How on Earth does the cardinal directions of this game's compass work?

[lakhnish]

I understand that a compass will show where players are when players are holding it in their hands.

What I don't understand is how the cardinal directions on the compass work. What I currently understand is that the compass' cardinal direction is based on the player's orientation (rotation with Q and E). This is also where the confusion comes into play. If I have the red point of the compass pointing North, that should mean north, right? But guess what, turn your compass around to 180 degrees rotation, North has become South!

This means that both players would have to have the same orientation in order to say "Go North" w/o their being confusion (same with East and West). To me, this is counter-intuitive to how a real life compass works, unless I'm wrong on how that works too. Below are pictures of what I mean, with the duct tape facing "North" initially from the first picture. 

It's possible I'm missing something or just not understanding this game's compass. (It's most definitely different from a real compass, where the red line always points North).

 

[Sinister_Fang]

45 minutes ago, lakhnish said:

(It's most definitely different from a real compass, where the red line always points North).

Much in real life, the needle always points to (the magnetic) north, but the directional indicators can be facing any direction. It's up to the user to line up the needle with north to accurately see the other 3 directions. If the needle was fixed and always lined up with north on the compass, then it couldn't actually show you north.

[CarlZalph]

Further, most compasses have the needle move as it is a lot lighter and more influential to the Earth's magnetic fields.

If the indicator were to spin, then the amount of magnetism inherent in the disk metal would need to be larger as it would have a higher amount of metal to need to spin.

Generally for using a compass you put it in front of you and then rotate yourself so the red bar lines up with magnetic North.

[Tylordian]

It's facing north in both pictures, what do you mean? You can see that the red tipped part of the arrow is the one pointing north, in the second picture the red and blue swap, meaning that it is still pointing north. You have to pay attention to the colors.

[Mindkontrol]

North doesn't change, just your perspective.

[CaptainChaotica]

I do get what you mean about the orientation-changing being confusing, though.  I've had several cases where I'd say "Go (direction)" and since the other person  had been turning the camera (which I rarely do, 'cos it makes me dizzy, unless I want to look behind something--then I put it right back) their (Direction 1) is actually (Direction 2), and we get totally lost. 

The only way to combat this, I've found, is to have the other person go to a location you know you BOTH have on your map, (like the portal) and then ask them "Is there a (landmark) to your (direction)?"  Or be at base and say "Okay, which way is the science machine from you?"

...all these blanks, I almost feel like I'm playing Mad Libs again.  : P  "Wilson was wandering through the (Biome), feeling hungry, when he suddenly came upon a (Noun).  Out of desperation, he decided to (Verb) it.  He then died of (Horrible Affliction)."

...Notorious

[lakhnish]

9 hours ago, Sinister_Fang said:

Much in real life, the needle always points to (the magnetic) north, but the directional indicators can be facing any direction. It's up to the user to line up the needle with north to accurately see the other 3 directions. If the needle was fixed and always lined up with north on the compass, then it couldn't actually show you north.

Ah yea you are right. I looked up a video on youtube and it is as you say. It seems I didn't understand how a compass worked in real life :p.

2 hours ago, CaptainChaotica said:

I do get what you mean about the orientation-changing being confusing, though.  I've had several cases where I'd say "Go (direction)" and since the other person  had been turning the camera (which I rarely do, 'cos it makes me dizzy, unless I want to look behind something--then I put it right back) their (Direction 1) is actually (Direction 2), and we get totally lost. 

The only way to combat this, I've found, is to have the other person go to a location you know you BOTH have on your map, (like the portal) and then ask them "Is there a (landmark) to your (direction)?"  Or be at base and say "Okay, which way is the science machine from you?"

Yea, I would also use landmarks as well since I almost never use a compass unless I'm playing with newer players.

Thank you all for the replies. I greatly appreciate it for the explanations.

Edit: I would just get confused if they were to say a cardinal direction and I would somehow get lost since apparently I didn't know how to operate a compass correctly.

[Mindkontrol]

You might want to start using this by both orienting your screens so that the red arrow points north, then you can see which cardinal direction you are in relation to one another. Alternatively, you could simply not care, and just look for their icon on the map, and run towards it.