in-game help

[Akriel]

So I've been a long time player but never really post. Recently I've been trying to get some friends to come to UO. The challenge is that they have never played UO, and lets face it, the game is complicated. What do people think about adding in game help?

It could be activated via a voice command, or some type of help stone, but essentially shift all the information that we all know to look up in wikis or old archived pages and move it in game where new guys could have it readily accessible.

Things like what skills do, skill caps, stat caps, weapon tables (speeds/damage/categories) required skills for crafting/taming/spells/etc, how resource gathering works, how the reputation system works, housing, general game play information etc. This could essentially contain as much or as little info as you wanted it to, but the more the better.

After just spending an hour explaining the game to a friend and only really scratching the surface it felt like this is one of those things that would hold back new players. It doesn't alter game play and really opens the door to people who might be interested in the game but would have no idea where to start.

What do people think?

[Pirul]

Maybe just a link to open the guide's section of the forums, or something.

This is actually something companions were great for.

[Corbin]

1) We have a tutorial "shard" they should start with.
2) We have a wiki
3) We have a guide section on the forum
4) We have an IRC based chatroom with many regulars to answer questions

If that's not enough for new players, then they are pretty much hopeless. When most of us started UO, we didn't have guides, wikis and the amount of resources we offer players here.

[Halbu]

If that's not enough for new players, then they are pretty much hopeless. When most of us started UO, we didn't have guides, wikis and the amount of resources we offer players here.

But we were also new players during a time when one could be entertained just walking around town and seeing what the other tons of people were doing.

Would be nice for new players to get linked to the forum for their first log in, have a GUI link em there.

[Akriel]

1) We have a tutorial "shard" they should start with.
2) We have a wiki
3) We have a guide section on the forum
4) We have an IRC based chatroom with many regulars to answer questions

If that's not enough for new players, then they are pretty much hopeless. When most of us started UO, we didn't have guides, wikis and the amount of resources we offer players here.

Those resources are great, but compare that with any other game people have been playing for the last 10 years. The quest systems that exist in most games gradually introduce players to how to play the game. UO has nothing like this (and that's fine). I am not trying to advocate for a quest system, but some sort of in game help would make a huge difference and would not negatively impact anyone.

We didn't need guides or the other resources, because we were all discovering how to play the game at the same time. Many of us had game manuals (that we consulted frequently!). Since someone who has never played who just downloaded the client and connected doesn't have this I make the suggestion.

We could see there were banks and how to access them, or 'vendor buy' 'vendor sell' to interact with merchants. UO at the time was the standard. The standard now are games like WoW, which have completely different interfaces.

If someone comes to UO from a game like WoW they will be completely lost. Sure if they stick around long enough they could probably figure it out... but why force people to do a trial by fire. I would guess that server logs would back me up... that the majority of new accounts (from new IPs) probably are lost in the first 10 minutes of gameplay. I'm just suggesting that an in game help system would give these players an opportunity to learn the ropes without impacting era accuracy (via a young status or anything else). It just moves information we already have to an accessible/useful place.

[Zelek Uther]

The tutorial is excellent, I ran through it when I first started here (as a refresher, I last played UO in 1999). I would recommend it to new players.

[Pirul]

The tutorial is excellent, I ran through it when I first started here (as a refresher, I last played UO in 1999). I would recommend it to new players.

Agreed!

Trouble comes when new players run up to a dragon and try to slay it with their newbied longsword.

[Corbin]

Those resources are great, but compare that with any other game people have been playing for the last 10 years. The quest systems that exist in most games gradually introduce players to how to play the game. UO has nothing like this (and that's fine). I am not trying to advocate for a quest system, but some sort of in game help would make a huge difference and would not negatively impact anyone.

The tutorial shard covers most things a new player would need to know to hop right in.
The wiki has command lists along with all information needed to play the game. People are just too lazy to look themselves, it seems.
The IRC channel is the biggest wealth of information we have. Players can generally answer any question a new player would have in the game.

If someone comes to UO from a game like WoW they will be completely lost. Sure if they stick around long enough they could probably figure it out... but why force people to do a trial by fire. I would guess that server logs would back me up... that the majority of new accounts (from new IPs) probably are lost in the first 10 minutes of gameplay. I'm just suggesting that an in game help system would give these players an opportunity to learn the ropes without impacting era accuracy (via a young status or anything else). It just moves information we already have to an accessible/useful place.

I get what you're saying. There use to be a program similar in UOSA, but was closed for undisclosed reasons.

[iamreallysquall]

1) We have a tutorial "shard" they should start with.
2) We have a wiki
3) We have a guide section on the forum
4) We have an IRC based chatroom with many regulars to answer questions

If that's not enough for new players, then they are pretty much hopeless. When most of us started UO, we didn't have guides, wikis and the amount of resources we offer players here.

^ this no in game changes with ugly gumps and stones and non era accurate junk on my client window
companions etc would be great i try to spend time in irc answering questions for the better of my time here on irc ( the reason i am truly logged into irc)

[Akriel]

I'm not arguing that the resources we already have are great. I am just suggesting that the shard might benefit from the information being a bit more... available? UO is an overwhelming game. There are countless ways to play it.

The fact is, even adding a few gumps to the help bar could be all people need. If once a month the whole wiki is indexed and we add a search/index into help gumps then all that info is available in game. We would just need to make it obvious to new players it is there and they should use it.

[iamreallysquall]

I'm not arguing that the resources we already have are great. I am just suggesting that the shard might benefit from the information being a bit more... available? UO is an overwhelming game. There are countless ways to play it.

The fact is, even adding a few gumps to the help bar could be all people need. If once a month the whole wiki is indexed and we add a search/index into help gumps then all that info is available in game. We would just need to make it obvious to new players it is there and they should use it.

if you can be told about and or find the website this website on your own then you should be smart enough to take advantage of these forums which everyone will tell you to get on irc and well this forum and site it self all link to the wiki. If someone else showed you the game then they should take you under their wing or at least get them under someone else s wing . Then again i am not one for hand holding experiences. To much bad and good information to compile it all and it would be to much work for something that we never had that staff could be spending you know doing something better as far as accuracy goes.

[Corbin]

Most people who play UOSA are either returning players who simply need to be brushed up on their commands and pre-UO:R stuff or people who have been invited by friends who should be the ones taking them under their wings.

Heck, I found a good amount of the time, the companions would link you to wiki for an answer anyway.

There could always be a bit more, but a bit more takes resources. This information is already readily available to all players. They simply need to stop being lazy and look it up.

[Akriel]

I definitely agree everything comes down to resources and expected return on investment. I'm just curious to the staff if we have the numbers on new player turn over? How many people make it to logging in but never come back after the first login/day?

Do we believe having information more available would impact those numbers? By how much? I'd imagine that most people that get as far as logging into the game have some reason to try it but still they never come back.

We know this is an excellent shard, so we can rule that out. We know players that already know how to play can/do thrive here. The website is very clear about what this shard is about, so people looking for something else should be deterred there. So that leaves players that don't know how to play and are trying out the game because they found it on their own or were referred. I think we can all agree that just because someone doesn't yet know how to play doesn't imply they will never be a quality player, or that they aren't worth having.

I've got a lot of assumptions and generalizations above, but I think if you approach it from a mathematical perspective you get your answer. Will adding something like this help the shard grow new quality players or not? If the number of new accounts that are never used again is low then this doesn't make any sense. If it is high... then it maybe warrants some additional investigation.

[itwouldbewise]

I'm working on some comprehensive Youtube videos--I have the first couple done (having to do with basic UO commands and Razor), but I haven't had a chance to upload them as I'm on vacation . I'll post about them as soon as I've uploaded them. I plan on making a video for the following topics:

• Getting started with UO (in-game hotkeys, interacting with NPC's, etc)
• Using Razor
• Stats and Skills (and training them the fastest and easiest way possible--Warrior and wizard)
• Making money
• How to PvP
• Housing and Security

[Corbin]

I definitely agree everything comes down to resources and expected return on investment. I'm just curious to the staff if we have the numbers on new player turn over? How many people make it to logging in but never come back after the first login/day?

Do we believe having information more available would impact those numbers? By how much? I'd imagine that most people that get as far as logging into the game have some reason to try it but still they never come back.

We know this is an excellent shard, so we can rule that out. We know players that already know how to play can/do thrive here. The website is very clear about what this shard is about, so people looking for something else should be deterred there. So that leaves players that don't know how to play and are trying out the game because they found it on their own or were referred. I think we can all agree that just because someone doesn't yet know how to play doesn't imply they will never be a quality player, or that they aren't worth having.

I've got a lot of assumptions and generalizations above, but I think if you approach it from a mathematical perspective you get your answer. Will adding something like this help the shard grow new quality players or not? If the number of new accounts that are never used again is low then this doesn't make any sense. If it is high... then it maybe warrants some additional investigation.

No, it really won't.

The problem with UOSA, as discussed many many times, is not that people don't know how to play it. The issue is that people come back because they are nostalgic for the game they remember and that nostalgia doesn't last for most. They play for a few hours/days, then leave because it's lost its excitement or isn't as exciting as they remember.

Remember, 13 years ago, this was a game of discovery. Now, we've discovered everything there is to discover in UO. We know the best character types to play, the best weapons to use, the best armour to wear. We know where all the spawns are, we know the best ways to kill those spawns, the best ways to place houses, the best way to PVP... There is documentation on everything in UO . It all takes away the adventure we all felt when we first started playing.

The biggest issue though is that the shard is stagnant in a single era with no progress. Players get bored from lack of anything to do but PVP, PVM (which usually leads to PVP since over 90% of the shard are all hardcore PVPers), or the occasional player run event. There is nothing new added to the game due to era accuracy. So players will leave and move on.

Also keep in mind that many of us who played back in 98-99 are older now with responsibilities that trump a game where when were younger, we could spend all day playing.