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[power5000]

Hey guys, So I'm doing an activity analysis for English 101 and I was hoping you guys would answer a few questions for me in the comments below!

What made you interested in KSP?
What is most rewarding about playing KSP?
How has the community of KSP affected you?
What have you learned from playing KSP?
What would you tell players just getting involved into this community?
What is your goal in playing KSP
How does KSP play a role in your personal and professional life?
What is your past in gaming?
What is your past in rocketry/airplanes if any?
Estimated time invested into KSP?

[HazelPine]

So, I guess I'm first!

What made you interested in KSP?

For me, it was the simple concept of being able to mix and match pieces to do anything I wanted, in a 3D environment with physics.  Soon enough, I discovered mods, back in the 0.13 era, and fell in love with the game. An year later, I bought the game and play it ever since.

What is most rewarding about playing KSP?

That would have to be the feeling of making it somewhere, especially when I get there by plane. I just feels like I've achieved something when I finally land the plane, rocket, whatever it is, on the surface, and get a kerbal out and see the expanse of the planet and the scale of it all.

How has the community of KSP affected you?

I think I can say it's been good to me. When I first joined, a long time ago, I was a very different person. I had a bit of a skewed view of things in terms of how respect worked, and my english wasn't as good either. Over time, I begun to communicate better in english and have a better hold over my temper, and nowdays, a lot of my artwork tends to be KSP, because I wanted to give back to the community something, and taking KSP drawing requests seems to be a fun way of doing it, for everyone.

What have you learned from playing KSP?

Gee, practically everything I now know about how spacecraft work! Before KSP, I was interested in space for sure, but I never really understood the 'how' of getting there. I knew we used rockets, and they went to orbit by going sideways, but other thank that, not much at all. Other than learning how rockets worked, I learned to always double check. Everything. Be it a ship design or a drawing or school work, double checking stuff has saved me a lot of trouble.

What would you tell players just getting involved into this community?

Probably to enjoy their stay! The KSP community is a very friendly one, with many helpful and fun people!  Try to participate in a challenge of your liking, since that does help people get to know you, not to mention it's really fun!

What is your goal in playing KSP?

My goal with playing KSP is to have fun! It's like a super fun creative sandbox of toys, so yeah!

How does KSP play a role in your personal and professional life?

Well, I do a lot of KSP art and I play a lot of KSP, but I don't think it plays a huge part outside of my personal life.

What is your past in gaming?

Surprisingly I'm not an FPS gamer! Begun gaming with Worms, played Ford racing 3 a lot as a kid, had a Wii with a bunch of games, and now I have an Xbox 360 and my PC, where I play racing and COD mostly on the Xbox, and tactical and casual games on the pc.

What is your past in rocketry/airplanes if any?

I flew on planes a couple times, if that counts.

Estimated time invested into KSP?

I wish I kept count for reasons like this. Probably something upwards of 2000 hours!

Edited October 7, 2016 by Pine

[Ten Key]

What made you interested in KSP?

Honestly? For a long time I wasn't. The little I had seen about it seemed. . .ridiculous? It looked like just another fluff game that was fishing for cheap laughs.

And then I bumbled onto a YouTube video of someone playing the game for cheap laughs. . .only to end up being awed in spite of himself. The game was half off on Steam at the time so I picked it up on a lark.

Whoa. Where have the last two years gone? 

What is most rewarding about playing KSP?

There are games that let you build things. There are games that let you go on adventures. There are very few games that let you go on adventures with the things that you've built. I've found Kerbal Space Program to be a wonderful game of discovery, and the contraptions I've cobbled together have become part of that narrative in a way I can't fully describe. I've had brilliant designs that just refused to work like I thought they should, and I've had miserable stop gaps that ended up working far better than they had any right to. Taking something all the way from the VAB to the surface of the Mun is a feeling like no other. You're playing in the same sandbox as everyone else, and yet because of the construction side of things, your experience is in some ways unique. 

I can remember being home sick from school one day, more years ago than I care to admit. I had my brother's NES all to myself for the whole day, and I finally managed to beat Top Gun. I can remember running around the house thrilled to death, and yet frustrated because there was no one home to see it. 

Kerbal Space Program makes adult me want to run around the house yelling "Look what I just did!!".  

How has the community of KSP affected you?

It's really hammered home the fact that I'm not as smart as I think I am. I'm the space junkie in my circle of friends and family, but I am continuously amazed at the amount of knowledge and creativity displayed on this forum. That most of the folks here manage to do that without egos the size of Jool is a testament to the community. 

What have you learned from playing KSP?

I had a pretty good grasp of orbital mechanics before I started playing KSP (or at least, I thought I did. See above.  ) but one thing KSP has given me is a better appreciation for why NASA never attempted a polar moon landing during Apollo. At least from my own experiences, the landing itself isn't the problem. Getting back out of a Lunar polar orbit can only be done at certain times during the Moon's orbit, while you can return from a Lunar equatorial orbit once every two hours or so. If you're in a polar orbit and you miss the return window, you're stuck there for two weeks. 

What would you tell players just getting involved into this community?

Be patient. There's so much good stuff going on here that sometimes participating in the forum can feel like trying to jump onto a fast moving carousel. I've been here for two years now and sometimes it still feels like I'm outside looking in. Browse through the different sections, get a feel for what's there and what fits you. And don't be afraid to ask questions-- the folks here are very helpful and the moderators are fantastic.

What is your goal in playing KSP

Remember that "narrative" bit I mentioned earlier? My KSP adventures have kind of metastasized into a full blown story. I've never tried to write something this long before, and KSP has provided the kick in the pants I needed to make the attempt. My goal is to finish that story, if for no other reason than to prove to myself that I can. 

How does KSP play a role in your personal and professional life?

Well, mostly it's served to cut my entertainment budget down to almost nothing.  But as it turns out, I'm not completely horrible at this writing thing. And I will admit, I am intrigued by the idea of building a capsule in Blender. Wouldn't that be something? 

What is your past in gaming?

My first game system was an Atari 2600. We had an NES at one point, and an IBM PC that was mostly limited to Sierra adventure games and Aces of the Pacific. Xwing. . .SimCity. WWII submarine sims. I landed in college with a first generation Pentium II (no cooling fan on the processor ) about the time the internet started to take off, and the entire dorm hall was wired on a LAN. Alpha Centauri, Age of Empires, Xwing vs Tie Fighter, Freespace, BattleZone, Masters of Orion II, Homeworld. . .and then EverQuest with the same group of people. That was a wonderful experience and it's a shame most folks will never appreciate just how good multiplayer can be. We all kind of paired off and got married, and we still get together now and again.

I played Tribes for a while in a league until people started getting serious and it stopped being fun.

Things have kind of tapered off. I have no interest in "freemium" games. These days it's pretty much KSP. Stellaris is pretty neat. Planetbase is a fun diversion. 

What is your past in rocketry/airplanes if any?

I did the Space Camp thing in elementary school and was into model rockets for a while. I've taken some engineering courses, but my math wasn't where it needed to be in order to pursue it. 

Estimated time invested into KSP?

[Superfluous J]

What made you interested in KSP?

It's almost the perfect game for me. It's a fantastic balance of lighthearted game and hardcore simulator. And it lets me do space. Real space, like what NASA does. But easier and more fun.

What is most rewarding about playing KSP?

Planning something big down to the last detail and then executing it, over multiple hours and days, and having each piece work as planned. Hey it doesn't happen often but it happens!

How has the community of KSP affected you?

It hasn't? I really don't know. I'm not any different than I was 3 years ago, and any changes that have happened weren't really because of the community. Don't get me wrong, this is a great community, but it's not life changing or anything like that.

What have you learned from playing KSP?

I came in with a pretty solid knowledge of Kepler's and Newton's laws, but no real practical experience of how they could cause problems or offer solutions in real actual spaceflight. I learned all that playing KSP.

What would you tell players just getting involved into this community?

Ask questions, and be willing to accept that you are totally wrong in most every case. As the narrator of Darkest Dungeon says, You cannot learn a thing you think you know.

What is your goal in playing KSP?

I don't have one. It's my hobby. My goal is just to enjoy it until either I die or find a new hobby

How does KSP play a role in your personal and professional life?

It doesn't, other than the friends I've made. Also, my best friend in meatspace plays as much as I do and we get to talk about our forays into space, and compare notes.

What is your past in gaming?

I've been gaming for 40 years, give or take. Started with Pong and the Atari 2600, then early computer-type-computers like the C64, Apple//, and even a Timex Sinclair. In the early/mid 90s I got my first "IBM Clone" and fell in love with Doom and the Internet, and was big on the Doom newsgroups. Then I went from game to game, and whatever game I got sucked into I was big on its forum. One of those (Magic the Gathering) was in meatspace but the rest were all video games. The biggest ones for me were Stars!, Minecraft, FTL, and now Kerbal Space Program.

What is your past in rocketry/airplanes if any?

None. I did similar shenanigans to what Felipe did when I was a kid, but it never turned into a love of rocketry like it did for him. My interest in spaceflight is in the mechanics of doing it, not the tools that allow you to.

Estimated time invested into KSP?

I literally have no idea. Steam says I've played it for 2 hours I suspect in my 3.5 years I've racked up at least 2000 hours, though. Surely far more than 1000.

[Bill Phil]

11 hours ago, power5000 said:

Hey guys, So I'm doing an activity analysis for English 101 and I was hoping you guys would answer a few questions for me in the comments below!

What made you interested in KSP?
What is most rewarding about playing KSP?
How has the community of KSP affected you?
What have you learned from playing KSP?
What would you tell players just getting involved into this community?
What is your goal in playing KSP
How does KSP play a role in your personal and professional life?
What is your past in gaming?
What is your past in rocketry/airplanes if any?
Estimated time invested into KSP?

1.) Well, a few years back I was looking for space games. I played around with orbiter, and I enjoyed it. But it wasn't quite what I was looking for.

2.) I think it's getting past the learning wall. That feeling you get when you complete something hard (for you, it is subjective after all). In this case, the hard task was getting past the learning wall, at least for me.

3.) I think it's helped me grow as a person, to be honest. I've learned many new things during my time here.

4.) Well, maybe not so much learning, but it did help me to visualize orbits and get a more intuitive understanding of how they work. Of course there are much more complex things in orbital mechanics, but it's a good starting point.

5.) Don't be afraid to test your own abilities! You are more capable than you know! If you need help, just ask.

6.) That's a tough one. My goal playing KSP would be to build and fly rockets, while having fun.

7.) KSP is a very cherished game in my life, but not much more.

8.) I played (and still play) games like Doom and Half-Life, Orbiter 2010 and 2006, Crimson Skies, Star Wars Empire at War, Star Wars Battlefront I and II, Portal I and II, MechWarrior 2 and 4 (Vengeance and Mercs), Minecraft, FTL,I dabbled a bit in TF2, Wolfenstein 3D and its sequels, Fallout 1 through New Vegas (not un-numbered ones), and the list goes on.

9.) I've built and launched model rockets

10.) About 250 hours.

Edited October 8, 2016 by Bill Phil

[KSK]

What made you interested in KSP?

I've always been a fan of spaceflight, particularly the 'golden age' of crewed spaceflight from Vostok and Mercury to Apollo and Soyuz. I also like Lego. KSP was a bit of a no-brainer really.

What is most rewarding about playing KSP?

Learning to play it was the most rewarding part. Figuring out the various steps in the game: how to get to orbit, how to get to the Mün, how to rendezvous and dock, transfer windows and getting to the other planets. Even today though, I'll get a lift from a Mün landing. Trans-Munar injection, orbit insertion, powered descent, all those Apollo era maneuvres. Then that one small step onto the Munar surface - it doesn't matter how many of those I've done with who knows how many kerbals. It never gets old for me.

How has the community of KSP affected you?

Positively. It has it's quirky moments but on the whole, the KSP community has managed to avoid becoming the frothing pit of bile that many other gaming forums seem to turn into. Mostly though its affected me creatively, by inspiring me to start writing (which is not something I ever saw myself doing) and providing an unending source of  encouragement and support for that writing. It's no exaggeration to say that I've spent far more time writing about kerbals than I have playing KSP and it's been by far the greatest thing (literally life changing) that I've gained from KSP and the KSP community.

What have you learned from playing KSP?

Enough orbital mechanics that I can really appreciate the finer details of historical or modern day space missions. I can read about a satellite launch and I know what an orbit raising burn is, or why you would choose a supersynchronous transfer because I have a mental picture of what's going on from playing KSP!

What would you tell players just getting involved into this community?

Keep calm and use the forum search! It's always been a great community for providing helpful, non-judgemental answers to KSP questions but having a quick look first to check if the answer you need is already out there is always appreciated.

What is your goal in playing KSP

To build a Duna base and supporting infrastructure. Either based on the SpaceX model, or my own one that I'm sketching out for First Flight, which is more akin to the model presented in The Martian. 

How does KSP play a role in your personal and professional life?

It plays no part in my professional life but a very large part in my personal life, mainly because of this writing hobby that it inspired!

What is your past in gaming?

I've been a computer gamer mainly, rather than a console gamer, although I did have a Sega MegaDrive for a while (that's a Genesis to all the US folks out there  ). The very first game I played was Jet Set Willy, on the ZX Spectrum. I remember being thoroughly hooked on Elite (on my mate's BBC Micro and later on my Spectrum) and Driller. Memorable PC gaming experiences include Civilisation (the original), SimCity 2000, the first Command and Conquer game, Baldur's Gate. World of Warcraft. Looking forward to Civ VI when it releases (not long to go now!)

I'm not a big 1st person shooter fan but otherwise I'm pretty genre agnostic. The game I'm playing most at the moment is a wee web-based freemium city-builder game called Elvenar. It's not remotely challenging but it's kinda pretty and relaxing. Quite looking forward to 'Loud and Clear' after an extended leave of absence from actually playing KSP.

What is your past in rocketry/airplanes if any?

A couple of flying lessons. I'd like to get my PPL one day, probably when once I retire! Not enough hours in the week at the moment.

Estimated time invested into KSP?

<Out of cheese error>. <Redo from start>  In other words - I have no idea, other than 'lots'.  

Edited October 8, 2016 by KSK

[Wallygator]

What made you interested in KSP?  Hearing about it on boingboing dot net back in 2013.  Also having about 3 years of heavy calculus (about 30 years ago) culminating in a general treatment of orbital dynamics left me with a nice taste for KSP

What is most rewarding about playing KSP?  Making stuff up as I see fit to explore mission profiles and vessel construction to support them.  And generally confusing my friends when I tell them about it.  Looking back at proposed mission plans from past history that were never undertaken and trying to undertake them.

How has the community of KSP affected you?  In general it is supportive. A nice place to share thoughts and impressions. I rarely post mission reports. The community provides a first point of news and current events regarding KSP. I rarely check reddit, twitter or other channels.

What have you learned from playing KSP?  That 'space' is way harder then I every really thought about.  Specifically, working the numbers in calculus is really easy, but trying to actually build stuff is so much more challenging. If this kind of simulator was available 30 years ago, my career would have been quite different.

What would you tell players just getting involved into this community? Ignore the doom sayers. Don't give up. Mods are your friend. RSS/RO/RF can take you to an entire different level of enjoyment. Buy a computer that can actually run KSP efficiently.  Grow your sense of humour. Don't take anything posted too seriously.

What is your goal in playing KSP  My overall goal is to have fun - that's it. KSP is a lovely tool to calm one's mind regardless of other personal or professional pursuits. I primarily play RSS/RO/RF so I suppose my 'KSP goal' is to stimulate real-world missions.

How does KSP play a role in your personal and professional life?  It ranks as a hobby only.  It gives me something entertaining to do while my wife watches endless reruns of 'Say Yes to the Dress'.  (Please, shoot me now!)

What is your past in gaming?  Board games (since 1972 and even today), miniature gaming, and computer gaming since it started (Alien Space anyone? in the arcade at Cedar Point - dear god that was a long time ago!).  I've dabbled in developing computer gaming back when email turn-based formats were the only framework possible. Today I hobby myself on card based reality inspired games.

What is your past in rocketry/airplanes if any?  Model rocketry back in 1966, home-made propellents, fireworks hacks, and no personal injuries in the process...  Favourite Rocket Memory: In 1976... Building the Estes D-engine Saturn V, along with a 'to scale' VAB and R/C operated crawler - Jeeze that was a lot of cardboard!!! and pulling a string to open the VAB doors.  I still really enjoy remembering that even 40 years later :-)

Estimated time invested into KSP?  Well over 2500 hours in game (a conservative approximation both in Steam and non-Steam) It helped that I was fortunate enough to allow myself about 13 months of non-employment, just because I wanted it.

Hope all this helps you in your task!

Edited October 9, 2016 by Wallygator