Newbie tag idea

[Nukechicken]

Was thinking that maybe people with less than 4 hours playtime get an extra flavor text like "they look unfamiliar" or "they don't look like they're from here" so experienced players don't get too angry when some random person who doesn't know the rules murderbones them, grey tide style, and so mentors may have a higher priority on certain players that may not even know the controls

[Fursamie]

2 hours ago, Nukechicken said:

Was thinking that maybe people with less than 4 hours playtime get an extra flavor text like "they look unfamiliar" or "they don't look like they're from here" so experienced players don't get too angry when some random person who doesn't know the rules murderbones them, grey tide style, and so mentors may have a higher priority on certain players that may not even know the controls

Think it should be longer than 4 hours, since at least for me, it took a good day to get down the controls, forget anything else

[WingedYordle]

Not many players look at flavour text.

[Landerlow]

I'm not sure this is necessary to be honest. It's just common decency to not go being a dick / getting angry to people when they don't know how to do something. Rather, direct them to mentors, help them yourself, etc. 

[WingedYordle]

^

[DoctorDrugs]

Mentors have a verb to allow us to check total player playtime and a verb to check on how many days it’s been since they first connected. I personally will check both of these to check on new/inexperienced players to see how they’re doing and if they might need assistance but wouldn’t otherwise mhelp questions from either not wanting to ask or not knowing how to (this also assumes I’m observing and not taking part in the round)

Regardless of who breaks the rules either being a new fresh face or an old grizzled player breaking the rules still gets you the same punishment. It’s also not going to stop a player from salting over dieing to a validhunter or greytider death to a new player as those that want to salt about things will.

in terms of having something in their flavor text I can see that being both a bad thing and a good thing. The good being that a nice player that has grasped some concepts might try to help that new player that they see having issues or they might point them towards asking mentors for help and assistance.

and now the bad things I can see happening, experienced players taking advantage of newer players because they might not have enough mechanical knowledge or even general knowledge on things. I see this ranging from simple “bullying” like shoving/tabling them constantly to convincing them that the item they have is worse than the one the experienced player has and they should trade for it. I could also see this extending to “that person isn’t experienced enough to do x job so I’m just going to push them out of the way and make them leave so I can do x job in peace without them bothering me”, even jobs as simple as cargo tech or xenobio might end up with some less than nice people giving the new players flak for just being new and not knowing their job fully creating the type of environment that no one would want to be around 

[Reyblood]

As mentor said, there is a verb mentors can use to check if it's a new player, or a rusty old player.

I don't think you need a flavour text to identify new players.. It's pretty.. Obvious.

We need to create an environment that's friendly to new players, where even non-mentors would be willing to have the patience to teach them, or the ones without any patience just getting out of thei way and leave them to learn their stuff either alone or along with mentors to *not* bully them or make them feel bullied for being new. This matter, however, is complicated to achieve.

[robveelben]

HoP can help out here to give cadet like titles for those who do not understand what they are supposed to do. 
I see this more of a IC issue then a issue that needs programming involved. 

[Display Name]

I'm definitely of the opinion that this, or a similar system should be implemented both for total playtime and for role playtime. Spending a lot of time playing Security and Science(which, of course, are the two departments where all great greytiders go to die)I'd like to think that I've become relatively newbie-friendly, if someone asks about something, I'll explain it IC and reference them to the wiki if they're having trouble, but, just as often as not, new players will silently take up their station and get frustrated with being berated when trying to feel out unintuitive game mechanics and server rules, just as I remember when trying out non-Service departments for the first time myself. Worse, even, as was stated, I've directly experienced being actively pushed out of doing my role by virtue of being a new player, which is understandable in some more essential contexts(RnD, any sort of Command, Medical Doctor & Surgeon), but more commonly in peripheral roles like xenobiology and botany that are generally considered fun by more experienced players, creating a really shitty environment where newer players get the impression that perfection and efficiency is valued over having fun and experimenting.

Now, by no means do I want to toot my own horn in being a great guide, I've had my share of cancerous interactions with new players, but I do believe that something clear and recognizable to distinguish people new to the server, the various departments and specific roles would encourage more player-to-player assistance like that of which I've experienced from both sides and foster a more helpful environment, as(I hope)that a clear "newbie" indicator would be at least able to prevent experienced players in departments like Science and Cargo from actively denying new players from learning the game organically, through experimentation and gentle aid, and at best would create a group of psuedo-mentors within the departments who'd be willing to teach newbies IC.

Edited December 13, 2019 by Display Name