New Players- Please Answer Questions

[Sabine]

EDIT TO ADD: I cannot see who picks what answer for the polls.

Feel free to comment on an alt or a made up name if you want to remain anonymous.

In an effort to draw out some of our newer players, I'd like to create a thread where we can ask some questions and get their opinions. Feel free to also ask questions back. Please be open and honest and I ask that any veterans who read the responses be patient, kind, and understanding. I would say a new duelist would be someone who has 1 year or less of REGULAR dueling experience or someone who may come around the duels a few times a year over a period of years or someone completely brand new, at least for the purpose of information gathering here. If you feel you are new and still want to answer, please do.

1. Why do you want to duel/Which Sports interest you?

2. What things keep you from dueling?

3. Would you like a mentor or a 1x1 experience with a veteran player?

4. Are the rules too hard to understand?

5. Do you feel at a disadvantage being new?

6. Do you feel that veteran players "pick" on new players?

7. What things do you want from this experience?

8. What attracts you to the duels? (IE: Tournaments, icons, events, friends.)

9. What are your main concerns when it comes to dueling?

10. Why haven't you yet dueled/dueled regularly/do you plan to duel regularly?

11. What qualifies as a new player to you?

12. What qualifies as a veteran player to you?

13. Do you feel that you can come to veteran players and callers and ask questions and get help?


Fill out as much of these questions as you'd like and include any other information you think needs to be shared. Please refrain from things like name calling, outting people, or naming specific people as reason for an issue. (IE: Sabine is a meanie and made me cry. Would be better said as, a veteran duelist hurt my feelings.)

We NEED to hear from you. Changes can't happen unless we know what issues exist. Please don't go through a third party because you're afraid or shy. Feel free to comment here with your thoughts and ideas so that the community can get a better idea of what new duelists want and need. Please indicate if you would like someone to reach out to you privately or even make a request!

[AnonymousSurveyor]

1. Because I like the idea of a community that is competitive, but friendly toward one another. I'm interested in all sports, but magic in particular.

2. Because I feel the community is competitive, but clique-ish and often unwelcoming to new duelists/players.

3. Perhaps, if there's some good RP to justify such a relationship.

4. No, the rules are not very complicated. There's some subtlety to being successful, I know, but it isn't overly complex to just pick up and enjoy.

5. In general, yes. Not so much from a rules and systems perspective, but from the community in general. If not overtly hostile, it is, more often than not, cold and distant.

6. Sometimes, yes. Usually, however, they don't outright mock, but there's a lot of background trash talk, a lot of gossip, a lot of underhanded comments and passive aggressive exchanges.

7. To have fun, to make friends, to find an experience that is inclusive.

8. Events, friends, competition

9. My main concern is the community. It's full of old blood, which is fine, but it sets an uneven playing field.

10. For the many issues regarding the community, as stated above.

11. Anyone lacking in experience, regardless of whether it's RP or organized dueling related, or someone simply new to the community who has yet to find a place to fit in.

12. Anyone who has experience in RP and/or dueling and has become established (recognized) in the scene.

13. Yes and no. There are problem players, as mentioned before, and they tend to be more vocal than the positive players, but there are those out there willing and able to help when approached.

[Sabine]

Thank you for being the first to answer the questions!

[AnonymousSurveyor]

You're welcome.

I would also like to add:

The community seems dead as well, or at least like it's dying. I used to see a good number of names logged in on duel nights but it seems to be growing smaller.

While this can be offset with new players, it appears that of those who are remaining, problem players make up a significant enough of a number that it is still discouraging. Perhaps some events meant to entice, instruct, and invite new players to the community are in order.

[Anon]

1. Why do you want to duel/Which Sports interest you?

To add more to RP. All.

2. What things keep you from dueling?

Feeling like older players talk about new players behind their backs. More productive things can be done with my time. Feeling like older players do not listen to new players or care about their experience.

3. Would you like a mentor or a 1x1 experience with a veteran player?

Group learning with other new/experienced players would be preferred.

4. Are the rules too hard to understand?

No.

5. Do you feel at a disadvantage being new?

Yes.

6. Do you feel that veteran players "pick" on new players?

Yes.

7. What things do you want from this experience?

To have fun, be able to progress at a reasonable rate, meet new people to write with.

8. What attracts you to the duels? (IE: Tournaments, icons, events, friends.)

tournaments, friends, events

9. What are your main concerns when it comes to dueling?

Older players are only concerned with their experience and tailoring the game to fit their needs. They feel like people should adapt to them rather than adapt to new players. Cliques are prevalent and create a hostile and unwelcoming environment.

10. Why haven't you yet dueled/dueled regularly/do you plan to duel regularly?

The environment is hostile.

11. What qualifies as a new player to you?

Someone who does not know the matrix well or someone who has not been around for multiple years and does not know anyone.

12. What qualifies as a veteran player to you?

Someone who has multiple warlord characters. Someone who duels regularly every year. Someone who may not duel but is active in board discussions or in a leadership position and has a say in rule changes.

13. Do you feel that you can come to veteran players and callers and ask questions and get help?

No. Voicing concerns or opinions makes someone a target to be made fun of, or have underhanded or snarky comments made about them behind their back by cliques or passive-aggressive attacks in other areas such as aim status updates.

This behavior is tolerated by veteran players and done by veteran players.

There is no concern for new players as reflected in the current discussions. There is no discussion over the current results of this poll. This makes me believe that no changes will be made and any opinions here discarded and ignored in favor of veteran players making the game more about them.

[Rakeesh]

Thank you for sharing how you feel. I think that the results of this poll are extremely significant, and I think that they are influencing the way people talk about rule changes. As I've mentioned in other threads, better rules to increase engagement is one thing ... but first and foremost, we have to look at ourselves and our toxicity to keep this community healthy.

All of us, new and old, need to put aside our differences and be cool with even the people that irk us. Not just to their face, to their backs too. Talking about someone behind their back, or passive aggressively, it does get around eventually -- and it does promote a more toxic community. We've gotta do better than that. I don't believe that anyone here would rather see ROH at its status quo if it means that they can be mean, rather than to see it grow at the expense of people playing nice.

[Sabine]

Thanks for your comments!

I did want to let you know, you are absolutely being heard. I talked privately with some of the admin regarding a few things affecting new players and "submitted a request" for something I am hoping will be awesome to help out new players. So we'll see

I can't promise changes site wide, as I am not an admin or anything like that but I am now more aware of the problems newer duelists are facing so there are things *I* can do to make you feel more welcomed as a fellow player.

Sabine is *not* exactly the friendliest character, she's a moody little thing, and while I want to stay true to who she is, I also want to find a balance so others don't feel they are being targeted or ignored IC. Maybe that means sending in room messages to newer players just to check in or something along those lines.

Even if IC is IC, there are still times I know I have felt let down by IC actions that felt blendy. Maybe it's my own issue, I can be quite sensitive at times. (I'm working on it!!!) or maybe it's a legit issue.

Either way, it doesn't change how you are feeling.

I remember when I tried dueling the first time back around 2009 and things felt very similar to me as you are describing. I never felt like I fit in, I felt like there were 2-3 cliques and I didn't really fit into any of them because I was new and different. A few players made me feel welcome like Teagan, Kalamere, and Sylus. While I never got into dueling back then, they did leave lasting impressions on me, ones that outlasted the bad ones left by others.

The one thing I can recommend is try your best to reach out. If someone hurts you IC/OOC, in a status, talking behind your back, etc, say so. Go right to the source. I can think of a few people who currently duel that made me wrinkle my nose based upon things I saw happening in room and also things said OOC on the boards or what not. I talked with them privately and found them to actually be quite different than I thought they were and now I'd consider us friendly or maybe even friends.

Easier said than done! I can be quite timid and shy about reaching out to people due to some bad RP experiences. Or sometimes it felt like, Why should *I* be the one that has to make the effort? I didn't do anything wrong! Playing with Sal's player has helped me get a little bolder (TY Stacey!) and now it's getting easier for me to tell people "Hey, that hurt me. What's up with that?" Sometimes it's a real issue and sometimes it's my perception or even things getting twisted by 3rd parties.

Again, this isn't to say people are NOT being jerks or to say how you feel is invalid. This is just things I have learned along the way that help me. It may not work for you.

I would just like to put it out there that if I or my character ever hurt you (General) PLEASE reach out to me. I swear I won't bite no matter how crabby my character may seem. Even if my aim is "Away" leave me a message and I will get back to you.

I can be reached at JoeyDamarco on AIM and joeydamarco@gmail.com

If I can answer questions or even in some way act as a mediator when an issue arises, I am happy to step in and try to help. I have a lot of experience with *almost* everyone that currently duels. I'd be happy to talk with someone on your behalf or just "sit in" as witness if you feel you need to tackle something with a fellow player. This isn't to say I want to get the dirt or be gossipy, but I do want to help with legit issues.

I really hope you'll keep coming back and trying, whoever you are. And again, don't be shy! Reach out to me if you want to RP, duel, ask questions, or even say "Hey your character is a jerkface." Meanwhile, I'll do my best to try and be welcoming and encourage others to do the same.

Hopefully we'll hear some encouraging updates soon regarding new players/changes for the game. That would be great!


(P.S. I hadn't intended on this being a discussion but... I'm apparently long winded. Oops.)

[Luna Eva]

Hey, I just wanted to pop in and say that I have been watching this thread with interest and waiting for more people to participate. Just want to reassure Anon that the responses here are not being ignored by me.

[G]

There needs to be a questionnaire like this for veteran players.

[JewellRavenlock]

Thank you for taking the time to answer! I'm listening :)

[Kruger]

I'm not certain that I can add anything to Sabine's last post that wouldn't be unnecessarily redundant. I'm watching the thread as well, and would invite you to please let me know if anything I am doing in room hurts or offends. It's never my intent to make a character or player feel anything negative. Kruger, or The Anvil as he likes to call himself, acts the way he does for reasons.

I will admit that much of that reason is to get laughs from the other players and myself. Seriously! If I know that I've managed to make one person besides myself laugh at Kruger I'm quite content.

I'll add my own personal experience to Sabine's. When I became active in dueling, I used to feel that I was being *farmed* for lack of a better word. That experienced players would switch from one alt to another just to get a quick win off of me. Rather than letting that feeling build in me, and on the advice of a friend, I asked. They were not what I expected, and their reason for changing alts made a lot more sense than 'pick on Kruger because he's an easy win'. I'm still an easy win!

While I agree with Sabine that my experience doesn't mean that people aren't being jerks. I honestly have nothing to offer on status messages in AIM. I rarely pay attention to them. Even less than that do I put one up myself. I am happy to put my own AIM out there as well. A_Kruger_Allen I am pretty sure I have that in my profile. I get my mail at akrugerallen@yahoo.com so don't send anything to the AIM account, I never check it. Feel free to semi-stalk me! Semi, because I don't have a lot of free time at work .

[G]

Thank you for taking the time to answer! I'm listening

Thanks for listening! Everyone should do the same!

[Ammy Spiritor]

Not terribly good at these but I will try my best.

1. Why do you want to duel/Which Sports interest you?
I had liked dueling as it seemed fun to be competitive with other players in a way that wasn't scripted and reliant on another being fare in taking their share of hits or misses like in role played action scenes. The matrix makes a good device to offer fairness. I often like Swords and sometimes Magic.

2. What things keep you from dueling?
The main issue has been time conflict with my various work schedules and at home duties and responsibilities. Duels have to keep moving, they can't be on pause which is only fair as everyone needs a turn though some duels and calling can drag severely. Another issue is the amount of options in the matrices between the three sports. Granted I understand some sports have more options as each one has different move sets or skill to be offered when fighting that way. Yet to a new player when you see a concise and neat set of moves in Swords then see an ever growing one in Magic then a very large one in Fists all with multiple moves that often feel redundant and rather useless from veterans using constant hitting combos, it can get frustrating. Then again, with my sporadic participation I may just need more participation. There is sometimes a palpable clique feeling on some nights but not on other nights but that goes the same with role play on RDI.

3. Would you like a mentor or a 1x1 experience with a veteran player?
Mentoring actually sounds rather pleasant especially around Magic and Fists with all the options that are there to choose.

4. Are the rules too hard to understand?
The rules usually haven't been hard to understand. Any new or updates are easy to pick up on from what I've experience but that is just my own experience.

5. Do you feel at a disadvantage being new?
In a way, no. Veterans players tend to get used to how other veterans play and do well. New people from what I've seen and have experience myself in some duels against some veterans provide a thrilling wild card because they don't know how the new person will play. This causes veterans to sometimes mix things up and stay on their toes especially if the new person takes a win. However, if a veteran decides not to play at the level of a new person then yes, severely disadvantaged and sometimes feel like being made an example or lesson of.

6. Do you feel that veteran players "pick" on new players?
Yes and no. Really depends on the veteran. Everyone acts differently and I've not been around enough to adequately give a more solid answer to one side or the other.

7. What things do you want from this experience?
Perhaps a little more relevance for the participant to their characters RP lives on the RDI side as I am not rping on ROH. I am mostly on ROH to duel when duels are not on RDI. However, that being said, duelists and some duelers have over the years gained good and rather bad remarks in general about them and the sports. Then again, rumors are just rumors though negativity spreads faster than positivity.

8. What attracts you to the duels? (IE: Tournaments, icons, events, friends.)
Honestly friends that I know or people I wish to be around that build camaraderie. Most events, icons or tournaments never seem appealing to my character as she's not much of a person interested in large competitions but I could try hard to change that. Icons though are always nice as often I use them to look back at any kind of social impact my character has had on Rhy'Din as a whole.

9. What are your main concerns when it comes to dueling?
Generally, acceptance. Mostly I feel a general air of not being accepted as many that often clash in RDI are also on ROH. I do wish to overcome this greatly. I do sometimes feel unaccepted for not dueling as a human character but that could be a personal issue i just need to work on.

10. Why haven't you yet dueled/dueled regularly/do you plan to duel regularly?
Comes back to work schedule conflict as most of my jobs didn't end till late evening or commute would get me home near the end of duels, or home obligations made dueling impossible unless I was sick and left alone. I do wish to participate if possible, I know my character would love more social activity and something more physical to do.

11. What qualifies as a new player to you?
Probably someone that has never dueled before or casually duels every few months.

12. What qualifies as a veteran player to you?
Probably someone consistently at the duels often, participating often and someone very concerned by how WOL actually plays into things and standings and rankings and all of the titles.

13. Do you feel that you can come to veteran players and callers and ask questions and get help?
Callers I fill I possibly could. Veterans, it comes down to who they are cause again, we are all just human and sometimes conflicts arise.

I do want to note and be very open and honest. I am open about things and am always willing to listen to people in IM about anything they perceive I may be doing wrong in rp or dueling that is hurting others or offending. I'd rather know right away if I am a problem so I can self correct instead of find out later in public that something simple as a misunderstanding could have been cleared up. Hope this survey response helped.

[Spell]

3. Would you like a mentor or a 1x1 experience with a veteran player?
Mentoring actually sounds rather pleasant especially around Magic and Fists with all the options that are there to choose.

Not to say that I haven't read over your whole post ( I have and thank you for your thoughts ), but I wanted to toss this out there in response to the quoted part. If there's ever a time you find yourself more free to duel and you might want a DoM mentorship, feel free to PM me through the site and I'll hook you up. I have three mages and you can choose from them to see which character yours might be most comfortable with.

[WillSomnia]

1. Why do you want to duel/Which Sports interest you?
I just started getting back into RP after a long hiatus, and I think it fits right in with my character. It also gives me a new direction to go with him. He's a Fists kind of guy.

2. What things keep you from dueling?
Time constraints. I get up at 4am to get ready for work, so I barely have time to finish a duel once they've officially started for the night.

3. Would you like a mentor or a 1x1 experience with a veteran player?
Absolutely. The IC potential is huge.

4. Are the rules too hard to understand?
Eh... I'm catching on.

5. Do you feel at a disadvantage being new?
Not any more than any other game I've played. Learning curve's a learning curve.

6. Do you feel that veteran players "pick" on new players?
I have yet to see it.

7. What things do you want from this experience?
To build a name (IC) for the character. He's just come back to the big hub city and wants to settle down for a while. Everyone wants to make a name for themselves at some point.

8. What attracts you to the duels? (IE: Tournaments, icons, events, friends.)
I'm not sure. Maybe because it's a way to develop the character a bit more. And because it's a game! It gives the RP a whole other side.

9. What are your main concerns when it comes to dueling?
I don't know if I have any OOC concerns outside of time constraints. I can't fault anyone here for that, there's just not much of a day crowd here or at RDI, and I wouldn't expect anyone to make any changes to cater to a small group.

10. Why haven't you yet dueled/dueled regularly/do you plan to duel regularly?
Have/trying/as regularly as I can!

11. What qualifies as a new player to you?
Anyone who looks at a moves matrix and their brain completely locks up.

12. What qualifies as a veteran player to you?
Everyone who gains a rank at some point.

13. Do you feel that you can come to veteran players and callers and ask questions and get help?
I'm working on it. I got some pretty good help on the RDI side from a few people, and I'm getting there.

I added a new question:
14. What does hook beat?
Hook beats FACE.