Safe Hafen for 1st Char of very new players.

[catpurr]

Starting to play Cantr can be peculiar experience. [Its not so long ago for me] Note you just signed up for some browser game, and you are thrown into a complex world often with little or almost no help. Nevertheless sometimes some players manage to eventually figure it out. However the conditions for this can vary significantly depending on where the first character spawns. A few are lucky enough to find a mentor to guide them a little to the game.

The suggestion is to let the first character of new players first spawn into a safe haven place. That is a place outside of cantr, kind of a "demo-place", instructions to the game are lying around, mentors in the matching language are aorund. This place is also in many regards out-of-character, thus no specific roleplaying required. The "demo" projects are much faster, thus is travel in this mini-world, once you go through some portal you are placed into cantr like you normally would have been (without any inventory from safe haven), if you aren't a mentor you are kicked out after a while (so nobody stays there forever).

This way new players can be introduced to the concept like projects, geography, notes, roleplay and all that in a safe way, and the very first experience is less random. However after you leave safe haven you are forced into the tides of the world as ever.

[Voltenion]

Search for Newbie island...

[Genevieve]

I actually really like this idea!!

The only problem I see is that we have lots of players who "come back" - there would have to be a way to bypass. Perhaps we could simply have the OPTION of spawning on newbie world.

I played a game once where it was like this - you had a whole world, more open easy to do stuff, and didn't get to keep anything when you left it.

[SekoETC]

Yeah, there was a lot of planning and I think also some background work done concerning a newbie island, and it was like every player could have one character there if the chose to, but if that character died, they couldn't get another one. That way oldbies could create a character on the newbie island to help the new players.

[Genevieve]

The only thing I think that would have to happen is it would have to be tucked away somewhere so that it couldn't eventually just be colonized.

I almost think it would need to be another system - sort of like the testing database. One where weapons don't kill and stuff like that, that way people don't end up playing it JUST like Cantr.

[catpurr]

The only thing I think that would have to happen is it would have to be tucked away somewhere so that it couldn't eventually just be colonized.

I almost think it would need to be another system - sort of like the testing database. One where weapons don't kill and stuff like that, that way people don't end up playing it JUST like Cantr.

Exactly, the physics should IMHO be similar enough to be a teaching ground, but different so everything is just simpler.

It could also ease the very first adventuring if everything would be faster... You know when you start a new game, you usually want to spend a while with it, not start a resource gathering project and come back in x days.

So I agree it shouldn't be an island on cantr, it should be a part of "another dimension". Any references withing cantr on safe haven / newbie land, would be as out-of-order than any usual random OOC stuff.

[Genevieve]

We could call it "Midheaven" hehe. Anyway, I don't necessarily think it needs to have faster resource gathering - normally in Cantr, I don't just have someone start a project and leave for a few days anyway, they immediately ask questions, look around or observe depending on the location and how much is happening.

[HFrance]

And will the speakers of all the languages be born in the same town?

[Genevieve]

And will the speakers of all the languages be born in the same town?

I would think each language would get its own town.

[Piscator]

That could be a very lonely place in certain language groups.

[Genevieve]

That could be a very lonely place in certain language groups.

True - I guess it would depend then - if there is an experienced player who agrees to be the "mentor" for that town, even if it is just them until a newbie spawns, they won't die there.

If nobody agrees for a language group, then possibly just have them spawn in one of the English ones and hope that they speak a bit of English - perhaps make sure there are notes in every language for those places.

[SekoETC]

If the newbie island didn't have resources to make iron or bronze, they couldn't make any serious weapons. They probably should have some animals because the game is very limited without bone tools, and they should learn how hunting and attacking works, but bone bagh nakhs and spears shouldn't be too dangerous.

I don't think people should be able to teleport from the newbie world to the main world because rebirth doesn't happen elsewhere in Cantr and all people are spawned at age 20 with no background history but people could stay in the newbie world as long as they like and become mentors to others. People who have recently been new themselves might be less frustrated with newbies when they haven't seen it all a million times.

Time should progress in ticks that are equally long as in the main game, not to give people any false hopes, but roads could be made very short, so people could visit the towns of the other language groups. The idea of having a town per language group rather than an island per each is a good idea because people are likely to run into foreigners in Cantr and if this happened in the newbie world before the main game, people could be corrected in advance if they start speaking languages their character is not supposed to know.

I don't think the interface should be simplified but people would be allowed to ask for help OOC in public.

[Chasing Dingoes]

Maybe I'm just lucky but I found people (though not all of them) were helpful and for when it wasn't I interacted.

i'm against the newbie island. I know i would have got attached to my newbie island character. At risk of getting told not to FTO Cantr again, perhaps first characters could start younger. 15 youngest. That way the other players can tell it's a new player and won't assume they know how to do things.

[catpurr]

I'd just wish another name other than "newbie island".

"the other place", "land of dreams", "the sanctum", "the incubator", "fairy land", I don't know. But it really should IMHO be more original than "newbie island"

[Elros]

It woudln't be called newbie island in the game, that is just we were labeling it for disscussion.

Yes, this idea has been talked about throughly for a couple of years now. It would be best to look for that thread and read it, then continue in there.