Newbie Invasion

[InsertCleverNameHere]

A newbie needs help because they don't know what they're supposed to type to find out what they're looking for. Will new players somehow magickally know that "areas" is the word they're looking for?

I did see a map of Allanak somewhere in the docs when I started, but honestly, the way it was set up, all text characters and such made it hard enough to understand (for me anyway) it wasn't much help. But if something like this was coded, it'd probably be easy enough to include information about it in the same place about the rerolls, death and other 'when you start' things. So obviously, if it's coded for newbies, something will be added to the docs to let them know it's there.

Of course, if they're not smart enough to even read the newbie docs when they start, that'd be their own damn fault. Then again, instead of coding in a whole system, even adding in a section of roughly where to find the major points in the "What you know" city docs would be a nice step up.

[Bestatte]

Of course, if they're not smart enough to even read the newbie docs when they start, that'd be their own damn fault. Then again, instead of coding in a whole system, even adding in a section of roughly where to find the major points in the "What you know" city docs would be a nice step up.

See that's the thing. If they're smart enough to read the newbie docs when they start, then they wouldn't need all that much help in the first place.

It doesn't really have much to do with being smart. It has to do with retaining the information after they've read it. Some people are better at that than others. It also has a lot to do with the flow of the documentation. The staff has been working on improving that, but it still has a long way to go before the flow works in sync with the average new players' thought processes.

If you look at the main game page ( www.armageddon.org ) you will see that there isn't even a category called "For New Players." That should be the focal point, right there. There's a link 3/4 of the way down the page called "Quickstart" and it's a help, but not even remotely as helpful as if it were a category on the main menu.

In addition, the Quickstart isn't all inclusive. Helpful yes, inclusive no. And even the quickstart isn't categorized, and if you are surfing the site looking for something mentioned in it, there's no link back to the Quickstart from any of those other pages. Information is just SO scattered and illogically placed that it can take hours just to learn that what you're looking for doesn't exist.

Another example is information about desert elves. There are plenty of pages that explain things about them, but there's no one category that includes links to all of those pages. So if you don't find what you're looking for in one, you might not even know that another one exists to look for.

Above and beyond anything else, I think a reorganization of the website will be the single most significant step in helping new players. If I was proficient in HTML and Java or whatever else they use for the site, I'd do it myself and submit it in one fell swoop after several weeks of work. But I'm not, so I can't.

[My 2 sids]

Above and beyond anything else, I think a reorganization of the website will be the single most significant step in helping new players.

We know we have the docs.  We know we gain a lot of smart people.  So, I'm thinking that perhaps a lack of communication is to blame for new members (in general, not the ones who refuse to at lest try) not understanding where to find things.

[InsertCleverNameHere]

See that's the thing. If they're smart enough to read the newbie docs when they start, then they wouldn't need all that much help in the first place.
.....
Above and beyond anything else, I think a reorganization of the website will be the single most significant step in helping new players. If I was proficient in HTML and Java or whatever else they use for the site, I'd do it myself and submit it in one fell swoop after several weeks of work. But I'm not, so I can't.

As to the first.. I read the docs before starting. I poured through them, wanting to be prepared and not have people be able to single me out by stupid oopses and say "Oh great, another twinky newb", because I fancied myself some sort of excellent RPer anyway, though the type of game wasn't quite the same as this, in either genre or code. Of course, everyone makes mistakes, I made several, despite my research of the docs.
To the second., agreed. I think if there were some different organization, and more extensive linkage to different docs that have information on similar areas (like all the info spread out on d-elfs like you mentioned), I might not have made near so many idiot mistakes as I did. Because if you're looking for one thing, and have to crawl through 20 pages to find 4 docs about this thing, by the time you've read the last, you've forgotten part of the first, or even more if your memory sucks like mine. And likewise, if I knew a single thing about java/html, I'd volunteer to work on it, but all I've ever done (and then with some hassle) was the basic drag and click pages.

[Krath]

I believe Calion or another new should post their experience again, rather than us Old Players
becauase we have a skewed view since we have been here so long. I will say this, the Docs
Prepare the newbies below average-average(on a scale of 1-10, 4-5) Not as good as it could
be, but enough to be sufficient.

[InsertCleverNameHere]

Well, I'm not -very- new, but from what I gather reading on the boards, having not played a full year yet, I still qualify as a newb, or semi-newb anyway. I haven't even flamed anyone on the boards yet, I must be new.  :roll:  :wink:

[Agent_137]

I'm under a year. I still remember my noobdom clearly. This is how it went:

1. Got tired of my old mud because it was roleplay "encouraged."

2. Had the bright idea that permadeath would make everything more real.

3. Followed my old mud's link to Top Mud Sites.

4. Tried the first roleplay required permadeath mud I found.

5. Read all the docs. Over and over.

6. Thought up a character.

7. Participated on the boards.

8. Read the docs again.

9. Started to play my character.

10. Frowned as my character was eaten by a tembo barely 3 hours into play after some neat interaction with a lone hunter.

11. Decided I wanted a break from MUDing for awhile.

12. Left for about sixth months.

13. Started thinking about it after talking to a friend.

14. Remembered that the Byn is a good place for newbies.

15. Designed brother characters with my friend and joined the byn.

16. Went on to great success. I feel i'm no longer a newbie. Not a veteran, by any means, but something inbetween.

Notice that when I as soley dependent on the documents, I had a good character concept but I didn't have a good grasp of HOW to play.

But when I began to work closely with someone, AND joined an active clan with some good mentors, my noobdom quickly evaporated.

My conclusion?

The docs aren't enough. We need mentors. Or at least heavy encouragement for first characters to join a clan with some other active members.

[kelviksson]

Let's not beat around the bush, you can TELL who newbies are. Now, if we want to show them some support (unless you run into one that hasn't read ANY documentation, which, in that case I will try to murder as soon as possible) we can find some very simple Ic ways to show them around. I happened to run into a group of newbies that after about 2 hours of 2 hours of some interesting roleplay I think I had given them a basic idea of the structure of atleast one city. And anyways, it is always good to have newbies. More player interaction is good. I also think our status on the mud board has helped a bit. By the way, remember to vote!!

[Maybe42or54]

P.s. Join the Byn.

[SewerRat_inTheOpen]

A newbie needs help because they don't know what they're supposed to type to find out what they're looking for. Will new players somehow magickally know that "areas" is the word they're looking for?

First time newbies really need help in knowing what to buy, they will spurge on a bow or something, because they are recommended to play human rangers/warriors. And then realise, the arrows cost so much!! Or the bow actually isn't what I need. Or damn this 300 sid bracer. I suggest to have the helpers better placed to help them.