Make getting started smoother for new players

[mrdude 1]

I'll try not to run this post to long but no promises...

I'm a long time on again off again player, and have made several characters through the years, so I feel like I have some insight into the problems a new player faces when trying to get established. 

I feel that the learning curve early on is the single biggest problem with this games lack of players. 

Think of how many characters you see in chat that are just starting out.

How many of those do you hear in chat for a week or two and then they disappear completely.

I think this is due to the difficulty in getting established early on.

I read a thread earlier about the sorry state of the starter towns on epic and that got me thinking....

New players get free food for 24 hours, so what if they got a 1 or 2 tile house in the starter towns for like a week, or a month.

Basically somewhere to keep there stuff somewhat secure while they desperately try to find a village or build a home somewhere.

After a week or a month or whatever amount of time, they would automatically be kicked out of their house in the  starter deed.

It wouldn't even have to be houses.  There could be some sort of locker in the starter towns that a player gets for the first week.  There would have to be a space restriction on the locker and then after the week, all the items are transfered to the players inventory.  Or have 1 tile houses but you cant go in them, only store items there and call them storage sheds.

This would give the starter towns some actual use, and actually have something in the towns other than empty space.

New players meet each other, get to know each other, team up and head out into the wilderness.

Obviously this idea would need to be fleshed out more, I could keep going but dont want this to turn into a book.

And some coding by rolf would have to be done.

But what do you think about something like this?

[Facesofmu 4]

It's quite possible Wurm has no higher turn-over than any other MMO, it's just we can see it more.

It's far easier to see how many players don't stay with the game because of all the changes they make. The visibility of new players lingers for a while after they are gone.

I'm not sure how a locker system would help as the things ppl want to lock up, I think, are generally the things they can't carry well when adventuring. That is:

- logs

- carts

- ore

- rock

- planks

These to me are the sorts of things ppl want to lock up for when they come back and continue, but they are also the sort of things you don't want to be hauling to the lockers every time you want to log out. I'm one of those players who tends to carry everything but imping tools around on me, just in case. I'm not sure what new players would outgrow this in the early hours of playing.

[Brash_Endeavors 4,735]

I think you don't want to make it so new players have too strong an umbilical cord to the start spawn. There's already new players complaining how there is "no free land! no trees to cut!" because they don't venture beyond a 10 minute radius of the start area, and all their decaying starter shacks pile up there.  Instituting a home base or storage facility right there AT the spawn, only makes that worse. Now they have even less reason to leave, and will insist they "can't" because all their stuff is there!

There are many many villages that welcome new players with zero skills and help integrate them into the game, and what I think is needed most, is a way to help those "learning academies" hook up better with starting players. Someone suggested a /recruit toggle, where you could see what villages had people on AT THAT MOMENT who could assist and welcome a new player into their village, and I think that would be far better than any changes that just cause the "pile up" in the radius around the spawn, to get deeper and thicker than ever.

For new players too stubborn to join a village, there are still many ways they can "apprentice" with a more experienced player in some way. BobMcKnob pays new players to sow his fields, and gives them a cabin and food AND PAY for their work. Ayes keeps a "Sanctuary" with relaxed permissions where new players can build a cabin, chop trees and mine.  I sometimes offer "free rent" cabins for new players to spend their first couple week sta before moving on. On Deliverance, Naltatis has an academy style starting area. There's at least two dozen similar "newbie friendly" start areas set up AWAY from the start spawn -- but new players probably never hear anything about them.  Some way to get the recruitment subforum and the new players together better, is probably the next best step.

Finally, this game has always been about PLAYER GENERATED CONTENT and I know more than one veteran will be uncomfortable if we discard that tradition now, by having the game system providing "early game experiences" beyond the tutorial. Wurm has always taken pride in having the players themselves provide solutions (beyond coding type issues), so learning academies and "youth travel hostels" and roadside inns are all things the players should be adding, rather than the devs.

[Facesofmu 4]

I think you don't want to make it so new players have too strong an umbilical cord to the start spawn. There's already new players complaining how there is "no free land! no trees to cut!" because they don't venture beyond a 10 minute radius of the start area, and all their decaying starter shacks pile up there.  Instituting a home base or storage facility right there AT the spawn, only makes that worse. Now they have even less reason to leave, and will insist they "can't" because all their stuff is there!

There are many many villages that welcome new players with zero skills and help integrate them into the game, and what I think is needed most, is a way to help those "learning academies" hook up better with starting players. Someone suggested a /recruit toggle, where you could see what villages had people on AT THAT MOMENT who could assist and welcome a new player into their village, and I think that would be far better than any changes that just cause the "pile up" in the radius around the spawn, to get deeper and thicker than ever.

For new players too stubborn to join a village, there are still many ways they can "apprentice" with a more experienced player in some way. BobMcKnob pays new players to sow his fields, and gives them a cabin and food AND PAY for their work. Ayes keeps a "Sanctuary" with relaxed permissions where new players can build a cabin, chop trees and mine.  I sometimes offer "free rent" cabins for new players to spend their first couple week sta before moving on. On Deliverance, Naltatis has an academy style starting area. There's at least two dozen similar "newbie friendly" start areas set up AWAY from the start spawn -- but new players probably never hear anything about them.  Some way to get the recruitment subforum and the new players together better, is probably the next best step.

Finally, this game has always been about PLAYER GENERATED CONTENT and I know more than one veteran will be uncomfortable if we discard that tradition now, by having the game system providing "early game experiences" beyond the tutorial. Wurm has always taken pride in having the players themselves provide solutions (beyond coding type issues), so learning academies and "youth travel hostels" and roadside inns are all things the players should be adding, rather than the devs.

YOU are awesome, Brash!  ;D

[mrdude 1]

I think you don't want to make it so new players have too strong an umbilical cord to the start spawn. There's already new players complaining how there is "no free land! no trees to cut!" because they don't venture beyond a 10 minute radius of the start area, and all their decaying starter shacks pile up there.  Instituting a home base or storage facility right there AT the spawn, only makes that worse. Now they have even less reason to leave, and will insist they "can't" because all their stuff is there!

There are many many villages that welcome new players with zero skills and help integrate them into the game, and what I think is needed most, is a way to help those "learning academies" hook up better with starting players. Someone suggested a /recruit toggle, where you could see what villages had people on AT THAT MOMENT who could assist and welcome a new player into their village, and I think that would be far better than any changes that just cause the "pile up" in the radius around the spawn, to get deeper and thicker than ever.

For new players too stubborn to join a village, there are still many ways they can "apprentice" with a more experienced player in some way. BobMcKnob pays new players to sow his fields, and gives them a cabin and food AND PAY for their work. Ayes keeps a "Sanctuary" with relaxed permissions where new players can build a cabin, chop trees and mine.  I sometimes offer "free rent" cabins for new players to spend their first couple week sta before moving on. On Deliverance, Naltatis has an academy style starting area. There's at least two dozen similar "newbie friendly" start areas set up AWAY from the start spawn -- but new players probably never hear anything about them.  Some way to get the recruitment subforum and the new players together better, is probably the next best step.

Finally, this game has always been about PLAYER GENERATED CONTENT and I know more than one veteran will be uncomfortable if we discard that tradition now, by having the game system providing "early game experiences" beyond the tutorial. Wurm has always taken pride in having the players themselves provide solutions (beyond coding type issues), so learning academies and "youth travel hostels" and roadside inns are all things the players should be adding, rather than the devs.

You make a lot of good points there Brash.

I didn't really think of how that would increase players attachment to the starter deed and make them less likely to move further away.  All the servers I've played on have the area all around the starter deeds turn into slums from shacks being built and decaying.  My suggestion would probabbly encourage that.

[Facesofmu 4]

I made a point that Esert of Exodus is built fantastically for this. It had no buildings, and the path lead away from the center. Now it has some bars for the bartenders and some merchant stalls, but still isn't "colonised".

I can understand it might be different in PvP servers, in that safety is very important in starter towns (do they act as "capital" cities?), but still, a lot can be done to encourgage players to move away from starter deeds, and to hand players the responsibility and inspiration to create the centres and meeting points elsewhere in the land.

[Joanavon 553]

Speaking in terms of serenity (JK Home-Epic) we've worked to install services and resources around the spawn of StrongBox such as a newb help and supply center, fight skill academy, public iron and copper mines, port, market inn's and a seed and crop bank in the hope of getting people to settle in and near SB until or unless they are joining an established deed. Since it cuts down on our overall risk, give is a place to evacuate to in reasonable safety and helps build the community more then everyone living alone in the woods someplace.

[atazs 965]

No its already a lot easier to start out for new players every year its getting easier and easier. The game isnt as hard to learn with the new tutorial as it was years ago. Creating items are also much easier as a new player because you dont lose the materials. The only thing i'd do to make it easier for newbs is to direct them to the recruiting forum at the end of the tutorial. Also if they quit after 2 weeks then maybe this game is not for them.

[mrdude 1]

Also if they quit after 2 weeks then maybe this game is not for them.

Some good and valid points you made in your post, but to me, it's this statement that is going to be the downfall of wurm.

[zCat 39]

They should be given 6 large nails and a fishing line.

They can then build a small house and feed themselves

[Tinkerer 107]

Some good and valid points you made in your post, but to me, it's this statement that is going to be the downfall of wurm.

I don't see why. Not everyone who gives the game 'a good chance' by playing for a week or two is going to like it. Some people can tell within 30 minutes, others a few days, some people like to give the game the benefit of the doubt until they really decide its not for them. Not everyone will like Wurm.

As for getting established early on, it isn't all that difficult to make a large cart and lock it.