How many of you know what F1 does in PotBS? No, it doesn’t target you like in some MMOs. No, it doesn’t open the support page. No, it’s not a trick and it won’t exit you out of the game. It’s actually a database of practically (if not) everything in the entire game. If you want to look at the stats of a ship simply find it in the ship deeds section. If you want to know what it takes to make rum for your crew then look it up in the recipe section. If you want to know where you can find abundant game then simply press F1 and find it in the resources section. Anything and everything you want to know it’s all available to you in a little informative window.
In a sense… it’s like a Pokedex. When you stop laughing at me for the Pokemon reference I expect you to nod in agreement then continue reading.
I’ve never seen a game that gives you all this information right at your fingertips. I’m not really sure why this feature isn’t in every game. “Keeping it a mystery” lasts about 2 days before the thottbots of the internet reveal it all. Why not provide it immediately for all the players? It would be neat to know that the sword I want drops in x particular dungeon from y boss or that if I want to harvest copper I simply need to look for it in z region.
Possibly its greatest use is how it helps in-game communication. There were a few players having a discussion about which ship was best for hauling goods for trade. When one player stated his opinion another disagreed. They then had no idea how to compare their ships because these were level 40+ ships they were talking about. Someone mentioned that they should hit F1 and from there people went on for 20 minutes comparing this and that.
Pirates of the Burning Sea is getting a reputation for being different. This is just an example of how and why.
The Market window in EVE (sorry!) provides similar information – ship, module, ammo stats, skill requirements, blueprint components, etc, for almost everything in the game. “Geographical” information is in the map browser. Some insanely rare items can’t be sold in the market, so they’re found in the Contracts window.
Hyperlinks to the market are used exactly as you describe. 🙂
The unofficial presence of a PotBS staff guy at EVE’s FanFest 2008 – he appeared on Warp Drive Active in one of their Fanfest interview collection podcasts – suggests that Flying Labs have been long been casting an eye over some of the less sucky bits of CCP’s game design.