What almost turned you off the game WHEN YOU WERE NEW

[Fable]

Most of those things usually involve character reports

Thanks for the pointers you provided; most helpful! I suppose in that vein I'll ask a follow-up question, since I figure there is a decent chance that it'll be on many a new player's mind just as it is currently on mine -

I'm not exactly sure what to do about character reports. While I completely understand the intent and why they are useful for established characters or ones in important roles, the issue that I face is that, with my characters so far, I don't actually know what to write. My characters are as common as commoners can be, and are thus not involved in any big plots (alas!), nor are they, by any stretch of a feverish imagination, the major movers-and-shakers in the game world. So from that perspective, I wouldn't have much to put into a weekly character report other than a single line: "Yup, another week as a commoner trying to eke out survival." Which means that, in practice, I don't actually send them in.

Am I doing the right thing? The wrong thing? The crazy thing, maybe?

[Case]

I was turned off  by:
- Lack of colour. I cannot play a game without colour because I cannot make sense of what I'm reading at the speed MUDs happen. I coloured it with triggers.
- Large amount of documentation can be daunting. I love it now though.
- I don't like some of the game mechanics or rough edges.

It took me 4 tries to get into Arm proper I think. My account is circa 2005 but my actual proper play only started a couple of years ago.

[Barsook]

Large amount of documentation can be daunting. I love it now though.

[RogueGunslinger]

Most of those things usually involve character reports

Thanks for the pointers you provided; most helpful! I suppose in that vein I'll ask a follow-up question, since I figure there is a decent chance that it'll be on many a new player's mind just as it is currently on mine -

I'm not exactly sure what to do about character reports. While I completely understand the intent and why they are useful for established characters or ones in important roles, the issue that I face is that, with my characters so far, I don't actually know what to write. My characters are as common as commoners can be, and are thus not involved in any big plots (alas!), nor are they, by any stretch of a feverish imagination, the major movers-and-shakers in the game world. So from that perspective, I wouldn't have much to put into a weekly character report other than a single line: "Yup, another week as a commoner trying to eke out survival." Which means that, in practice, I don't actually send them in.

Am I doing the right thing? The wrong thing? The crazy thing, maybe?

Mine have always been short and to the point. Pretty much the world is your oyster as far as how simple or complex you make these. As long as you're actively trying to communicate with staff, and let them know what you're doing, who you're interacting with, what your goals are, then it will be fine, and a step ahead of quite a few players.

You don't have to e involved in lots of interesting things, or killing people or anything, you just need to be interacting with others. Most of mine have been simply me talking about what I want to do with my pc, and how I plan to go about doing that. What new things I've tried since the last report.

[lordcooper]

Most of those things usually involve character reports

Thanks for the pointers you provided; most helpful! I suppose in that vein I'll ask a follow-up question, since I figure there is a decent chance that it'll be on many a new player's mind just as it is currently on mine -

I'm not exactly sure what to do about character reports. While I completely understand the intent and why they are useful for established characters or ones in important roles, the issue that I face is that, with my characters so far, I don't actually know what to write. My characters are as common as commoners can be, and are thus not involved in any big plots (alas!), nor are they, by any stretch of a feverish imagination, the major movers-and-shakers in the game world. So from that perspective, I wouldn't have much to put into a weekly character report other than a single line: "Yup, another week as a commoner trying to eke out survival." Which means that, in practice, I don't actually send them in.

Am I doing the right thing? The wrong thing? The crazy thing, maybe?

I'd recommend sending in character reports even if you don't feel your PC has done all that much.  They've always helped me evaluate where my character's head is at and possible ideas for plot/relationship/whatever progression, besides it can never hurt to remind staffers that you exist from time to time, especially when playing Joe Commoner.

What's going on in his life / head:

[My PC] is starting to toughen up a little, both physically and emotionally.
He has recently sustained several minor injuries whilst sparring, mostly due to his growing (mostly misplaced) sense of confidence in battle.
He has been throwing himself into his training, leaving him little time to dwell on thoughts of his mother.  He feels guilty for this from time to time.
Owes [Byn Sergeant] a large in return for some armor.
Took a disliking to [fellow Runner] and a small rivalry ensued.  Was pleased when said character was kicked out for [reasons].
Has hardly seen [Byn Trooper] and despite disliking him, has decided against any form of active revenge (although he would still be less inclined to risk himself on the man's behalf than otherwise)
Is pleased with his new sword, although vaguely regrets trading in his bow for it.

Goals:

Find some way of impressing [Byn Sergeant].
Try and persuade [Byn Sergeant] to take him out east some time (Where he believes his mother to be)
Raise money to pay off his debt.

Probably not the most fascinating read, but hopefully that'll give you an idea of what you could include when playing a nobody.

[Harmless]

attempt 1: rolled in nak, was PKed in hours, then killed by spiders, then too afraid or busy to bother learning how not to die and took a break.
attempt 2: Came back 4 years later, this time tried to make a female PC for the hell of it, in Tuluk, which sounded different from the rugged Allanak stuff I had tried before. I read some docs and jumped in with my first warrens commoner. My concept was rugged and not that attractive, yet was getting hit on a lot. Regretted choosing female and then quit again.
attempt 3: Came back 3 years after that, and saw to my pleasure that my PC was an old bitch now, and went with it. was VERY pleased with everyone's response to her at this coded age (same sdesc, same mdesc). No requests for sex. People were helping me with my RP by suggesting to me what it might have been like to get old with this PC. I filled in the backstory as I talked to people. Met some of you, then. Am I allowed to name names of dead PCs? In any case, you guys all helped to get me hooked. Special thanks to those willing to give me a "baby's first hunt" tutorial and the Legions for reminding me of the brutality that might have been lost. After she was killed by a Kryl, I vowed to keep trying without such long breaks in between because I wanted to keep tabs on this world. I think I had missed the great recent events in Tuluk and Nak, and wanted not to miss those either. So, I stuck with it.

[DustMight]

Saturday downtimes.

The only thing that was a negative and that's long gone.
Oh, some of the negative immortal interaction - but most, if not all, of that is gone now.

[MeTekillot]

I remember coming to the game for the first time in ~2005. I was so daunted by the dizzying amount of application stuff and documentation that I quit in the middle of my apparently.

When I finally came back in 2009, I registered on the GDB and didn't post for approximately two weeks because the boards seemed a little cliquey and mean-spirited. It's less like that today, but if someone doesn't know who is trolling and who is sincere they could easily draw the same conclusion.

[Barsook]

So that's where the meanness came from!  It's cool though.

[PriestlySiren]

Well, since I'm a few weeks new... it's actually other new characters.

[musashi]

Well, since I'm a few weeks new... it's actually other new characters.

lol 

[PriestlySiren]

Did I just win this thread then....?

[Lutagar]

What almost turned you off the game WHEN YOU WERE NEW

Fug I died again :DDD

[Agent_137]

What almost turned you off the game WHEN YOU WERE NEW

A decade ago today, I spent hours reading docs and writing up the character's background, desc, and sdesc. Submitted my application and went to bed.

The next day, I spent hours trying to figure out how to navigate Luirs and wasting money on the wrong gear. Luckily, a dusty lady traveler named Olin guided my character to Tuluk. There I quit for the night.

The day after, my character went out to explore the forest, made a friend, did a little useless tracking, and then a vicious tembo arrived. The end.


...Took me 2 years to forget what a pain in the ass this game was.

[Kassindra]

My story is very similar to LauraMars'. I started mudding in '04 at some game called Valheru but I always researched other muds after I wanted something more. Eventually found SoI to learn about rp and I saw Armageddon but after reading the site, I thought it was some crazy mud lol but I eventually made an account, created a character, logged in and saw no color! Omg!! Lol anyway, I ended up in AoD after some people saw me and everyone asking if I worked for anyone. I didnt stick with the game for long though.. Learning curve, lack of color and that feeling of being totally lost deterred me, so I didnt log in, even forgot the mud until a rl year later or so later, it popped up and I wasn't feeling SoI anymore so I decided to try Arm again.

I came back, stuck in a few days but died in the gaj because a superior said to brawl and me not knowing the "hit" command, used kill and died but I was determined by then to come back and keep trying. I met Cutthroat and was scooped up, taught things, had a blast and I'm still here.

Thanks Cutthroat!!

[Cutthroat]

Thanks Cutthroat!!

I can't really remember anything that repelled me from the game at first. My mudding experience went from H&S muds, to IRE muds, to RPIs. So Arm was basically the game I was looking for. I think the learning curve was a bit steep, but that's okay. I felt compelled to try and play sneaky criminal types because that was the kind of character I like to play in RPGs, but found it difficult in Arm as a newbie. It was when I started settling for other roles a few months into the game that I became drawn into it more and more.

[greasygemo]

The next day, I spent hours trying to figure out how to navigate Luirs and wasting money on the wrong gear. Luckily, a dusty lady traveler named Olin guided my character to Tuluk. There I quit for the night.

Ohhhhmygod Luirs exploded my brain when I first went there. I went in a neat circle for like, two hours at least before I figured out how to get back to the gate -_-'

[Zoan]

I didn't have a single bad moment when I was a newbie. I picked this game up right out the gate and swung as hard as I took. It was later on, actually, when I became a bit more savvy and opinionated, that I began to resent things.

[Lizzie]

A particular situation of favoritism with a particular staff member and a very limited number of players. One of the players used to boast about it to me in IM (she was one of the people I'd known from other games we both played), and the staff member started telling me of the fun things he would do for players in IM, when his PC was my character's clan boss.

It sounded like a lot of fun to be one of the privileged few, but at the same time it pissed me off because I wasn't one of them - and neither were most people in the game. And because of this one situation, a lot of people were getting the shaft, while the favored few were getting all kinds of perks (promotions, special considerations, their enemies getting the beat-down, plotlines created for their personal entertainment, objects created for them, etc. etc.).

Thankfully, neither player nor staff member are in Arm anymore - it's been several years since that unfortunate situation, and I feel the staff has done a great job at policing itself in this regard.

[Barsook]

The next day, I spent hours trying to figure out how to navigate Luirs and wasting money on the wrong gear. Luckily, a dusty lady traveler named Olin guided my character to Tuluk. There I quit for the night.

Ohhhhmygod Luirs exploded my brain when I first went there. I went in a neat circle for like, two hours at least before I figured out how to get back to the gate -_-'

+1

[valeria]

After a grueling four days of reading documentation and posing some questions to helpers and reading Mansa's newbie guide, I finally had the gumption to make a character.  She was boring because I didn't know what to put in a background, I accidentally joined a clan with no one active in it.  So, I stored that character after a while, and made a new character in a new location and decided that I'd have to make sure the clan was active before I joined it.

So really, what turned me off was joining a clan with no one active in it.  I felt like I should roll with the first person who offered to hire me.  I've since learned to be more discerning.

[evil_erdlu]

Burglars... Definitely burglars.

It's not that I'd mind a lot if it was once in a while thing. But when there's a new burglar in town and Tek forbid, if it is off-peak, you simply cannot use apartments. You'll get stolen from again and again and again and sooner or later, there's going to be nothing left in your apartment. You can't have any protection against burglary if you're off-peak. You don't have templar contacts and even if you did, templars would be able to do nothing against an off-peak burglar because y'know.. We do not have off-peak templars and militia. There is simply nothing to do to avoid it.

[Kalai]

My attempts to draw maps didn't work out because I didn't realize city interiors were different from city exteriors. Frustrated me greatly - all that lost graph paper.

[Refugee]

Burglars... Definitely burglars.

I rescind my earlier statement.  Burglars were infuriating and I couldn't understand why nobody wanted me to kill them, or would help me kill them (yeah it was Tuluk).  It seemed impossible to have anything nice and unfair to be forced to put up with it, and it didn't make any sense to me.  I do remember almost throwing in the towel over this.

[Sanvean]

I started playing in 92? 93? Thereabouts. I'd been working with a MUD called Dark Castle as an Implementor and one of the other imps started logging in but going idle for long periods of time. Finally he mentioned he was playing Arm. So Arm was a huge change for me, coming from a Diku with no permadeath or roleplay.

My first character was a halfling (no karma or special roles back then) who ran into Tuluk, scampered around for a bit, then came out and got killed by a copper-skinned dwarf.

Early on, my second character got thrown in the Allanak jail by a staff-inhabited templar and ended up spending two or three RL weeks in jail. I'd log on, emote rats running over my feet for a while, try to contact people over the way, talk to myself, etc., until finally the staff member was around, freed me, and I ran off to Tuluk to die immediately.

The Saturday downtimes were a big turn-off, particularly because people would brag about them. I don't think there was any discussion board when I started playing, although some folks chatted (somewhat illicitly) on the ISCA BBS.

Feeling like there were secret cliques of players that the staff catered to was more than a suspicion then -- they were very overt about it, and you could tell staff characters pretty easily, because the equipment back then was much more limited and they were the only ones with special items. That is one thing that I think Armageddon has really changed, although I'd be the first to admit there have been plenty of hiccups and staff members that had to be reined in over the years. Many of my management skills were fine-tuned on Armageddon, including how to nicely but firmly fire a volunteer.