Talk:Newbie Experience

As discussed previously, the basic ideas are as follows:

1. Make the MUD more visible on sites such as mudconnector.com (if anyone knows other similar sites, please add them). My ideas: - Offer rewards for thoughtful reviews on mudconnector (I think qps will do just fine) - Coordinate a mud-wide voting (week?) to increase Addict's visibility on the site (also possible rewards for mortals, although tracking this would be hard/impossible). - I would be willing to conduct the "PR campaign", as Brazil called it, for this effort - BUT, before this happens, I propose we spruce up the "newbie experience"

Here's how (please add your ideas too):

- A "simulation" for new players. The idea is as follows. Most new players that connect to Addict already have experience with MUDs. They are looking for a new experience that somehow stands out from other what they have played before. Our newbie zone is all good and fine. But, in this day and age, newbie zones are really just a necessity for every MUD. We need to show players what Addict has to offer without relying on 1. Older players guiding them through the game and trying to explain it. 2. Showering them with EQ and leveling their characters in the hope that they stick around.

As one player pointed out to me, too much help can be just as bad as not enough help. Example: you help a newbie level his new warrior to 15, then graciously donate a set of Titan eq to him. He comes back one time, sees that leveling in the real world (ie mob museum, MAYBE addict academy) is not as easy as having a level 65 cleric follow you. He loses interest in the game.

Although I maintain the stance that pretty much all of our players are very welcoming and helpful to newbies, we need to make the complete newbie experience more independent of any interaction with current players.

Idea 1: Simulation. In short, a simulation experience for newbies that want to see what things look like on Addict when your characters are higher level. Specifics: Create a special mob for every class (to start, this could work with just a generic "Cleric", "Fighter", and "Spellcaster"). When they enter the game as new players, explicitly present instructions for those wishing to participate in the experience (aimed at people who have Mudded before, which, as I mentioned before, I believe is the majority of all our new players). Similar to the immortal switch command (as I understand it), the new player will have the ability to step into the shoes of a high level * (where * is a class, or one of the generalization I mentioned earlier), whereupon he will be able to access all the skills that particular class is given. To complement this, we will need to create a special "Arena", filled with mobs to challenge high level characters of the specific classes. Of course, there will need to be abundant documentation and clear instructions for new players as to where and what skills/spells they might want to try out on their adversaries. The idea behind this is to give new players a preview of what kind of skills and spells will be available to them as they reach the higher levels in certain classes. I feel like this is something that does not become very clear, even to long time players, until they have invested a significant amount of time into the game. If we provide such a simulation, I feel like the retention rate for new players could increase significantly.

There are certainly issues with this kind of system. There need to be extensive checks in the system to prevent current high level players from exploiting the simulation. Specifically, "simulated" sorcerers, for example, should not be able to teleport out of the arena and be used elsewhere, etc...you get the idea.

Equipment: Obviously, gameplay is often heavily influenced by a character's equipment set. I vaguely propose that these "simulation" mobs be outfitted with a (as Garg suggested, !MORT) set of equipment that, in our best judgement, represents the "average" set of equipment of a character of that class.

Inexperience: Ok...so we let you assume the body of a level 65 Ninja...now what? Well, I suggest we draft a set of instructions for each class, or whatever subdivision is chosen, that suggests skills that you might want to try out, how they work, and possible combinations with other classes, since we offer multiplay. Furthermore, we can conjure up some mobs that are specifically (and obviously) weak to certain attacks, and immune (or almost immune) to others. We can clearly explain this to new players either via the class guide mentioned before or through very clear mob and/or room descriptions.

Anyway, all ambitious ideas. In my opinion, though, definitely worth pondering. Let's face it, we are in an era where interest in MUDs is dwindling and the community is not likely to increase in size anytime soon. So, the few players we get, lets make our best effort to show them what Addict is really about and keep them on board for countless hours of fun, mindless killing ;)

Please post comments, suggestions, etc. as you see fit!

-G