A way to help new players

[daddog]

Was helping a new player in Aces High the other night. His call sign was T2A or something like that. Anyway he politely asked me a question which I answered. I told him I would be happy to answer any other questions he had. He was very grateful and asked several more. He went on to say that he had received some help from others, but more often than not people would just ignore him. I told him I would be willing to help him any time, gave him my e-mail and our squad channel.

My first idea was putting a little sub script “H” by the players names who would be willing to help out any newbie to game? Anyone playing the game just a day or two would be bound to ask what does  that “H” mean by some peoples call sign and undoubtedly someone would tell him those are the players willing to help out anyone new to the game.

Lets face it. I would guess that many new players just jump in the arena and want to fly without spending much time reading the FAQ or the basic AH manual. You could even put in a pop up MOTD for newbies telling them to look for players with a subscript H by their call sign if they need any help.

Or

My second idea was having a permanent “help” text channel that all new players could have automatically tuned to. Then you could have experienced players who are willing to help tune to that channel. This of course would be an alternative to having a subscript H by a players call sign.

I remember a long time ago stating I would be willing to help new players, but I rarely get asked anything. Is there a way for new players to contact those willing to help?

[dedalos]

IN for the help chanel as long as there is someone to mod and eject / mute people who are not helping from it.

[daddog]

Good point dedalos. Maybe who their moderators are they could be told to tune to the help channel every time just in case.

[RedTop]

Sounds great Dad. Im in as well. Not sure how much I could be...but I'd be willing to try.

[dedalos]

Originally posted by daddog
Good point dedalos. Maybe who their moderators are they could be told to tune to the help channel every time just in case.

I think I missed it.  What I mean is, it would have to be moderated to keep the ALT-F4 people and the once that would be there to make fun of newbs, out of it.

[daddog]

rgr dedalos. I agree.

I think the more ways we come up with to help the newbies the more we will see numbers grow. If some players are willing to help out with part of their time then the tools should be built into aid the newbies toward a positive experience.

[dedalos]

Now the question is, what happens when someone asks a question and four guys come up with six different answers?  lol

[dedalos]

How about this.  Instead of asking HT for changes, lets pick a chanel number for the help chan and ask HT to post the number in the MOD window.

[hitech]

My second idea was having a permanent “help” text channel that all new players could have automatically tuned to. Then you could have experienced players who are willing to help tune to that channel.  

Cool new Idea. I like it.

[nirvana]

I'm willing to help when I don't have any squaddies on.  I'll usually answer any questions on 200 or country.  There is a section for new guys to ask for help not sure if they would know how to get there though anyway, heck I can't remember off the top of my head how to get there.  Sounds like a good idea though daddog.

[Zaphod]

Liking the help channel idea.  I try to answer questions asked on both country and ch 200.  There are a lot of folks with very simple questions that most anyone who has been around for more than a month knows (i.e. don't have to be an expert to help out).  Answering these questions can be a huge help in reducing frustration.  

The biggest problem with answering questions currently is that it's easy for your answer to get lost in all the scrolling text...especially if it is more than one or two lines.  Especially if your a bit verbose in your answers lol.

Zaphod

[tce2506]

Great Idea DD. I'm in also !:aok

[Traveler]

I understand the need for help.   But isn't that exactly what the training arena is all about?  An entire arena set up for new players to learn how the game works and of course trainers who spend there time in the trainning arena to help train and answer questions.  Do we really need a decited channel in the MA for help when an entire arena already exists?

[Furious]

You ever get excited about a new game and just start playing without reading the instructions?

I have.  I would say most do.

 A single dedicated channel would be an easy way to get most folks proficient enough to want to continue their learning in the TA.

[Octavius]

Very cool, thanks HT.  I'll hang out on this channel whenever I'm on.

Can this channel have it's own unique color?  

hell, I just want more channels altogether  Multiple vox, 800 tunable text channels, etc ... I'd fill them all!