When I started to play Illarion, I must have been 13 or 14. I was introduced to the game by a RL-friend, he taught me the rough basics: Don't treat your character as an avatar of yourself, give the char a different personality than your own, etc. Now, these things were kind of confusing for a 13YO, who thought he was going to play the game with said friend, while said friend's char had a different background-story that did not really work with mine, and as a result I had no fun playing the game at all. This is when my very first Illarion-char died (actually force-emote killed, but I was dumb and didn't know that I didn't have to accept it) and I lost interest in the game.
One year later, in 2010, I came back to the game and created Katharina. Now, what I had learned from my previous attempt was, that I needed a proper concept. I needed to give that char some depth and background, on which she could base her future decisions. And more importantly: She needed weaknesses. A char who has flaws, would be far more immersive than one that had to be the best at everything they did to stay believable. I can not say that I remember many details about who taught me what and how, when it came to my first days, but I created a new char not too long ago. I learned a lot from that, which I would like to share:
People gave me free stuff, when they heard that my char was new to their realm. Now, that is definitely a very nice gesture, and I am certain that it's meant well, but... It takes out the challenge from the game. I have fond memories of the moment Katharina was finally able to buy her own cauldron, before the VBU. She saved coins for that for quite a while, and it was an achievement to finally get it. I had played for months by that time, and she kept working towards that goal for most of that time. This time, I wanted to do something similar. I aimed to get my new char a wand and have it learn magic. It took me, and I am not exaggerating, 2 hours until somebody just gave my newbie-char a wand for free. For free. The first big achievement of my char; and they got it after two hours without doing anything for it. It did not feel like achieving something 'big', as it should have. It was just something that happened. The donator in question (no names) did not even RP with me. "You want to be a mage? Here you go buddy, have this wand for free, good luck." and off he was. Keep in mind that I already played 9 years when I did this, so I knew what I could do next. But now imagine it was an actual new player: You start the game with 10 silver coins, and the cheapest wand costs 3 gold coins from a vendor. That's huge. That's something to work towards. And then you get it for free. Without RP. It's a total letdown, and I admit that I actually lost the motivation to keep playing this char soon after due to that. I mean... I knew that it was not meant in a harmful way. I knew that the char/player in question just wanted to help a new player to get started. But rather than motivating me to continue playing, as was presumably intended, it instead robbed me of my motivation to play that char.
So here is my advice on how to help newer players (And also new characters of old players):
- Don't give them everything for free. You don't have to take vendor-prices, nor do you have to demand coins at all. But at least give them small tasks that allow them to explore the basics. Make them feel valuable by allowing them to help you.
- And even more importantly; RP with them! You can explain them things OOC (movement, when to write ooc, how to whisper, etc), but try to explain them basics IC rather than OOC, unless really necessary. If you notice that you are playing with a newer player, write some nice and detailed emotes. For example those that describe your char, their detailed actions (#me glances at him/her, smiling friendly. She tilts her head lightly, some hair falling over her forehead, as she asks:...) rather than (#me smiles. "Hello.") Just as an example.
- Show them that chars need their flaws, and that they can not always win, nor should they always try to be the victor of everything.