[dark acacia]

Again, the sitting and listening thing doesn't work in games like what you describe here. There's always room for new players in theory (ever notice how cheap flash drives are these days? 512mb used to be $60), it's just that the story is so perfectly and neatly wrapped up with a bow that no one wants to unwrap it and put the batteries in. I know it's two months too late for a Christmas metaphor, but there you go.

I've played games where I've had to work into involvement and get somewhere in 2-3 real days; I've played games where I was pulled in right away; and I've played games where I'd sit around and do nothing but listen to remarks on the OOC channel and eventually get accused of not wanting to participate.

As an aside: I once played a game where absolutely nothing was ever going on in the game ever. The imms felt bad for me and on week two bent the new character application period so that I could make another character without having to wait the full month, and even then no one was doing anything. Strangest thing I ever saw.

[Darren Brimhall]

Then there are games where the crowd wont even try helping you because you may not stick around after the free play time limit exspires. Or that they're an alt of a current player.

There's also Metagammers who claim the game as 'theirs' due to their friends on Staff, and friends with characters in high positions. It wouldn't matter if you've been there a long time or just joined, one 'wrong', but very innocent character move, and you have plenty of enemies.

But not all of us are perfict players. Some of us, like my friend Nancy, player of Squire Ambra at Castle Marrach, of whose treatment at the hands of Metagamers there I have cited as reasons for all gamers to avoid the place, suffer from mental defects that effect memory and make it hard for them to concentrate on things going on.

However, she is very determined despite her handicaps. And did go quite far before finally being stopped by those players who didn't like her--and me for helping her--back in 2010...And again this past May. Oh they welcomed her with open arms, and some players did try helping her as I did (and to them I am very thankful for), but by November it became apparent that she was never going to get anywhere she wanted to go with her character due to the same people who chased her out back in 2010. Nancy has since left, with no intention of ever returning, and is currently devoting her energies towards another MUD and a Openism Grid with me.

The point of all this is is that Players sell the Game. And the best way of selling it to a new arrival is to get them involved in whats going on around them at that very moment. Its also going to be a given that not all arrivals have read the guides, manuals, rules, whatever, so its also very helpful to be very paticent with all new players. Its also a given that not everything will be covered in the rules right off the bat. I always assume that with any game, and will ask questions about it. How I'm treated while doing this, and during the overall course of play, will convince me weither the Game is worth my time or not.

Because to make it even simpler, not every disatifed and angry player will post their grevances against a certain Game on an open board. But they will tell their friends to avoid it.
And their friends will tell their freinds...

You gotta deal with people with a grain of salt, in both RL and in a MUD. Never forget that.



Darren Brimhall