Who Answered Your First Question?

This summer, two new players walked into the pygmy village in Achaea about two weeks apart. Fresh from the tour, they went looking for Beku, the chieftain whose dungeon they’d escaped, and got the same welcome.

Beku, the pygmy chieftain exclaims, "Hey! Weren't you locked up in my dungeon? How'd you escape? Guards!"
Two pygmy guards rush in at their leader's call. As one advances toward you, the other kneels and produces a hollow reed, blowing sharply into the end. A second later you feel a sting in your neck and the world goes black.

Beku sends everyone under level 10 to sleep, so this happens to a lot of new players. We’ll call these two Tessaly and Pell. We’ve changed their names and the name of everyone in their stories, and trimmed what we show for length. Each of them did the sensible thing and asked the newbie channel what to do next.

(Newbie): You say, "So I just got jumped trying to face Beku, any advice on what to do next?"
(Newbie): Dravek says, "Get more levels first! then go back later."

(Newbie): You say, "What do I do after trying to confront Beku for the first time?"
(Newbie): Fennick happily says, "Assuming you did not succeed, you reach level 10 and try again."

Each got a correct answer in under fifteen seconds, and both were soon on the same task: greet the Pixie Queen. Seven minutes after that answer, someone from Tessaly’s city sent her a tell.

Orsolya tells you, "How are you finding everything so far Tessaly?"
Orsolya tells you, "To respond to tells you can tell <adventurer> <whatever>, sorry i forgot to mention that."
You tell Orsolya, "It's certainly all a bit overwhelming just coming out of those dreadful cages."
Orsolya tells you, "Yeah, I know it can be, we are here for you, have you checked TASKS and help whatnow at all, those are good places to start."
[...]
You tell Orsolya, "At the moment I think I'm content just wandering around and following the task list as best I can. Would love some direction in finding the Pixie Queen in Minia but I'll get there."
Orsolya happily tells you, "If you use WALKTO pixie it should take you to the pixie queen and keep up the good work."

Three minutes later Tessaly was greeting the Pixie Queen. Before she logged off, she thanked her city on its channel. Three days later she was back, and someone else checked in.

(Cyrene): Maddox says, "Brannoc, Tessaly you two doing okay? Need anything?"
(Cyrene): You say, "I'm alright for now, just going to keep working at my tasks list today."
(Cyrene): Maddox says, "Awesome sauce. Let us know, you got a whole city rooting for ya."

She went on to reach ten hours of play and more. Only 5.5% of new players who finish the tour get that far.

Nobody sent Pell a tell. Pell went looking for the Pixie Queen alone (lines starting with > are what Pell typed):

> travel
SYNTAX:
TRAVEL TO <adventurer> [WITH <earring#>]
> destinations
Destinations is not a valid command.
Did you perhaps mean MEDITATE, NEWBIEON, or STAND?
> help
[the help index]
> landmarks
[Type MORE if you wish to continue reading. (36% shown)]
> go to pixies
Go is not a valid command.
Unsure of what to do now? Try HELP WHAT NOW, or ask one of our friendly helpers on the Newbie channel with NEWBIE <your message>.
[three more HELP lookups]
> travel to pixies
You have no item that will allow you to do that.

Then Pell walked there the long way, a room at a time, greeted the queen, took her quest, and typed QUIT 48 seconds later. Pell never logged in again, and the character has since been deleted.

Answers come fast

The newbie channel holds up well. Earlier this year, about 80% of questions there got a real answer in about half a minute. Tessaly and Pell were typical, and so was this new player, hunting for a quest giver in Minia:

(Newbie): You say, "Where is the pixie shaman?"
(Newbie): You say, "They arent at their house, and i cant walk to them."
[...]
(Newbie): Zini says, "Possibly dead, they should come back quick in Minia."
(Newbie): Jaksim says, "Someone might have killed them... they'll be back soon if so!"
(Newbie): Liella says, "Oh dear. I guess someone killed him! Don't worry. He'll be back in an hour or so. Why not try other quests?"

Zini, Jaksim and Liella all answered within about half a minute of the first question.

Private tells are rarer. Only 12.7% of new players got one from another player during their first session, and three in four never sent a tell or spoke on any channel in that session themselves. Of the ones who did speak up, those who then got a tell came back within a week 66% of the time, against 43% for the rest. That doesn’t prove the tell is the reason.

Why it’s worth your time

Think of the people you’d miss most if you stopped playing. Every one of them was new once. A new player who sticks around might become the friend your character argues politics with on the city channel for the next ten years, or the rival whose name your character learns the hard way.

Your character’s story needs other characters in it. A city that stops taking in new citizens ends up with the same dozen faces at every vote and every festival. And somebody has to be the novice your House teaches.

New players also turn into helpers faster than you’d think. Aletheia, further down this post, found her first day overwhelming and was answering other new players’ questions on NEWBIE by June.

A tell takes ten seconds to send, and something like “Welcome. Need a hand with anything?” is plenty.

What new players ask

Half of the questions new Achaea players asked on NEWBIE were about four things: quests and tasks, gear and shops, finding a place, and skills and lessons. Nobody needs twenty years in the game to answer them. A few real ones, with the answers they got:

“How can i see my current quests.”

Yilui, eight seconds later: “QUEST LOG!”

“And how can I see it if a mob is attackable? lol.”

Synbios: “Most mobs are attackable. Now, whether you survive them is a different question. You can PROBE or CONSIDER them to see their might.”

“Are you an npc or person.”

Solina: “This channel is OOC, so, just us players here to answer questions and help out.”

And two from Aetolia:

“Where can I find the academy?”

Daegan: “Simply head to your city and use ACADEMY TRANSPORT.”

“How do I include the emotes in my sentences when I say or tell?”

Edhain, with an example: “say (chewing on a dead beetle) this beetle is delicious.”

Where they get stuck

New players run into the same few problems again and again. We’re working on fixing all of them, but until we do, you might be the one they ask about it.

Achaea

One of the early tasks suggests trying KILL PYGMY, and the first pygmy on the road is the guard at the Miba entrance. Pygmy guards kill more new players in their first session than anything else does.

The most common place new players try to WALK TO is Miba, the pygmy village, and the game answers “No such landmark found.” Ember Tower and Eglentine come next. About a quarter of new players (26%) type a WALK TO the game won’t take. If a newbie is lost, give them a WALK TO that works, the way Orsolya did for Tessaly.

Others type TALK to speak to a quest giver and get “Talk is not a valid command.” In Achaea it’s GREET and the name, like GREET QUEEN. A bare GREET just makes you say “Greetings!”, and 13% of new players type one.

Then there’s the lake. Some new players walk into water and keep typing directions while the game tells them to swim.

Aetolia

Most new players don’t make it into their city’s Academy in their first ten hours. HELP WHATNOW calls it the “number one” place to start, but the command that gets you there, ACADEMY TRANSPORT, isn’t in it. If you see a newbie wandering at level 5, tell them to go to their city and type ACADEMY TRANSPORT.

Some new players reply to the welcomes on the Novice channel with SAY, standing alone in the Portals hub. If your welcome gets no answer, they may have answered it to an empty room. Send a tell.

New players also type commands that Aetolia calls something else: NOVICE for CNT, WALKTO for PATH, EQUIP for WEAR or WIELD, STATS for SCORE. If a newbie says a command doesn’t work, that’s often why.

The Valley of Kalebb is the first area many of them wander into, and its quest asks a level 5 player to kill nine of the villagers, from the two elders to the captain of the tower guard. One in four new players who take it finish. Blaan’s wildcat quest in the Valley of Lodi is a kinder start, and almost everyone who takes it finishes.

Paths can also route new players through rivers, so plenty of them meet “You cough and splutter as you inhale some water.” early on.

How to help, game by game

Answering is the start. Tessaly got more than an answer: someone from her city checked in on her by tell, and three days later someone on her city channel asked if she needed anything. So after you answer, send a tell. If they’re in your city or House, bring them along the next time you hunt, or pull them into whatever everyone’s arguing about this week. You can log in to any of our games at play.ironrealms.com.

Achaea

Anyone can talk on NEWBIE now; type NEWBIEON if it’s off. New citizens talk on your city channel, and new House members on HNT. At level 50, once you’ve played long enough, MENTOR offers to take a new player as your protege (you have to be in the same room); they learn lessons from you in batches of 20, and you both get bonus experience hunting together. Your city leader can also make you a City Guide.

Aetolia

Type NEWBIEON, then CNTON for your own city’s novice channel. Mentors with NEWBIEON are told when new players arrive and when they graduate. You can answer NEWBIE from the Aetolia Discord once your account is verified. MENTOR needs level 50 and 300 hours played, and you have to be in the same room.

Lusternia, Imperian and Starmourn

Lusternia has NEWBIE and MENTOR (level 50 and 300 hours). In Imperian, NEWBIE is for newbies and their mentors, so MENTOR (same requirements) is the way in. In Starmourn, veterans can answer NEWBIE in game or from the Starmourn Discord.

The people already doing this

These players answered a lot of new players’ questions on NEWBIE between May and September. In no particular order, thank you.

In Achaea: Alexzhander, Annase, Anzerloi, Boosteya, Elius, Jaksim, Kayze, Komos, Laras, Lasyll, Liella, Lusio, Maldrava, Menetta, Mortim, Oceana, Phyr, Solina, Syrek, Ulvin and Xorr.

In Aetolia: Aisling, Aliyah, Charisa, Cyran, Dyamonde, Inthirath, Pietre, Sumie and Venture.

Aletheia finished Achaea’s tour on May 28, and three minutes later she told the newbie channel:

(Newbie): You say, "This is pretty overwhelming. New texts keep appearing before I can comprehend the last. But I think I'll manage with time."

In her first two days, several players sent her tells. On the third, she answered someone else for the first time:

(Newbie): You say, "Typing "tasks" should help."

By June, she was answering new players’ questions on NEWBIE regularly.