FAQ suggestions

[Cathy Willey]

What one thing (or more) do you wish you'd known about how to play Cantr when you first started?

[Rob Maule]

The purpose of all the buttons. Some are easy enough to understand from their pictures, but you can only tell others from their alternate text by hovering your mouse over them. Also, I've found that you can't see alternate text when using a Mac. If a simple screenshot were taken and labeled, along with descriptions of what they do, it would help newcomers tremedously.

Another thing that new players don't realize at first is that their characters need food. Although simple, it escapes thought when you know nothing about Cantr.

I also don't think they know how long it takes to travel. I was overwhelmed to find out it could take a week or more to get to another location. In that time, you're also losing health if you didn't know to get food (most games don't require you to get food).

P.S. - Posting another thread on how a FAQ should be implemented.

[Meh]

Yep explaining all the buttons would be helpful...

I've noticed what I assumed was a new player who it took awhile to figure out how to talk privately.

I totally missed the start project because I assumed the icon meant account config.

An explanation of maps would be helpful the same player above assumed it was the graphic of the area when I meant a note on the ground.

A paragraph on how things are different everywhere from free to oppresive, from bountiful to starving, from peaceful to crime filled. My first chracter was in Shring-Li and six people were killed the night I logged in. This effected my play until I saw other areas. Nothing against Shring-Li it part of a specturm of situations and I like it's particular challege.

[swymir]

About the little tool icon I think it shold be moved away from the rest of the acount buttons that's a pretty confuing place to put it maybe give it it's own tab or something.

[Solfius]

Perhaps instead of purely graphic icons, there could be icons that include graphics and a little text to give you an idea what it does, or a key aomewhere on the page, maybe even a separate page with a key and glossary as to what all the buttons do?

[Solfius]

How about we start to compile i list of "how to"s? Like, how to make a tool, or how to collect resources, or how to talk to people/talk privately to people?

[Chrissy]

I don't think I would've wanted to know anything more about the game when I started. The first thing prompted to you is you are hungry, then your characters lives just kind of go from there. Ideally, it would be nice to know everything, but that's no fun, and would kind of defeat the purpose of the game. It would be like having the cheat codes for Cantr and that's lame. Cantr is to easy to need cheat codes. lol.


Chrissy

[Missy]

I agree with Chrissy...knowing that kind of stuff isn't really "necessary" But then again If I remember correctly when I first started playing I had my husband to "guide" me in the right directions. But it wasn't more than the first time i logged into each character, that i got the hang of it.

[Cathy Willey]

I think using a browser that shows tooltips makes it a lot easier; I've noticed there's a lot of Cantr that doesn't work nicely under old versions of Netscape. What I'm leaning towards is a series of screenshots with helpful text and pointing arrows.

[Pirog]

Information about how to read the "location map" would be helpful...I still can't figure it out

[Meh]

On the FAQ.
Should there be a forum for the FAQ.
We could pre-poulate it with our old questions from when we were new.
It may make in more of a working doucment broken up into content areas.
This one I found could simply be called "Lockpicking".
Then either staff or players could post their replies.

From: "solfius"
Date: Tue Dec 3, 2002 4:39 pm
Subject: Lockpicking

How does it work and what do I need to do it? because I've seen it
mentioned on the red bar that tells you the building you're trying
to enter is locked and I've heard nothing about it until now

[Solfius]

That wasn't me, it was only someone who, er, used the same name as me ....

[Meh]

just to remind us we we're all new once.
that helps the new I think.
There's some good one's from Koz out there too...

[new.vogue.nightmare]

I think that there should be something that explains the very basics of how to play, If not for the help of my friend who introduced me to Cantr, I would have spent the first day going around, pointing at people, saying random things, taking stuff, dropping it, etc, just to figure out what the buttons did...Normally, if you see a 20 year old wandering around doing that kind of stuff, you assume he's er.."special"

[thingnumber2]

I would have like to know how fun it would be, cuz when I started i got bored, than months later I figuerd out how fun it was.