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 Forum index » Meta » General META Discussion
Newbies and timing their entrance
Moderators: imbri, ndemeter
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Mikeyj
Unfictologist


Joined: 18 Oct 2004
Posts: 1847
Location: London
Phaedra wrote:
vpisteve wrote:
There's no such thing as "pre-game." You either set the hook effectively, or you don't.


Erm, then why is there an entire pre-game forum for Perplex City? Smile

I'm not saying I like pre-games or anything, but they do appear to be out there...


I'm not sure we've decided whether there Syzygy was pre-pre-game, with the actual game beginning with full card launch and the bit between Syzygy and the cards as pre game. Although...I get what vpisteve means with no pre-game, these are all just markers that we've tagged onto the process. It's be interesting to know what MC feel about it. Easy to think of chapters rather than pre games etc. Most of Project Syzygy was vast quantities of SPEC anyway, good for laugh now!

Incidentally, being a newbie lasts longer than the one game. I've been about for a while and very PXC-centric (though I do like to lurk in the others) so still feel like a newb in terms of everything else. The time-scale and nature of the puzzles has certainly biased my ARG experience.
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 17, 2005 9:30 am
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MageSteff
Pretty talky there aintcha, Talky?


Joined: 06 Jun 2003
Posts: 2716
Location: State of Denial

 		Re: Newbies and timing their entrance
catherwood wrote:
Would beginners (who have never played an ARG before) do better by joining a game already in progress, one with a guide or summaries? Do they fumble around by entering a game too early, too soon after initial launch? Do seasoned ARGers develop a sixth sense about fresh launches, such as when and where to poke or when it is best to wait for more info?

...
So, should we really encourage new recruits to dive into a currently-running game -- as well as learn the technical ropes by watching and playing along -- rather than wait for a fresh launch? Discuss.


I am only qualified to speak about my personal experience...

I was never, by any stretch of the word, a founder of Unfiction or one who started playing with any of the first few games that were put together, discovered and played. I joined UF on 06 Jun 2003, the 514th member to officially sign up for UF (or so the member list has marked me).

At that time, the community was lucky to have one or two games in various states of completion. If I had not jumped into Chasing the Wish -the only game "running" at the time I joined... you would have lost me. I would not have bothered to hang around if I did not jump into the game that had caught my attention and led me to UF. It was also during that same game that I became the top poster on UF (ok we were a lot smaller then, and Phaedra had not joined yet Rock On * air kisses*).

Did I fumble around while I was getting my ARG feet? Sure. But I would have fumbled around regardless if I had joined a game in the middle or joined a new game starting out. You can read all you want about how to look for clues - but it doesn't really sink in how to read things like "source" until you actually look at it and think about it (I am still an html n00b- so I will still make mistakes even now).

As for new players, I'd say encourage them to do a few things...

1. Read the posting guidelines. When I started there were fewer active n00b posters, so I was forgiven for trouting. With the influx of a large number of players at one time in games like MU and ILB which brought in people from other areas who were not familiar with ARG BB netiquette suddenly showed up... In the lands they arrived from it was perfectly acceptable to repeat comments such as "Dude! did you see the flaming piquant of danger there! I was so totally busted." Noise to signal was not really an issue in those lands. Here, we try to keep the noise down, or rather redirect the noise to areas set aside for it.

2. Learn that Search is your friend. I am one of the experts, and it can still take me several tries to find the things I am looking for, even when I know they exist and approximately where they are. Point them to search, but don't chew them up if they post something that has already been pointed out, unless they make a real bad habit of it (every post would be a example of bad habit).

3. Take a look around, encourage them to read as many of the forums as they feel comfortable doing (I remember when it was still possible to read every new post in every forum, including rumors and timewasters).

4. Let the new players choose for themselves without interference if they want to jump into a currently running game - with trails, guides, wikis and chat rooms, it really is not all that hard to do, or one that is just warming up. I joined Chasing the Wish about half way through the game, Acheron long after the pre-game but was there for the launch. Chasing the Wish hooked me in, I am afraid with Acheron, as good as it was, if it had been my first time, the hiatus in the middle of the game for reasons beyond the PM's control, you probably would have lost me because of it (hey, I'm human, I make mistakes too).

5. If they decide to jump into a game that is well past the launch, encourage them to go back and read what has come before in the game. They don't need to do it before they make their first post in a game, but it will help get them up to speed and prevent a few of the trouted posts.

6. Encourage them to hang around and be social. You never know when one of them could be the next great PM. Wink

In conclusion, I am very grateful to the gang that was willing to allow me time to make my mistakes and learn from them, rather than jump on my case because I didn't bother reading all the instructions on how to decipher the source code. In fact it was a couple of weeks before I read Mart's "Golden Rules." Thanks for putting up with me, bad habits and all.


I am very surprised that my aspell for opera has the correct spelling of netiquette
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 17, 2005 12:16 pm
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Dionysus
Unfettered

Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Posts: 612
Location: Philadelphia Area
Mikeyj wrote:
Incidentally, being a newbie lasts longer than the one game. I've been about for a while and very PXC-centric (though I do like to lurk in the others) so still feel like a newb in terms of everything else. The time-scale and nature of the puzzles has certainly biased my ARG experience.


One of the best things Ive seen in this thread. Just wanted to say that.


And post counts LIE! Dont rely on someones post count as a judge of experience! I have a hudnred somethign posts and have the forum rank of "Veteran" but I have even been through one game! Ive only really played OC (Does Majestic really count? It imploded and all...).. I just post like crazy (almost 4 posts a day..lately, more)
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 17, 2005 3:35 pm
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MageSteff
Pretty talky there aintcha, Talky?


Joined: 06 Jun 2003
Posts: 2716
Location: State of Denial
Dionysus wrote:

And post counts LIE! Dont rely on someones post count as a judge of experience! I have a hudnred somethign posts and have the forum rank of "Veteran" but I have even been through one game! Ive only really played OC (Does Majestic really count? It imploded and all...).. I just post like crazy (almost 4 posts a day..lately, more)


They lie only if you have been making one sentence comments to EVERYTHING without contributing thoughts of your own.

Dio, you contribute. And that is no lie.
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A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead


PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 2:56 am
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oliverkeers13
Entrenched


Joined: 23 May 2005
Posts: 917
Location: London, UK
MageSteff wrote:

They lie only if you have been making one sentence comments to EVERYTHING without contributing thoughts of your own.

I agree Wink
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 6:55 am
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Pixiestix
Resident Angry Midget


Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 2465
Location: Tomorrow's Talk Studios
MageSteff wrote:

They lie only if you have been making one sentence comments to EVERYTHING without contributing thoughts of your own.


Well, yes and no. There are some people who have only played one game - therefore are not very experienced in multi-game styles - but were big contributors to that one game and have a large post count.

Then there are those who have very low post counts, but *I* would go ahead and call them experts {ie: Dave, who as of this moment has a post count of 62}.
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 2:39 pm
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