[Guide] Standard Orientation

[DeletedUser]

Directions to the post office: Start in my driveway, car facing the street. Pull out of the driveway and go left down the street to the corner. Turn left. Continue straight for several blocks. When you reach the fourth traffic signal, the post office will be on the corner to your left after you pass through the intersection.

 

[DeletedUser34548]

... Turn left...

Not bad attempt; and good you tried.

But which way is left?

Don't laugh, please. Establishing a frame of reference is a hard problem. No joke! I can't tell you how many Spanish-speakers confuse left, right, and straight. (I can tell you why, but I digress.)

Of course, you can assume anyone reading your advice about laying out an FoE city will agree with you on left vs right. This leads to: Build a road going right as you walk out of Town Hall front door.

I hope the point here is not to avoid convention to be unconventional. My illustration is to help you be conventional easily.

 

[DeletedUser34548]

... you talk like a wise man in a bad kung-fu movie...

Or maybe Charlie Chan? Or maybe Doctor Fu Manchu? Ah so.

My English is not perfectly idiomatic but it's a damn sight better than some Americans'. Wat fo you trubbeh po Chinee boy heya?

I read forum rules before anything else, let alone posting. So I do not mock those who spray letters across the screen, heedless of any regard for spelling, punctuation, or grammar... much less for clarity. I see it is expressly forbidden.

Does not this protection cover my words, no matter how they amuse you?

I don't even think my flaws and departures from Standard American English truly annoy you; not as the butchery of form I read distracts me from content. I think I write directly, with confidence. I do not conform to your expectation of a little yellow man, grinning and bowing.

So sorry.

 

[DeletedUser34548]

I'm finished with conversation in thread. I'll wait until smoke clears and copy up intelligent explanation for future readers. That, and I think we're done here.

Thank you all for your comments.

 

[DeletedUser34800]

Heckling aside, the way the OP went about this thread was bad. The post office example was bad. Talking down to people about it is bad.

Just start with the image and say 'according to the games orientation, this is N, S, E, and W. We should try to use these and spread this info, and here's why....', then listing various reasons such as language barriers, differentiation in people's cities, etc.

Or, they could have gone about it in the form of a proposal and asked for the mini compass to be put in game to show orientation. People would have then said whether they supported the idea or not, and why. As stated, maybe it isn't an issue for them, etc.

The way this thread started was ridiculous, and so ridiculous responses came about. I support the idea of a compass in game to show natural orientation. It would help and have no negative. Simply making a thread is pretty pointless. Forum users represent an incredibly small amount if the actual player base, and this info would never be passed around enough to matter or make a difference. So it's just argument for argument sake.

 

[DeletedUser31308]

At least he answered you. He ignored me when I gave him exactly what he wanted. I think he must have a lot of mail to send. Junk mail? Advertisements for map seminars?

Ya gotta love it, though. The reason we need directions is because we don't understand the word 'left',



You find out what the person asking the question is most comfortable with and answer in that vernacular, anything else invites confusion on the part of the person asking for help.. Three years of helping scores of players from simple questions to live complete remodels and lt's never taken more then ten seconds tp agree on orientation.

I suspect that would be a hekuva lot faster then asking them to give me directions to their post office or refer them to this forum for a discussion on why left is bad but North that's Northwest is good.

Whether or not there is a problem, this thread is not an effective solution. It's an exercise in futility.

What are you going to do, be so arrogantly inflexible as to insist a new player have to use this, or are you going to work with whatever terminology gets the job done?

I just noticed the second half of your post. Linking this post and saying "can we agree on this orientation?" seems to be equally fast or faster than negotiating without pictures. I have definitely dealt with some people where, given my attempt to create an understanding of the orientation, respond with "uhhh ok" and generally perpetuate doubt that they understand. You may be experienced in this effort, and thus more effective than I, but linking this thread requires no skill or practice and can be used to the same effect.

 

[Algona]

I just noticed the second half of your post. Linking this post and saying "can we agree on this orientation?" seems to be equally fast or faster than negotiating without pictures. I have definitely dealt with some people where, given my attempt to create an understanding of the orientation, respond with "uhhh ok" and generally perpetuate doubt that they understand. You may be experienced in this effort, and thus more effective than I, but linking this thread requires no skill or practice and can be used to the same effect.

I understand but I find going 'post office' on someone as the first step in trying to help someone with city planning saves the most time.

I ask them to describe where 'whatever' building is in relation to their Town Hall.

Then I know what orientation they use, then confirm I understand by telling them where 'another' building is in relation to their Town Hall. Bob's my uncle.

The reasoning that I prefer to use whatever orientation they are comfortable with is I will be answering a lot of other questions and explaining an unknown number of new concepts. I don't want to add any extraneous new concepts at this point. A new orientation will cause players confusion. By the time we get through with whatever is going on they may get it, but the joys of the delays while they are figuring ir out are many.

 

[DeletedUser26120]

This got a little out of hand so I've removed some posts - let's please keep discussion civil and on topic.

 

[DeletedUser32348]

The game's standard orientation is already determined, it just isn't marked very well.
Gate statue WEST:

Gate Statue EAST:

This puts North in the upper left hand side, and means buildings are read : East to West X North to South (ie 4x5)

I have seen this orientation in Palace tower also.

from the Summer Event Set

So IMO its already known that
top left - North
top right - East
bottom right - South
bottom left - West

u can easily understand with the below image.
xy plane is East-North (square)
x - East
y - North

now tilt it to some angle
x'y' plane becomes ur town
x'y' plane is East-North (tilted)

(please ignore other letters; cudn't find a good image in internet other than this)

 

[DeletedUser34548]

I have seen this orientation in Palace tower also... from the Summer Event Set....

Thanks, also good notice.

 

[DeletedUser3882]

But which way is left?

Don't laugh, please. Establishing a frame of reference is a hard problem. No joke! I can't tell you how many Spanish-speakers confuse left, right, and straight. (I can tell you why, but I digress.)
.

I can play this game No need for establishment as it is against forum rules on this server to use any language other than “English.” Likewise, it is against game rules to use any language other than English on any world on the US server and also on BETA.

 

[DeletedUser29726]

Personally i've always considered the top-right to be north. This has caused confusion with numerous players who consider top-left to be north when using a simple rectangular grid to discuss layouts as what's top on my layouts isn't what they think of as top If there was an orientation in game to express what is 'top' it would be a great help, but a forum guide is hardly the way to 'standardise' it.

 

[DeletedUser32348]

but a forum guide is hardly the way to 'standardise' it.

its already standardised. . .look into some Event buildings name and u'll get to know where is East and West.
any one direction will give the other 3 directions . .so in that sense .

hope this helps

^amateur Photoshop-ing.

top left - north
top right - east
bottom right - south
bottom left - west