There needs to be something that’s strongly discourages people from responses that don’t help.

The cancer that is social media and the internet is built upon people who don’t answer questions or help anyone, but rather opt to give them a frustrated, insecure, hyper-emotional, and long-winded wall of text telling them why they can’t do it.

There needs to be some penalty other than banning (because they have 15 anonymous accounts and we all know they do) that will encourage more intelligent behavior.

 

Got an example?

 

I'm not seeing how you could realistically force people to be more intelligent through punishments.

And besides, in some cases you really can't do it or can't do it in realistic timeframe.

https://forum.unity.com/threads/how-to-script-an-inventory-system.1455913/

 

You need to ask relevant questions if you want to get help on the forums, and even then, you aren't entitled to one. Make your inventory system, come back when you have concrete questions, not vague "how do I make an inventory system of XYZ game, it is sooooo complicated". If you don't whine but you put the work in first, people will respect it and will help more concretely.

Or hire a private tutor who is getting paid to listen to the whiny bit and guide you through it. For money.

 

If you don't like someone's response, ignore it. Seems simple enough.

 

you are the problem, not other people.

you lack patience, you lack discipline, you are very lazy, and you have digusting levels of selfishness. You are what makes internet toxic. you wont code your inventory system until you figure out your own personal issues.

there, nothing else needs to be said I dont imagine.

 

Apparently, according to OP, we must all be the same account.

Because that's reasonable.

Chat GPT has made the instant-gratification generation all the more worse. Apparently telling someone they need to spend some honest time learning properly, and re-framing their expectations is a heinous sin.

 

Part of the problem with people giving answers that don't directly help is that many of the ones asking for our help don't ask questions or provide information that is helpful in determining their answer. We're not mind readers. We don't memorize error codes. It's very difficult when someone posts code as a screenshot rather than as text.

We also can't solve every problem for you. Take @Kurt-Dekker's pre-made posts for example. His null reference snippet exists largely because it's a problem that comes up constantly but is often not possible for us to solve without a lengthy discussion involving many screenshots of the editor across multiple days.

 

Is there a backstory and context I'm missing that'd make this make a lot more sense, and funner?

 

I think that many of you are experienced developers, but you're not good teachers at all. I have no doubt at all that each of you have every ability in the world to create fantastic works of art; I honestly have no doubt at all.

I have been a teacher for 18 years; I teach music. When you get a question that seems vague or open-ended (it's part of people learning), you tell them something very simple that will help them get started.

I took it upon myself to give my player a List<GameObject> called "inventory". It was progress. Now I'm looking for the next step.

All you have to do is give someone one step forward, but that's only if you want to help. If you don't want to help, you don't to.

Never write a love letter telling someone they can't do it and why. It's inappropriate. It's unprofessional. It's very low class. It doesn't help.

I appreciate all of the responses, but a minority of them have been any good to me. It makes the forum look like it's not worth using.

 

After skimming the thread I can somewhat understand the responses. An inventory system is a complex beast of a system to build. You mentioned you asked ChatGPT and couldn't understand it's answers. I've asked it in the past for an inventory system to see what it made and every time I did it the answer was a very simple one.

So unless you were extremely unlucky (or lucky depending on how you view it) being unable to understand the example provided by ChatGPT means you're not at a point you're going to be able to understand the code that anyone would have shown you in that thread.

Unfortunately this extends to tutorials too. Many of the tutorials out there show you how to build one but they don't explain why they approached the problem the way they did, and they won't touch on the knowledge you often need to make the system in the first place so if you don't have that you're going to struggle with the tutorial.

 

You are aware that you are getting paid for giving your pupils those step by step instructions, and forum users are not, right?

Also if you seek a tutorial and not answers to concrete questions, then I'd recommend YT.

 

If memory serves, there are plenty of sample games and game tutorials out there that include an inventory system. Also, have you searched Github for "inventory Unity"?

Also, as I recall when working on doing this, none of the inventory systems were exactly what I needed and yes, they were complex. So you actually got the answer to your question repeatedly, i.e. "Inventory systems are very complex, work on your code and organization." I think on your end, a reasonable action would be:

1. Attempt to use one of the many free systems available long enough to understand why it's not exactly right
2. Organize and construct your question to ask specifically how to address the problems you identified with the existing solution
3. Remember that forum users are not paid, you need to ask an interesting question in a way that's solvable to get a useful response

As others mentioned, ChatGPT is not going to do this for you. With inventory you've got the database and organization but then it has to be represented by a UI which is whole new layer of complexity. On top of that, you've got to track the data and save it securely. It's quite complicated!

 

See, here's the problem. We have no obligation to teach you anything. It is not our job, and we aren't paid for it. Most of people responding are unpaid.

Basically, imagine that you walk into a bar where programmers hang out after work and DEMAND that they teach you their secrets. Kinda rude, isn't it? That's what you're doing.

The other person owes you nothing aside from common courtesy. They're helping you for free and spend their free time doing that.

Also, I already explained to you what you need to do. You need to implement a model-view-controller in practice for your inventory system. Do it. You have to learn this concept to advance.

As a training exercise you could, for example, implement a chess board where you can move figures, but the chess board is displayed simultaneously as a 2d board and a 3d field. And you can interact with both.

 

not really, i just saw somebody else mentioned something specific and that the whiny person only has a couple post so i figured wouldnt be hard to find.

basically they came here with a "how do I make a game?" question and when people told them "you need to start with the basics, not this" they complain that the internet isn't their personal tutor and everybody else in the world has issues. "Surely it is not this complicated" yada yada.

The correct thing to do is just ignore these sorts of losers, but knowing the thread will be locked because its a waste of words I figure why not just say what everybody really wants to. Dont need one more lazy, selfish jerk whining on the internet because others only give away 110% but they want 200%.

 

Look you weirdo, here is how you do things on technical forum:

first you read the sticky threads about rules and such
then you'll know what is required to ask a proper question
after you do that, if you get some answers that seem to misunderstand you, you can ask further questions for clarification
if its still missing the mark, you can just say thank you an move on
if many people are telling you that you lack prereq knowledge or are asking too vague a question, instead of having a conniption fit you could take it as a sign that you need to go and learn something then come back later. Like you were patiently explained to do. It's what we all do.

The fact is, if you work full time it's doubtful you have the time and energy for this, unless you have super hero energy. The things you think are simple are not. They'll take 1,000 hours or more to build and that's after you know what you are doing. To know what you are doing will require 5x that amount of time if you are a fast learner.

You are suffering from dunning-krueger, you have no clue how little you know and when others try to point to to where you need to start you say they have an issue. They don't. You do. Get over your weird little ego issues if you want to actually get any work done.

 

You're only making the OP's case for them.

Assistance that helps doesn't look like this diatribe. You're only going to create depression, anxiety and rage whilst further exaggerating any problems and disparities between newbs and pros. All the gnarly rhetoric isn't helping anyone now, or in the future.

Do you need to pop a vitamin B complex? Especially the B12 part. It'll manage stress, a lot.

Help would be pointing out that Inventories are solved problems in several assets, precisely because they're not fun things to code.

Playmaker, as a starting point, with the Inventory add on, is about the only sane way to solve the problems of inventories, early on, for beginners. Or, discover if this person is looking to learn to code one, for the exercise.

Either way, OP... try this, if you want to spend money to save time, energy and sanity, this is well worth the price:

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/game-toolkits/ultimate-inventory-system-166053

With Playmaker, which is the single best investment you can ever make in both using and learning Unity:

https://hutonggames.com/store.html

Further, this works with a wide array of easier-to-use-than-defaults-and-own-built stuff, in the form of add-ons:

https://hutonggames.fogbugz.com/default.asp?W714

Much like Blueprints in Unreal, you can make a game without "real" code via Playmaker and its add-ons.

--------------

Generally speaking, if you're hellbent on learning Unity, there's a few things to purchase, to make life a million times easier, just like if you're hellbent on using Blender or Reaper.

Whilst they come free (or sort of, in the case of Reaper) it's cutting off your nose to spite the time it takes to fill your wallet if you don't buy the most helpful add-ons.

 

you can give them all the patient technical assistance in the world, it wont matter, they arent going to do anything with it. its personal issue.

 

This ain't technical assistance. It's specific guidance to easier-to-use ways of getting into Unity. Making it more like Blueprints, since Unity's dropped the ball on Visual Scripting.

 

You're not understanding me.

First, this thread is just a person whining about that they aren't getting the sort of free help in exactly the manner they prefer. In fact, they got fantastic help and already exhausted an unfair amount of patience from well meaning people.

You are feeding a vulnerable narcissist or at least somebody who acts like one. Infinite patience isn't going to do anything. Need to cut people like this off quick or next thing you know the place is like reddit. Just an echo chamber of people trying to out pity one another.

 

I've done what I intended, and all that I can and will for someone of this ilk. It's just more general, as that's what they need, if they're to go ahead within Unity, and eases the rails as much as they can be.

On the surface, we all recognise the DunningKruegerism inherent to the concepts of code is... not so hard. It is, so it's best to point out non-coding ways to learn Unity, so that at least part one can be done. Learning coding AND Unity at the same time is probably too much.

 

It's an alternative to writing code but it's not an alternative to learning to think about and solve problems inherent to programming.

 

No, multiple people were all telling you you were coming at the problem from the wrong angle because they have experience and know this to be the case. You have to accept that the problem with your thread was you, not everyone else.

 

@SinkingSun When it comes to helping others, people here seem to only be interested in regurgitating readily available answers, and pretty much nothing beyond that.

I would recommend looking up alternate/professional/academic sources (as hard as they may be to find) if you want any actual help beyond just a few personal opinions from random forum users. I've found eons of more helpful things elsewhere than I have ever found here (granted, I mostly peruse just General Discussion and a few other sections).

As for your other thread, I've been in this same exact situation before: someone who was a beginner at Unreal wanted to make an inventory system. But instead of turning them away because they need to "git gud" first, I helped them, anyways. The reason being: I wanted to help. Not everybody here is willing to do that. I don't know why people here have such an aversion to working with, of all people, beginners, but that's how it is.

You telling them that it's a turnoff is just as effective as telling a psychopath that stabbing people hurts them: they simply don't care. (In fact, if you actually look up traits of a psychopath, you'll notice some people here tick off some of those checkboxes. I even recall someone here a while ago saying something about how empathy is bad because it's "illogical" or something like that.)

You're on a niche game development forum on the internet. Let's be real: expecting any sort of politeness or competency is unrealistic.

I've gotten that feeling, myself. You're not just *imagining* things, either: there's a thread about the change in the mood of the forum where your same feeling is corroborated. (Personally, I think the mood's been going downhill ever since UE5 was announced, but that's it's own thing.)

I honestly feel like people here let their bad mood, consciously or unconsciously, affect the forum because you can't read an interesting topic without also having to sit through an argument. People here are just trying to use your other thread against your main point here (i.e. they're making it personal), but this is something that can be seen in many threads besides just yours and has been called out by many other users besides just you.

I've always tried to make an effort to give everybody a "fair shot" simply because I think that the negativity here just might (even if just a little bit) inadvertently contribute to the negativity towards Unity itself, which is something I don't think people here actually consider.

Ultimately, though, you're talking to people who just approach things differently. As people here like to say, if you don't like it here, you can just go somewhere else (which is a very *inviting* thing to say).

As far as a penalty is concerned, the penalty is already happening: people leave, and the few regulars who stay are left to talk with themselves within a small echo chamber (if you notice, many threads here are just the same people talking to each other). Apparently, though, I think that's actually what they want: take neginfinity's "bar where programmers hang out after work" analogy as a sign that they see this forum as a small club rather than a public platform.

BTW, your analogy is flipped: the "bar" is the OP's thread, the "you" is the users, and the "walk into" is the replying; i.e. when you reply to someone else's thread, you're the one who's walking into their bar, not the other way around.

• How far can you take a creative app made with Unity without competing with it?, specifically starting at post #72.
  
• Is it possible to create "true" rain/snow effect?
  
• Unity and more widely open source availability (granted, it's more of a request for a feature than a question for help, but is still full of the same "you don't need / you can't use it" responses)

In addition, the more discussion-based threads about tech are essentially littered with "you don't need it" responses to the point the thread becomes more about the people in it than the tech itself. You can read my post history for examples; it's not long.

 

I love how the most opinionated people likewise happen to be the people least actively helping others. If you don't like the way people are getting responses nothing prevents you from jumping in with solutions. Here's their thread that sparked all of this. Feel free to help them.

https://forum.unity.com/threads/how-to-script-an-inventory-system.1455913/

While you're at it check out any other threads in that and other sections. I guarantee you many of them don't need a lengthy response if you know a subject, and in the time you typed up that highly opinionated response you could have helped a few different people.

 

I don't use Unity, I use Unreal Engine, hence, why I don't post Unity-based solutions on the threads I do help on. When it comes to the Unreal forums, I have helped immensely there. I love helping people, hence, why I always defend people who ask for help here.

If you're wondering why I read these forums, it's because I was in interested in Unity. Plus, I'm interested in game tech in general. Once again, read my post history: it's short and backs up what I'm saying.

 

Helping people on the Unreal forums is completely irrelevant to this thread. You come here "defending" people who ask questions wanting responses bashing the forums for not meeting your standards only to not make a response yourself. That's very hypocritical.

 

I wondered if it would be possible to create a forum where users post broken code and the only reply allowed is to respond with fixed code. But I suspect the fixed code will look like this:

Code (CSharp):

1. // YOU SUCK AT PROGRAMMING!!!
2. // DON"T USE GETCOMPONENT OR GAMEOBJECT.FIND!!!
3. // USE CINEMACHINE YOU IDIOT!
4.  

 

Unity forum isn't a code fixing service. We usually don't fix your code, we give you advice to fix your own code. And yes, use Cinemachine.
If you want fixing code service there is the offer job section, you can pay for it like everyone else.

 

We already have that.

https://chat.openai.com/

 

@Lurking-Ninja

Spoiler

@Ryiah You guys are beyond full of yourself... this is a lost cause... I'll be taking the routine advice given on this this forum and leaving entirely...

 

Seeing that you're largely here just to complain about people not doing what you won't do that's likely for the best.

 

Take it as a sign that arguments happen here often without me being involved that it's not just a "me" thing.

Thanks for the good times, at least. Bye.

 

This wasn't a joke. People legitimately think the forum is a free coding service. And they are similarly upset that we don't code for them for free like you're always upset that Unity isn't Unreal.

 

Dude, if you want perfect help, you need to discuss payment plans and hourly rates and draft up an agreement, then you'll be dealing with a service.

If you don't wanna pay, take what people offer for free and use it.

A lot of people has been programming for decades, and frankly expect everyone else to pull their weight by themselves, because that's how they've done it themselves, and because that's the most efficient thing to do. When fixing stuff by yourself becomes a habit, you no longer need help and can solve anything by yourself. It is also not a competition of who offered more help and where.

The forum is not a service. People are volunteers and you shouldn't abuse them. One detailed response can easily take up to 40 minutes of someone's time, the author get nothing in return, and the author won';t be getting this time back either.

 

@neginfinity Yeah, I think I just had the wrong expectations for the forum.

I, myself, don't come here for help: like I said, I just come here to read interesting things about game tech in general, irrespective of the engine. So hopefully you can see how reading anything other than that would be annoying. Once again, I think I just had the wrong expectations; that's on me.

Like I said, thanks for the good times. Bye.

 

This particular thread is confusing for someone, who is not actively participating in the forum.
The problem and the perception of this thread comes from reading just OP's post and reading briefly other responses, without understanding full context. Since the more in depth context was on other threads, referring to the OP.

For better understating of this particular thread (and other too), before responding to such, you should have read all post and references attached, then you would understand the problem, which did arise in this thread.

People like to jump into middle of the thread, which is active, add something of own, but ignore / skipping others responses. Which often leads to walking in the circle and misunderstandings.

Talks can be sometimes heated for sure, but it is not a reason to run away from the forum. We surely got lots of interesting talks.
However sometimes it is better to sit this one out and wait for strom to calm down.

 

Last post here.

@Antypodish The quotes you took are not contradictory; I'll put this as simply as I can:
A) I don't *use* Unity.
B) Therefore, I don't come here to *get* help with Unity (I've already mentioned why I do come here).
C) I do occasionally *give* help to other people with *non-Unity-specific* problems.

That's as clear as I can make it.

While I can help the OP with inventory systems generally, I can't help them within the context of Unity. Plus, I'm by no means an expert on inventory systems, so considering I would have to navigate that plus having barely any knowledge of scripting in Unity, I think it would be best to leave that the the experienced Unity users who also have more knowledge on inventory systems than I do.

Not to make anything a competition, but on the UE forums, people are much more helpful and will give you script/code examples. So, I guess coming from that environment, this environment seems a lot more "exclusive" than that. Like I said, though, people here just do things differently.

My reason for posting in this thread was not to attack or defend the OP personally, but to address their post in reference to the forum in general, as in, many threads here, not just their other thread. (Which, BTW, I did read fully before posting: that one, this one, as well as the other one, too.)

In response to this:

If you read my post history to see what they're talking about, my point with ever doing any of that was to point out what negative things others were doing back to themselves. It's not just a "what you won't do" thing, either, because the OP's and other users of those threads who were being "attacked" (for lack of a better word) were also mentioning the same things before I even posted, so my responses were just "extensions" of theirs. But, of course, none of that worked, and only contributed more to the negativity (and honestly, no surprise there).

Neg said something about moderation in response to a (now deleted) post of mine. Honestly, I think I've been trying to play "moderator" too much while simultaneously not wanting to actually be one. So, like I said to neg, I think I just had the wrong expectations for the forum. That's on me. Sorry.

But this thread isn't even about me, so I don't care to speak on myself any further. Thanks for reading.

 

This place aint so bad. Once you block about a dozen residents. They really stink it up. I am sure this thread is full of them.

Unfortunately noobs dont know any better, so they get gang jumped by this dirty dozen.

And the moderator allows b.s. to pass all the time. There should be NO bs on a forum like this. Any type of insult should get you a week off. And I mean even things like saying "you are whining...". "you think that..."

Anything that assigns intentions to others should just get you a week off. Anything that tries to bypass personal insults like "people who think blah blah blah are idiots" should get you a week off.

I dont know why this forum allows unprofessionalism at all.

But got forbid you troll back at the dirty dozen, then its you who get the ban.

So yeah. Also, threads like this, should be locked. If you don't like the "help" you got by the resident bullies, put them on block, dont start a thread about it.

 

Because then there would be no posts at all?

 

You weren't here so you wouldn't know but once upon a time we had a stricter forum, and that was relaxed as it hurt more than it helped. Let me tell you. This thread would have been nixed almost as soon as it started, and not because of the people who responded but because of the subject matter. It simply wouldn't have been allowed.

 

Like this one? Closed for being nonsense and just griping and off topic.