It seems as though I have heard of this concept before, but I would like any thoughts or even perhaps a testimonial as to the good and bad of the following set-up.

Player Joe logs onto a mud for the first time. Goes through the creation process, is setup with a new character and is given the choice of new to muds? [Yes/No]

Following the No response Joe is sees through the eyes of high level character and dropped in the middle of a demo battle where the various commands are shown and the flow of battle is explained. This could also draw attention to the range of goodies available to the higher level players. When the demo ends he is dropped back to his original character and begins his normal newbie training.

Of course this is a simple version of the demo, which could be tied into the storyline in a number of ways, wether its the battle of the land's great hero defeating his arch-nemisis (or vice-versa) or a powerful mage taking on a dragon which plagues the land. Also movement commands and channels could be addressed as well as the use of help files etc.

The major plus I see could be the fast introduction of the player to the storyline and done in a fashion much more interesting than You see a SIGN here.

I like this idea.

However, being fair to new characters who are unfamiliar with the way the mud works, I would hope that the battle would be slowed down a tad and maybe even have the bots say a few phrases in the battle to hint at key features.

Sounds like a great idea to me, especially the thought of tying it into the MU*s theme/history and so forth.

If your game is roleplaying emphasized or roleplaying enforced, make sure that the player knows this is a mere OOC example and nothing that should be consider IC knowledge.

Best,
Ed

Actually the demo could be set in IC terms.  Perhaps as a legendary battle of common knowledge.   A story passed down among generations.  If you wanted to take it to the extremes even have the battle shown from different perspectives based on the players choosen race, hometown, background, etc.  showing the different outlooks on the major event.

Or even show a different battle based upon the background of the character.
 A human cleric would see a battle that took place between a holy priest and a powerful demon.  The priest  sending it to exile where it slumbered... until it was recently unleashed again.
 A tribal barbarian could see the deathmatch  between tribal elders that determined who would lead them into war against thier encroaching enemies.  
So on and so on.

The chance to relive the history could be almost as big a bonus to the demo as the teaching factor.

I actually planned something similar for my mud, a long time ago, although (like many things) I never actually got around to implementing it. The idea was to drop the character (immediately upon login) into a huge-scale battle in which they would eventually get knocked out - they'd then wake up, and a mob would tell them that they'd be injured, and then "remind them" of what had happened and what was going on.

Not only would this fill the player in on the storyline, but it would also (hopefully) deal with those 1-minute characters who log in then quit. If (rather than sit around at recall) they are immediately dropped into the thick of the fray, then you'll instantly grab their attention (and hopefully their interest).

You may want to make your "are you new to muds?" question a bit more specific. Even if your combat system is very Diku-like, people from other mudding backgrounds might have severe trouble with it.

Hey cool new interface here...

Dont you think that perhaps getting alot of mandatory background stuff when you already know or dont really care whats going on would be perhaps a little boring? Sure, it would hold on one-time loggers but perhaps it would also chase them away.

Perhaps there should be an option "Would you like to see the backgroud of this MUD?" In general, though I think this is a very good idea. New players will instantly know, in an interactive way, what the storyline is and how they are involved.

I think that all depends on the style and genre of your game. If you're a roleplaying MU* the background story should be just as important to a new player as learning the syntax ropes of the coded structures.
If a situation similar to the one Tavish and KaVir have outlined is a turn-off to new players, they're probably not the type of players that you'd want roleplaying in your realm anywho.

That said, being a new player can come with a lot of overload and be incredibly intimidating. The trick will come in giving a new player information (both IC and OOC knowledge) gradually, and deciding upon innovative and interesting ways to do this.

Tavish's idea seems to accomplish both.

Best,
Edward

I think a newbie demo would be a wonderful idea. On top of all that has already been mentioned it would most likely keep a new player from committing an OOC offense when asking questions also and keep the storyline going a lot smoother if they can jump right in.

I think what I have finally decided to do is run it with 2 basic demo storylines you will be placed into dependant upon alignment.  All new characters will be sent through the demo with an escape feature for those who are already familiar with the MUD.
If they don't care then they will be in a world of hurt when they actually get to playing the mud.  Plus (hopefully) with the design of how the story is told through the demo it will hold thier interest more so than reading several different thematic help files.  It wont be the entire story, just enough to keep players from starting with no knowledge of the world.