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Professor Colin Agur

Journalism 1501

The Kerbal Space Program Game Community

Kerbal Space Program is the de facto standard for gaming geeks. Among aerospace and after-

hours engineering challenges. KSP has reached such ubiquity that Randall Munroe, previous NASA

robotics contractor and creator of the hit comic xkcd, has featured KSP on at least two occasions, each

time lucidly drawing the connection between KSP and the soul of the geek.

Briefly, Kerbal Space Program pits the gamer against space, challenging the player to develop a

space program on an alien planet. What sets KSP apart is the player’s responsibility to build rockets,

realistic physics simulator and expansive sandbox world, leaving the (many and important) details to

the patient gamer through trial and error. As such, KSP is a haven for engineers who tend to

enthusiastically lack therein) of the computer-generated universe and generally goof around.

Steam, Reddit and Squad (the developer of KSP) host forums devoted to the discussion of

Kerbal Space Program. While all offer extensive commentary, the Reddit forum is mainly targeted at

where user u/please_send_cookies managed to send a ridiculous octopus-like spaceship into orbit.1

While generally entertaining, these types of posts do not contribute to a rich and diverse community.

difficulties. The official KSP forum found at forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com is far more organized and

comprehensive, offering sub-forums that address spacecraft creations, technical support, ideas for

development, tutorials for new users, scientific discussion and game add-ons. Thus, the official KSP

1 u/please_send_cookies. “r/KerbalSpaceProgram - I RELEASED IT.” Reddit, 30 Mar. 2019,

www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/b71hi4/i_released_it/.
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forum can be seen as a superset of both Reddit and the Steam forum and particularly well suited to

academic discussion. With around two-hundred thousand members, the official forum (henceforth

The most important quality of KSP in relation to the forum is that it is a single player game.

This means that discussion is inherently collaborative – users work together to overcome challenges,

whether they be of a technical nature (i.e. bugs or installation issues) or community-set goals. One

illuminating example is the recently-posted Munar Base Collaboration Challenge, where community

members work together to build a “Munar” (as opposed to Lunar) base with limited resources. 2 As an

@Ultimate_Steve? Also is it able to bring kerbals [the alien populace] back from the munar surface to

Kerbin [the home planet], now that we are not using return vehicles, or does it need to be refueled on

the surface, probably with the mining rig?”3 Johnster_Space_Program depends on Ultimate_Steve to

deliver the munar lander as does all the other players; this is the type of teamwork typical of the KSP

showcasing a Road Runner (car), user A Random Kerbonaut writes

“Cool! Looks like a cute and rad thing!”4 A Random Kerbonaut offers encouragement so that the OP

will continue to innovate in KSP. In this way, the community works together toward greater in-game

“scientific” discovery.

In the above discussion, Johnster_Space_Program mentions the need for refueling on the

surface of the moon. This type of technical discussion is pervasive throughout the KSP forum. In

particular, the without true innovation.

If one were to categorize KSP by plot structure, it would undoubtedly fall in the Network

Structure formulation outlined by Egenfeldt and Nielsen.5 In fact, the beginner is stranded in a foreign

2 The collaboration works by passing around save files between users.

3 Johnster_Space_Program. “Munar Base Collaboration Challenge.” Kerbal Space Program Forums, 29 Mar. 2019,
forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/183151-munar-base-collaboration-challenge/&page=2.
4 A Random Kerbonaut. “Road Runner.” Kerbal Space Program Forums, 24 Mar. 2019,
forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/183104-road-runner/.
5 “Narrative.” Understanding Video Games: the Essential Introduction, by Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen et al., Routledge,
Taylor & Francis Group, 2016, pp. 211–215.
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world with little direction and thousands of possibilities. Because of this, KSP is ripe for creativity –

and repeated, abysmal failure.

Indeed, the KSP forum is rife with misadventures. User ShadowDragon8685 writes “I’ve

experienced nothing but bitter, hilarious disaster trying to build vertically, barely able to get ridiculous

(Mario defeating Bowser is a good example), difficult tasks in KSP do not get easier by game progress,

they get easier by experience. As such, not only is KSP especially alluring to those willing to invest

their time in learning technical knowledge (such as engineers), the KSP forum is filled with technical

detail and specifications. “Building vertically” refers to stacking engines and fuel one on top of each

other when designing a spacecraft. User Cathix03 writes “I have a station 120km in orbit above Kerbin

forth a hundred times trying to dock….”6 Like many other KSP posts, this comment requires

unpacking. Mechjeb is a mod that gives autopilot capabilities, RSC is a Reaction Control System that

uses fuel (i.e. the propellant), and evidently Cathix03 is attempting to “dock” with a space station

orbiting at a 50- the PID settings in the Mechjeb mod. PID refers to Proportional, Integral and

Derivative corrections to motion control, a well-known algorithm in control theory that is notoriously

tricky to tune.

One gets the sense that users on the KSP forum have a real sense of pride in the astrophysics

knowledge they acquire, epitomized by the physics and control jargon prevalent everywhere. Randall

subject.7

6 Cathix03. “Maneuver Prograde Issues.” Kerbal Space Program Forums, 30 Mar. 2019,
forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/183280-maneuver-prograde-issues/.
7 Munroe, Randall. “Orbital Mechanics.” Xkcd, 16 Apr. 2014, xkcd.com/1356/.
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In addition to the technical side, the KSP forum adopts the levity of a humorous video game.

Take a look at the following ad displayed prominently at the top of the KSP forum8:

On the right is in-game pilot Jebediah Kerman (or Jeb for short) with his typical maniacal grin,

ready for whatever death-defying mission the player wishes to thrust upon him. Much of the humor of

the KSP forum follows from the adorable and pathetic alien race (the Kerbals) who are generally

incompetent and shouldn’t be taken too seriously. Users tend to make Jeb or other Kerbals the butt of

light-hearted jokes while becoming (perhaps not satirically enough) emotionally attached to them. User

himself stuck on the mun [moon]! You need to rescue him, but in the quickest time possible!”9 In the

most extreme cases, Jeb and his Kerbal companions become the object of a cult following, illustrated

vividly by the “Kraken Trilogy,”10 a 169 page work of fan-fiction tracking the escapades of several

Kerbals through the KSP universe. In true KSP fashion, the titular Kraken refers to a famous physics

8 Kerbal Space Program. “We Are Hiring!” Kerbal Space Program Forums, 31 Mar. 2019,
forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php.
9 Johnster_Space_Program. “The Kerbal Bracket Challenge!” Kerbal Space Program Forums, 29 Mar. 2019,
forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/183041-the-kerbal-bracket-challenge/&tab=comments#comment-
3566214.
10 CatastrophicFailure. “Shadows of the Kraken: Remastered & The Lost Chapters.” Kerbal Space Program Forums, 8
Feb. 2015, forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/99151-shadows-of-the-kraken-remastered-the-lost-
chapters/.
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lead to glitches (or, in KSP lore, summoning of “The Kraken”). The aforementioned tendency of users

to port the magic circle of KSP into the forum keeps conversations enjoyable and in good taste.

This kind of light-hearted (but hardcore) fun is indicative of the kind of user one expects to

encounter on the KSP forum. In many ways, the KSP forum mirrors a site like Stack Overflow, where

strangers give their time freely to give technical advice to struggling coders and crack nerdy of the

corporate world, nor the especially unpleasant kludges of real life. Rather, the KSP forum gives

amateur astrophysicists a welcoming place to feed their own creativity, collaborate with other

engineering-minded players and save a few helpless Kerbals stuck on distant planets.