Reasons why your friends won't play Planetside 2

[Rivenshield]

/senior level technical writer rant mode engaged

How about the ongoing pathetic utter lack of a USER'S GUIDE? Newbies are just dumped headlong into this huge, complex environment with all the maps and filters and hotkeys and incomprehensible this and sensory-overload that. Videos and help files and such that interrupt your workflow -- in this case your gameplay -- aren't even a poor second. They might as well be nonexistent.

You need something thin and floppy and profusely illustrated that you can set next to your keyboard and refer to while you're working/playing/whatever. We need a .PDF you can download and print out, devs. Without it, you're stuck with the brazen it out and/or apprenticeship methods of learning the new enterprise software app, which is all PS2 *is.* And that turns off new users. In the commercial workplace, good active-voice user-friendly plain-English reference guides can cut the attrition rate of new hires in half within 90 days. I'm willing to bet the same dynamic will hold true here -- that you will swiftly double the number of new players who stick around.

YOU CANNOT SHIP PRODUCT WITHOUT F*CKING DOCUMENTATION. Whoever thought this would be okay or even workable should be flogged. Remedy this as swiftly as possible, kthxbye.