>However, with all the different skills, spells, weapontypes,
>races, religions, spheres, paths, alignments, ethos, etc, etc,
>it is a bit daunting to new players trying to get along here.

I hear you. We do have an extensive helpfile system which we
constantly work on to clarify issues as much as we feel is
appropriate without 'spelling it out', but some things we feel
are best left to experimentation and learning for yourself. If
you have any helpfile suggestions, we/I would love to hear them.

The newbie channel also offers a nice resource for new players,
but as it is out of character and open to all newbies, sometimes
you get people who may be a little harsh in trying to inform
about some of the things we hold dear, or at least encourage.

The three things newbies are likely to get flamed for are asking
about quests OOC, using internet slang (like 'lol'), or trying to
look for groups (or similar) on the newbie channel. If newbies
read the helpfiles they're supposed to *nudge nudge* these would
not be problem. Perhaps we'll look at a way of making it crystal
clear without the aid of helpfiles.

Personally, I'm OK with OK, especially in an out of character
discussion, but 'k', 'lol' and 'rofl' are never OK. Okay is
longhand for OK which is itself an anagram, so I think OK is
OK. 'I understand' is better. ;)

>In the short time I've been on CF. I've seen more newbs get
>flamed for being ooc than actually offered any help.

I'd like to think what you've seen is not the norm, and say that
in the last day I have several examples where people asked a
question and had half a dozen people step in with friendly
advice.

>I've never seen a mud with a newbie channel (or any channel)
>sooooo quiet. People are too scared to speak.

I don't know about scared. A lot of our newbies are experienced
CF (or MUD in general) players and they read the helpfiles or
puzzle things out on their own or with the first people they
bump into. I attribute most of the quiet to the fact that the
newbie channel is Q&A based, so if their is no question there
are no answers.

>Perhaps, Carrion Fields would have a bigger player base, which
>generally means more interesting and dynamic game play, if we
>could all relax and loosen up a bit and stop pretending that
>there aren't real people behind the characters we are
>interacting with.

True, but we also need to understand that the people behind
those players expect certain standards in the behaviour of
the new characters around them. What you've seen is people
not expressing that very well, but what they want is new
players to adapt to the CF culture and thrive.

Sevarecan
sevarecan@carrionfields.com