What almost turned you off the game WHEN YOU WERE NEW

[Fredd]

The realization the everything I want to try requires three karma and/or a special application, and later the realization that it takes forever to get karma and reading about how easy it is to lose it... Experience is quickly teaching me why these things require special consideration.

This was me too.  I REALLY REALLY wanted to play a magicker when I started this game, and was sad when my first two characters didn't get me any karma.  My third got me two points, though, and my magicker character was everything I'd hoped it could be and more.  Stick with it!

Though I will add that it's actually not easy to lose karma.  Barring truly egregious violations of the rules, you'll always get a warning from staff before they start yanking points.

Yep, i joined this game specifically for the magick system. And was not disapointed when I finally got to play my Rukkian's. But once you finally get to sit and play what you want to play, you will quickly realize why you needed to wait so long.

[RogueGunslinger]

My first 'gicker, too, was a lot of fun. Why not just special app one? If you do well they might give you the karma for the role to use later. Waiting for karma to play something you could be playing now, through a  special application, seems silly to me.


I always seem to be using my special applications up on something. I've had more accepted than not by far. Just don't try to get to wild with it. Keep it simple. "Why is this a special application?"   "Because I don't have the karma to prove I can play it well otherwise."

[Fujikoma]

Oh, I don't feel I'm ready to play a gicker, although that would be fun, but I'd like to wait and maybe play a *censored*. My more immediate interests are to try mundane guild/extended subguild combos, particularly (4 karma, out of range) *censored*, if that's even allowed.

Also, I don't have the patience to wait. I just don't have it. Alas.

[RogueGunslinger]

Stick with 3 karma range.

[PriestlySiren]

Oh, I don't feel I'm ready to play a gicker, although that would be fun, but I'd like to wait and maybe play a *censored*. My more immediate interests are to try mundane guild/extended subguild combos, particularly (4 karma, out of range) *censored*, if that's even allowed.

Also, I don't have the patience to wait. I just don't have it. Alas.

I have always tended towards mundanes entirely. Having RP roles and higher ranking classes is... well, a lot of pressure and obligation. If I don't think I can contribute enough to the role, I won't play it.

[Adhira]

As an FYI for new folks that are thinking of special apping for magickers etc.  If you have never played a magicker (ie water or stone) and ask to play a 4 karma + magicker we will ask you to try out one of the others first.  There's a reason that they are at different karma levels and we prefer people get their feet wet with the 2 karma roles first.

[Agent_137]

As an FYI for new folks that are thinking of special apping for magickers etc.  If you have never played a magicker (ie water or stone) and ask to play a 4 karma + magicker we will ask you to try out one of the others first.  There's a reason that they are at different karma levels and we prefer people get their feet wet with the 2 karma roles first.

feet, wet, 2 karma. haha.

speaking from personal experience, i concur. Any level magicker will ruin the mystery of magick equally, and historically it's pretty easy to get an app 1-2 karma above your level as long as it's well thought out.

[Fathi]

I wouldn't quite say "turned off" but when I was new I was extremely frustrated by the lack of available maps of the cities. It frustrated me to no end that the old helpfile maps didn't have important things on them like certain water sellers, the jails, and apartment complexes. Our new maps are so much better! I think it was Rhyden who made them, wasn't it? Thanks Rhyden if it was you!

It annoyed me because I found it easy to roleplay certain aspects of ignorance of the world, but not knowing where basic stuff was located really stretched my suspension of disbelief.

I also really hated a few memorable incidents where people abused the quit command to avoid consequences and stuff, but I took a chill pill when staff assured me that wasn't a common or tolerated pattern of behaviour.

[Kismetic]

quit ooc fathi was gonna kill me!

[spicemustflow]

As an FYI for new folks that are thinking of special apping for magickers etc.  If you have never played a magicker (ie water or stone) and ask to play a 4 karma + magicker we will ask you to try out one of the others first.  There's a reason that they are at different karma levels and we prefer people get their feet wet with the 2 karma roles first.

I hope by 4+ you meant to say >4, not >=4. I never played a mage and have zero interest in any of them apart drovian and nilazi. They're both within my spec app reach and i'm in fact thinking of trying for a drovian. It would suck major balls if I were to be rejected because I never played karma 2 options, both of which I'll probably never play.

[Barzalene]

As an FYI for new folks that are thinking of special apping for magickers etc.  If you have never played a magicker (ie water or stone) and ask to play a 4 karma + magicker we will ask you to try out one of the others first.  There's a reason that they are at different karma levels and we prefer people get their feet wet with the 2 karma roles first.

I hope by 4+ you meant to say >4, not >=4. I never played a mage and have zero interest in any of them apart drovian and nilazi. They're both within my spec app reach and i'm in fact thinking of trying for a drovian. It would suck major balls if I were to be rejected because I never played karma 2 options, both of which I'll probably never play.

I felt the same way. I realize it was a mistake. I should have started with something capable of magey interaction. Your mileage may vary.

[spicemustflow]

As an FYI for new folks that are thinking of special apping for magickers etc.  If you have never played a magicker (ie water or stone) and ask to play a 4 karma + magicker we will ask you to try out one of the others first.  There's a reason that they are at different karma levels and we prefer people get their feet wet with the 2 karma roles first.

I hope by 4+ you meant to say >4, not >=4. I never played a mage and have zero interest in any of them apart drovian and nilazi. They're both within my spec app reach and i'm in fact thinking of trying for a drovian. It would suck major balls if I were to be rejected because I never played karma 2 options, both of which I'll probably never play.

I felt the same way. I realize it was a mistake. I should have started with something capable of magey interaction. Your mileage may vary.

But drovians aren't as shunned as nilazis right? In the witch community anyway. As for the common populace, they shouldn't differentiate.

this reminds me of that time when I wanted to roll up a red fang, but staff made me roll a soh as it was my first delf. i didn't enjoy the soh, the whole time I was thinking about scars and frolicking with gith

[Nyr]

As an FYI for new folks that are thinking of special apping for magickers etc.  If you have never played a magicker (ie water or stone) and ask to play a 4 karma + magicker we will ask you to try out one of the others first.  There's a reason that they are at different karma levels and we prefer people get their feet wet with the 2 karma roles first.

I hope by 4+ you meant to say >4, not >=4. I never played a mage and have zero interest in any of them apart drovian and nilazi. They're both within my spec app reach and i'm in fact thinking of trying for a drovian. It would suck major balls if I were to be rejected because I never played karma 2 options, both of which I'll probably never play.

4+, I'm afraid.  We do want to see how you'd do with a traditionally less-powerful magicker (something that you haven't played yet but do have karma to play) before granting the possibility of more powerful magicker options (something that you also haven't played yet but do not have karma to play).  The same goes for your elven role you mention later on--playing an elf with actual structure, rules, and fairly straightforward documentation (as opposed to an elf with less structure, fewer rules, and more complicated documentation) is preferable to show us you know what to do when it comes to role restrictions.

[spicemustflow]

Nyr, from what I've read here higher karma doesn't necessarily mean more powerful, it can also mean "rarer". And drovians (if gdb can be trusted) are one of the least powerful magic guilds. In any case, wouldn't it be better to let the player try something they enjoy than half-assedly play something else in order to "graduate"? Failing a drovian would be much more interesting to me than rocking a rukkian.

I think this is a more or less apt analogy: an elven assassin in much, much harder to pull off than a human warrior, both in terms of code and rp, but no one is forced to play the warrior if they don't want to. (yeah, i know that in this case karma level is the same, but still. an elf assassin played by a newb isn't going to last)

[Bogre]

As an FYI for new folks that are thinking of special apping for magickers etc.  If you have never played a magicker (ie water or stone) and ask to play a 4 karma + magicker we will ask you to try out one of the others first.  There's a reason that they are at different karma levels and we prefer people get their feet wet with the 2 karma roles first.

I hope by 4+ you meant to say >4, not >=4. I never played a mage and have zero interest in any of them apart drovian and nilazi. They're both within my spec app reach and i'm in fact thinking of trying for a drovian. It would suck major balls if I were to be rejected because I never played karma 2 options, both of which I'll probably never play.

I think a big part of this is that anything beyond Ruks/Vivs are not user friendly classes to play to someone completely new to magickers.

[Marauder Moe]

I assume you can still play them by earning karma the old fashioned way, though.

[spicemustflow]

I assume you can still play them by earning karma the old fashioned way, though.

I think so. Still...

As for being user friendly, I think that's up to player to decide. See my comparison between h. warrior and e. assassin. If I want to spend my spec app slot on something that will probably get killed fast, why not let me? Again, I think I'll have more fun with a short lived drov than anything from lvl2.

sorry about the derail, btw

[Morrolan]

I think a big part of this is that anything beyond Ruks/Vivs are not user friendly classes to play to someone completely new to magickers.

In my opinion, even ruks and vivs aren't user-friendly. It will probably take many players a few runs before they start to a) get the hang of the coded parts, and b) get beyond the coded parts and back to the roleplay that brought them there in the first place.

[chrisdcoulombe]

I never played a mud before Arm, around 2007 I gave it my first go because it came highly recommended from a friend.  Being unfamiliar with command lines, clients and the syntax it was very confusing.  I was familiar with RP though because I played dnd.  I felt lost without having someway of keeping which way I went or in other words without having a map.  I played two characters and quit for two years after dying of starvation twice.  If some clan would have picked me up and showed me the ropes I may have stayed.  In may of 2010 I tried again on a new account cause I lost all the info.  I got some help with learning the syntax and from there learned the rest.  I really enjoy the  permanent death and persistent world.

[Barsook]

^ Same here.  ArmMUD was the first MUD that I have played, in 2008 I think and started up again in 2010.

[Rhyden]

Our new maps are so much better! I think it was Rhyden who made them, wasn't it? Thanks Rhyden if it was you!

No problem.

I created the Tuluki one and a few others with my Negean noble in '06. It may or may not be still floating around somewhere in game. The Allanaki one was much easier to make for some reason, but I didn't make it until years later.

You'll never see one of the wilderness though. Part of the outside world's charm is how mysterious and daunting it is, especially for newbies.

[Kismetic]

I found out that Arm was the best MUD on the planet of Earth, but originally, there appeared to be a lot of cliquish and elitist behaviour that was visible on the surface, and it turned me off.  It took me forever to realize it didn't detract from the game, at all.  The GDB is a double-edged sword.  I have four thousand posts because I thought it was often funny, or somehow engaging.  It can give a false impression to a new player, I think, that doesn't understand our inside jokes, or tendency to take arguments either with patent nonchalance, or to new extremes of Serious and Butthurt, with little left in the middle.  I'm guilty of it, too, but perhaps we could all handle the IG related boards with kid gloves in the future, limiting arguments to their designated places, and leaving the rest to be informative (or any way you like it, in the Non-Arm threads).

[RogueGunslinger]

Hmmm. Maybe desert-elves should get a map of the Tablelands. Can't count how many have died to "fell down hole#234"

Or stepped outside their camp only to fall off a massive cliff.


Or wandered too close to Gith territory.


Or found the land around them getting grassy until mantis-head via mantis head...


Maybe just a "things and places to avoid". Part to clan documentation. I did have fun mapping everything out with my first delf, lots of very close calls.

[lordcooper]

A crippling sense of inferiority when it comes to roleplay.

[Barzalene]

A crippling sense of inferiority when it comes to roleplay.

Still.