Newbie questions?

[*Splork*]

We need a list of questions that you hear newbies asking all the time?

Think back to when you first logged into sloth or when you try a new mud, what are the questions you ask the most and need answered?

Please post the questions, regardless of how unimportant or silly some of them may seem because those are usually the ones that are asked the most.

Splork

[Shyla]

The first thing I hear all the time is okie what do I do here?
to which point i tell them to go up and enter the portal read all signs and plaques and do everything it tells you to do in the school.

after they finish the school I am often asked okie what do I kill?

they also often ask how they level up....where the guilds are....and how they learn their skills..

I wish there was some way the program could make them auto prac and prac unlearned so they can see what they haven't fully learned and what they haven't learned that they can learn.


SHYLA

[Tap]

I used to hear alot of questions regarding pthieving,pkilling and clans...
also, what the hell is a Splork comes to mind

[Thraxas]

Most newbie questions should be answered by the newbie school, but it seems to me that hardly any new players go through and read all the signs, many muds seems to enforce a trip round their newbie school and give rewards for each stage of the completion ... nothing major just some newbie equipment and maybe some coins.

When I first started playing sloth many years ago as an experienced mudder I took some time to understand that current CON affected maxhp not the CON you had at the time you levelled ... this led to me scouring the mud for +con eq before I took any levels past getting stats.

T

[Thraxas]

top query from newbies does seem to be what do I kill? I suppose it'd be helpful if there was a newbie board listing areas for new players with directions ... no wait there is (or at least used to be) in VK inn ... I read it on about day 2, then died horribly and repeatedly taking its advice.

T

[Vixn]

Recently I've been asked why someone's spell is at 50 mana if help file says min mana for the spell is 20. Also ppl often ask how they can improve percentage of learning spells/skills because they don't get that 95% (85%) is enough.


Kida

[*juggleblood*]

[quote="shyla":s1m5cl6x]The first thing I hear all the time is okie what do I do here?
to which point i tell them to go up and enter the portal read all signs and plaques and do everything it tells you to do in the school.

after they finish the school I am often asked okie what do I kill?

they also often ask how they level up....where the guilds are....and how they learn their skills..

I wish there was some way the program could make them auto prac and prac unlearned so they can see what they haven't fully learned and what they haven't learned that they can learn.


SHYLA[/quote:s1m5cl6x]

Yup.

I like the new message someone added. I forget what it is exactly, but something to the effect of, 'this is a game where you kill things and earn levels.' Very direct and to the point.

I like Shyla's idea too. Wouldn't be hard to to issue a forced practice command at some point. Not sure exactly where tho, don't want to overwhelm them right when they enter.

[Clink]

Any common newbie questions around mechanics of where to get food and other supplies?

[Thraxas]

[quote="Clink":3gxs00lc]Any common newbie questions around mechanics of where to get food and other supplies?[/quote:3gxs00lc]

I think any experienced mudder will understand food and drink and be able to transfer learning from their previous muds, if the new player isn't an experienced mudder (I've come across a couple arriving over the years but not that many) then theres the more fundamental question "So how do I play this game then?" perhaps an option on the create char menu could point at a short intro to muds /faqs optional script.

Something I often have to tell new players is where to find their map >>> rem sack/pack/cape;get map sack/pack/cape;read map

1st death is frustrating to any player particularly here as it takes so long ... perhaps this would be an opportune time to force some instructions/tips (no more than one page) in front of a new player and perhaps give them a bonus temp item to make the death easier to bear e.g. on 1st death you return with a temp holy sword or 10000 coins.

T

[Thraxas]

common newbie question:

"Is role playing enforced here?"

bah I hate role players

T

[*juggleblood*]

The noobs are given a bunch of food in the beginning. So once they figure out how to get into their inventory / sack that issue works itself out. Sometimes they don't realize they have an inventory right away tho and have to be told how to see their inventory, how to look in their pack, how to get the primer out, how to read primer...

[Thraxas]

As a suggestion: Give the primer some decent stats and max level 8 restrcited so its not the first item dropped by newbies. Also give it a desc like 'read me' and then review the contents of it to give a series of bullet point helpful statements that guide the noob in common questions. e.g.

What is a newbie primer: This primer as well as containing these helpful notes can be equipped as +4Dex -3ac body armor (best in game) but can only be used upto level 8, it also has the ability to teleport you to the newbie school, see below.
Is this a roleplay mud: No
Is pkilling allowed: No
Where can I find food and drink: In your starter pack (l in pack, get food pack, eat food)
Why do I get drunk when I drink my waterskin: No idea ... perhaps the imms are evil
What happens when I die: your corpse lies where you died you return to the recall point with 1hp 1ma see help dead for more info
Can I quit anywhere: No you must rent at an inn
Where are the recall points: There is one recall point per continent, these are shown on town maps sold in map shop
Is there a new player guide: Yes help newbie ot go to http://www.slothmud.org/etc.
Can I talk to other players: Yes using newbie gossip say and tell commands
What should I kill: see http://www.slothmud.org/newbiekillareas for a guide
Does this mud have deathtraps: Deathtraps that kill you and wipe your equipment No, however some rooms do have harmful effects / procs
Who is Splork: good question wish I knew
Are there area maps anywhere: yes see http:// etc
Is there a newbie school: yes type help newbieschool for instructions and a free teleport to the school entrance (only works while you have the primer in your inv or equipped)

Even this is probably too much to put on the primer but would give a quick start to a player ... also would be good to see primers sold in shops in case a newbie loses theirs.

T

[Thraxas]

slightly off the wall but some of us must know people who don't play sloth, why not invite them to come play for a few hours and ask them for feedback afterwards. Invite some WOW players over perhaps? It'd need to be by invite rather than broadcast invite so we're not accused of poaching players.
Maybe even (god forbid) a newbie feedback form either in game or on slothmud?

T

[firebrand]

the problem with that idea, thraxas, is that your graphics gamers are usually not willing to take a step back and go from that back to basic text. it's a losing battle. hell, i switched to playing lord of the rings online (aka lotro) nearly 2 years ago....and i tried coming back here to play a few times. it's not home anymore. this is not the sloth i grew to know and love over the past 13 years i have played here...from s2 to the current s4 [which jake said would NEVER happen, but thanks to one of my suggestions while still an imm, this place has been set on its ear. yes, you can thank/hate me for suggesting additional classes as snapins]

it's two-dimensional, dull, boring and annoying as **** to have bottlenecking on a mob that has a rare but very, very desirable drop (i.e. primo eq or the latest and greatest sb.....don't get me started again on the concept that it is IMPOSSIBLE to teach effectively teach combat by reading a book in real life but apparently books are the only way to get fully learned on skills. if that's changed since i left, ignore that.).

it's also counterproductive to have exps or lev loss and to have to have a group to go cr your corpse and have mobs steal your eq while you're trying to get back there because you have to have hard-to-find keys, keywords, trig traps and massive mobs that require groups to regen between kills just to get back to your now-looted corpse. why do we want to come back to that when in our other games we die, get sent to a rezz circle, heal up, travel back to where we were and continue forward.

also, i like SEEING my character and eq and surroundings..... in fact, with the runs to things being so frelling convoluted, most players turn brief on to reduce the spam when running from point a to point b, making all the hundreds of hours that go into writing room descs for an area almost wasted.

all the changes made to sloth have only kept people here by habit. people come here to see who is going to have the next public meltdown on the gossip channels or here on the crier. is this what you really want new players to see? you want us to vote for sloth on tmc. we do and improve our ranking. the first thing all those incomers from tmc see is this website. so the prospective players come here to see what we are like, read our bickering on the crier and assume they are going to see the same ingame and move on rather than discover the diamond-in-the-rough that sloth is. pity.

we used to be a close family. we used to argue for a few minutes and then someone would shout CHOP! CHOP! and all the lymers got a chance to go run and kill each other and a few mobs on the way. now, even newborns can go to lyme.....why? why can't we still have a place where the elite can escape the newborns? why should we be FORCED to group when there are some of us who much prefer soloing because we don't have to share exps, gold, items, or time (or, we have only odd hours that we can log in and those are the times when not enough people are on to group.) we can afk as much as we wish and not have an entire group waiting on one person to finish taking a shit, a smoke break, food break, or burping the baby.

yeah....i'm not too keen on the baby excuse anymore....especially when that baby should be about 3 years old now. give me a break, hun. there are TWO parents there. it doesn't take both parents 10 minutes to change a dirty diaper. and while i'm on THAT rant...the kid should be off the ******* bottle and wearing training pants, not diapers. but again, i digress.

don't get me wrong. i'm not advertising for lotro, nor am i trying to drive people away from sloth. sloth has been here for many, many years but i am wondering how you can honestly expect to win gamers from graphics. it's like giving me a 6-inch deep kiddie pool in my backyard while everyone else gets to go to the local water amusement park. okay...so i cannot find a good analogy but you get the idea. long story short: figure out how to compete with the graphics world. you currently have only two selling points as i see them: nostalgia and it's free to the players. {jake and other imms/admin are paying for this game out of their personal pockets.}



"everything i've done, i've done for you. i move the stars for no one." - jareth --> labyrinth

[Tap]

I gotta agree with FB here.. as a recent addict to W_ _ _ _ d of W_ _ _ _ _ _ _, I don't even see me going back to a "text" game. I'll prob just keep in touch and make a post from time to time but text-games imo are rapidly dying. With the price of fast internet dropping and some amazing games being dirt cheap now, its the "new" fad.... but like all things, I imagine 10-15 years down the road MMORPG's will be rapidly dying for the "new" genre.
It's electronic evolution.

btw, Toxis is a prick.