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Helping New Players
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Rill View Drop Down
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    Posted: 22 Oct 2011 at 19:47
There has been discussion of late about how best to help players new to Illy.  I for one think this discussion is great -- a reflection of the Illy community's desire to reach out to include new players.

So I pose these questions and ask vets, "mids", total newbs and even noobs to give your answers.

1)  What was the best "help" you received as a new player?  "Help" can be advice, information, resources, encouragement, armies sent in your defense ... whatever.

2)  What "help" do you wish you had received?

3)  If you are in a position to help new players, how do you do so, and why do you choose those ways?

4)  If you are reluctant to help new players or do not offer specific types of help, why do you feel those types of "help" should be avoided?

5)  What can newer players do (or not do) to encourage the community to help them specifically and newer players in general?

6)  I'm sure I've omitted important questions, so please make any other comments too.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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Kurfist View Drop Down
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I wonder if my opinion is worth anything.

1. Advice, mind you i learned from shrapnel and he knew pretty much everything to know, good teacher. 

2.  In the fall of 2010 i wished i had received resource aid, but then i remembered how happy i was to have 100 per hour for the four basic resources pumping in, i felt pretty boss at the time.

3.  I would offer beginner advice, some minor resource aid, patience is a virtue my dear friends, you cant be expecting resource caravans coming in every hour. I am also yet to see some sort of teaching "classes" in illy, i to teach the history, the goods the bads and the funnies.  You can learn as much from the past as you can from the present.

4.  I come back to resource aid, it is good and helpful to new players when used sparingly, im not against the aid but there should be a limit, otherwise your teaching the new generation 2011-12 to be exact that resource aid will come whenever you ask.

5.  Politeness is key, if you insult the caregiver he probably wont care if someone gives you a spanking. Be egar to learn, theres much in illyriad, more then city work anyway
Patience is a virtue, resource giving is a sin
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The_Dude View Drop Down
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Originally posted by Rill Rill wrote:



1)  What was the best "help" you received as a new player?  "Help" can be advice, information, resources, encouragement, armies sent in your defense ... whatever.

Hmmm.  Back in the old days, there was no GC or AC.  Just this forum or an alliance's external forum.  Due to the lack of any coherent guide explaining the game, I asked a lot of questions on the forum.  After a week, I was hounded off the forum for asking too many questions.  I stayed away from about 6 or 7 months.

Quote 2)  What "help" do you wish you had received?

I think the player tip sheets cover the basics for a new player.

Quote 3)  If you are in a position to help new players, how do you do so, and why do you choose those ways?

To players with no more than 50 pop that I notice on GC, I send a single van of 500 each: Gold, Basic Res, Food.  Someday when my bookmaking capacity is high enough, I will include 50 books, too.  I try not to send any more than that.  Sometimes I forget that I already sent a player a welcome wagon and he gets another.

I direct new players to my tip sheet.

I try to answer questions as often as time allows.

I provide military assistance on a case-by-case basis as appropriate.

Quote 4)  If you are reluctant to help new players or do not offer specific types of help, why do you feel those types of "help" should be avoided?

I do not help players that have offensive player names or city names.  I block the offensive player names on GC.  I do not send a welcome wagon to any city with an offensive name in order to avoid subjecting myself to the offending name in my trade movements screen.

Quote 5)  What can newer players do (or not do) to encourage the community to help them specifically and newer players in general?

Say hi on GC.  No need to ask for resources.  New players should ask their questions.

Quote 6)  I'm sure I've omitted important questions, so please make any other comments too.

Duh...I dunno.  Ouch
The_Dude abides.
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Jane DarkMagic View Drop Down
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As a relatively new player (middle-sized lol), I'll send a lil to anyone with less than 100 population who seems to be making an effort to be friendly and not so much just straight out begging in gc...  I don't think it's asking that's as wrong as asking and that's all they do in gc....
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I love Illy and want to see more players join and stay. Therefore, I occasionally send a resource shipment sto new players to mitigate the initial high attrition rate; I  cherrfully answer questions when I make it to GC or if I am PMed and I help squash the occasional player who thinks it is funny or fun or interesting to harass new players.
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rajab View Drop Down
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well as a new player , i would say that the only thing that made me continue playing was the care shipments i got when i started
if it weren't for the nice people in the community illy would be like any other browser game
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Ander View Drop Down
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Originally posted by Rill Rill wrote:

1)  What was the best "help" you received as a new player?  "Help" can be advice, information, resources, encouragement, armies sent in your defense ... whatever.

First welcome package with 50 each of all advanced resources. That gesture made a big impression on me. 

The invitation to join Absaroke was another. We were an even smaller group back then. They journey became much more exciting, I made friends who answered my endless questions with long patient IGMs. Nothing beats being in a good alliance, I'd recommend any new player to find an alliance as soon as possible.

Originally posted by Rill Rill wrote:

2)  What "help" do you wish you had received?

Nothing as such. There were a few questions for which I couldn't get an answer from GC or Alliance. I am glad that I didnt get help. I had to experiment with stuff to find them out. There are much stuff still left for me to find out. That makes the game exciting.

Originally posted by Rill Rill wrote:

3)  If you are in a position to help new players, how do you do so, and why do you choose those ways?
The only way I help is by answering specific questions and suggesting good tiles for city placement on the locations they prefer. I do the later because city placement is not easily reversible and I regret some of the tiles I chose for myself in the beginning.

Originally posted by Rill Rill wrote:

4)  If you are reluctant to help new players or do not offer specific types of help, why do you feel those types of "help" should be avoided?

I am reluctant to send much basic resources. A few of my cities have only around 1000 res/hr and my caravans are in constant use. Many newbies have better resource tiles than me. 

I do not think resource help should be avoided. What I dislike is some new players getting dependent on help and begging in the global chat.

Originally posted by Rill Rill wrote:

5)  What can newer players do (or not do) to encourage the community to help them specifically and newer players in general?

Newer players should explore things and develop their own playstyles. 

Following tipsheets blindly is one thing newer players should specifically avoid. By the time they get bored and leave, they wouldn't even know what they missed.

The newbie tipsheets are good to read but not to follow. The seemingly obvious things stated in the tipsheets are neither exciting nor very efficient methods to play the game. One wouldn't gain any insight into the game if they keep following a tipsheet.


Originally posted by Rill Rill wrote:

6)  I'm sure I've omitted important questions, so please make any other comments too.

Very good set of questions Rill!
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Skirty View Drop Down
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Originally posted by Rill Rill wrote:

1)  What was the best "help" you received as a new player?  "Help" can be advice, information, resources, encouragement, armies sent in your defense ... whatever.

Reading tips on GC about which buildings to build, which spells were the best to defend a newbie, what sort of diplo attacks were actually a threat to me as a small player, the fact that I oughtn't be attacked right after leaving player protection, so I didn't have to rush to create a large defensive army when I was too small to support one. That sort of thing.

Originally posted by Rill Rill wrote:

2)  What "help" do you wish you had received?
I'm happy with that help. I never asked for resources in GC. I did get some occasionally when I joined in the conversation but I wasn't talking just to get resources. I eventually got an invitation to join a training alliance because I got into a bit of banter with a couple of larger players. 

Originally posted by Rill Rill wrote:

3)  If you are in a position to help new players, how do you do so, and why do you choose those ways?
I sometimes send some basic res to people in GC that seem polite, but mostly my caravans go to the newer members of our training alliance.

Originally posted by Rill Rill wrote:

4)  If you are reluctant to help new players or do not offer specific types of help, why do you feel those types of "help" should be avoided?
As some others have said, I think that spoonfeeding everyone encourages reliance on "careavans" and not self sufficiency. In any MMO (and especially those that don't cost money) there will be trolls, and people who just don't understand or know how to be polite. The only help those people get from me is a request to stop using bad/abusive language, etc. (It's "help" because if they desist, they might not get a banhammer!). I don't have a problem with people asking for resources, it's when they just spam GC with "gief res plx" over and over again that it annoys/irritates me.

Originally posted by Rill Rill wrote:

5)  What can newer players do (or not do) to encourage the community to help them specifically and newer players in general?
Be polite, ask questions, respect others in chat. Bear in mind that behind the pixels are real people.

Originally posted by Rill Rill wrote:

6)  I'm sure I've omitted important questions, so please make any other comments too.
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Vanerin View Drop Down
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Quote 1)  What was the best "help" you received as a new player?  "Help" can be advice, information, resources, encouragement, armies sent in your defense ... whatever.
The best thing I got was a warm welcome. Even outside of the generous gifts, everyone was so friendly.

Quote 2)  What "help" do you wish you had received?
I think I got a nice balance of help and "do it yourself"

Quote 3)  If you are in a position to help new players, how do you do so, and why do you choose those ways?
I try to send vans with basics, a little food, some horses for them to build vans, and some books.
If I send more after that, they will typically have only basics.
And I post (spam) links to new players on GC.

Quote 4)  If you are reluctant to help new players or do not offer specific types of help, why do you feel those types of "help" should be avoided?
My goal to help new players become independent. So if they are asking for stuff that will detract from that goal, I tend to save my help for other players.

Quote 5)  What can newer players do (or not do) to encourage the community to help them specifically and newer players in general?
Be friendly in GC!

Quote 6)  I'm sure I've omitted important questions, so please make any other comments too.
Well, this is not an important question, but I would love to hear why people help new players here in illy.

Thanks for a great topic Rill!
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Moraki View Drop Down
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Quote Rill wrote:
1)  What was the best "help" you received as a new player?  "Help" can be advice, information, resources, encouragement, armies sent in your defense ... whatever.

Still i'm learning but i was helped a lot even from people outside of my alliance.People where answering my questions and also they where sending resources to me.But i was lucky to find that really friendly alliance and now im having great time in this great game:)

Quote Rill wrote:
2)  What "help" do you wish you had received?

Nothing more...I think that i was helped more than enought

Quote Rill wrote:
3)  If you are in a position to help new players, how do you do so, and why do you choose those ways?

Send them free resources,answer their questions and help them in their first steps from people that will try to farm them..!

Quote Rill wrote:
4)  If you are reluctant to help new players or do not offer specific types of help, why do you feel those types of "help" should be avoided?

Im not helping new players when they beg...Im not obliged to help them and none of those guys that helped me was..

Quote Rill wrote:
5)  What can newer players do (or not do) to encourage the community to help them specifically and newer players in general?


Say a hi on GC.Be friendly and respectful

Quote Rill wrote:
6)  I'm sure I've omitted important questions, so please make any other comments too.

<3 all?:P
I want to live on your hug!
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