This page applies to: Virtual Animals

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Advice for the New

Here are a few pointers to help you avoid being a "n00b," a new player who is clueless, annoying, and generally despised. If nothing on this list is shockingly new to you, then give yourself a BIG pat on the back... but don't sprain your arm or anything, we want you to keep playing the game! :)

1. Know the site rules and read the help files. Most of your questions will be answered by the help files. Pay extra attention to a website's FAQ if they have one, and don't post anything or email anyone before reading it. FAQ means "Frequently Asked Questions," which means "people on the message board have answered this once a day for the past two months and are sick of it."

Read before you ask! Your question has probably already been answered somewhere.

2. Don't treat a message board as a chat room. Message boards or forums are places where posts are visible for days. Chat rooms are places where all of the players who are online can see a new line of text and reply to it the instant that it is posted. Neopets confused the issue for many game players when they created an ungodly hybrid of the two which should not be allowed to continue. However, on most sites a question asked on a message board will be answered in minutes or hours, and you will only annoy players by demanding a faster response.

Don't post a question, then post "Is anyone there?" 30 seconds later, and "You ppl r mean, im going back 2 hl!1!" 30 seconds after that. It is possible that no one is browsing that section of the forums at the instant that you post. Other people aren't ignoring or snubbing you; they just haven't seen your post yet.

Similarly, it is not necessary to "bump" a post (posting a contentless comment only to move it back to the top of the forum) unless it is actually about to vanish from the message board. Posts don't need to be bumped back into the top position every time someone replies to another topic.

3. Post in the right place with a descriptive subject. If there are multiple message boards, make sure that you are posting on the right one. Use a subject line that describes what you are posting. "Everyone read this!" is a bad subject line if you are advertising a Chihuahua for sale --- everyone is not looking for a Chihuahua. "Chihuahua for sale" is better. If you can squeeze in some details about the dog, even better!

4. Don't lie or cheat. For some reason, online animal simulation games seem to attract people who want to lie outrageously about their real life and pets, or get ahead by breaking game rules. You will be caught - other people know more about the way the game works and the animals that you claim to have. Most 9 year olds cannot actually convince anyone that they are 21 (and if your spelling and grammar is good enough to get away with it, I'm sure you're smart enough to recognize the folly of this scheme). Remember that almost everything you type is accessible to the site administrator, and it's not hard to figure out the truth.

If a forum encorages roleplaying (pretending to be someone/something you are not), then it will be in clearly marked areas.

5. Don't expect special consideration from other players. Everyone in the game started out the same way. Don't beg for more money, items, animals, or anything else. Keep in mind that older players may be reluctant to sell you things when you are a new player because many new players leave, and they don't want the animals/items lost. Just wait a while and try again.

In many games you can find an older player to be your mentor if you approach people respectfully.

Advice for the Old

And just to be fair, here are some pointers for people who have established themselves in a game:

Remember that the question may be in the FAQ and have been answered three times today, but the person asking the question hasn't seen it in any of those places or they wouldn't be asking. Avoid lumping the "n00bs" into one mental group and remember that even if it's the twentieth time you've posted a link, it's probably this person's first offense --- so don't treat them like a repeat offender unless you have proof that they actually are.

It sounds trite, but we were all new players once. More than that, new players are the only way for any computer game to survive. In the future, some of the people who join today will be the ones who keep the game alive and help pay the server bills. Don't discourage new players; that's like the leaves of a plant trying to hack off the roots --- growth will stop and the plant will die.

And when new players are simply too outrageously pigheaded to be dealt with, try to ignore them. Don't start a debate with them, insult them, or try to hold them up for public ridicule. Bring in a moderator or site admin to help you handle the problem when it gets out of hand, not a lynch mob.

 

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