Would you have bought kerbal space program if it didn't have any kerbals in it?

[Moonfrog]

Just curious, for me I think the most fun feature is the kerbals themselves, wondering how others feel. Maybe if thats the case, after the current patch we could have more stuff to do with interacting with the kerbals, like on evas and little machines or tools for them to use and stuff.

[Red Iron Crown]

I would still have bought it. When I started playing there was no EVA or anything, all there were to kerbals were the little IVA portraits. Their expressions were entertaining but it was the rocketry that drew me in.

That said, I'm glad we have kerbals and not people. Somehow it's funny when the kerbals die in mishaps while I would be more regretful of human deaths.

[Axelord FTW]

The kerbals themselves, while being an important part of the gameplay as it currently stands, are not integral in essence to what KSP really is.

They could be replace by purple skinned oval-headed doofus but as long as the gameplay itself (IVA/EVA/etc.) didn't change, KSP would pretty much be the same.

Back in the days, we didn't even have kerbals! We built rockets out of plywood and had to push the crafts to the launchpad by hand.

Memetic mutations aside (Jeb is The Thrillmaster), KSP doesn't need kerbals. It just need something that do exactly what Kerbal currently do.

P.S. Yes, I'm being a pedant.

P.P.S. I would have liked them to be less cartoonish and a bit more, er, functional in their shape.

P.P.P.S. I bought the game because SPAAAACE. Kerbals are a bonus.

[cicatrix]

Somehow it's funny when the kerbals die in mishaps

You bloody heartless monster!

P.S. Actually Kerbals were the thing that kept me from buying KSP for a long time. I think it's been almost a year before I had finally bought it. They looked somehow cartoonish and not serious for a space program... Yet, I regret for all this time. I grew very fond of them.

Edited February 17, 2015 by cicatrix

[Sean Mirrsen]

I don't think the kerbals themselves have anything to do with it. They work well as the various crew- and staff-members, they have nice appealing designs and are well-animated, and as long as it were true of anything else - robots, squids, ponies - it would work just as well. Well probably not ponies, but that would be for reasons entirely unrelated to their design.

Now, if you were to ask if KSP were the same game if it had no characters at all in it, if it were just rocket design and piloting without any mascot critters involved at any point, then no, it probably wouldn't be. It'd be worse, undoubtedly, if only because the character that they would lend to the game would be gone, as well as the various fun things the community normally gets up to involving the EVA crewmembers.

Would I have bought even that, character-less version of KSP, though? Yes, yes I would have. Ultimately the fun I draw from the game comes from taking on and overcoming challenges, in design and piloting. If the Kerbals were to never have existed, KSP would have been a worse game, yet a great game nevertheless.

[Brainlord Mesomorph]

I played Sim City looong before there were actual Sims.

That said, the Kerbals are adorable, this whole kid-size solar system is adorable.

[Madrias]

Yes. When I first got KSP, Kerbals were just funny portraits in the lower right, named Jebediah, Bill, and Bob.

Half of my flights, I do with probe cores, which don't have portraits. The rocketry and the build-it-yourself nature of the game drew me in and kept me playing.

[Jouni]

I initially didn't buy KSP, because it had kerbals in it. Some of my friends were playing KSP a couple of years ago. It sounded interesting, so I went to Steam to check it. The first thing I saw was a silly promotional video about astronaut selection, which gave me an impression that KSP was either a resource management game or something similar to FTL. After that, I was no longer interested.

I bought the game a few months later after seeing some actual gameplay somewhere.

[Brainlord Mesomorph]

You bloody heartless monster!

.

I once built a rover with a command chair in a very exposed location. Front, top, center. The Kerbal looked like a hood ornament.

The thing flipped over once, and slid a km down the side of a mountain, ON THE POOR GUY'S HEAD!

It was simultaneously both horrific and hilarious!

(later I moved the chair)

Edited February 17, 2015 by Brainlord Mesomorph

[White Owl]

The Kerbals themselves are the least interesting part of the game. I bought KSP specifically to build spaceplanes and learn how to fly them into orbit.

The Kerbals can be fun, yeah. But in my mind this game has always been about vehicles first, with places to go in second place, and crew a very distant third.

[Yukon0009]

Four letters.

N-E-I-N.

[Renegrade]

Kerbals were not a deciding factor for me. They wouldn't prevent me from buying, but they wouldn't make me buy either.

The first thing I saw was a silly promotional video about astronaut selection, which gave me an impression that KSP was either a resource management game or something similar to FTL. After that, I was no longer interested.

I bought the game a few months later after seeing some actual gameplay somewhere.

That's pretty much how it happened for me too. Kerbals didn't really figure into it directly, but I got the overall impression of a resource/crew management game, and didn't buy until I saw actual gameplay.

(fortunately, actual gameplay after the graphics overhaul. I'm no graphics snob (I still think shaders are stupid gimmicks about 85% of the time), but the old graphics were.. kinda repulsive)

[Coam]

Yes. Rocketry - particularly being able to design and fly your own rockets, was the main attraction of the game.

That's not to say I don't value my crews now, of course.

[KSK]

I think I would have bought the game anyway but the kerbals definitely made it easier. Building my own rockets, learning to fly them, figuring out transfer orbits and rendezvous - all good geeky fun. Having these ridiculously enthusiastic little portraits in the corner of the screen, or seeing Jeb grin with pure joy as he steps onto the Mun - priceless. Plus I actively like the 'parts found by the side of the road' meme, although I totally appreciate that opinions differ widely on that.

I've got at least as much fun out of the fan-works side of this game as I have from actually playing it, and the kerbals were a big part of that.

[Superfluous J]

I would install a mod that hid the little portraits so I could put something else in that corner like more HUD info.

[Scotius]

I bought this game for space exploration and rockets - back in the day i dod not care who flew them. But Kerbals grew on me very quickly. After all, they add so much flavor, humor, role-playing opportunities... Kerbals are incredible little creatures, despite their personality shaped only by Stupidity and Courage

[pizzaoverhead]

This is why I bought KSP:

The mix of (semi-)realistic physics, sandbox freedom, trial and error and resulting black humour. Kerbals themselves weren't even on the radar.

[cantab]

Well I don't think I'd care much. But I bought KSP because of xkcd. If not having Kerbals had meant xkcd didn't reference it, I might not be playing KSP today.

[Moonfrog]

Everyone thinks kerbals are expendable, this makes me sad. still interesting though, to me the kerbals make the game more fun, or less sterile, if that makes any sense. Makes me feel i'm building rockets for someone, rather than just building them, something satisfying about seeing a kerbal plant a flag on the Mun. Guess i'm in the minority.

[klgraham1013]

Yep. I bought KSP to build rockets that could traverse through space in a realistic manner.

[PB666]

Didn't buy it, some one gave me the game. The answer is maybe, if good rep.

[Frank_G]

Yes, but those green guys really add some life to the game. But i bet replacing them with cartoony astronauts would have had a similar impact.

[PB666]

The kerbals themselves, while being an important part of the gameplay as it currently stands, are not integral in essence to what KSP really is.

They could be replace by purple skinned oval-headed doofus

Barney? Arrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhh.

[carlpilot]

I bought the game before EVAs and IVAs were implemented, and when Jeb, Bill, and Bob were the only Kerbals you got. They did not play a major role in my decision to acquire KSP, but I feel they are a great addition to the game.

-Carlpilot

[klgraham1013]

That's pretty much how it happened for me too. Kerbals didn't really figure into it directly, but I got the overall impression of a resource/crew management game, and didn't buy until I saw actual gameplay.

It doesn't help the that the past few Steam banners have the Kerbals front and center with nary a rocket to be seen. (Actually, in the 0.90 banner, you can see a tiny smoke trail in the background, which the uninitiated might assume is a rocket...or missile.)