New player assistance

[Gordok]

Do we need guidlines for what is considered acceptable in here? Just wanted to throw it out there first and will start with an idea of my own aswell. I dont think we should ever recruit for our guilds in here unless of course they ask us personally first. The reason I think this is because it takes something done out of kindness and turns it into a we'll help you IF you join our guild fight instead. I've never seen this yet in NPA but as it's growing mabey we need to think of some structer as a shard on how to continue and improve upon the success we've had so far.

[HratLi]

Hmm... I agree with your statement about the recruiting. It's poor form to poach newbies in a channel intended for assistance. When I was in school there were guidelines for things like, you are not allowed to date new members for at least 3 quarters if you were not already dating them. (Heck we had a 400 - 1 Male/female ratio in some colleges by graduation, so scaring any away would have been bad, and word gets around).

Also I suggest complaining about the game and the engine and/or David and/or TG be kept in their intended channels, like MP [:P]

General banter should be kept PG-13 at worse. Keeping in mind that In Character banter and friendly chatter between vets and new folks is what made this channel popular in addition to just getting answers.

*I* personally pause for a bit (maybe up to a minute) when someone asks a question that I can't answer to see if it catches someone's eye and if they can answer it. If nothing's going on, I don't see the harm of chatting. People tune in or not, this place was intended for a safe place for people to ASK questions and get them answered. It's kind of a joke that MP shuts down when someone asks to buy something, but it actually seems to be courtesy since it gives buyers and sellers a chance to spot the ad and not have it scroll off.

If someone has a problem they should state so POLITELY and not turn it into some sort of drama. (At least from what I heard).

-HratLi's 2c

[LaughingOtter]

I do think reasonable guidelines would be good. People have come in and started activly recruiting for their guild.Others have indulged in toilet humor and obnoxious or disruptive behavior. I expect that the issues will get worse unless an strong stand is taken to define what is and is not acceptable.

My suggestions:
1) No guild recruiting. If someone asks about joining a guild, respond to them privately, or at least take the discussion out of NPA.

2) The game is rated T. I think PG-13 is a good general limit everyone should be able to understand.

3) The purpose of the channel is to help new & returning players feel welcome andto answer their questions. I don't thinkthe channel should be limited to game-relatedtopics only, but I do think that off-topic chatter should be curtailed when a question comes up. Trolling, bashing the game or the dev team, and offensive or lewd discussions should not be permitted. Note that 'bashing' isdifferent from criticismor commentary about game issues.

4) Role-playing should not be prohibited, butdoes notjustifyabusive or disruptive behavior.

Again, these are suggestions only.

A little fundamental politeness and courtesy on the part of all participants should not be too much to ask.

[Snowdonia Honeythorn]

I'd like to elucidate a bit more on the "no off-topic" banter. I don't mind it, short stints of off-topic banter is OK in my book. What I don't want to see, and what we saw last night, was a wanton display of "soap opera" in NPA. This in turn made one or few people leave the channel and it also promoted other players becoming less than tactful in the channel.

I really don't want to hear about someones sex life in a NEW PLAYER HELP channel. I doubt anyone else does either. NPA is NOT Dr. Phil, Jerry Springer, Oprah, Maury Povich, or any of the other numerous talk shows who cater to lifes dramas. New Player Assistance is not a reason to abuse the "Assistance" part of the channel in justification for you sharing your lifes sexual history and saying, "I was wanting to get help and guidance for my problem and since this is the place to go for help I thought I would come here for advice." No, sorry, that is not what NPA is for.

Wanna share a funny story, fine. Wanna make a general comment on your day, fine. Just keep your lifes dramas out of it. It's not the place for it. Take it to General or tells or somewhere.

[imported_Twelvebagger]

Because this is a player made channel, I would like to see that certain people are promoted to leaders and nobody else. When the last promoted person leaves he elects a new person to promote. Leave 2-3 people as leaders (the main people that are always there, Klaus, Hratli, etc).

This would at least allow the channel to be run as it was intended.

This is a wonderful channel, let's keep it that way.

-12-

[HratLi]

Hmm... Seems all the 'fun' stuff happens after I log for the night.

I personally wouldn't mind flexing some 'mod muscle' in there if/when things start getting out of hand.

A polite warning, stern warning, then booting for perhaps a day does not seem unreasonable. It's not like they can't join again. We all make bad judegement calls, and have bad/off days. After calming down they might reconsider matters and become contributing members of the channel again.

Well... I'll bring it up on channel about nipping offensive behaviour and REALLY way off base stuff like sexual disfunction in the bud for those who aren't on this board.

BTW, 12, Enjoy your break. When you get back I want to chat with you at some point about multiclassing again.. I've caught the bug. Now deciding between supplementing my combat after I finish with Guardian with taking up Battlemage, Conjurer, or wizard. (why do the spell casters get awesome combat abilities?!) :D

-HratLi

[Aamer Khan]

Great suggestions all around folks :)

When I first created this channel, I had no clue it would take off like it has. I was wanting to have a safe place for new players to go and ask questions without fear of being laughed at nor abused. It is a testament to the need on Chaos that it has done so well.

Here are my views on modding and abuse.

Many have been here for some time now. There are a good number of regulars that understand the channels purpose and will respect others. I suggest we make an official list of those that can mod this channel. Then only have these players promoted to admin at any given time. Unless your on the list, you don't get promoted.

Those that mod, should feel free to eject any who are abusing the trust of others in the channel, according to what has been suggested in this thread. This is supposed to be a service to the new players. And any service will be abused eventually, unless some control is maintained.

Lets keep it a safe haven for new players, but being a bit more "official" in our roles.

[imported_tjl]

Now deciding between supplementing my combat after I finish with Guardian with taking up Battlemage, Conjurer, or wizard. (why do the spell casters get awesome combat abilities?!) [img]/Web/emoticons/emotion-2.gif[/img]

-HratLi

hah, I can answer that. because they are better, and deserve it. [B]

[Snowdonia Honeythorn]

The only problem I can see arising with bumping only a few people is those people aren't on 24/7. When they log, if no-one else has been bumped the next person to get bumped will be the person who has been in the channel the longest. Then they can bump whomever they like.

I'm sure it is worth a shot (selective bumping) just remember what I said above and don't be surprised or bent out of shape when you log in and the whole room is bumped (we have already set that precidence down so it only makes sense it will happen). :P

[Gordok]

Awesome response so far everyone keep them coming!


Selective modding cant be consistent which with any rule will eventually defeat the purpose and create one of the things we were trying to avoid. ie people staying afk all night just to get admin in mp. I still prefer treating everyone as equals and having everyone promoted instead of seperating the new players from the old via blue/not blue names. Cant tell you how many times a new player is like wow! when told the idea of everyone being treated equal.


As far as NPA's growth it's a testiment to the people in there.Some things other than just general word of mouth that I've tried to do is at the start of each day and ltr aswell if I was on a long time I do a /who with a cap of 20 and send a welcome message to everyone on that list that was'nt allready in npa, a guild or I had'nt allready talked to. Dont be discouraged if you dont get a reply to each right away as not everyone notices those flashing tabs. Out of those that do reply be ready to teach them how to join a player channel( not all that hard just extra typing is all) If a player replies but does'nt join npa right away I put them on my npa playerlist so that I can ask how they're doing each day so that they still feel welcome in Istaria. I've had great success and alot of fun with this method as I get asked where are you or how'd you know I was new all the time:) A personal welcome just floors most people.


The other is trying your best to watch all the other channels for lost new players aswell as helpfull and friendly ones. Both are needed and there's nothing wrong with sending a gratefull tell to someone you know to be helpfull with the hope they can dedicate some time in npa answering questions there or a welcoming one directing a new player to NPA. My play time will be greatly reducedover the next while so any help with these would be greatly appreciated.


Allthough I think making things for new players completly free is awesome I think we should only do it when there is no other recourse as it's better that than them becoming frustrated over trying to find something. What are the other options? Having them put T-1 resources on NT for us to use to fill the connie with teir 1 goodies( Deoir suggested this with the price being 10 copper per), remembering which new player is training which skills so we can send them buisness, not making the prices ofthe items we make too low as if we do we're robbing the new players of a chance to build a buisness.


IBM's everyone that hunts has way too many, these are great as prizes when you need a tier 1 resource ie I need 20 cedar boards delivered to kion first one there gets 40 IBM's. Again gifts are great but earned prizes mean much more and help not create a new low level society that can't do anything on their own. Also putting IBM's and extra lore tokens on NT connie for like 100 cooper ea would be awesome aswell. A low price but not so low that they dont have to work a bit for it.

When there is a problem in npa taking it immediatly to tells instead of hashing it out in the channel. I logged in near the end of the above mentioned "drama" and all we accomplished by hashing it out in channel was losing 2 vets and 4 new players out of the channel(that I noticed). Considering this has happened only once out of many weeks I think that's really amazing myself and a credit to the people in the channel.


Sorry for such a long post almost done:) Lastly take the questions we answer and then wonder why they needed to be asked in the first place. Is it one that should be asked like where is slate or is it something that should be avoided ie the lore tokens. How easy is it to find the fun low level quest starts? I honestly only know of a few but never quested much in HZ.(mabey we can make a list of them somewhere?) Make sure we share these when we can.

HZ so far as shown to me atleast that they're not about to put any effort into supporting us with this channel as I cant even get a channel walkthrough stickied in the hello section so were on our own in ensuring it's continued success. Something that I personally have great confidence in as there's no better group of people I've met than those in HZ.

[Gordok]

OH and if you have any guildies that you think are great people npa is still not all that well known and the more helpfull people we can get the better!:)

[Gordok]

This is supposed to be a service to the new players. And any service will be abused eventually, unless some control is maintained.

I think we all use MP as our example with this. I really think npa is allready different enough that it'll be relitively easy to maintain it's intial purpose. The reason mp is so out of control is the only people left in there are the ones that make it the way it is and outnumber those that wanted it to be a positive place. Just try suggesting in mp that mabey it'd be better if it was positive to see how much support you get and how many flames and you'll know what I mean there hehe.

[Aamer Khan]

I fully agree Gordok. :)

Let me explain a tiny bit further on what I mean by control.

The simplest way to view it is, respect for others is the line that is drawn.

If we are mature about it, if anyone starts trouble, just step up to the plate and explain why we are here, what will happen if they cannot show respect for the others in the channel, and if they won't be respectful, bump them out of channel.

Those wanting this channel to work can't let THEIR emotions get in the way. Calmly, and with respect, just step up and handle it. When the bumped player returns, welcome them back, and see if they are ok, and continue on.

[Gordok]

Aye I agree with that Aamer aslong as someone makes sure they pm the person afterwards to make sure they know it's not personal just something needed to maintain a helpfull channel. I had planned to make this post before the situation brought up happened that day anyhow, actually kind of wished it did'nt happen as it's only happened once and dont want to see it hurt something that's worked so well.

In my past one of the jobs I held was to go into a buisness that was'nt doing well and help turn it around. One of the most important distinctions to make in a situtuation like that is what does'nt work because of lack of knowledge, what does'nt work because of the quality of the people and what does'nt work because of the enviroment. You needto make that distinction because if you ever change anything because of the quality of the people that buisness will never do as well as it could. Was allways better to hire better people and work on the knowledge/enviroment part of the equation for lasting success.

I know that does'nt fully apply here as we dont have those same options but making choices because of a bad apple generally leads to a worse situation. I'll support an admin list if it's really what everyone wants to do but I dont have to like havingto make that distinction:)

[Aamer Khan]

You know, thats a great idea as a preemptive step.

When there is drama building, lets be kind and sent a tell to the upset player and try to help defuse the situation. [;)]

[Gordok]

It would help alot I think aswell aamer, mabey not a fun thing but is worth it I think.