The Newbie Guide

This guide is for #Crescent`Isle_Inn of the program mIRC. To copy, modify, or use this guide for anything else is plagiarism. Players have worked hard to put this together, and thus it belongs to nobody else save for the Building Players of CII. Don’t think we’ll resort to taking this being stolen to legal matters? We will. Plagiarism is stealing and that is illegal.

There is a reason this is called a Newbie guide and not a n00bie guide. They are two different things, essentially... Newbies are people new and inexperienced, and need help through things, and such a guide would be helpful. They may be learning but they want to learn... n00bies, on the other hand, may or may not be new, however act like it, annoy others, and don't want any help whatsoever. They are close to trolls, without actually being one.

Q. What is a Newbie?

A. A Newbie is not necessarily a new player. Newbies can be new players but it’s also a term for players who have been around for a long time who simply don’t show it. n00bie is a name for one who acts new to the game, doesn’t follow rules, annoys others, and thinks time spent in RP is better then quality. They often boast on how long they have been involved in the game, but show no real skill and think they do.

Q. How can I avoid making a bad impression with the other Players?

A. It’s hard. Everyone has a different opinion on "bad" RPing and "good" RPing. In truth, there is no wrong way to RP. But, each room is different and has a specified way to do things by making rules and guides. To help, here is a list of annoyances and tips from fellow Players, based on what other newbies have done.

Things to look out for:

1. 1.    They always seem to automatically know your char’s name. Or worse yet, they know your char before he/she's ever even entered. This is not liked. How would you like it if a stranger walked up to you on the street who assumed they knew everything about you and knew your name without you knowing theirs? It’s rude. A character should only know another character’s name if they have heard it and fit the name to character description.
2. 2.    The worst is when newbies get into an RP when they have no clue what's going on. Don’t jump into things you are not a part of and assume you understand it all and the full story. What someone sees on a public screen does not always portray the truth of what goes on in PM and other rooms, also characters should not use OOC to IC. Just because something is said or done in the chat room does not mean your character has to have a part in it, especially if they were not even there at the time.
3. 3.    Taking copyrighted characters and moves from books and shows. "i watch so much anime and such it starts to become what you think and do in a RP.." It's not an anime, it’s text. Symbol faces, although a bit descriptive, are frowned upon by many players.  Stick to using words to describe things, instead of relying on -_- faces to get your point across. Such for OOC and character detailing is alright.
4. 4.    Acting all-powerful and/or seductive and/or helpless/injured wanting attention. Nobody likes an attention hog who has to make up things that are illogical and pointless or throw them selves into everyone else’s stories.
5. 5.    Creating OOC drama and dragging  OOC to IC and IC to OOC. Keep OOC things out of character, and keep IC things in character. Don't drag game drama to life, or life drama to the game. Keep them separate. Most come on to have a good time and escape real life chaos, not vent it all on others who are trying to escape it. That’s just evil.
6. 6.    The folk that take the effort to type out a semi decent entrance post, but never seem to type anything longer then four lines in actual RP. Those who spend time on a character description do gain respect, but afterwards if they just keep doing one-liners or a bit of a short post here and there, it’s frowned upon and pushes Players away from wanting interaction. Be consistent with your posts. 
7. Keep in mind one-liners are not considered as: 
8.     * John would wander forth from the lake, sweat dripping from his form due to his workout. 
9. A one-liner in this case is: 
10.     * Pixie laughs.
11.     * Pixie walks to the bar.
12.     * Pixie orders wine.
13.     * Pixie sits at table.
14. That is a post from an actual Player that has made many roll their eyes, of course the name was changed. If a post can be done in one post, do it. Flooding the room with one-liners like that is frowned upon by most in CII.
15.     * Pixie laughs at that, turning and walking off to the bar. She requests a wine as her order and gestures off to a table, picking it out as her seat.  The woman wanders over to there and takes a seat to wait for her order to be served to her.
16. 7.    The consistent teleporters. A character who teleports/vanishes here and there and poofs up constantly is outright ANNOYING! Nobody likes it when they tease and taunt, or simply poof one place to the next while other characters actually take the time to conserve their power, instead of wasting it or showing off, and travel by other means. Also, the fact that a Player takes the effort and time to type out such actions, thinking of time relative to distance and logic of location, says a great deal about the Player.
17. 8.    The abuse of clones and NPCs. (a character having multiple "sides" and multiple forms under the same or different names that are treated like different characters and yet the same character at the same time.) This is  ULTRA ANNOYING to most Players. Having another character or more and playing them at the same time is cool, but not to the point they’re bipolar freaks of crossbreeding nature with schizophrenia. Get the character’s personality straight! They all also don’t have to be related by blood or story, nor do they have to be RPed with the same people you RP with under other characters. It gets really annoying and just repels people from those Players as well. Stick to one character at first, or at least one at a time. Using more may repel Players further due to the way the Characters are used. 
18. Here's a good example of that:
19. <Deana> *Nork slips outside and wanders over to mother looking down at her" Wake up mother..You know sleeping out here is not smart" Well there was news his mother never knew...* Deana smirks in her sleep "Go play nork..i don't care. just stay out of trouble. Go find whats his name..John" she mutters after opening a single eyes and staring at Nork
20. If a book was written like that, wording and such, it would never be sold.
21. 9.    Repetitive words in posting: She does this. She does that. She walks here. She looks there. She walks back. Does that sound at all fun to read? Details and variation of words helps greatly! Also, don't repeat the same descriptive wording over and over again every other post. It doesn't take much for others to get the hint, after that it gets annoying.
22. Here is a good example of repetitive descriptive wording. Keep in mind that the name has been changed and in this example there were other posts from other Players between this individual's posts:
23. * Riki puts one foot to the wall and kicks of it and lands at the lake. "i will talk to you mulk." he says as he moves by her. he lifts his and gold flame balls shoot at johntean and hits by him. "why are you here." he says with no emotion at all.
24. * Riki looks at his brother emotionless as he lets his fist down and the water turns to ice and he walks on it over tord his brother.
25. * Riki stands in front of him and for once smiles as a adult then puts his hand on his head then gets his emotionless look again. "relax boy." he walks back to the tavern.
26. * Riki walks over to mother and brother with no emotion at all. "let her sleep brother." he was not acting humen or demon but something not understood.
27. * Riki starts to walk 20 feet away then turns to his brother. "you must train to be strong like fother and i so come and fight me." he was still with no emotion.
28. This is also an example of a "Bad Book" , can you tell he has no emotion and is emotionless? It gets a bit too repetitive and drawn out.
29. 10.    Eternal Mindreaders. They *always* know what your char is thinking, even when they shouldn't be able to. A character’s thoughts, although posted in the room, are personal and private. They can send messages to others and have their minds invaded, but often there are blocks, and sometimes there’s not and it’s just plain rude.
30. 11.    Grammar and spelling isn’t too big of a thing, but incomplete sentences and horrendous word usage is frowned upon. Here’s a tip. When all else fails, try typing up the post in MS Word or a Notepad/Document Program. Use a spellchecker. Take the time to post something of quality, others will wait for your response. Try to avoid over-use of "!!!!!" and "CAPSLOCK". Sometimes it’s okay to try and get the point across on some things, it also may be needed in same cases. Think of it this way: Many Players come on to relax, like reading an interactive book. Most wouldn't read a book with tons of errors that made it hard to understand and was too distracting from the story. This is known as "Bad Book" in reference in this guide.
31. 12.    Use Common Sense, otherwise known as "Don't poke grizzly's with sharp sticks." Don’t strut in expecting to take out the best players who are most respected and take their place, gaining the respect of others by defeating the best and being all powerful. Won’t happen. You’ll be laughed at and others will only RP with you to make a fool of you further. It’s about gaining respect. It works on quality, including the ability to take hits and respect character deaths.
32. 13.    Respect the players around you who try to help and actually take the time wanting to, like the makers of this guide. It’s not for Player bashing, it’s for helping. Constructive criticism works wonders, but if a Player crosses the boundary into harassment, talk to them and tell them how you feel you’re being harassed. If needed, get a host involved for help.
33. 14.    Do not mismatch species and races in an unbalanced manner that ends up with something like part vampire/werewolf/angel/demon/cat as a single character. Use character balance and logic. Don't just match up what traits and things you like from others and say your character is part that. Use logic in the abilities your Character has. Don't use whatever is useful or sounds cool, especially if you do not know the mechanics behind it. A common example seen is the freezing of Characters during "sleep". It's not something that, even with magic, a creature snaps out of and is fine. it takes time for the body to thaw and process due to the heart's function stopping. Thawing from the inside-out can actually kill a Character, due to the heart pumping blood, which is solid, and thus having nothing to pump. The lungs work in the same manner. As for undead Characters, even they need time for their muscles to thaw. If magic is used for a speedy thaw, it may have to be used to stop tissue and muscle deterioration. Use logic.
34. 15.    Try to avoid joining into "character fads" as in, someone has a dragon character that people really like. Now everyone will make a dragon character to gain attention from the already existing character and other people. Now the room is flooded with dragons. A week later the same thing happens with kid characters, werewolves, then characters who are pregnant. Flooding the room with "character fads" does not gain attention or respect. It’s annoying.

Q. Okay, I think I can handle that. But, now that I have mIRC and know what to avoid and work on, what do I do now?

A. Simple! You have to know the basic RPing commands of mIRC. Now then, on to the basics.

On the mIRC program, commands are used to generate text on the screen. For RPing, "/me" and "/query" and "/msg" are the most common commands. For the sake of learning, "Your_Name" will be in substitute of the nickname you will have on mIRC. "Other_Name" will be the other Player you are interacting with.

In your window, normal typing will be generated easily and your name will be with it.

To speak, type: Hi!

Result:

<Your_Name> Hi!

To make an action, type: /me makes an action!

Result:

* Your_Name makes an action!

To query is to open another window for you to speak with a Player in a private chat.

To query, type: /query Other_Name

Result: A window will open for you to type in. This window is a private conversation between you and another Player, without the need of a room. This helps to keep windows and conversations separate.

Another way to have private conversations, like query, is to /msg someone.

To send a message to someone, type: /msg Other_Name This is my message!

Result: They will receive that message from you in their active window, or a specialized window selected from the mIRC Option Menu.

Q. Now that I understand all of that, how do I play?

A. You have to introduce your self. Now that you know how to use mIRC for the basics of text-use, let’s move on to Interaction.

Interaction is a scary thing. This means you have to actually get involved with the other Players. They may seem intimidating or involved in their stories, but no worries! First, try watching how they all interact and play the game. Think you can do what they do? Have your Character set up, then just enter into the world of RP. If you’re unsure of how to go about this, ask a fellow Player or a Host.

Remember: Characters do not always reflect their Players. A Character can be an evil, abusive, ugly old man, while the Player is a 10yr old girl in Hawaii who’s on the honor roll and does charity work. Most likely the Players will be nice and willing to help if you ask for it.

Also, being a Newbie is not something bad. At one time or another, all of us were Players new to the game. We were all Newbies once! We know how hard it can be, being teased and ignored because accidental offense is made. We only hope this guide can help with that problem, and we, the Players and Hosts, will help the best we can as well.

Congratulations Newbie, you are now ready to be an RPer!

©Crescent Isle Inn 2005. All text has been legally documented as belonging to CII in usage, in idea and function. The Players of CII and other people have worked hard and put effort into this. To steal their work and ideas and/or modify them is wrong and will be dealt with harshly. The artwork belongs to the artists, not the players or CII. Permission of use has been documented.