unforum

[Phaedra]

[Wolf]

[Phaedra]

[krystyn]

I am all for organization and/or support. But when it comes down to a person's personal frustration level or desire to play a particular game, I draw the line. I can't make anyone like anything, you know?

I guess that was the only point I was making, as it related to "good" and "bad" games.

As for being a Cloudmaker, I joined the group on the night of the A.R.M. rallies, and I had Y!Groups set to send each message to me as an individual email.

You wanna talk confusing? That was a sheer nightmare. Add to that the IRC logs from that evening, and the cell phone transcripts and coordination, and it being all very new ... I am still sort of amazed that I stuck with it, and I tend to be a pretty determined chick. It was an absolute avalanche of information ... on Yahoo!Groups. Talk about a steep handicap in terms of content management. Hoo whee.

So yes, I think examining and fine-tuning our help sections and welcome efforts is good. But when we get to the subjective bits, I am a big fan of letting those players go gently into that good night. People like what they like.

[yanka]

[vpisteve]

My submission to this whole concept (which is actually a little offtopic from the thread head) is this:

The ultimate responsibility lies with the Puppetmasters to creat a game that is ACCESSIBLE to new players. If a game ends up being so murky and convoluted that absolutely nobody can make sense of it, that's not necessarily the fault of the players or community, ya know?

Now, granted, player-created resources such as a Guide or Trail (ok, maybe even a Wiki) are essential, but ultimately, the PMs are the ones that should be worried about this the most, as they're the ones who stand to lose or gain the most.

Nobody wants new players to be able to get easily plugged in more than the PMs. Admittedly, this continues to be a challenge, but a well-designed game will have some sort of "story-so-far" and perhaps point to other resources in an in-game way.

Personally, rather than hold somebody's hand through the process, I've felt that pointing people in the right direction, giving them the tools, and then just letting them dive in is the most effective. A big part of ARG fun is the disovery process, it gives you a feeling of accomplishment. In fact, that's kind of been the underlying point of this whole ARGN thing. Not that there aren't things we could do better.

[Phaedra]

[Phaedra]

[setters393]

chat chat chat

[Alzheimers]

What's the best way for a newbie to get involved in the ARG community? Why, to join in a game that's just starting up -- that's how! What's more addicting than to experience the thrill of following that first hint of a rabbithole; to be part of a solve to discover a new in-game site; to take the plunge and make contact with an in-game character. Essentially, to experience first-hand what it's like to not just play a game, but be a part of one, start to finish.

Not every new game is newbie friendly, but traditionally this isn't a genre that picks and chooses it's audience. It's a wide open free-for-all, where those behind the curtains put on their song and dance, and an audience either forms or ignores it. The unfortunate side effect is that sometimes these displays either don't live up to their promise, or turn into something totally different.

So as a community we have to decide something very important. Either we choose to accept each "song and dance" routine with suspicion and distrust, and wait for the game to develop with a minimum of attention to start with (which, in turn, will leave the game without a community to play it, which defeats their whole purpose) or we stand behind as many of these projects as possible, in the futile hope that we can squeeze as many diamonds from this coal mine as we can.

In trying to give proper consideration to as many of these games as possible--Indie, Grassroots, Big Time, or Commercial--the more experienced players will decide for themselves whether they want to be a part of it or not. But I don't think the nod and the casual glance is enough to draw the new players into the experience. After all, it's the leaders of this community that end up being the teachers. Whether the legacy we share is one of apathy or excitement, it's up to you.

[Varin]

[QBKooky]

[Wolf]

Ah, metaphor...

[Ozy_y2k]

[Phaedra]