I feel like I need to apologise for Kerbals

[OrbitalBuzzsaw]

I honestly think that Kerbals are what make the game so great. If it was humans, you'd never launch a manned mission for fear of killing them. With Kerbals, it's so much more fun. You feel so proud that these little green guys got to Duna or whatever, even though you know it's only a game. You lose that with realistic characters.

[Birdco_Space]

As someone who plays to expose my children to Physics, I can most assuredly state that that the Kerbal expand the reach of the game into the younger market.  They absolutely adore the tiny green men piloting their rockets, and all the while exposing themselves to the complexities of Kinetic and potential energy, momentum and force in an intuitive way.

 

You know a game has impact when you child builds a ridiculous spacecraft out of legos and has a lego figurine named Jebidiah pilot it.

 

BTW, Bob is their favorite, as his launch freakouts are a reliable source of entertainment.

[Sharpy]

Well, if you're worried about being judged by the disney-style characters in KSP, as always, there's a mod for that. Finally you can replace the ridiculous Kerbals with something that is well known to be popularly liked by adult men:

https://mods.curse.com/ksp-mods/kerbal/242529-kerbal-space-ponies

[ProtoJeb21]

Apologize for Kerbals? I don't think I need to. I find them as both scientifically serious and adorably hilarious at the same time. They aren't just some Minion-like...things...that you can use for your entertainment. They have more of a serious side to them as a race striving towards space by their own scientific interest. Plus, there are some benefits to not having humans in the game. If you blow up a rocket with HUMANS on it, that's a whole different story that crashing a bunch of Kerbals. That, and stories like @Just Jim's Emiko Station really gives them a new layer.

So I don't need to apologize for Kerbals. But should I apologize TO them?

Spoiler

Ummm................................................MAYBE......................

 

[Randazzo]

I've always thought of Kerbals being adorable as an asset.

And they are, you know.

Adorable.

 

Edited December 19, 2016 by Randazzo

[Nathair]

On 2016-12-18 at 3:02 AM, archnem said:

Actually, this is what kept me from playing KSP at first.  I'd never heard of it, and then saw something either on Steam or Unity's site or somewhere about it, and when I looked, I saw these goofy looking green guys and thought "Oh, it's a kids game, not what I'm looking for in a space sim." and moved on.

Then some months later, I saw an article or something about it, and decided to try out the demo.  I then realized it was actually pretty hardcore, just with cute green guys in it.  Now I'm about 2000 hours in, and love it.

Exactly this. (Except, perhaps for the 2K hours, I don't even remember when I passed that particular obsession milestone.)

[Just Jim]

4 hours ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

Plus, there are some benefits to not having humans in the game. If you blow up a rocket with HUMANS on it, that's a whole different story that crashing a bunch of Kerbals. That, and stories like @Just Jim's Emiko Station really gives them a new layer.

Yeah, I think all of the authors and artists in the fan works section have that same goal in mind, to give them some sort of depth and personalities and make them even more lovable if possible. KSP doesn't have a backstory, so we make our own. And having adorable little green aliens to work with makes it so much easier.  

Edited December 20, 2016 by Just Jim

[tg626]

It is less traumatic to slaughter cartoon characters.

[Magzimum]

Serious stuff + Comic relief = Success

[Starhawk]

Space is hard.

Space is also cold and deadly.

Physics is unforgiving.

Something funny and friendly is exactly what is needed to make many players feel good and comfortable with the game despite it's difficulties.

Kerbals are soft, friendly, enthusiastic, and funny.  The Kerbals are what opens the market segment.

Happy landings!

[monstah]

I feel a need to apologize to Kerbals.

Seriously, I feel bad when they die. I look at the screen with a look on my face like that child saying "...they destroyed Leia's planet!", then I look at F9 and wonder how much game time will I lose.

[adsii1970]

32 minutes ago, monstah said:

I feel a need to apologize to Kerbals.

Seriously, I feel bad when they die. I look at the screen with a look on my face like that child saying "...they destroyed Leia's planet!", then I look at F9 and wonder how much game time will I lose.

Sadly, I understand this all too well - and have no problems reverting especially when the Kracken awakened and wanted a sacrificial Kerbal. My wife laughs because every craft, except for ground craft and ships, has some sort of escape mechanism. Aircraft have parachutes, space planes have cockpits that are also lifepods, and space stations always have enough vehicles docked to cover the crew in case of an evacuation is ordered.

[Kurld]

Mainly I play the game because I like to build models. Building them from electrons is a lot cheaper than any other way I've found. Plus I get to fly these models around in outer space...

The Kerbals are kind of funny looking... but their comedic impact faded for me long long ago. For the longest time they were nothing but props. At least the crew can sort of do stuff now. But I am always wishing for more depth... that crew selection and development made more of an impact to success. In sandbox they still seem mostly irrelevant to anything.

On the other hand, I've spent a lot of time developing the PEBKAC Launch Escape System mod so that the little googly-eyed freaks have an even chance of making it back when things go pear-shaped.

[stenole]

I think Kerbal characters fit perfectly for a game where you just plop fuel blocks on top of engine nozzle blocks and launch to space. The game is really only as complicated as you make it yourself. You don't have to calculate everything to achieve basic success in this game. Optimization is an optional activity.

[MitchS]

I am totally ambivalent towards the Kerbals for my own gameplay experience. In fact, I'm sure there are certain elements of the game that I appreciate more because of them. But I definitely get what you mean about feeling the need to apologize for them, because I do too. There's something a little bit cheesy about them to the uninitiated, and it's the only thing that someone looking over your shoulder really notices about the game. As someone who is expected to be an example of military professionalism, I can't help but notice that my "intellectually challenging astrodynamics and engineering simulator" is just "sending goofy little green minion things through a fictional solar system" to everyone else. Sooo, I generally don't talk about KSP except with good friends. (And when I do, I admit that I try to keep the Kerbals out of my description of the game.)

However, I don't think I would ever ask someone to change them, because the Kerbals seem to be the bridge that lets this game span across enormous demographic gaps. There are 10 year olds who are fluent in basic orbital mechanics and mission design nowadays. Are you kidding me? What other game has that kind of educational impact? These kids come for the "moar boosters, kill the Kerbals, lol look at this fail" (shudder) but stay because "well, there's still that other moon that I still want to figure out how to get to..." and one thing leads to another and pretty soon they're solving the rocket equation and reading NASA's articles on reentry dynamics. Awesome. Kids fall in love with STEM when they put their hands into it, and getting them to reach in is the challenge--maybe for many, it starts with goofy little green guys on a space game. I think that's a beautiful thing, and I'm willing to pay a little of my social dignity for it.

[Ringkeeper]

close to 40 here.... but i love the Kerbals

Have waaaay more sympathy for this little green walking heads then for a "human" like creature , if it would be in this game. This little chaotic guys fit perfectly to this game, where you can do crazy stupid but also serious stuff.

Humans would never ever touch a duck-tape glued together 5 layer asparagus ship^^

[Ozymandias_the_Goat]

On 12/17/2016 at 6:35 AM, Foxster said:

It might help with my constant need to see Kerbals die in the most pointless and painful ways possible.

Does this not look painful enough?

[Triop]

On 17-12-2016 at 0:35 PM, Foxster said:

Whenever I show anyone KSP, I always say something like, "I know, it looks dumb because of the cutsey Disney-looking creatures, but in fact there is a hardcore simulation that can teach you a lot". This because the Kerbals make KSP look like a game for little kids. 

There is something jarring about having overly-cute cartoon creatures in this game. Maybe they are there to attract younger  people? Or they are comic relief? Either way, anyone buying KSP thinking it is a cartoon game about cute space aliens will be quickly disappointed once they have failed a few times at trying to get a craft to orbit. 

I suppose I'd like a cuteness setting slider. Or an option to have realistic astronauts. Something anyway that makes KSP look more grown-up. It might help with my constant need to see Kerbals die in the most pointless and painful ways possible.

This is profiling people !!! 

so what if I'm green and only 1/3 of your length.

You ever been to in space ? No ? Well, I have...

Edited December 21, 2016 by Triop

[foamyesque]

Frankly I'm not sure I would've picked up the game in the first place without Jebediah Kerman's cheerful grin in the midst of major disasters.

[Captain Vlad]

Older guy and don't care about other people's opinions, as others have described.  Do get pretty attached to the brave little kerbonauts, though, and my affection has inspired rescue missions better than any sci-fi movie I've ever seen.

Edited December 21, 2016 by Captain Vlad

[samstarman5]

I will illustrate my thoughts on this by bringing up an analogy.

Once upon a time, there was a game called No Man's Sky. People saw the trailers, some dev playthroughs, and got hyped like crazy. The ships were Battlestar Galactica badass, with humanoids to match.  Then the game came out and was panned as an overall turd.

Recently an Early Access game has appeared, called Astroneer.  It has already been lauded as the No Man's Sky people were actually hoping for, and has been getting a lot of attention, even for being in pre-alpha.  This game gives the player a lot of tools to explore, mine, research, and build on planets that they can travel between. Sounds great, huh? Here's the point: Astroneer's player avatar is the cutest little spacesuited figure you could even lay your eyes on and if the publishers do not market it for plushies or such I will be very disappointed.  The terrain is entirely polygon-based and the planets are so small you can probably make a run around one within a playthrough.  But it already looks so beautiful.  I don't care that everything was made with Playskool in mind.

My point being that you shouldn't worry about the kerbals in KSP when sharing with your friends about the game.  There is a fantastic video done that illustrates the sheer majesty of the game, that can help you get the point across.

Enjoy:

Courtesy Shaun Esau.

[Slam_Jones]

I dunno about the rest of you guys, but for me (even though I am far from child-age) the goofy green guys made the game a lot more approachable.  If it had all looked super-serious with Humans and less-cartoony graphics, I would likely have not bought it.

[elpollodiablo]

My Kerbals achieved much, much more than what we humans are even capable of in the next 50 years. What i generally do when i introduce someone new to the game is to apologize to them for the ignorance they'll get frontloaded with.

They're used to it tough, they had to deal with me when i started out afterall.

[vsully]

The reason we have Kerbals and not humans in the spaceships is because if we had humans the rating would go up. Right? I mean, many people secretly enjoy making the Kerbals poof, scream, turn into living spaghetti, and otherwise use them as guinea pigs for big flying tubes of explodey stuff... I couldn't do that to a crew of humans, but Kerbals make it less serious and sad when your attempt to land on the Mun ends up plastered all over the face of it or buried in a deep, deep crater.

[Guest]

Part of the Kerbals' charm is that they are too dumb to know they can't do fantastic things. Perseverance at its finest.