decay should be slow in active villages. I would like if eves could spawn near 'abandoned' villages to attempt to rebuild. Coming to it ruined is fine if it can be repaired. Bringing back an old civilization sounds like so much fun!

Yes. I had this to say over on the suggestions subreddit a couple of weeks ago: "[W]hat if items only decayed when they haven't been interacted with? As soon as an item is set down, its decay timer starts. When it's picked up next, its timer resets. This would allow for the natural decay of lost settlements while limiting the amount of stuff that just crumbles while you're holding it. If one minute = one year, let's at least assume that I'm maintaining my axe while I'm out in the field for a year chopping down trees."

Pretty much what I was thinking of when I imagined decay as a mechanic. Naturally along with the ability to repair and/or trash broken things. The concept was that you could discover lost settlements and bring them back to their former glory, not that your village rots from under you as you work.

#22 Re: Bug Discussion » Death from "Connection Lost"? » 2018-04-22 19:15:44

Has happened to me twice, both times were today

#23 Re: Main Forum » Heartbreaking game. » 2018-04-22 19:02:18

Aww this is so sweet and touching! You write very well.

It's these kinds of moments that always make me wanna keep playing the game.

#24 Re: Main Forum » Has the game become too dystopian? » 2018-04-21 20:41:24

My experience was pretty much the same as OP's. Only I never found any cities at all; just a few abandoned farms here and there, littered with rotten baskets. It felt like only new players that were trying out the game were playing t the time; most of the people I ran into, at least, were new. And really, I believe they too will stop soon. Having a decay system without a way to repair stuff *and* a way to dispose of broken things (yes, both systems are needed; it's not fun having to remake things a hundred times) is tedious and annoying.

I'm just gonna say what I said in another post: decay should be much slower, things should be repairable and broken stuff disposable. Steel tools should last a *lot*, especially given the effort needed to craft them.

I've played many hours of OHOL. I consider myself an experienced player. I kept playing the game after the apocalypse, after all the nerfs to farming, after all the complaints about rampant griefing. I found ways to deal with those problems, and I can even say I found the challenge enjoyable (especially when it came to griefers and murderers; I always enjoy some good pvp). But this update made everything annoying and boring. I think I'll probably stop playing, at least for a while, until this is fixed.

#25 Re: Main Forum » How to fix the decay update (Also a small rant) » 2018-04-21 19:56:53

I was one of the people that suggested decay, but I honestly never imagined it would be implemented this way. It's just so tedious, having to replace baskets all the time (I'm not mentioning tools solely because I never had the chance to use them since the update; for 2-3 hours now I've been spawning to Eves, or as an Eve, never having the chance to make any steel stuff because survival). I second the suggestion for slower decay and more uses per item, and definitely, *definitely* the one about repairing stuff. I don't know how one could implement a decay system without a repair system to complement it, and a way to dispose of broken stuff; it's a bad idea all around. And they should be repairable with fewer materials than they took to create; a baskets with only one reed/straw bundle, for example.

And there's a difference between a hard game, and a tedious, unplayable one. Unfortunately, I feel like OHOL is rapidly becoming the latter. And I say that as a person that generally enjoys more challenging games.

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