Of old and new times. Tale of a newcomer to Genesis.

[Aristos]

Hello everyone,

I go in the game by the name of Aristos, and I am new to Genesis. I started seriously playing about a month ago, if not less. The reason I write "seriously" is because I knew of the game before, but never played it for real. Now, after a long break from mudding altogether, I decided to look for an LPMud, and the first thought in my mind was: Genesis. What else? This is the original LPMud, and the best.

So far, my experience has been grand on the MUD. I have met many friendly people, and I have developed a good story for my character (I am an avid RP fan), and so I started on my journey... At the beginning, the newbie area, Tutori Island, proved more of a challenge to a newcomer than any regular newbie areas on other games. It was beautifully coded, and it gave me a perfectly good introduction to the abilities and mechanics of the game. I felt in love with it, and, so to speak, got hooked.

After completing my tasks in Tutori Island, I ventured out into the realms, not knowing what Sparkle was, or if I had chosen the right race, etc. Like I mentioned before, the helpers in the newbie line were of incredible value to my being able to come to grasp the games feeling outside of Tutori Island. If it hadn't been for them, I would've felt much alone, and lost.

The quests in Sparkle kept me in motion, for they were pretty straight forward and solvable. I soon, thanks to the quests, got to know the area better, and even dared to venture out and travel. Once it appeared to me the area was unsafe for my size, or couldn't find my way back, I made use of the newbie pin to transport myself back home, and restarted my journey.

After much travelling and exploring, I started making sense of how the areas were constructed, and how some of the quests were made. I soon learned to appreciate my trusty backpack, where I might be able to carry important items which may seem uninteresting at the moment, but proved themselves otherwise in the near future. Paying attention to what the NPCs had to say was also crucial, and so I learned to dedicate some minutes of staying in one room just to see what the NPC would talk about, and I tried asking them questions about some of the topics they touched upon.

And so, little by little, I grew stronger in the game as the game grew in my heart. At the beginning, thanks to the newbie helpers advice, I enrolled in the Cadet Academy, where I was able to learn a special move which proved itself useful in combat, and shortened it somewhat, if not ever. I also learned from combat that, although I was, and still am, fairly small when compared to the rest of you, I needd to travel back and forth in order to sell the gathered items so as to be able to make some coins. Coins are needed for skills, for a piece of simple equipment with which to obtain a better one, and for food, for all the traveling makes one tired.

So I enjoyed the game, because although it is indeed a challenge and requires much patience, I was able to see the progress of my character as a reflex of the amount of time I put into it, the quality of said time, and the development of my understanding of the game. I felt my efforts being rewarded.

As I saw myself growing in strength somewhat, at least enough for my time in the Cadet Academy from which I was soon to graduate, I directed myself to the local library in Sparkle, as well as to the official website, and informed myself about the possibilities of my future career. From what I read, only two careers seemed plausible for me and my characters roleplay, and from the two I felt in love with one. I decided to explore some more, I asked around, I grew a bit more, and finally, after thinking that I had it all more or less worked out, I formally applied to the guild I selected.

I was excited, somewhat fearful and insecure, for it makes me very insecure and almost makes me feel out of place that the game is inhabited mostly by players who have been here for decades. All of you know each other, and remember each other under this or that name. I am new. I have no history. I have no idea who or what the mystics were, nor the khr... something, etc. I didn't, and don't know what the application process for a guild would be like. I didn't know what was expected of me, and I feared rejection, as I still do.

It was after this point onward that the game started getting more difficult, for after this point it wasn't about my efforts, or my ability to sit down, go room by room with a notebook on the side of my laptop, and try to sketch out a map of an area, writing down the unusual items found on it, and what it all meant in the scheme of the area. It wasn't about my persistence in trying to kill in order to make money, learn skills, kill faster, and therefore grow. Neither did it have much to do with the written history I had worked out for my character. No, it was at this point that I started to feel uneasy, and awkward.

Imagine a book you're reading, which is interesting as none other, so much that you forget it's a book and you start seeing the described images in your head, and feeling empathy for the characters. So is my feeling when playing the MUD. And yet, after reaching this point in my development, it turned from feeling like "Oh, maybe I can reach this or that today!", or "I have an hour before class begins, and I've studied enough - I'll log in and see if I can finish this one quest I didn't quite understand last time", to feeling like "I'll log in to see if I've gotten any response yet". I log in and type "who" every 3-5 minutes to see if anyone from that guild is online, or I walk to the post office time and again, because maybe, just maybe, I received a mail I didn't see in the last 10 minutes while I was smoking at the window. Yet nothing, and then one sees eventually a hoped for person, and one waits in excitement, thinking "Oh, oh, oh, maybe they'll talk to me know. I better get my story ready". But no, nothing. Silence... And it starts to feel like real life again... Fear of rejection, boredom, and a feeling of not belonging for not being here from the start...

I enjoy role-play, and I try to do it well. I enjoy writing, it's a hobby of mine, and so for me mudding is like a book you write while you live it, and I enjoy it because of it. Genesis is a great game. Extremely well coded, and with an impressive player base considering most people play graphical games nowadays, or nothing at all. I appreciate the work that all the volunteers have put into the game, and do, day in day out, without any other remuneration except for the pride felt by getting something done, and well done. I thank you, both the developers and the players, for providing me a fun game to play on my time off, after a long day at the office, and a boring day at the university (I am doing my masters degree while working full time for a software company).

And still, I wished that the social system of the game was a bit more understandable for newcomers. I understand that someone who has played the game for 10-15, perhaps 20 years, knows how it works, and how it ticks. He or she makes a new character, and knows whats expected of him or her, and acts accordingly. For a newcomer, there is sense in the game itself, and the players are most helpful, but some of the inner workings of some processes are a mystery to me, and it leaves me quite uncertain as to what to do next.

Helpful players have told me to join this guild, or this other one, in the meantime. But, I thought RP was encouraged ? How is one to RP a career path which makes absolutely no sense, or even proves to be a hindrance to ones characters development ? Where is the fine line between being considered a "guild-hopper" and doing things right ? How much fun can a game be if the only reasonable way to take the next logical step in ones characters development is just to wait ? It kind of takes the fun out of it, and it starts to feel like real life... Slow, uncertain, stressful, and lonely.

I have read the thread about acquiring new players... Well, here is one. One who respects the loyal playerbase and the hard-working developers, and who respects a high calibre of player being required to take part of the game. I consider myself not a great player, but still a good one. I am not afraid of tasks, missions, or anything. I am just afraid of boredom... Which is why I'm posting this. I am, more or less, hoping to reach out and touch someone, to remind myself that I am not alone here.

Did anyone feel like I do now when starting out ?

Is there anything anyone could advice me ?

Thank you for reading this, my first post, and I apologize if it sounded "whiny", or "desperate". I am just tired, and felt like playing the game, instead of waiting, and writing a long post.

...*who*...*sigh*

[Amberlee]

Been playing the game since 95'?
And I still feel like the guild system is somewhat restrictive to character development.
Which is why the most of my genesis time with the character Amberlee, I have been a mercenary.
Since the character and its development really do not fit into any one box that the guild system provides.
My advice.. Find a guild that suits the play of the character.. Of cource ask the members, how the guild is.. And then make an informed decision.

[Recoba]

Hi Aristos!

Thanks for your story.

The thing in Genesis is that most guilds are completely run by players and if you join or play in a guild like that your experience depends to a large extent on what those players are like. Most often they're great people, but sometimes you just run into people that are a bit useless

As for your preferred theme - a guild in Genesis is always a product of two things - the guild theme and the players who run it. Sometimes you might have a great theme but not so great people, sometimes the theme in itself is uninteresting but the players in the guild take it much higher than that.

And sometimes the way to go is to be a mercenary and just choose your own company every day

My advice to you is to go about your business as usual while you wait for that reply and meanwhile get to know other people and let them try to recruit you to their guilds - they might be much better places than you think...

As for your character's story, let it develop in the game according to where you go and the people you meet. Let us surprise you

Good luck and hang in there!

/ Recoba, oldtimer.

[Kas]

You are definitely not alone, Aristos.

I share your fustration on how guilds operate sometimes _at the initial recruitmentphase_. Some may be tediously slow and others very fast. Factors such as if players with the right responsibilities in said guilds are active, and individual recruitment policies will apply here though, but sometimes by trying to reach out to members in mails or messengers can prove useful while you wait on the handling of the application.

Don't be intimidated by their ages; Fresh players are always a welcome sight for any guild worth their salt.

Many great players out there in different guilds, so rock on.

[Recoba]

True - sometimes people are just badly organized and need reminding.

*knock* *knock* - Hellooo?

[Arcon]

Great to see a new face around.
I always tell new people I meet that they should start considering what character they want to be (like you did) and then make the choices that seem right for that character. I have seen players recommending newbies to change race to goblin because it is the "best" race, and I have always thought that is the worst approach anyone could do. So you do what feels right for you and forget about "power", those things comes with time.

About your application, let me tell you about my time as a knight applicant and then squire. I was applying for several weeks because there was no knights around at all then. But I finally found a sponsor(full knight that would make me squire and teach me). I was a squire for two months, I got one task a week and I usually finished it that same day but my sponsor woke up once a week. And for the first couple of weeks I was not allowed to leave the area around the keep and Palanthas and then I couldn't leave Krynn.
It was frustrating some of those things but it also made me really read the books the library offered, explore the areas around the guild and in general learn a lot more then I would if I could be out killing.
I would suggest that you use the time between application tasks to really explore everything that has anything to do with the guild you want to join. Read the books they have, explore the areas around and really learn them (it can save your life some day. many years ago the DAs made their recruits run around Sanction in darkness to prove their knowledge about the town) and most important meet members of that guild. Learn from them, both what to do and what not to do.
Besides, there is nothing stopping you from traveling the realms as usual while applying.

[Laurel]

Where is the fine line between being considered a "guild-hopper" and doing things right?
...*who*...*sigh*

that line is in the people's minds only, so if they like you, you can get away with anything
if they don't, they will call you a guild hopper immediately the moment you change a guild after 7 active years of playing the same one

stopped bothering me - stopped playing too, tho ;p

[Aristos]

Where is the fine line between being considered a "guild-hopper" and doing things right?
...*who*...*sigh*

that line is in the people's minds only, so if they like you, you can get away with anything
if they don't, they will call you a guild hopper immediately the moment you change a guild after 7 active years of playing the same one

stopped bothering me - stopped playing too, tho ;p

Laurel, you shouldn't stop playing. You were so helpful to me in my first days... I wish you'd come back and team with me a bit. You're funny, and kind, and your RP was really good as well. Do come back, and when you do, do write me a mail.

[Aristos]

Dear all,


I would like to write a few words pertaining to this thread to give
you an update on what's happened so far in Aristos' life.

I have understood to a greater extent, thanks both to your replies
and to the way patience allows certain processes in the life of a
Mud's character to develop themselves, how the guild application
process begins in Genesis. Not only that, but I have been able to
understand the reason why it runs as it does.

Choosing a guild in Genesis is like choosing a family. This will be
your brethren, the people which will shape your characters development
and, to a certain extent, how he interacts with the rest of the Donuts'
population. In Genesis, you're not the only one shaping your characters
RP to fit into this or that way of life, but the events that occur, as
well as the people who surround your character, defines, as in life, how
he/she will turn out.

It is, I hope, understandable, that when one informs oneself of the
available professions available in Genesis, that one builds up a concept
of what this way of life would be like, and try to develop ones character
in the same line that this way of life defines itself.

Nevertheless, once one starts walking the path, one feels that the path
is not merely to be walked alone, but in company, and it is, to a certain
extent, this company, the one which truly stands out from the other variables in the equation of choosing a profession.

As someone above me wrote (I can't check the name, for I am writing offline),Genesis is to surprise its players, as the players surprise others. Genesis is not a typical game in the sense of most games today. This is a game, an alternate reality, created for and by its players. Therefore is the player variable so much relevant.

To make a long story short: I have been surprised by Genesis beyond my
expectations. Every day I log in, and wander the world, travel it, explore
it, and better learn it, I do so not alone, but in the company of others,
be they present or not. The time comes, too, when these others are indeed
present, and we interact, and it is in this interaction that the character,
as well as the puppeteer behind it, develop a certain kinship to this or
that way of life that the character represents. This Other is not simply
a character being played, which belongs to a certain guild, but he/she IS
the guild itself. The words, the acts, the interaction, all of which happens
in RP, define the Others' occupation in the realm in the eyes of both the
character being played, and the player behind the keyboard.

And so it is that we players, in our newness to Genesis, slowly learn
that this is not a normal game where you can come with a mind made up
and know from day one what one wants to be. The descriptions on the
website are but a mere guideline so that one has a certain idea of what
these professions entail, but, as in life, reality takes it shape in
the eyes of a Genesis newborn by being real, by happening. So to speak,
History writes itself in Genesis, and all our expectations are nothing
but illusions, at least to newcomers.

Some people, in RL, choose a certain job because of money, power, being
able to do what one wanted, etc. Sometimes, though, these are mere prejudices which disappear as soon as one works at this or that company, and sometimes the reasons we had to take the job are not the one we have to keep doing it.

Sometimes, the people with whom we work with, and the way we interact with them, are the one source of motivation for being happy at work. Genesis works like this as well, for it is shaped by human beings in a different way that most other pre-defined games are shaped, and I believe this is what makes this Mud the most exciting Mud a mudder can play. I love this Mud more and more with each day, for it surpasses my prejudices and teaches me something new every day.

The point of the story is to tell you all that, although I had a clear idea
of what interested me the most of Genesis in the beginning, I have now, due to experience in the game, developed a whole new one. One which both befits my RP-style, and reflects my RL personality. This idea was conceived not by me alone, but it was lived up to by certain players which were, are, and I hope always will be, a source of inspiration for me.
For me, to be amongst the people I wanted to in the beginning has proven to be ill fitting for both my character, and its puppeteer - and the people from whom I knew nothing have come to inspire my character more than any other thing I have read about this Mud.

It is, thus, that I both extend my thanks and apologies to all of you, both
players, developers, and the whole of the community. Thanks for making this place so real, so exciting, so appealing, and simply shaping and reshaping it once and again so that even now, 20+ years later, a completely new player like me can come and make his way in the world, finding it just as exciting, surprising and attractive as if it was 1991 and my teenage imagination had just begun to bloom.

I also, as said before, want to apologize to those players who, being kind enough to me, have given me a chance to join their guild, and whose kindness I have met with a kind declination of the offer. For, although this guild I won't mention is extremely well coded, and its attractiveness is not to be doubted, I have found that I, myself, ill fit the role amongst those who would be my peers and prefer the company of some others who have, metaphorically speaking, reached my players heart.

Hopefully, you will "cut me some slack" and understand my behaviour being due to my newness, and not classify me as a guild hopper, or a person not to be trusted.

To those that have inspired me, whose names I will say here because I don't think it does any harm, I want to thank from the bottom of my heart. You two, your players, incorporate what it means to be a member of your guild, and your actions, the way you've treated me, and your friendship, have reached my characters' heart where no offer of brotherhood, kinship, power, or exclusiveness could ever reach me. You truly are exceptional players, not only because you play your role so well, but because your profession demands it of you, and thus, this is a profession I want to have in my characters life. Thank you, Fairlight and Grampal, for you incorporate what it means to be a monk, and I hope that, in time, my character will come to be able to live these values as you live them.

To the others, please do not take it as an offense, for you are exceptional roleplayers and truly one of a kind. It is just that, although great persons you may be, I don't feel "at home" with you. I respect you, admire the way your life is lived, and wish to have nothing but good relations between us. This may sound corny for those of you who have heard these words from a loved one, but it is nontheless true - it is not you, it is me.

Thank you for your attention, and I hope to see you all on the lands.

Humbly yours,
The man behind the keyboard.

[Laurel]

Join the OGRES they said. It would be fun, they said.