Overwhelmed

[Daar]

Hello there.
I stepped into the world of armageddon, a couple of hours ago.
im in the gladiator and gaj tavern at the moment.
yesterday a few people came into the tavern when i was drinking some whisky at the bar.
the roleplay. the acting of everyone made me feel, like i was really there. no visual rpg could ever do that, so im actually really impressed.
my reason to join an rp enforced mud, was because of all the visual games carrying "rpg" in their names but none of them, are rpgs at all.
first of all the players. they just dont rp
well. i digress.

to be honest... i have a problem.
its the speed.
i read through the website. testing commands in an empty rooms (sorry if that disturbs the RP. but its kinda difficult sometimes)
however.
when the people were talking at the bar i had to read really fast, since they said and did things like every 3 seconds.
i could barely involve myself, because everytime i wrote something (and i need some time since i have to think about the commands and sometimes do mistakes)
they have been 3 sentences further and i had to delete what i've just written and hurry up reading the next 6 lines they were writing.
so i was just able to cough and apologize.
i couldnt really participate, the way i wanted to.

any advise ?

[thatkid]

I've played a bunch of different RPIs, and I think it's just a fact of life that when there is a large number of player characters in a single room, things get really hard to follow. It's almost inconducive to roleplay.
My advise, and what I do, is this: In those situations, focus on one character as much as possible. When possible, try to find smaller groups to interact with.

And, finally, consider how it might be from your character's perspective. There was a lot of stuff going on, and you were in the gaj. If someone said something to you, and it scrolled past before you could read it, maybe it's too noisy and you couldn't hear it. If multiple people are talking to you at once, maybe you can't keep track of them all.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

That happens to all of us. I pride myself on being a speedy reader, but I'm not a speedy typist - sometimes you just can't keep up.

If things are going too fast for you, I would suggest this - respond to what's important to your character. You don't have to respond to everybody's messages at once, or in some cases, at all. A tavern, or a group of people, as it is in real life, can be hard to follow in conversation. Pick out what means the most to your character and run with that.

When starting out, your best friends in terms of communication are talk, if you are seated at a table and the person you are talking to is seated with you, or say. Without command emotes.
say Alright, I get it.
talk If you want, sure.

And stick to simple emotes and socials if you need to keep up.
nod
shrug
shake
emotes scowls
emote winces

Don't try to be fancy. It takes a bit to get used to the speed.

Really glad you're here. Hang in there.

[JustAnotherGuy]

It will honestly just take practice.  If you're sitting a table/bar, you will see when someone speaks at the same table.  That can help a lot when having to watch chatter. 

If you're talking to someone and the text scroll is getting overwhelming, ask the person to go into a different room.  I like to move things to the Food Pits if your in the Gladiator and the Gaj which is a room one south of the main tavern. 

Utilizing the TALK command while at a table/bar is usually best, it can take some people a bit to get used to.  TELL <target> is another one that is useful as it will help identify when talking to someone.

I recommend reading the TALK, TELL, & SAY help files as they can give you some good information.  Otherwise, practice and getting used to it will be the best.  I try to ignore anything that is being said at other tables while in a bar, you'll get used to what isn't being said at your table and not, unless you're trying to listen in on all the conversations.

[FantasyWriter]

Good advice here.
Armageddon was my first MUD, and I started playing about seven years ago.
It probably took a good month for me to "get the hang" of most of the commands, but as was stayed above, start small with Say, tell (to target a specific person), and talk.
Use simple emotes next, then worry about adding in extra targets and such.  No one will look down on brevity here.

Good luck and have fun!!! We have a great gameworld to play in and a great community of dedicated players and staff.

[Daar]

Thanks. thats helping a lot.
i have another problem btw
i have a family with 4 kids and wife. and sometimes i have to leave my computer suddeny.
im affraid of using the OOC command too often. its destroying atmosphere.
so what'd be your advice in that case ?

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Use the gone command.

See 'help gone'.

I don't suggest you try that in the middle of a fight, but push come to shove and you really need a couple of moments, whip the gone command out and go. We're all understanding of those sorts of issues.

I'd actually avoid the ooc command unless you need to explain something. The gone command does just fine.

[senseofeven]

Just watch the mayhem unfold!

[valeria]

Welcome!  Testing commands in an empty room is a really good idea, especially when it comes to figuring out emote symbols.  And my honest advice would be, don't worry if you're lagging a few lines behind other people.  While it might look like conversation progresses in a linear fashion (because hey, that's how it's scrolling on your screen), I seriously doubt anyone will call you out for responding to something Amos said six seconds ago instead of right this second.  This happens really frequently, in bars especially.

A couple of things will happen if you stick around.  You'll get much better at skimming over text that isn't relevant to your character, and your reading speed will improve simply because you're practicing reading so much.

As far as your family goes, don't be afraid to use the "gone" or "quit ooc" commands if something comes up and you need to leave the keyboard or log out right now.  Almost all the players here double as people in real life, and understand that kind of thing.

[slvrmoontiger]

Welcome to Arm!

It does get quite busy at times. I agree keep it simple when it is busy. Also, you could use the excuse that you were just daydreaming if you don't hear someone. And if your character was drinking heck he might be drunk. Its okay to do your own thing that would rp that he's drunk like silly things that drunk people do. This could get you some attention and be fun for yourself and all that are involved.

I noticed that your posts don't have a lot of capitalization and are missing punctuation. These things are really key when playing on Armageddon, so I'm just hoping that it was your posts and not your actually rping that is like that. Again if you are used to hack & slash muds all the time people RARELY use punctuation so this is another thing that might take a little time to get used to.

I hope you get learning, use the helper chat when you are stuck on commands and the like, they are really good and quite helpful. Even being a player that has been playing on and off since the 90's I still use the helper chats and they have always been friendly and helpful.

Take your time, but most importantly strive to have fun.

[Daar]

Thanks.
For  capitalization punctuation, I believe i need  some practice.
You might have noticed, that English isnt my maintounge, so its probably just a matter of time.
Your advice have been very helpful.  

[Drayab]

For when you've really, really got to go. I can empathize, trying to play a very involving game like this with family around.

quit ooc <reason>

[Saellyn]

Hello there.
I stepped into the world of armageddon, a couple of hours ago.
im in the gladiator and gaj tavern at the moment.
yesterday a few people came into the tavern when i was drinking some whisky at the bar.
the roleplay. the acting of everyone made me feel, like i was really there. no visual rpg could ever do that, so im actually really impressed.
my reason to join an rp enforced mud, was because of all the visual games carrying "rpg" in their names but none of them, are rpgs at all.
first of all the players. they just dont rp
well. i digress.

to be honest... i have a problem.
its the speed.
i read through the website. testing commands in an empty rooms (sorry if that disturbs the RP. but its kinda difficult sometimes)
however.
when the people were talking at the bar i had to read really fast, since they said and did things like every 3 seconds.
i could barely involve myself, because everytime i wrote something (and i need some time since i have to think about the commands and sometimes do mistakes)
they have been 3 sentences further and i had to delete what i've just written and hurry up reading the next 6 lines they were writing.
so i was just able to cough and apologize.
i couldnt really participate, the way i wanted to.

any advise ?

Nobody will shit on you if you "emote nods, slowly" or even Icly go talk (placing a finger to his brow) Let me just think for a second...

If you need people to slow down, there are IC ways to perform such and I think that in many instances if anyone starts to notice you're becoming overwhelmed and lagging behind, they'll probably ease up a bit. Personally, it's games like this that seriously increased my ability to speed read and whip through lines relatively quickly, because I came from an RPI where things were a lot slower paced. Armageddon is VERY fast paced, and requires a lot of effort to learn. Once you learn it, it's an incredible experience to be able to keep up with everybody. Just stick with it, you'll be fine.

[Refugee]

Somehow, over time, your eyes get trained to pick out what you need to see in a conversation or a battle.  It's pretty miraculous.  They must be scanning everything, and then your brain somehow sorts it and just feeds what you need to your consciousness.

Welcome, and hang in there!

[Barzalene]

It just gets easier .

[RogueGunslinger]

It just gets easier .

This is the truth. Stick with it and it will be easier.

[Darrell]

I have a similar problem. I am faster at following the action, but  a poor typist despite having been a software engineer and managing three discussion lists. My grammar and spelling is fine, but in trying to join the fun in a busy environment, my typing degrades quickly. Add to that my equipment--an iPad with virtual keyboard and autocorrect--and I often submit speech text that is was beneath what I am capable of.

I am working on slowing down and proofing. I have, however, found that my ability to follow a busy scene has improved with play.

[Ourla]

Nothing will ever improve your typing skills like playing text-based games.  Trust me on this.  I don't use home row, but within a year of starting MUDs as a kid, I was up to 85+wpm. 

[Iiyola]

Thanks.
For  capitalization punctuation, I believe i need  some practice.
You might have noticed, that English isnt my maintounge, so its probably just a matter of time.
Your advice have been very helpful. 

Been there, done that. English isn't my first language either.

What also really helped me was the 'brief' command (see help: brief) so that you don't have a wall of text of the room description (brief room). If you're still curious to the desc, just type: Look room.

Then there's also the same option for combat cause that's REALLY going fast when you're a newb.

[Sakra]

Nothing will ever improve your typing skills like playing text-based games.  Trust me on this. 

[The Lonely Hunter]

I'm with Ourla. MUDing will help your WPM big time, and pretty fast. Before you know it, you will be throwing out emotes and your keyboard will be smoking.

Stick in there, I promise that it will pay off!

Welcome to Armageddon.

[Classclown]

I have MUSHclient and it's set up so that  everything in quotes gets highlighted, ways get highlighted a different color, same with whispers, which makes it easier for me to follow conversations.