How to get friends addicted to ksp?

[xendelaar]

Does anybody have Any pro tips on how to get friends playing this lovely game? 

i tried many things like:

• showing them what i do
• explaining why it is so cool
• shamelessly begging
• offering them money to build a craft and land it on the mun

but none of tthese approaches seem to work. people just see a boring yet overly complicated game without purpose and shiny graphics...

I'm the worst ksp missionary ever!

how did you guys get your friends hooked on the game? 

[StupidAndy]

in my experience find it and then figure out all of your friends have had it for a few years

[TheRagingIrishman]

7 minutes ago, StupidAndy said:

in my experience find it and then figure out all of your friends have had it for a few years

Same. Turns out that a few years after I left my old school, they went and installed KerbalEDU on all the computers and now it's fairly popular.

[razark]

Step 1: Explain it to your friends.  Use small words as necessary.  (If you need to grunt and wave your hands around extensively, see step 3.)
Step 2: Show it to your friends.  If you can't show them your game, send youtube videos. (Depending on the friend, either Scott Manley or something more lolsplodey.  (For those certain friends, you know who I mean, fingerpaints are acceptable.))

Step 3: If they still don't get it, get better friends.

Step 4: If they still don't get it, repeat step 3.

Edited June 12, 2017 by razark

[Alshain]

@xendelaar The short answer is "Don't".

The longer answer is, this is a niche game and not everyone will like it.  Show it to them, show them how you play it, but in the end they may decide it's not their thing.  On your list I would stop after your second bullet point.

[NSEP]

 

Encouraging people to buy a €40 game that they might not be interested in in the first place is a no no for me.

But of course, you can let them try the Demo. So my way to "encourage" people to play KSP is to tell them to try the Demo if you are interested. And i only target people why like spaceflight, and there are not many of them that i know.

[The Space Dino]

In my years of school so far I've only met 2 people that actually played KSP, although one of them is a 50/50 whether they actually really know the game or not....

But basically the spacey and physics stuff involved is hard for people to like, as it actually took me years to learn how to get to orbit

But keep in mind that I only played KSP a few time a year only

[Urses]

The Tricky way provoke them:

Don't bother to play. It is complicated and a indie game. You don't have shiny crafts to fly. It is like LEGO you can build everything but you have it to do by self. Here as example (open up fails and what did you-Treads on mobile) see? (Snitch some own pics but making it clear it is your own account "oh great design"->Like). But as said, it's complicated don't bother...

If he/she asks: Can i...?

Don't let say to end!

Yes you can... but you will ask many people on forums and find out how. But untill this moment i did not seen anything that would not be possible.... and if, you have mods...

Than look demonstratively on the Watch:

Oh sorry after i seen this one design i get a idea that i will go to test... see you around! /wink and go.

The direkt way:

Basement

Water and food supply for 1 week

Laptop without internet or wifi with preinstalled KSP.

?????

One KSP-junkie more

Funny Kabooms 

Urses 

4 hours ago, razark said:

For those certain friends, you know who I mean, fingerpaints are acceptable.

How do i explain a gravitational assist without? I need them to draw some repeating near-by-shots....

Edited June 12, 2017 by Urses

[Reusables]

Just don't try, it won't work unless they are special.

I've seen that KSP is generally not considered as a game for majority of game players, since this 'game' lacks concrete goals and requires fair amount of knowledge. This alone rules out majority of players from playing KSP, as it's usually headache to create their own goal even in usual circumstances.

Moreover, it's hard to be interesting without great interest on space exploration, as there are next to no attractions other than spacey-things and so-called kerbal-ism. Which means most players won't try to get into this game and just fed up with - face it - boring and low-quality explosions.

I guess you would be asked 'is this a game, or a simulator?'. For them it is too much of realism, so they will just think it's a realistic simulator to mess up with. You need to accept that it's just a boring simulator for quite a bit of players.

 

But.

This game could be fatal for your science teachers/teaching assistants. (Don't know about professors. Maybe I have to try it later)

[klgraham1013]

Step 1:  Show them KSP.

Step 2:  Ask them if they're interested in playing it.

     If yes:  Do nothing.  Maybe they'll buy it and play it.

     If no:  Do nothing.  They have their own interests and don't necessarily enjoy the same things you do.

[LoSBoL]

I`m not bothering to explain.   I`ll just open YouTube and show them the golden olden video

It takes a mere 4 minutes, and they`ll either get it, or they never will.

Edited June 12, 2017 by LoSBoL

[Just Jim]

33 minutes ago, LoSBoL said:

I`m not bothering to explain.   I`ll just open YouTube and show them the golden olden video

It takes a mere 4 minutes, and they`ll either get it, or they never will.

Exactly what I do as well!

And FYI.... I can't watch this video enough!!!  

[cratercracker]

@xendelaar what do your friends like?

-Planes?

-Naval vehicles?

-Cars and tanks?

-Spaceships?

What I did to recommend KSP to my friends is that I built a very simple, yet manueverous plane.

Then I called one of them and asked them to control it.

They really enjoyed taking off and flying (nobody likes landing anyway)

They said that it is really cool and 3 of them are actually playing it already.

[LoSBoL]

1 hour ago, Just Jim said:

 yoExactly what I do as well!

And FYI.... I can't watch this video enough!!!  

me neither Jim, it hits the snare. Like I said, People either fall for it, or can't be bothered. 

If you need to explain 'what they've looked at', you're basically wasting your time. 

Edited June 12, 2017 by LoSBoL

[xendelaar]

great advice everybody. i also believe it's a niche game and is not meant for people who only want to go "pew pew pew".  finding new friends could be an option but i rather stick with the lads i have now and share my questions and victories with you awesome people!

 i know for sure i could sway some friends if they would just get passed the first very high threshold the game has.

 i was a non believer as well, but after completing my first mun landing i was addicted for life! 

(story time: *80's cartoon backflash sound*)

Spoiler

 

after installing the game and noticing the lack of a proper spoken tutorial (v 0.90) i couldn't muster the endurance to Google my way into the game mechanics. there were also so many parts without  a proper description that it made the game unplayable for me. 

so i threw the game away and kind of forgot about it. two months later i coincidently read two independent reviews of the ksp praising it for its total awesomeness. both reviewers wrote about the thrill they got when they landed for the first time on the mun. it were these two reviews that made promise myself to land on the mun before i completely uninstall the game. i just had to know what they meant 

needless to say i was hooked once i stranded poor old jeb on the Mun for the first time in my life. 

 

 so if i could just help some of my friendspassed the first threshold.. i think they could also be inspired to explore the fake celestial bodies of kerbol.

@Urses i tried your way but then people went: "but why do you go there?  what is there to do on the mun? nuthin??? that's just weird.  the graphics look old. "

the movie @LoSBoL ( are you dutch by any chance? ) posted is really well made! absolutely stunning! i will surely use it to spread the word among ksp-less friends. i also like the idea of @cratercracker. one friend is really into planes... i could definitely persuade him into flying one of my planes

Edited June 12, 2017 by xendelaar

[wumpus]

4 hours ago, LoSBoL said:

I`m not bothering to explain.   I`ll just open YouTube and show them the golden olden video
[build/fly/dream]
It takes a mere 4 minutes, and they`ll either get it, or they never will.

The problem with that demo is that while it captures the spirit of the game, it doesn't say much of anything about the actual gameplay.  I'd recommend sticking to the demo: if you can't get excited about doing rocket science with lego rocket parts, this game isn't for you.

[Urses]

The interesting and main point for play KSP is IMPO mostly not why i go somewhere, more how i get there. We have many games with prebuilded ships and then it sounds like "go for it flight ass kill x enemys at point y to progress..." why? Why i have to kill somebody to have fun in space? Privateer, Elite, Master of Orion.... go up, kill, rule... a lill more comes with X... build and explore... but kill everything unfriendly again.... why somebody decide who is enemy or friend, why i can't explore build and expand... and KSP give it to me... and if i have the urge to kill somebody i build a small base with pirates and can hunt them down, but i am never pushed the way to make the rivers red...to florish.

Maybe this is one argument more for KSP? I play a sandbox realm which is absolutely under my control.

Urses

Edited June 12, 2017 by Urses

[MiffedStarfish]

I personally had an idea for a collaborative save file, asked my friends to get the game, to find that they all, without any recommending or communication, had all separately bought the game. I was very proud. 

As for advice, I would get together and collaboratively build and fly a rocket to go to the Mun, it's great fun while showing them how the game works, and usually inspires them to try it themselves. My first Mun landing was this way, showing my friend. I had no idea that the map view showed encounters, and subsequently ended up assuming the Mun was moving the oppostie direction than it was, requiring 4 hefty guesswork correction burns, and eventually ending in with 12 units of fuel left, with my engine setup less than half a second of fuel left. The brave kerbals are still stranded there.

Edited June 12, 2017 by MiffedStarfish

[Cpt Kerbalkrunch]

If you really wanna get someone into it, just wait for a good Steam sale and buy it for them. Then they'll sorta feel obligated to at least give it a shot. It's what I've done, and it seems to have about a fifty percent success rate. They'll either be hooked immediately or not at all. I'm like a KSP missionary. 

[steuben]

my experience, though not with KSP, but a different one. Bridge Builder/Pontifex.

I just played it in front of them. Some of the them bought in. Some didn't, most thought it was interesting. I had to move away from one person's girlfriend when she found out that I had introduced the game to him. She was... annoyed. I obviously survived that particular encounter. I was hanging out with student engineers of various stripes so "the how do I solve this problem" personality trait kicked in.

[swjr-swis]

On 6/12/2017 at 10:11 AM, Urses said:

Basement

Water and food supply for 1 week

Laptop without internet or wifi with preinstalled KSP.

And a post-it that says 'more snacks when you make it to orbit'...

[xendelaar]

hehe many great/ funny ideas posted here

i also had the idea of installing the dmp mod to try some challenges  with some non believers  but after some research i concluded that this is probably not the best course of action since dpm is rather laggy.

[MythicalHeFF]

On 6/12/2017 at 10:09 AM, LoSBoL said:

I`m not bothering to explain.   I`ll just open YouTube and show them the golden olden video

It takes a mere 4 minutes, and they`ll either get it, or they never will.

If they get it and try it, they'll wonder how you even get into orbit. Every time they fail tell them they're bad at the game and boast about your accomplishments. This "motivation" got one of my friends to one-up me and now we're pretty much having a space race in the 6.4x scale Kerbol system with OPM.

I will note however that this friend wasn't from school, in fact I don't think there's anyone at my school besides me who's interested in space exploration. However, I'm only in eighth grade, and I'm sure that will change once I'm in high school, where I can finally find people with similar interests to me, and get them addicted to KSP. 

Edited June 14, 2017 by Jack Joseph Kerman

[T.A.P.O.R.]

Can't even get my space nerd buddies to try it out

[LoSBoL]

On ‎12‎-‎6‎-‎2017 at 6:53 PM, xendelaar said:

the movie @LoSBoL ( are you dutch by any chance? ) 

Username checks out  

5 minutes ago, T.A.P.O.R. said:

Can't even get my space nerd buddies to try it out

Maybe they are wiser than you think, and they know on forehand that they'll be swallowed up forever.