New Players = Warm Welcome? Not really I guess...

[wulf]

Introducing yourself is pretty vital. Of course, there may be characters who don't want to do that for a roleplaying reason but it would be best to leave that to the more experienced players of this game.

One of the limitations of the interface is that it's very asynchronous - the people inside Setanta Clan may have been typing up a warm and friendly welcome but didn't post it until after you chose to leave.

The other day one of my characters was in a completely different town and a lot of confusion was caused by an apparent newspawn who went trespassing all over the place and picking up things that didn't belong to them. I don't think they were malicious and I don't think they ultimately stole anything but they never stayed in one place long enough for established residents to get an explanation out.

Wulf

[Jos Elkink]

This thread could almost be the basis of a newbie guide ... I like the responses.

What is especially important, Lisje, is to keep roleplaying from the perspective of your character. If you were imprisoned, would you immediately think "ah well, lets give up this life, then ..."? So, to roleplay properly, you should really think about how your character feels and what to do now. People rarely die in jail when their players keep actively playing the character, I think, unless you're the victim of some kind of killing spree or massacre.

PvP (player vs player, as opposed to player vs computer - for those who don't know the abbreviation) is in some games only for veteran players and is often considered an extreme/aggressive form of playing. In Cantr, PvP is a fundamental part of the game and there will definitely not be any area where characters will be safe from attacks from other characters. Communities - thus characters themselves - should organise their protection, not the game interface.

Just as Missy and some others pointed out - the key is really thinking from the perspective of your character. Start talking to fellow prisoners (although, well, many players might have given up on their imprisoned characters, which is bad roleplay, but alas); knock on the door to draw attention or just to irritate your jailors; and write notes and push them outside - these things help and soon enough you might be released.

And some towns might be harsh, but to be honest, my biggest worry is that Cantr is becoming way too friendly - not the opposite ... I'm still surprised how many players prefer to play cosy cooperation and friendly characters, instead of military campaigns and malicious politicians ...

Anyway, all that said, this is yet another sign of course that the documentation for newbies is bad. What's there is usually also badly read, but there is also insufficient information. I completely concur, but cannot solve it so easily. Perhaps some people should start writing? West?

[west]

I'll do what I can

Now that school's out I should hopefully have time to do some cantr-based writing. Anthony has also done a lot, perhaps we can work together.

[AoM]

That's why K-isle is such a great place. Cozy cooperation? What's that? It's cooperate or die...

As for the appeal of the military campaigning... read the massacres thread.

[SekoETC]

In big places (and I believe Karnon forest is among the biggest, right?) there are loads of newspawns and many of them thieves causing all sorts of trouble. For example in Siom I've learned to react into anyone just walking in and out without saying a word as a possible troublemaker. Ok people like that might be just looking around, but in case they are looking around every building and see something they like just lying around and pick them up, then run away, several people must stop their activities and waste their time chasing this person, probably hitting him or her before (s)he even comes back online because they can't afford to let the person get away. Now if the player comes online and notices their character being attacked, they're likely get mad and either get vocal or quit the game thinking blah this is stupid. If the matter is solved (very unlikely) there'll be big trouble getting healing food for this kid.

Maybe towns might start dragging every newspawn into a locked building and schooling them until they learn to speak and behave? You would just need to have people with keys online around the clock. The problem is avid players check the character right after spawning and maybe the first thing in their mind is not to talk to these "NPCs" (boy I really thought myself silly talking to some "woman in her twenties", only later I found out they're all played by someone) or read notes when there may be a huge bunch of them, no, you see things on the ground and you're thinking why shouldn't I deserve them, I got nothing and these people have something... Snatch. Then you think, what a boring town, no one talking, and you leave.

I doubt that there's any player who hadn't picked up things they don't own during their first week in Cantr, without seeing it as stealing.

[mortaine]

I'd just like to point out that the newbie information and advice is often "find out in game," but in practice, the trial-and-error that it takes to "find out in game" usually means doing things that provoke suspicion and negative reactions in other characters. For example, going into and out of buildings, taking a bunch of notes from the ground (how do you know they won't be magically replaced?), and hitting everything around you, not realizing that those are not NPCs waiting for the slaughter.

The newbie advice ought to be "shut up, sit down, announce yourself, and let others school you in proper behavior," because that's what most towns expect-- DEMAND-- of newspawns anyway.

[Rand de Blojt]

Well you also spawned in hell, er- I mean Karnon Forest. But I learned that this game needs some time to learn to play, then it is a good time.

Yeah. Karnon is the worst place for a new spawn.

[Rand de Blojt]

The newbie advice ought to be "shut up, sit down, announce yourself, and let others school you in proper behavior," because that's what most towns expect-- DEMAND-- of newspawns anyway.

Again I agree. But my agreeing doesn't help anybody.

[Litchin_flip]

well at any rate it can't be worse than what happened to one of my charries...he was killed as soon as he spawned...I'm guessing because the place was over populated or something of that sort...but I don't even remember where it was

[Talapus]

I am currently living the newspawn's dream and the experienced role player's nightmare. I have five characters that spawned in the Akypor region, four characters that spawned in Quillanoi (or directly around it), and three characters that spawned in Kwor. I only have three characters that are enough seperated that I won't accidently bump into my other characters on a regular basis. Most of my various characters are busy trying to move far away or build boats to spread myself out somewhat.

[the_antisocial_hermit]

My charry loves KF

And like GoalieMan said... I can think of a place that I'd consider much, much worse...

But it's a fun game, don't give up!

[kinvoya]

I think that people who have played a lot of other online games are at an actually disadavtage in Cantr. They never seem to realize how different Cantr is and that's why their newspawns tend to get into a lot of trouble.

I had never played any other online game before and my first chars just timidly looked around and tried to learn from other chars for days before they did anything at all. I remember knocking on the locked doors trying to get someone to open them. I had to ask over and over again how to get inside the buildings before anyone would answer me. This was when Seatown Garden was so quiet that no one would speak for days at a time. I also whispered to a stranger and asked him if I could help him farm his carrots and I asked another guy if he would help me build a mud hut even though there wasn't any mud around (he just ignored me).

It was really fun trying to figure out how everything worked.

My other char was in Seatown so there were a few more active chars to learn from there.

[the_antisocial_hermit]

I think that's why I liked Cantr so much. I like to learn as I go and figure out stuff on my own, so my first character did some poking around and didn't say a whole lot. lol.. she got reprimanded for knocking on buildings, but it didn't turn out bad. Didn't take too long to catch onto the basics...

[Capt. Mobious]

My best advice would be... don't create a new character the day before Thanksgiving vacation!

I wasn't able to log in and learn how to play the game until three or four days after my characters spawned. I said one or two things and then was gone.

When I next logged in I had a character that had joined the Imperial Army and another that had been rudely kidnapped... It was pretty exciting!

Oh, yes... Curse you Hannah Broadhurst! *shakes a fist*

(It wouldn't be a post about newbies without a Saiven rant...)

P.S. Whoever plays Hannah, you've done a great job. You've scarred him for life!

[wichita]

I think this is also a shining example of why some screenshots from the game that illustrate typical conversation should be included in the new player guide. I've seen too many new players that can't figure out the difference between OOC and IC conversation and treat it as a chat room with a little bit of game going on. If they new what to expect it would cut down on a lot of problems.

The biggest complication I remember having the day I started was trying to find the laws that were posted "on the ground". I spent hours trying to find the friggin' ground button until it dawned on me that it was just the objects page when outside. (I was tired and stupid, so shoot me! )

Yeah, just reply as your character and don't let the Man get you down. There are plenty of great towns to be in. You'll be addicted in no time!