Elitism

[Lizzie]

There are ways to help newbies IC if I can chime in.

"Hey NewJoe. You're from the city you say? So have you tried the water they sell in the market down the street to the east lately? I think they've been putting some kind of minty stuff in it. Tastes really great this week." (voila, directions to the waterseller without actually giving directions)

"It depends on whatcher lookin fer NewJane. A horse is best allaround, butcha can't beat a mule fer packin shit. Ya couldn't pay me t'use a mule, they're the ornieriest critters I ever seen. Tire out easy too." (voila, advice on which mount is best, without making a list)

"Can't say I've ever tried to make my own pineapple upside down cake don'tcha know, but I figure you prolly need some pineapples, and flour. Maybe an egg. Mum always kept extra eggs and put'em in everything she made. Try that." (voila, crafting recipe without sounding like you're making a list of ingredients).

"You mean those gorgeous silk gowns? The ones with the beads? You should definitely try that Kadian shop in the market. You know the one, way down in the southeast section of town, if you enter the pavilion right when you get into Market Square and through the flap on the north side of the tent." (voila, directions to the fancy Kadian shop in the market, without doing the e, ne, enter).

A lot of these things are hard to come up with when you have to think fast to help a newbie, but given time and experience it will just flow down your fingers to the keyboard. Most newbies should figure out what you're telling them and if they don't they probably need to read the docs anyway and maybe an OOC suggestion would be appropriate at that point.

Just my 2 coins worth from past gaming experience, I hope it's been helfpul to veterans who want to encourage newbies without just giving info away.

L. Stanson

[Sir Diealot]

But, davien.. where's the line?

telling someone that they have to type <censored> in order to get into <censored> so they can buy lockpicks is what got me flamed.  

The problem was, they knew -where- to look, just not what to type, in order to get into <censored>.  I thought it was just syntax.  I saw nothing wrong with that.

There are things that are 'ic', but require 'ooc' info.  You need to know where to look, and where to go in order to logically type in the command.  However!    Said command is somewhat obscure, or at least not exactly intuitive.  Theres a line, but its incredibly blurry, and so people draw it wherever they see fit, and flame others over where -they- see that line.

Its really just rude.  And, I'm guilty of it as well.  Though I am trying to be nicer, and respect other people's opinions more.

[Anonymous]

But, davien.. where's the line?

For me, the line is the difference between answering this question:

"Where can I get lockpicks? I've looked EVERYWHERE."

and

"So, I'm standing in front of <censored> and I don't know what to do. Am I missing something? I've tried to go every direction."

You can even answer the former question without breaching the line by saying something like "There are a lot of places you might not have looked. Try using "enter" to go into market stalls, or use "ask" to find out rumors from NPCs."

Now, if you want to convey to them that they should look in <censored>, that's something they need to find out in character. I really hate to say it, but they need to be able to ask around, establish the legality, and find someone who knows where it might be traded. Interaction like that can be very interesting.

The one problem is players who can't establish between NPCs and PCs (which is practically impossible) when NPCs don't answer.

I think it would be useful if more NPCs had "ask" functions on them, especially in certain places. This way, even off-peak players might be able to figure stuff like this out without going OOC.

Maybe the helpers could compile a list of most frequently asked questions that could be answered IC and put in a request to have some ask syntax added to a few NPCs to solve this problem?

Then you could say "use the ask syntax on some of the NPCs, or find a PC to help you with that one."

"Which NPC?"

"You might have to talk to a few before you find him, but I imagine you'll learn a lot during your search."

ask half-giant rumors
"you can ask the half giant soldier of Tektolnes about the following:
spice
lockpicks
water
Tektolnes"

ask half-giant lockpicks

the half-giant narrows his eyes and looks down at you, and says in sirihish:
   "Why you wanna be asking me about dat? Are you up to no good? Do I need to arrest you? Get out of here."

[Xygax]

telling someone that they have to type <censored> in order to get into <censored> so they can buy lockpicks is what got me flamed.  

The problem was, they knew -where- to look, just not what to type, in order to get into <censored>.  I thought it was just syntax.  I saw nothing wrong with that.

If you posted this on the GDB (which I don't recall, just saying hypothetically), then you were dealing with a much larger audience than just the one person who know where to go but not what to type.  This kind of IC info is totally unacceptable.  Even one-on-one, you should recommend that the player e-mail the staff instead of offering that information yourself.

-- X