Your Definition of an Accomplished/Professional KSP Player.

[Holo]

In an imperfect universe (like KSP), having that kind of attitude, though in your definition might be "pro", is actually a little err, slow. I mean, if the mindset is "what went wrong and how can I fix it" and expect to fix it by following the rules again, not knowing that part of those rules are actually broken (i.e. a true bug), then no matter how many times a person might retry to fix a problem, he/she won't really get anywhere. So I think it's still healthy to not rule out the possibility of bugs, that is, in an imperfect universe.

The best player realises that it is a bug, and proceeds to utilise that bug to achieve great things.

[rodion_herrera]

The best player realises that it is a bug, and proceeds to utilise that bug to achieve great things.

There we go ....for fun and profit!

[AustralianFries]

I'm not saying I'm a professional, as there are people that have much more talent and knowledge of this game than I. I will say, though, that I've been to all the other planets at least one time and SSTO vehicles are not difficult to me. Getting to other planets doesn't take too much skill, mostly just delta-v. SSTO's aren't to difficult either. You just have to know what you're doing, and you have to know when to turn on an engine.

[boolybooly]

well IMHO the idea of an accomplished KSP player is in a sense an oxymoron ! since part of the appeal of the game is that it juxtaposes disastrous incompetence and excessive technical power and permits the inevitable consequences

but hopefully KSP is going to include accomplishment as part of the career mode of play and its going to become an important part of the fun, to be set challenges and meet them, with a restricted budget, with a research game, once you meet a challenge you were set or set yourself then you have accomplished something, that is what accomplished means

[rodion_herrera]

well IMHO the idea of an accomplished KSP player is in a sense an oxymoron ! since part of the appeal of the game is that it juxtaposes disastrous incompetence and excessive technical power and permits the inevitable consequences

but hopefully KSP is going to include accomplishment as part of the career mode of play and its going to become an important part of the fun, to be set challenges and meet them, with a restricted budget, with a research game, once you meet a challenge you were set or set yourself then you have accomplished something, that is what accomplished means

Now that you've mentioned career mode, I guess if that is in place, we can all agree that a "pro" KSP player is someone who has completed a career (perhaps multiple times) and if there's a difficulty setting, he/she did it in "expert" mode or something equivalent.

Another thing. I think when giving ratings to the Kermen in the career mode, I think it would be amusing and hilarious to get "bonus" ratings if (and only if the KSP system has a way of identify it to be such) like the Kermen did something "WILD" yet still accomplished the mission, say like, reaching orbit radically (i.e. sans capsule/ship) or getting to the surface in one piece via some wild method. And these bonus ratings could up the earnings for the player, resulting in more purchasing power for rocket/ship parts. I think it introduces a nice "what-if" balance between taking crazy risks and reaping greater (monetary) rewards off it, or doing things more conservatively and methodically, yet only earning modestly from it.

[llamatoes]

I think there is no 'expert' KSP player, as there are skilled and unskilled.

It took me two months to reach orbit?

So what, now I currently planning for a Moho return mission, yet I have almost no skill. I use manuver nodes for mid course corrections.

I can triple dock, and that flies interplanetary, I have yet to SSTO, but I did orbital construction around vall.

KSP players have different skills, there is no perfect all round player.

[rodion_herrera]

I think there is no 'expert' KSP player, as there are skilled and unskilled.

It took me two months to reach orbit?

So what, now I currently planning for a Moho return mission, yet I have almost no skill. I use manuver nodes for mid course corrections.

I can triple dock, and that flies interplanetary, I have yet to SSTO, but I did orbital construction around vall.

KSP players have different skills, there is no perfect all round player.

I don't think skill is black ad white though--it has grades too. So in a way, I don't think there are any truly "unskilled" KSP players. The fact that you listed down some accomplishments actually mean you possess a certain degree of KSP skills. Let's not even talk about getting to LKO...heck installing the game alone takes a certain amount of skill, so I define an unskilled KSP player as someone who a) can't even install the game properly or managed to run it but can't get past the opening page

[llamatoes]

You do have a point there, change I have few skills to I am an unskilled pilot, I can land, dock and orbit, but I have done one successful aircraft.

[EndOfTheEarth]

Based purely on game mechanics and my observations of regular players, someone who is

CAPABLE:

--Can get a ship into orbit

--Can do a transfer to Mun/Minmus and back.

--Can land on at least one of the above.

PROFICIENT:

--Can dock.

--Can perform interplanetary transfers.

--Can land on the surface of another planet, or a moon of another planet, at least one-way.

PROFESSIONAL:

--Can carry out a single mission that visits more than one planet other than Kerbin

--Can land or dock three or more spacecraft on the surface of another planet, such that they form a "base"

(spaceplanes have been discluded from this list because capability seems to vary wildly from person to person)

[R0CKSTAR3N3RGY]

The difference between pro and amateur is confidence.

Pros are confident they can perform the task at hand. A professional will complete his task.

Amateurs are reluctant to try things they haven't done before. An amateur will try to complete his task.

[Rainbowtrout]

Two words: Scott Manley

[Scoundrel]

Well, since the definition of professional is "one who is paid to do", I would suspect that there are no professional KSP players... though if there are, I want their job!

That said (since the intent was obviously to refer to a degree of accomplishment) then, in my humble opinion, the criteria would be:

NØØb: occasionally build a rocket without drooling too much on the keyboard and making it not explode when you hit spacebar.

Novice: routinely get the rocket off the ground, into a stable orbit, and your kerbals safely returned to land.

Skilled: routinely get the rocket off the ground, land on the mun, and your kerbals safely returned to Kerbin.

Expert: routinely get the rocket off the ground, land on any body in the Kerbin system, your kerbals safely returned to Kerbin, and must land close enough to KSC that you can see the buildings in EVA.

Master: the same as expert, but only using half the parts, doing the entire trip IVA using only a slide rule and a stopwatch for burn calculations, all while listening to Strauss' "Also sprach Zarathustra" by either Strauss, Reiner or von Karajan.

[Aladran]

Anyone able to land on Moho is pro to me.

[haltux]

Anyone who would never leave a stranded Kerbal to his fate.

[MarkusA380]

I think it's easy:

Professional: not using mods and getting at least to duna or eve.

Newby: Using Mechjeb, most of the times not getting out of Kerbin System.

[rodion_herrera]

I think it's easy:

Professional: not using mods and getting at least to duna or eve.

Newby: Using Mechjeb, most of the times not getting out of Kerbin System.

The problem with this definition is, if someone did it "accidentally", then they would be considered pros. I think it should be modified to "repeatedly doing" i.e. add consistency as a criterion

[Canopus]

Anyone who would never leave a stranded Kerbal to his fate.

I think this is a very good definition of a Kerbal Pro

[CalculusWarrior]

The problem with this definition is, if someone did it "accidentally", then they would be considered pros. I think it should be modified to "repeatedly doing" i.e. add consistency as a criterion

Yeah, as I once managed to get a lander to Duna after missing the Mun...

[Horn Brain]

Putting together a list of organically-arising challenges in the game over here: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/32194-MetaChallenge-Thread?p=398694#post398694

I feel like this is a good way to start when trying to determine how "accomplished" a player you are.

[Fox967]

I take 'professional' to mean someone who does stuff at a professional level (after all, we're talking about a space program, right?). So, someone like TheWinterOwl - even though he says he hasn't been to other planets, he comes up with some great, really efficient designs that i can only be envious of, AND brings his Kerbals home - that's professionalism, to me - someone who just straps a pod onto a rocket and shoots off to Duna, then leaves Kerbals all over the system - yeah, they may get the job done and such, but its hardly professional - its not being prepared. Someone who can get his Kerbals there AND back is more professional, at least to me.

That being said, as long as you have fun with the game, and play it the way you want to, thats all that matters

[Good_Apollo]

KSP is a sandbox game, the beauty of it is that fun/success/whatever is what you make of it. There are no guidelines or rules, and addons change even your capabilities!

[karolus10]

KSP is a sandbox game, the beauty of it is that fun/success/whatever is what you make of it. There are no guidelines or rules, and addons change even your capabilities!

One of bright sides of sandbox games is no pressure or restraints from the game side .

Maybe someone can say that game is lacking because don't had pre-defined goal, missions or achievements, but also this mean that You are the game master and only You decide what the goals are.

In the sandbox game You are the storyteller and only your imagination limits you.

Also I must admit that, despite this game had "no goal", I felt larger sense of achievement when everything comes up together (remember your first landing on mun ?) than receiving some meaningless awards for some puny activities in any other game .

Edited May 30, 2013 by karolus10

[Spatzimaus]

I think it should be modified to "repeatedly doing" i.e. add consistency as a criterion

Well, not exactly. The ability to do something well is separate from ACTUALLY doing it consistently/repeatedly. I've only landed on most bodies in the system once, but they weren't flukes; it's just that once you've landed on Tylo once, there's not a whole lot of reason to go back. So if you defined it as "repeatedly doing" then I'd fail that definition, but I could go back if I wanted to. Even before that point, you can still apply similar logic; my first landing on Duna could have gone horribly wrong, but part of the reason it didn't was that I'd studied up on how to land there beforehand, and had carefully calculated my delta-V to see if I'd be able to get home safely. (Yes, barely.)

So, instead of "consistently" or "repeatedly", how about "reliably"? It's not an objective definition, since it'd be up to the person to decide whether their one Duna landing really was a fluke.

And I wouldn't agree at all that "Professional" means "not using mods", with the obvious exception of MechJeb. If anything, I'd argue the reverse: a player who's seriously committed to playing this game won't limit themselves to just those few official components provided by the developers. No, they'll download new parts so that they can build things RIGHT instead of compromising. (KW Rocketry is a good example of this; the game could really use some stock 3.75m parts, stronger struts, etc. to let us build big stations without constantly running into part count limitations.) The official version only included rover wheels in 0.19, but mod users had been making electric rovers well before then. Likewise, the upcoming resource system is great and all, but the Kethane mod users are already familiar with its implications (where to put refineries, how to scan planets, why it's important to land in specific spots on planets) that vanilla players haven't run into yet.

[Rage097]

Eeloo, Tylo, and Eve. With no refueling in between landing and returning from any one of them.

That is all.

[xandski]

In my view an "accomplished" KSP player is one that sets themselves a goal and, either through skill or sheer tenacity, completes it. My goal at the moment is to complete the Kerbal Grandmaster challenge and to finish a few YouTube projects that I have on the go at the moment. I guess thats the joy of a sandbox game... Becoming "accomplished" is what you want it to mean.

"Professional", imho, means that you make a living playing KSP, most likely through YouTube or Twitch.tv.