Making Helpers more visible

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Sesexe
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Making Helpers more visible

Postby Sesexe » Thu Apr 22, 2004 4:25 pm

Right now 'who helper' will show who the current newbie helpers are.

Unfortunately, that and seeing one respond on NHC, are the only two ways.

Could it be possible to perhaps divine new ways to make it obvious to other players you are a designated newbie helper? So you could be standing in the room with one and immediately know?

Maybe "Helper" in their title?
Or a big yellow H before their name similar to NHC?

I dunno. Just wish it was more visible to folks.
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Postby Ambar » Fri Apr 23, 2004 6:01 am

wish my alts could use the nhc much as i can use the assoc chat channel as my alts
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Postby Sarvis » Fri Apr 23, 2004 6:11 am

I wish I could use NHC without actually being a helper... heh.
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Sesexe
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Postby Sesexe » Fri Apr 23, 2004 4:54 pm

Sarvis wrote:I wish I could use NHC without actually being a helper... heh.


I thought you were a newbie Sarvis, that's why you posted in Savras newbie thread. ;D
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Postby Sarvis » Fri Apr 23, 2004 5:30 pm

So I guess Mielikki and ssar are newbies also, by your logic. ;)

Nah, just posted there because I was curious about a couple things from a newb perspective, and to support what I thought sounded like good ideas.
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Postby Snurgt » Sat Apr 24, 2004 1:42 am

I like the idea of seeing a helper title in the room. It would be cool if only those level 20 and under could see it.
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Postby Crumar » Sat Apr 24, 2004 9:09 pm

Would love to see it set up so when I log on an alt I can have access to the newbie channel to help others out. Wouldn't mind seeing some sort of way for newer players to see who the helpers are either. Would benefit them and the mud a lot in the long run if people can see who to ask when it comes to certain class oriented questions without having to spam nhc out of fear of looking too new.

Crumar.
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Postby Gormal » Sun Apr 25, 2004 1:18 am

If you want your alts to have nhc access just ask for them to get helper status... I've got it on all of mine. We used to have a (H) flag in our titles, wouldn't mind to see that come back in a toggable form. There's definitely times where I'm too busy/afk to field questions.
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Postby Lirela » Sun Apr 25, 2004 5:16 am

Could always make the flag visible only if the helper is tuned into NHC. (Newbie too, for that matter. If they turn off the channel, they can still see who helpers are with 'who')

I do like the idea though. Lots of times a newbie will be the same room with a helper and still use NHC for questions. And I know a lot of newbies prefer to use tells, maybe too embarrassed to use the channel. This would definitely make it easier for them.

I know there's a lot of flags in titles now, but a (H) showing up for people tuned into NHC would be nice.
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Postby Gormal » Sun Apr 25, 2004 6:31 am

Personally, I want to be able to tune into nhc and not have the flag show up. That's just me though!
Stamm
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Postby Stamm » Sun Apr 25, 2004 6:30 pm

Hrm, I strongly disagree with you Sesexe.

Helpers should be mainly on NHC.

'who helper' seems to be a list of who to ask for a cr, or for equipment, or to level you up.

If the help they require can't be asked for on NHC it shouldn't be asked for at all. Sure, sometimes taking it to tells can be helpful, but generally speaking, it's good if all the new players currently on get the advice, because they may run into the same problem.

What difference would it make if it was visible in the room?

Since the NHC flag was removed from Stamm (the muds losss, not mine) the amount of tells I get from new players has dropped significantly. Maybe that's a good thing, I dunno.
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Postby Sesexe » Mon Apr 26, 2004 9:32 am

Lirela wrote:Could always make the flag visible only if the helper is tuned into NHC. (Newbie too, for that matter. If they turn off the channel, they can still see who helpers are with 'who')


Wait, you can toggle NHC off and on as a helper? :O Holy Cheese and Crackers!! I've had it on since I got it, 3+ years, thinking if I tog'd it off I'd loose it! AAAYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!

On the serious note:
Helpers should be anywhere they can to be able to show and instruct newbies how to play. You can teach someone 5x's more by walking them thru their first steps (where you can notice any hints that they aren't aware of, ex. display all), as compared to telling them over the phone (tell/nhc).

'who helper' isn't always known about by every newbie and a lot of times they forget (I often find myself pointing this out to noobs, who thank me having not known).

If say those who can use NHC are the only ones who can see this flag in a person's title, it would allow them to be more visible to those who need them while not adding spam to the rest. More visible helpers is the whole point here. A new player would be less intimidated to ask an appropriate aligned/classed helper then a non-helper, especially when said players are of the highest levels. (Ex. Not everyone wants to disturb the level 50 just to find out how to get to the town store.)
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Postby Lirela » Mon Apr 26, 2004 4:16 pm

I've never run into that problem, Stamm. Newbies hardly ever send me tells, much less to ask for eq/leveling. Do others have that problem?
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Postby Stamm » Mon Apr 26, 2004 5:19 pm

It's not a problem as such, just something I think that if we encouraged would perhaps become one.
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Postby Lirela » Mon Apr 26, 2004 6:59 pm

What don't you want to be encouraged? Sending tells to helpers, or asking for eq/leveling?

I agree, newbies are better helped by tutoring them how to get their own eq/levels, rather than handing it to them. But as far as tells go, I love getting tells.. cuz if it's a matter of tells vs. sitting in wonder, I'd much rather they ask. Like I said, I think a lot of newbies are maybe too shy to use NHC, or turn it off for spam and then forget they have it when there is a question or..for whatever reason, they don't use it. It's a great tool, but not everyone uses the great tools all the time.

Anyway, I really don't have strong feelings either way about putting flags on helpers. I think it would help some people a lot, but if it doesn't happen I think we'll all still be ok. A toggle feature for the flag itself is another good option, for the people who don't want to be identified as a helper so easily.

Rambling done. Lirela out.
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Postby Stamm » Mon Apr 26, 2004 8:31 pm

Thinking a bit more about it, I honestly can't remember being asked a single NHC suitable question, unles it was a continuation of something from NHC.

No questions like hmm, "How do I see what weapon I'm using"

The tells I got were more like "Do you have any spare stuff?"
"I died, can you get me back to my stuff"
"Can you get me 75% xp?"

Hmm, no, I've been asked several times from people looking for a race/class to play.

Aside from that though, all 'who helper' seems to do is attract the wrong kind of questions.

Questions that can be asked on NHC, do get asked on NHC, so I don't see the benefit of making helpers more visible, other than making it even easier for people to identify soft touches for babysitting :P

Of course that's just my experiences, not everybody elses, so I'd be interested to hear your thoughts and experiences.
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Postby Todrael » Mon Apr 26, 2004 10:00 pm

When I played, I got tons of tells from people for directions, levelling information (where to go, not asking me to plevel), where to get good eq (not for me to get it for them), and generally things they felt were better directed at a particular person instead of the NHC channel at large. I always tried to encourage people to use 'who helper' and send tells whenever they wanted, and they didn't seem to have too much trouble doing so, though very few knew about it.
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Sesexe
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Postby Sesexe » Mon Apr 26, 2004 10:03 pm

Stamm wrote:The tells I got were more like "Do you have any spare stuff?"
"I died, can you get me back to my stuff"
"Can you get me 75% xp?"


Do you think they could be alts, or experienced mudders? Maybe?

I seem to deal with different types of questions/people then yourself on the average. Within the past week I had to show up to 3 new players: how to see their stats, the coins they carried, how to deposit money, and/or about putting them in your bags, the benefits of not being hungry/thirsty, how to control your spam settings, etc. (Half were neutrals, half were evils btw)

Just seems strange we're getting completely different types of people approaching us. Real noobs will almost always send you tells the next time their on and see you just to ask how you're doing and express a happiness with playing the game.

Say.. what are you usually doing when you get hit up for questions? I normallly look for players asking newbie type questions on NHC and then go out over the mud and find them to see how they are doing. That's when I usually get a lot more direct questions.
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Postby Lirela » Tue Apr 27, 2004 11:57 am

After thinking about it some more and talking around a bit, I guess I don’t see a huge need for the helper flag in the title. We can’t be that hard to find, and even if we are there is always petition or nhc.

I did have an idea for another option. Since the bigger issue seems to be that newbies don’t know about “who helper,” why not make a line go through each time someone under lvl 20 uses NHC that says: If you would like to speak one-on-one with a helper, use ‘who helper’ to find a list of helpers online. (Or maybe something more concise..) I picture it similar to the warning that we used to see when we used the OOC channel on Toril. Nothing too spammy, but probably the most likely place for newbies to actually read it. You could also send a similar message to newbies when they turn off NHC. I just haven’t heard of many people going through the tutorial, and with so many questions about how to enter the game from that first room, I know many don’t read the description in that room. Which is unfortunate, but this would make sure they get the information, or at least be the most likely way to get them the info.

Anyway, I think the helper system is great the way it is, and I really love being able to help shape newbies who come to the mud ready to learn.. but if the need is found for a tweak, I think this would be a good option.

-Lirela-
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Postby Dalar » Tue Apr 27, 2004 6:12 pm

I dunno, I have a couple of stalkers Sesexe so sometimes I wonder who a person is when I am helping newbies. Remember Adalek?
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Postby Sesexe » Tue Apr 27, 2004 6:46 pm

Hrmm.. No I don't. Who was that?

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