helpers
General
heading: Newbie Helpers Note: You must be level 30 before you can be a newbie helper. Note: Being a newbie helper means being proactive, not reactive. The first thing you must do as a newbie helper is talk to one of the Newbie Consulars or Guides that are online. Consular+ are experienced helpers that have reached the higher tiers of helping. They have been given this small 'rank' as a reward for going the extra mile and have often received gratuitous commentary from the newbies themselves. They will explain to you the general guidelines that have been established as well as go over changes with Newbieland. Taking the time to talk to a Consular+ will help you to become the best Newbie Helper you can be. If you cannot find any Consulars or Guides after a couple days of checking 'newb -w', contact a Solar+ about becoming a helper. After talking to a Consular+ make certain that you walk through the parts of Newbieland that the Helpers have access to. Take the tutorial offered by Jocelyn and become familiar with any changes that may have occurred since the last time you were a newbie. ** NEWBIE HELPER RULES ** 1) The 'newb' line is NOT a gossip line or a chatter line or even a guild advertisement line. Please do not use it as such or you will be removed from it. The line is to hook up newbies with people knowledgeable in the mud, and to answer some of their specific questions. 2) Please keep spam to a minimum. The line should be used for introducing newbies to some of the commands and to who you are, and then you should be taking things to tells to become more personal. See below for some hints on helping in that respect. Keep the "I agree" and "Me too" to a minimum also, because these newbies really can't handle the spam we're all normally used to. 3) Encourage newbies to wait on Newbie Academy - help them get some equipment by showing them where the newbie bin is, and let them know it's best to start killing in the newbie playground. 4) You can help newbies with Newbie Academy only by directing them to commands or help files regarding their question. 5) Do *not* set up a newbie to be completely dependent on you, or you will regret it in the long run. Try to make them self-sufficient without completely frustrating them. 6) Any comments directed towards other helpers, and not necessarily at newbies should be done on the newbie helper line. This line is accessed by using 'nh' or 'newbh'. ** HINTS ON HELPING ** A lot of newbies are intimidated by the fact that there are 20+ newbie helpers trying to spam them with answers. Please keep these things in mind: 1) Do not set up an automatic trigger to greet newbies when they first log on. It's better to have one person greet them by name after a second then to have them immediately spammed by several auto-triggers. 2) Start off every conversation with good rapport. 3) In a personal conversation, make sure you address them by name so that they know you are talking to them. 4) If they don't respond initially, continue to address them until you're sure they understand how to use the line and get help. 5) Positive communication patterns: Take the time to listen to the newbie. When they ask a question, listen and then try to answer. If you don't know the answer, and no one has responded in 10-20 seconds, then answer with "I don't know" so that the newbie knows they're being heard. 6) High degree of commitment... Take it to personal tells. Once you've established that they know how to use the line and tells, it'll keep the spam down if you continue the conversation using tell. 7) After several minutes of no chatter from a newbie you should re-engage them in conversation to see if they're having difficulties or would rather be left alone. 8) Newbies are not babies. Don't treat them like 5-year-olds, but try to imagine how the mud would look to you if you'd never seen one before and your only experience is Diablo II or Wizardry type games.