The Noob webcomic

[Bromen]

Have a perhaps silly question...

If we need more newbie friendly content and recodes etc. why don't we spend a chuck of cash to hire a programmer to sit at his computer for a month or two and hammer out the code? I like the focus on new players, but I think with some faster work on balancing the game we'll get more players faster.

I like the idea of advertising and the 1% would be a great start. But out of those 150 how many stay? 10? 20? I think we could get 40-50 back with a faster recode.

-B

[Makfly]

Have a perhaps silly question...

If we need more newbie friendly content and recodes etc. why don't we spend a chuck of cash to hire a programmer to sit at his computer for a month or two and hammer out the code? I like the focus on new players, but I think with some faster work on balancing the game we'll get more players faster.

I like the idea of advertising and the 1% would be a great start. But out of those 150 how many stay? 10? 20? I think we could get 40-50 back with a faster recode.

-B

It's been suggested just a few weeks ago, so you can go back and read that thread.
The conclusion was that the Admin didn't like the idea, because they thought it wouldn't be possible to hire someone, and if possible would take too much work to manage/lead the hired programmer.
Personally I disagree, but since it's already been discussed, I guess it's more constructive to focus on other methods of drawing in more people. (Atleast in this thread)

[Hektor]

I am all in favor of this idea. Though I would want a measure of success criterion.

Say, 100 new characters within the duration of the campaign. (of course we cannot flush the data from seconds entirely?).

If we meet the criterion, I would be more than willing to donate further to this campaign.

Laurel posted a reply on the boards thread - are we ready for this possible influx vis a vis manpower? Very good observation.

My suggestion: Some players find a fixed weekday say tuesday or wednesday and login from X to Y, and stand around in Sparkle at a fixed location with the sole purpose of helping newbies (and communicate this on the forum and boards around the MUD). I will see about what weekday and login that fits my schedule, but I think I could make it every wednesday from 19-21. (no promises yet).

Other suggestions? (Moderator maybe we need a new thread for this to avoid further hi-jacking )

[Zar]

If do so, important that players turn into newbie friendly mode.
Help in quests/fights/skills/general info.

[Arcon]

Helpful is good but not too much help. Give too much help and there won't be any challenge left for the new players. If they don't feel the danger and excitment they won't return I think. They must be allowed to explore and get lost themself. Nudging them in the right direction is good but putting them on the road and tell them to take the second path to the east is too much I think. Honestly I think that newbies need to run into danger as soon as they can. And I think it is even more important that they can do it with other newbies. I am sure a lot of newbies had the time of their life when teaming up to slay Kretans even if they die in the battle.

[Laurel]

I'm with Arcon on this one (and probably Cherek too).
Best newbie experience I had was when there were plenty cadets around and we raced eachother to next level. In that case it was "who will be able to kill the bigger Kretans?" ... ;p When one of the group became a veteran and joined gladiators, we were all in awe at his skills and possibilities.
Those things are never the same later on.
I even remember reporting once to have been attacked by a monk (whom I knew had a stun), cause I saw I was stunned in a pfight ... only to be laughed at, cause it was Blake's (Calian back then) maul that stunned me. ;p The ignorance of a beginner ;p

[Cherek]

I think that "are we ready to help"-discussion is actually isn't really needed. I do have some experience of web advertising. I do not think we should "worry" about "hordes" of new players, and I definitely think there's helpful people enough to answer questions of a new player or two. Such a "cheap" and restricted ad simply wont attract that many so we really have to worry about not being to help them. The good part is we dont need that many...

And do be honest, personally I like to explore a new game by myself, perhaps I would ask a question or two, but if I was starting Genesis today with no experience of muds, or of other muds that arent LP muds, I'd be confused as hell if someone dragged me along or tried to show me things. I say let people explore the game in their own time. We dont need to be cheesy car sales-people desperate to sell our product. Let it sell itself. Any new player will need to like the game for what it is if they are planning to stay.

Sometimes I think the ntell is a little too helpful, and people who go to Sparkle to help people as well. The intention is great of course, and answering direct questions in ntell too. But if you want to help more I suggest giving the new player some RP, and treating them like any other player. Imho Someone RP'ing well in character sells the game better than the super-friendly people who wants to help but forget to play the game themselves.

Btw, havent we forgotten one thing? We dont have a web banner yet.

[Arcon]

We don't have any banner? Why can't we use one of those banners people made some years ago? I liked some of them.

[Cherek]

Arcon: Well... I dont know if they are still around? If they are they probably need to be re-done to fit into the banner size standard the noob comic use, unless they happen to use the same standard of course... which is unlikely considering how much higher resolutions we use on screens these days compared to when those banners were made.

Allthough even if we find them, and they happen to be in the correct size, they still dont fit very well with our current website theme, and to be honest, if I remember them correctly they looked like they were made in the 90's... Which is true of course! But today they would probably just look... old. The AD itself is very important if we want people to click it... thats why there are countless of specialized companies doing nothing but web-banners. We might even consider hiring one... but its probably too expensive for us.

Hmm, I just got an idea of a banner that's simply commands being typed into a mud client. Perhaps "Kill Nazgul" - "You attack the Nazful" etc... and a few rows of text. And then a "Play Genesis now" - tagline. That might actually catch the right crowd. And I cant remember ever seeing a banner like that so would probably also be noticed in the flow of similar-looking "meet russian women now"-banners...

[Arcon]

Hmm, I just got an idea of a banner that's simply commands being typed into a mud client. Perhaps "Kill Nazgul" - "You attack the Nazful" etc... and a few rows of text. And then a "Play Genesis now" - tagline. That might actually catch the right crowd. And I cant remember ever seeing a banner like that so would probably also be noticed in the flow of similar-looking "meet russian women now"-banners...

I like it! Or a dragon, dragons has always been one of the biggest dangers in fantasy books and games.