New Players: Controlling the Initial Experience

[LoD]

After reading a few comments in the thread asking why new players stopped playing the game, I wondered to myself whether we were missing an opportunity to control the initial experience that might "hook" those players immediately.  As we all know, players go through the application and chargen process, point toward the map and then spend hours trying to figure out not only where they should be going, but what they should be doing.

What if new players had some kind of choice to begin play immediately, or wait for a new-player "event" they could join?

These events might be bi-weekly, held at regular published times so that every new player could know exactly when and where they'd be expected to login and for how long.  The purpose of these events would be to give newbies a little more of a hand-guided introduction to the game world via some event they were able to witness and in which they were able to participate.

Example

New Player Event
Login: 6:30pm
Event: 7:00pm - 8:00pm Central

Requirements: Characters must have backgrounds from either the city-state of Allanak, or the outpost of Luirs.

If you would like to participate in a new player event, please submit your character application at least 24 hours before the event start time and plan to login at 6:30pm.  Characters involved in this event will be humans, half-elves, or dwarves whose background has them hailing from the city-state of Allanak or the trading outpost of Luir's.  Please be prepared to login promptly as the event will begin sharply at 7:00pm and only thoes who are logged in and ready will be able to attend.

What Happens?

Pending these players decide to submit their character applications and login at the appropriate time, the Staff would have all of them move through the Hall of Kings, point toward their respective background-cities, and then transfer them a specific room where the event would begin.  Once everyone had logged in, the event would start and Staff-played NPC's would help drive the action.

An example of such a scenario might be that the PC's are all loaded into a holding room of a caravan wagon traveling from Luir's to Allanak when it suddenly breaks down somewhere along the way.  The new players are all playing PC's whom are "traveling" upon this wagon to Allanak and are now part of the same experience.  Such an event may include a variety of tasks and experiences that help introduce new players  both to the coded syntax, as well as safely introducing them to combat, skills, communication, etc...

At the end of the event, the new players would all have some set of clothing, supplies, arms, and armor.  They would have immediately had an experience and taste of interaction at a level the Staff would like to see as the "standard" for the game, and they would have an IC story to relate to other PC's when they arrived at their destination.  The biweekly events could rotate between the two city-states and be planned for highest peak play.

I'm not sure how realistic an idea like this is, but it might provide people with a fun and interesting way to get introduced to Armageddon and immediately get the type of experience that hooks us all to the game.  Heck, I would probably participate every time I happened to have an application in the queue prior to one of these things.

-LoD

[Adiadochokinesis]

Seems very complicated for someone who is new to the game.

[LoD]

Seems very complicated for someone who is new to the game.

What aspects of it seem complicated?  I don't see much difference, from the player perspective, beyond them logging their character in at a specific time instead of an arbitrary time.  The complicated parts of it would be on the shoulders of the Staff in the creation and coordination of the event itself, and in managing potential questions/issues with the new players.

-LoD

[Akoto]

This is a good idea, but I think coordination and staff availability would be the major issues. We're constantly getting new characters, and not all of them will be available at a given time. What happens to the off-peak newbie who still needs this help? Then there's the need for staff members to personally attend, when they probably have a great deal on their plate as things stand.

Personally, I like the idea of a newbie channel, or wishes that can be directed to player helpers. Allow it to function for X number of hours played, during which time they can broadcast questions and request guidance on non-sensitive issues. Such a channel could be monitored by the immortals who, if they spot a helper being a little too generous with info, can easily grab hold of the situation.

[JustAnotherGuy]

One thing to think about with Arm1, there won't be much or any coding going into it.  As for planning around Staff availability, probably won't happen.  I know Mansa and a few others have been discussing options for what we can do with Arm1 in the interim until Arm2 is launched... but the New Player Experience is very important even now.  From the post that Mansa gathers, almost everyone that stuck around was because they had a Helper holding their hand or they met up with a great group of people ICly.

I personally believe we need to stress interaction and better ways to teach a New Player OOCly and ICly.  Most people learn to play a game by playing it, very few people actually read the manual unless the come back to it at a later time or are bored and read it while on the shitter.

[LoD]

It may very well be unrealistic/unfair to have planned events as described in the original concept, mostly from a scheduling point of view.  What that would imply is that the potential answer would need to be shaped around arbitrary and unscheduled interactions between Staff and new players.  And that would require that Staff could easily/immediately differentiate new players from regular players with a simple glance at the lists of information available to them.

One possible solution would be to introduce a new_player flag that would be tracked at the Account level, and would persist until certain conditions were met.  Those conditions could consist of days_played across any number of characters, player toggle, Staff toggle, number of characters played, or any other such criteria.

Staff could then easily discern who the new players are, and perhaps choose to embody NPC's near them to help involve them in the overall story and also support them as they struggle to learn the game itself.  There are a thousand ways for Storytellers to quickly and easily involve both new players and old players, connecting the two through some medium or third party.  The story may begin with the Storyteller, but end with the PC's involved.  Such a marriage could be just the thing to help bring veterans and newbies together, ensuring that our new players are given the best opportunity to get a "good experience" right away.

Front Door NPC's

What if every major "area" of a given city-state such as Allanak (elementalist quarter, commoner's quarter, bazaar, 'rinth, merchant's quarter) had an NPC that played the role of welcoming committee to new faces that popped up from time to time.  Someone that would approach your character with an IC agenda of better finding out how you were planning to fit into their world.  They might be an opportunist, a lobbyist, or a gang member, just trying to keep up on the upcoming players in the area they may need to know.  These NPC's could be easily used by Storytellers to approach new players and help show them the ropes, usher them between shops, or show them the best places to hide.

They could act as intermediate guides who, ultimately, may also serve to make introductions between new and veteran characters.

New Player Focused Storytellers

It may not hurt to have a couple of Staff members dedicated to only helping new players, if this system were implemented.  They would be in charge of maintaining a handful of these Front Door NPC's, monitoring new_player flags, and working up some small-scale plots aimed at immediately drawing new players into the story.  These simple reward quests/plots could even be designed simply to help teach players geography, and reward them for figuring out where things are while they simultaneously feel they are accomplishing something important or exciting.  They might be delivering a bask of beer, conveying an important message, watching for a particular event, or alerting someone to impending doom.

None of these mini-events may have long-term consequences, but could be an interesting way to give new players some goals to pursue while they figure things out.  Many times, people seem to struggle with something they should be "doing", and this sense of purpose could end up keeping the interest of those that may otherwise login, idle, and logout.

Some of these solutions wouldn't necessarily require a lot of new code for Arm 1 Staff, as I agree any system adopted into Arm 1 likely needs to be built out of pieces that currently exist.

-LoD

[Spider]

I see some merit in such an idea, although I am still a newbie, but can afford my experience. I started playing last April, and continued
for about a RL month until that PC was killed. After that I quit for a while due to other RL circumstances, and picked Arm back up
about two months ago.

On my first day, I spent a bit just wandering around the city aimlessly, until I walked into some shop, where there stood a staff animated shopkeeper. I had a headache at the time, so I decided that my PC would complain that all of the buildings are made of the same stuff that reflects light into my eyes, thus giving my PC a headache. The NPC shopkeeper than proceeded to tell me about how the buildings are all made with the same stuff because that material is readily available, so it makes sense to use what you have. More conversation about the laws of the city and such ensued. All of this was done via RP which looking back seemed quite cool, as neither of us stepped out of character. The animated NPC then proceeded to hook me up with a clan, and there started my Arm career.

So, in conclusion, my experience not only gave me some pretty important and basic knowledge of my PC's surroundings, but also found her working and interacting with other PC's. I've only spoken to a Helper once, about 3 weeks ago, concerning some syntax over a recent purchase. The rest I've picked up by compulsively typing help <whatever>, and constantly reading the help files/documentation/GDB while there is some down time IG. I don't think I could count how many times I've read the guild_burglar or guild_assassin help files.

P.S. I hope this offers -some- perspective.

~Den

[valeria]

I like the idea of front door NPCs, but I would heartily endorse new player focused storytellers.

One of my coolest interactions when I was pretty new was with a staff's NPC, who I didn't even realize was an NPC at the time, and the subsequent comment I got in my email really made the environment seem more friendly.  When I realized it later, I was a little shocked that immortals would actually animate to interact with (obviously inept and new) people.  Especially with there being so many unclanned people and not so many unclanned staff, I could easily see new, unclanned people slipping through the cracks, in favor of more interesting to watch veterans.  I think that's a shame, as even just one interaction with an NPC (1) made the world really come alive, (2) made me feel like someone actually CARED if I was having a good time, and (3) made me feel like the staff go out of their way to interact with players.

[Bogre]

This is a wickedly good idea.

[mansa]

From the Staff side of things, I definitely see a NEW_PLAYER flag being first and foremost a clear benefit.
You could even have the flag visible to certain PLAYERS of a specific karma level / helper account status.

I dislike having the dedicated time for an adventure for NEW_PLAYERS.  It has a taste to, 'RPTs are run by Immortals', and doesn't let the power of the character to control their own outcome shine through.

I'd like to see people experience what really happens in the game, be that in a flash video of someone playing, or more prevelant displays of a log of events that happen in the game.  That way they know - this is a game that has long spurts of nothingness, and then spurts of action ACTION ACTIIIIIIIIIOOOOOOOOOOON!

[HTX]

I'd like to see people experience what really happens in the game, be that in a flash video of someone playing, or more prevelant displays of a log of events that happen in the game.

Yeah... I think we might be losing a lot of players before they even get into the game (or shortly thereafter), because rather they don't want to bother with something they might not be interested in, or because they find the character generation process too overwhelming... so maybe it would be a good idea to give them a taste of Armageddon before they even get their first character accepted, and give them an idea of what to expect.

I'd like to see a variety of methods accompanying all different types of approaches or learning styles. For example:

*Videos (as suggested) for the visually inclined
*Prominent display of helper links
*Prominent display of logs
*Prominent display of documents which outline (in a succinct manner) the theme and what the player should know for those who want to get their feet wet ASAP and learn through trial and error rather than spend hours trudging through docs, trying to memorise huge mountains of information

Also, in my opinion the website is long overdue an overall reorganisation of the layout, to make this information as accessable as possible (it's important that all of the above stands out and easily catches the eye of any potential players).

[Thorg]

While not to detract from the merits of these good ideas, I for one never read the GDB until after my third or fourth character who joined a clan. So I guess these events would be made known when a player makes a brand new account, perhaps, or scheduled "new player events" could be listed by a command in the mud menu.

[Lizzie]

I think the Hall of Kings has SO much potential to be useful for more than just getting a tattoo and picking a city. I wouldn't want to see it turned into smurf village or any kind of big deal newbie training, but...

it could be used for staff to post RPT information - even veterans who show up with new characters would want to know if their PC *would* know that something serious is going on, in the city they're about to point to.

it could be used by staff and/or helpers to assist new players with syntax. Helpers could have an extra tag put on their character account. And if they're in the mood to -be- a helper, and in a position to do so (not in the middle of being reamed out by a templar, for instance), they could toggle the flag on. So when a new player shows up in the HoK, they'd get a bing, and a line of text letting them know there's a noob in the HoK.

Helper goes to a place away from the crowds and types "quit_HOK"
and they'd poof into the Hall of Kings.

Their sdesc and mdesc be automatically disguised (just like in Shadows of Isildur's new player lounge) as something like "Helper #47".

And they can see if the new player needs a hand with anything before they show up in the game. Some of them would rather not get help. Some would appreciate as much as they can get. And some fall somewhere in between. The HoK is the perfect opportunity to provide most of it, you'd just have to get rid of some of the flag blocks on the room (you can't sit or rest or do much of anything else in there if I remember right). You can help them set up their prompts, learn how to view items on merchant lists, find out that analyze/view/craft/assess are a merchant_guild PC's best friends, learn the commands that will reduce your stun points that you need to keep track of (how many times have you stared in wonder at your 20-point-reduced stun max, only to realize that doh...you're still guarding the noble that wandered away an hour ago?)

The room's flags would need to be re-toggled to allow for these things, and any problems with people passing out from over-used attempts at stun-draining activities could auto-wake them after 10 seconds or something. The room can be flagged to accommodate that.

[Manhattan]

I like this, LoD. I know many MUD's out there that introduce new players to the game through automated newbie quests.

Akanbar is an example. So it's like the new player event that you're saying, LoD, just automated not staffed. I know another MUD (forget the name, just that all the races are human) that assigns newbies to kill deer (easy deer, no worries), bring back water, farm some chickens, do some grunt work.

The problem is, these quests are done in the game world. Do you think a separate location dedicated to running instanced newbie quests is possible, or better than doing it out in the open?

[janeshephard]

The helper system is very good. Maybe helpers get access to helper characters who can take total newbies out on a short quest to make them familiar with their guild.

[Voular]

We already discussed this once.. Though my idea is still pretty good >_>

http://www.zalanthas.org/gdb/index.php/topic,30131.0.html

Here is an example from a server for NWN: http://coa.ender.com/viewtopic.php?t=112278

[Koala]

I would like to share my first experience and feelings of Armageddon, when I was a total newbie.

I don't think I could have survived my first attempt if I didn't have a few friends who already had some MUD experience (HnS) and someone who introduced us to here. That someone told us stories about Allanak, Byn, and the Desert hunting... and also the cruelity of Templars and the dark side of 'Rinth . Without that kind of a verbal introduction and my special environment (starting with few other people), I really could not last more than a few weak attempts and we would have lost just another potential player without even noticing it.

Mostly, because I never played a MUD before (except that HnH MUD my friends were playing sometime after 1998 - me, just a few days tops in 2001ish - and we came here 2003 spring, I guess), thus =>

1) Did not know what to expect
2) No syntax knowledge
3) and most importantly what to do when I enter (this is the most difficult part)

I was fortunate enough to see a dwarf sitting in Gaj's quit safe place, spitting and a Templar who was ordering to sheathe my friend's weapons (didn't I say my friend had HnS experience ). We knew how Templars are cruel Judges wielding the power of Tektolnes and we all had a good sum of Dark Sun and Athas background, so that moment I felt the rush in my veins, he could get executed for that! (yeah, I know, I was a total newbie , but for whatever reason, that interaction made me feel good about playing) => thus I really said, yes, there is serious RP going on here.


You see, just a simple gesture, a moment of Templar presence made this game stand out from the rest. By rest I mean rest of all other RP games out there.

But we had some Dark Sun experience, so for that to work on someone else, we need to make sure he has some understanding of the world first.


Luckily our dearest friend advised us to join Byn - the newbie camp - and most of us got pulled into the beauty of Armageddon... and here comes the importance of Byn Sergeants once more. Mine was Akasha and she was fierce in game and very kind oocly. I still remember to this very day; she whispered oocly and told me that Armageddon is like book, you need to pay attention to your writing style and grammar, need to write without typos and etc... That defining moment I felt the greatness of players and their dedication to the game.


We all were members of a roleplaying (tabletop) club in the university and we got very exited when we first heard the RP possibilities of Armageddon and wanted to gave a try... and I would not have survived the steep learning curve of this game if I did not receive any serious help and some lucky events I encountered.


My point being, there are many people with potential that we can easily hook into the game and grow in numbers while keeping the level of RP and quality.


Unfortunately we are missing many of them due to the difficulties in adaptation. Eventhough we all valued RP and staying in character in our tabletop games, we had great difficulty in adapting to the level of RP here. Armageddon is much more real than any other game out there, MUD or similar. So, people will have problems in adapting themselves and they need a serious bump to raise to the Armageddon level, I know, I did need it. It takes serious time and experience to really learn how to stay in character.

So, any help is necessary to speed up the adaptation process as much as possible.

This way new players will stay longer and will eventually got hooked and become better players day by day and will start having more fun and got more hooked... it is a cycle and the wheels need to be rolling.

Right now, we expect from new players to read almost everything in the docs (I know we have intro part and it helps alot to speed things up, I always tell the new player to go and read it first) and digest that info in a blink of an eye. If they cannot digest the richness of Armageddon to some degree, how come they can enjoy playing? We all know that for the new player, reading the docs doesn't have the highest priority... you read the docs along the road, but without them, it is nearly impossible to get hooked up for life. That being said, LoD is on the right track trying to adress this issue and I really appreciate his efforts. Maybe his solution to this problem is not the best one right now, but maybe it is. All I know is, we can always discuss it further if it is needed.


To me, the important point is accepting the [in]existence (edited to add [in]) of newbie influx. Than for sure we can derive a solution for it.


Also I love to see 100+ players when I type who. It will definetely open new possibilities to the game.. Red Storm and Luir's would be filled with much more action... we can have regular Arena games in Allanak.. many other regular things that we are missing right now.


So, I highly value LoD's idea. There should be 'something' that eases this painfully steep learning curve... not just advising new players to join Tza-i Byn. Sure it helps, but not everyone wants to be a gritty mercenary while learning how to adapt and play. Thanks to Byn, my first PC had a very long life-span, 25-30 days, but my case was unique... not everyone is going to have the same opportunities that I had. We have to provie more moment of opportunities to the new comers so that they stay and join the ranks of Armageddon.

And to the idea of having a couple of storytellers who are dediceted to interacting with new players, I just love it! . If there are no new players, those RP storytellers as we might call them, could easily spend their times animating NPCs out there, making the game come into life in a more vivid way. They can toss in some emotes for loners or they can randomly do stuff to makes us remember that there are VNPCs wandering around. Just an idea, I am sure they can some up much better stuff than what I just laid down here...

The only thing I am sure about is that our new player rates are not good and don't think it was at high levels anytime down the line. I would love to see a solution formed up in this post, or at least make it more visible to our Staff members so that they will come up with a plan that better suits to their ruling style

I just love to see more players staying, thats all.

[Synthesis]

My characters' bank accounts graciously accept the existence of newbie influx.