[MUD-Dev] Newbies (was Re: [MUD-Dev] Text Parsing)

[John Hopson]

On Fri, 4 Jun 1999, Albert wrote:
> I believe the problem of newbies being confused as to what to do can be
> easily remedied by giving them a thorough introduction, a specialized area
> that allows a sort of interactive help system. And until they reach level 2
> or so, periodically give them tips, pointers, and help key words.

	I've spent a lot of time working on the newbie process on my mud, snooping
newbies and trying to see where they get stuck, frustrated, or misled.  A
couple things that I've found really work in getting newbies oriented:

1)  Mandatory help files.

	I've got a number of commands set up so that the first attempt to use them
will just show you the relevant helpfile.  For example, the first time they
try to kill something, they're shown the mud's policy on pkill and being an
outlaw.  The first time they try to create their description, they're shown
the rules/advice about writing one.  This prevents a LOT of problems.
Strangely, experienced players from other muds are often those who benefit
most from this, since they'll blindly assume that things work the same way
on your mud as on their last one.
	To connect this to your mudschool idea, I suggest making it impossible to
exit the mudschool without having read the 5 most important helps.  I don't
believe that requiring a few minutes of reading/orientation will scare off
any player you'd be interested in having on your mud.


2)  Aliases

	Having multiple ways to access the basic commands keeps them from getting
frustrated.  For example, there's a command that's called "emote" on Dikus
and "pose" on mushes.  If you can, make it possible to use both.  This also
goes for helpfiles.  I had no idea that some muds used the word "tooling"
for what I called "renaming" but as soon as someone brought it up, I added
a one line helpfile that pointed them in the right direction.


3)  Log missing helpfiles

	You'd be amazed at what helpfiles they go looking for.  Keeping track of
all the helpfiles that players look for that don't exist makes a big
difference.  9/10 of these will be typos or other spelling mistakes, but
the last few really will make things easier on the new guys.


				John




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