rules / short manual for new accounts

[Dariya]

Aus gegebenem Anlass möchte ich hier weniger einen Vorschlag als eine Bitte vorbringen:

immer wieder stelle ich fest, dass neue Spieler, die gerade ins Spiel 'gestolpert' sind, keinen blassen Dunst haben wie und wo anzufangen.
Oft wissen sie weder zu laufen, zu emoten, stehen völlig hilflos in der Bibliothek und verlieren so auch schnell wieder die Lust am Spiel.

Mein Vorschlag bzw. meine Bitte:
mir ist klar, dass kaum jemand weder das Regelwerk noch das Manual liest/gelesen hat.

Um neuen Spielern eine Idee zu geben wo sie sind und wie sie erst einmal anfangen können, bitte ich darum, dass bei Erstellung eines neuen Accounts der Spieler 1. die Regeln und 2. ein Kurzmanual lesen muss (sei es in Form eines Pop-Ups, was allerdings durch weit verbreitete Blocker etwas unglücklich ist, oder durch Weiterleitung auf eine Seite mit Regelwerk und Kurzmanual), bevor ein Char erstellt werden kann.

Ich helfe ingame jederzeit gern mit den ersten Schritten, verweise aber auch immer wieder auf das Manual, Forum und die Illapedia.
Vielleicht sollten die Links zum Forum und zur Illapedia bei Accounterstellung noch einmal explizit genannt und hervorgehoben werden.

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On occasion of recent encounters I would like to post a polite request rather than a proposal:

again and again I recognise that new players who just 'stumbled' ingame don't have the slightest clue where and how to start.
Often they don't know how to walk, emote, are absolutely helpless standing in the library and thus pretty soon might lose the fun with the game.

My proposal respectively my request:
I am absolutely aware that hardly anyone read/reads neither the manual nor the rules.

In order to give new players an idea where they are and how to start I would love to see that players creating a new account simply would be forced to read 1. the rules and 2. a short introducing manual (either in form of a pop-up, which actually is not that good due to pop-up blockers, or being routed to another page with rules and short manual) before being able to create a char.

I surely have no problem to help new players ingame with the first steps, but I also tell everyone to read the forum, manual and the illapedia.
Maybe the links to the boards and the illapedia could be listed explicitely again when creating a new account.

[Estralis Seborian]

While Noobia, the newbie island, will teach the newbies how to walk, emote, use items,... the rules are not displayed and are hidden on the homepage. Those who remember the old client (0.4 build 25) might remember that back then, the rules were displayed before installing the client. The player had to confirm the rules, just like you confirma an EULA. OK, barely anybody reads an EULA, but for our short rules, chance is high people actually read them before playing. Also, after installation and before running the client the first time, a FAQ collection was displayed. I'd welcome to have something similar again.

[Pellandria]

Maybe not simply displaying it, because honestly this won't change anything at all, but making a short sheet of questions regarding the rules, this way they have to read the rules to writte down the solution.

[Dariya]

Estralis, you are right, but as I actually don't know how far Noobia is, I simply added the manual-proposal here

Maybe not simply displaying it, because honestly this won't change anything at all, but making a short sheet of questions regarding the rules, this way they have to read the rules to writte down the solution.

imo this would go too far again, would maybe rather discourage or 'scare off' new players

[Estralis Seborian]

Upon account creation or installing the client? We have one test before account creation, adding a 2nd test before installing does not sound promising in terms of encouraging players to check out the game.

What kind of multiple choice questions would you suggest?

[Avalyon el'Hattarr]

Nah, these only scare players away.. When someone finds a new game and is all excited about trying it, would be somewhat pissed off if he'll have to go trough a test and will go searching for another game..
But, how about if we use noobia for this? Make a building called OOC where a NPC tells the rules and asks random questions from them at the end?

[Juliana D'cheyne]

I am good with just displaying the rules. Most will at least glance through them, but would like to give an option to look at them again before going from newbie island to the game.

[Miklorius]

Although I suggest for all players to read the PDF manual (partly outdated?), with Noobia the basics will be taught ingame.

But with the rules, I would show them after the creation of the first character (per account) at the end of the creation, so a player at least see the rules, before he can play the game (maybe with a check box "I read and accept the rules").

Tests or questions for the rules are IMO too much effort.

[Estralis Seborian]

So, before one can do the test for character creation, the rules get displayed with a checkbox "I read and understood the rules"? Sounds like a perfect solution for me. Nitraaam! Do that .

[Djironnyma]

You mean a checkbox like "yeha i accept the licence..."

i think the mainpart of new players will simply ignore that, click the box without reading anything, it will only make the game for a newcomer more unattractive

[Llama]

Amazingly Silly Idea:

In the rules, hide an unpredictable (so can't be searched) statement which is a secret code (done randomly) which needs to be inputted into a box to accept.

This 'shows' that the user read the rules or at least skimmed through

[Kevin Lightdot]

Silly

You said it.

[Estralis Seborian]

Please, don't overdo it. I could not be bothered to solve such a puzzle, too. I postulate there are three kinds of players:

Those who give a damn about rulez, no matter where they are
Those who read the rules, the whole background board and Damiens diary before creating an account
Those who are interested in a game like Illarion but cannot be bothered to search for informations themselves

For the 1st and the 2nd, it is of no big importance whether the rules get displayed before account creation or not. Maybe the 1st get a bit annoyed and the 2nd say "Hey, nice!", but it is of no big difference. But the third group, who contain many casual gamers, might get motivated to actually read the rules they'd never have searched for themselves. And if they decide to read the rules later on, they at least know there are some!

One could add a rule test - but I am not in favour of the general idea in order not to scare off players. But feel free to discuss this, best of all, with sample questions.

[Pellandria]

Seriously, to think that any smll test could scare away any "valuable" player, is in my opinion pretty wrong, it just shows that this game is a little more serious and cares more for their players than other games.

We don't even need big questions like "What happend on the third day, of the 6 year in mas on the third day around midday", simple easy question where the solution is quiete fast to give and will automtcly teach the rules, something like"What do you answer, when someone first meets your char"
a)Yoyo homie, shizzle ma dissle whats'up?
b)Greetings.
c) Hi !

Now if someone would pick c he gets an message that your char should fit into a medieval World and words like "Hey" might only be used to address someone pretty rude like shouting at him.

Another thing might be: "How are you today"
a) Oh I'm just fine.
b) Man I'm really bad, my car is broken and my damm girlfriend gives me crap all the time.

Obviously teaching the players about OOC and Ig must be one of the mainpoints of any test, as technical issues and movement and all that are teached on noobia anyway, letting player answer sepecific OOC and IG questions will allow them to learn the difference much faster, than any player ig allready can do.


Scaring possible players away, who never read the rules, simply run around with crtl+ click, just want to kill monsters and will never ever learn to rp...well seriously we could care less about them or, those people normally make more work than they bring any fun, there is alot of wasted time explaining the simplest rules to newbies, which then never come back, maybe the whole system shouldn't be "You picked wrong, you fail" but "You picked wrong, here I tell you how it is done, now try again with a different question".

[Llama]

Pellandria might be onto something good

[Estralis Seborian]

You can check the account test here:

https://illarion.org/accountsystem/us_i ... mod=newacc

Enter any crap you want, as long as you don't hit "Create account" on the next page, no new account is created.

In case you find typos, report here:

http://illarion.org/mantis/view.php?id=47
http://illarion.org/mantis/view.php?id=46

The test is evaluated pretty simple, the "best" answer gives 3 points, the 2nd best answer 2 points, the 3rd best answer 1 point and the stupid answer zero points. So, if you make up questions, add 4 answers and assign the points. The current questions are rather general, if you want to add specific rule questions, you have to make them up . I doubt a question like "What is rule 7 about? - PKing, pwning noobs, wild emotions, h4x0r!!!" will help, though.

I still think it is a better idea "just" to display the rules instead of adding too specific questions that might hinder true roleplayers from joining. But this is the proposal board and if you want to propose something, I am the last one who will stop you just because of my very own opinion.

[Fianna Heneghan]

I get the sense that much of the current player base doesn't recollect what it was like to join Illa as a new player. I know for myself that I read the rules, manual and chronicles quite thoroughly and scanned the forums before logging in game. My experience nearly two years ago was that the manual and chronicles were completely outdated and the forum was too clubby and hostile to be of any real help. The books in the library were equally unhelpful and led to many moments of bitterness and frustration.

Much of the guides are very hostile and unwelcoming in their tones as well. I basically came away with the idea that I shouldn't try to roleplay with other characters after reading them - sort of "speak only when spoken to" sort of message is what I read between the lines. This was endorsed by the atmosphere in game as well. I experienced a great many players that refused to rp with me because I was new. I developed the sense that Illa players feel superior to new players and rarely lower themselves to roleplay with them.

I fumbled around and figured it out eventually, but it does seem like the instructions and the community carry a "For the Initiated Only" sort of an attitude. I think this, more than anything else is what makes new players frustrated with the game experience. I know it did for me.

Posting the rules would be fine, but the problem is bigger than newbies not knowing the rules. The manual needs to be actually useful and the guides need to be non-threatening. One more place that new players are warned that this is an intolerant, unwelcoming and mean community is a further detriment to the game, not an asset in my opinion.

[HeXiS]

i read the manual.. understood it fine.. only problems i had was once with a cow.. but i tend to poke around and learn pretty quick..

i found the supposed ((evil)) characters to be most helpfull in my times of need.. in any case i've helped run an rpg so i know how frustrating it can be to constantly get asked the same question over and over.. but i also know how rewarding it feels to help a new player learn to play a game.. and also to know as a new player that you can be accepted..

yes it means a new person to teach and possibly take a lil time away from your planned rp but that what playing a game is all about getting more people interested in playing it with you..

however when i was in the forums.. i did and occasionally still get treated as though my opinion isn't worth spit and i see a lot of bickering.. and useless posts.. it'd be refreshing to see these things fade a bit.. or have threads that seem to be going no where deleted.. people complain about the threads going off topic but then they keep arguing about how it's off topic when simply not replying is a much faster solution.. example is chris' post about email in the tech forum that should have ended in 4 posts now it's still growing mass of stupid... not chris' post but the fact that it's been answered and is still growing... cant we all try to get along.. bite our tungs swallow our pride..