I liked the idea of it from the beginning, in fact it is my favorite out of Zooniverse, EteRNA, and itself. It is fun, interesting, and challenging, too. My critique of it is mainly that I still do not fully understand the use of most of the tools. This has hindered my progress in the game, I would like to see more intro puzzles (multiple for explaining one tool) or more in-depth intro puzzles. If I could know more of what to do, or just more useful ways to use the tools, I feel I could make much further progress. Most of the time I just randomly move the protein and randomly use the tools just to get points (and although that may be helpful to scientists, it does not help my confidence with continuing to work on puzzles; I have just now moved onto intermediate puzzles, showing my lack of confidence). I hope someone uses this information when thinking about updating or further progressing the usage of Foldit.
http://foldit.wikia.com/wiki/Foldit_Wiki has some useful links:
Look under "New Players" for things like "Foldit 101"
(about Recipes) and "Blackbelt Folding" videos.
Further down and to the right is a section called
"The Science" with links to various topics.
Also, some popular Recipes are Tvdl enhanced DRW
(see http://fold.it/portal/recipe/49233 for example)
and Rav3n_pl GAB (see http://fold.it/portal/recipe/100701
for example). Many players use Recipes these days, and
it helps to become familiar with the most popular ones.
Joining a Group is also helpful.
http://fold.it/portal/groups/all lists many Groups
you can join, or you can form your own with a couple
friends by pressing the "Create Group" link there.
I would recommend you do as many Beginner Puzzles
as you can. They are set aside for new players,
so it should be easier to rank well on them.
Once you've accumulated enough points (you get
100 points if you get Rank 1 on a puzzle),
you will get access to Veteran Chat, where more
advanced Folding topics/strategies are discussed,
but you won't be allowed to play Beginner Puzzles
any more.
Finally, you can always post questions in Chat,
Feedback, or the Forum. Many folks here will offer
you advice.
I hope this helps!
Jeff
