Noob Wrangling 101

[Unwillingly 11107]

In the last few months, player retention has sort of been a hot topic on LOTC. We’ve bounced between problems, solutions, plug-ins, guides, free skins, tutorials, etc., in order to improve the new player experience here on our server. I speak from experience when I say that this task of noob interaction is by no means limited to CT or even staff alone — the average player can very well do this without even logging on. 

 

Some of you may have heard the term “noob wrangling” thrown around every once in a while. What exactly does it mean?

 

 

In short, noob wrangling is best described as a player, typically one well-versed with LOTC OOCly, takes a new player under their wing and teaches them what a guide or CT member cannot. Sometimes they might teach them commands, recruit them into the military, help them find a job, partake in cultural RP, or anything else that will start the new player on their first adventure. 

 

Now, this doesn’t mean that a CT member cannot do any of these things — just that typically CT monk characters aren’t the most reliable source of long-term roleplay for new players, especially when it comes to actually getting new players engaged in any sort of meaningful experience. 

How exactly do you contact noobs? Earlier when I said,

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the average player can do this without even logging on.

I meant that literally. This process of noob recruitment is one multiple nation and settlements currently use, so here’s a step-by-step guide on how you can contact these new players.

 

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On the forum home page, you’ll want to head over to the “apply” tab at the top bar.

 

You’ll be brought to the applicant page underneath the guide. Here, all pending or unreviewed apps will be displayed.

 

 

If you’re only interested in a certain race but don’t feel like taking the time to look through the page yourself, you can use the CTRL + F function on your keyboard to search for keywords. This will not only highlight the elven applicants but will also list how many there are in 2 seconds. For example, if you’re looking for elf applicants, you simply type in the keyword “elf” in the search tab and all of the elf applicants will be highlighted. 

 

 

 

 

From there, you can send this player a message either on the forums or contact them on discord if their account is listed. It’s important to remember that discord is likely a much more reliable method, as many new players may not always check their forum messages or even return to the forums after that point at all. 

 

The contents and formatting of the message you send them are totally up to your discretion. If you’re from a nation, you could provide a warm welcome, offer your nation/settlement’s discord invite, give details as to where the nation is located, or even offer some words of encouragement. Remember, these players haven’t actually been accepted yet, so it’s important not to give them the wrong impression in your message. 

 

Note that new players, most of the time, are younger than the majority of us. Thus, they tend to be very shy or timid, understandably so, as the LOTC new player experience still remains one of the most overwhelming facets of our server. With that being said, offering reassurance, being welcoming, open, and friendly is one of the most important things you can do to help new players feel comfortable while they’re learning the ropes.

No, I’m not saying you need to put on this faux bubbly persona every time you talk to them, but

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don’t be a **** to new players

 

 

 

 

 

We all know that LOTC has a plethora of commands, many of which even some of the most seasoned players tend to forget or may not even know at all. My word of advice is: don’t take the time to teach new players every single command you can think of nor explain every detail of the server. Instead, teach them the basics (#w, #q, #rp, #s, #looc). Allow anything else to be learned with time at their own pace. The key to new player interaction is not to be needlessly detailed nor complex — there’s already enough on their plate as it is. 

 

A personal rule I always try to follow is to never leave a new player without some sort of goal or purpose to accomplish in RP. For example, once your interaction with your new player comes to an end, they may be asking themselves the question: What do I do next? It always helps to give the player something to look forward to that will encourage them to log on next time. You could tell them to locate x character, learn about the culture, get a job, join an active guild, etc. Practically any of these things will be better than simply leaving the new player in the dust with no direction at all. We as veteran players understand that there is no overarching goal of LOTC, or that we’ll never have that one player to send us on a quest. Your story is what you make it to be. This is something I believe is important to teach new players as well while also understanding that they will not always know this nor know how to accomplish this, and thus will need that little nudge.

 

Some new players might be phenomenal at RP, while others… not so much, but there’s nothing wrong with that. We were all in the same boat at one point. Not wanting to roleplay with new players is fine, everyone has their preferences, but harassing them for not being the greatest RPers is not fine. LOTC teaches us to become better writers either by reading other people’s emotes and style of writing or simply practicing whether or not we realize it, so it's important that we give new players that opportunity.

 

Something else I sometimes stress to new payers is that roleplay will not always come to them first — that is simply the undeniable truth of LOTC. You won’t find roleplay by sitting on a bench for 3 hours straight waiting for someone to emote at you. While, yes, people sometimes gravitate towards new players RPly and OOCly, that will not always be the case. Your willingness to seek out roleplay interactions will either make or break your experience as a new player on LOTC.

 

What if they want a better skin? LOTC has multiple avenues of skin accessibility such as skin auctions or skinning discords. Most skinners charge a couple hundred more for commissions, so a custom skin is likely out of a new player’s budget unless they voted for a couple of days straight. Luckily, there are plenty of ways new players can get free skins. 

 

1. Planetminecraft has an array of free-to-use (FTU) skins. Simply head to the search tab under the skin section and search “FTU.” From that, you’ll be shown multiple skins for free use. These skins do not require permission to be used. Please remain respectful of the skin makers, however.
2. LOTC Skin Archive, linked here. These are also free-to-use skins made specifically for new players.
3. LOTC new-player-skin-request channel. This channel is in the main LOTC discord server located under the Creative Cafe tab. Here, new players can request free skins from the volunteer skinners. 

 

I hope this guide will come in handy for some of you. New players will always have a special place in my heart. However, I ask that this guide and advice is used responsibly. For example, if you’re a group that serves no purpose on LOTC beyond PVP, maybe don’t recruit new players ;)

If you have any advice or comments to add, feel free to add a reply!

 

If you’re a new player reading this guide, I have some questions...

What are your interactions with the general players of LOTC like?
What were you feeling upon logging on for the first time? Aimless? Overwhelmed? Let down?

Are you struggling to find roleplay or get engaged in any meaningful RP encounters?
Anything you else you wish to comment on or relay to the server? 

[Boxboiy 86]

 I must agree, few new players are exposed to what the server has to offer, most left wandering about before logging off, never to be seen again. When I first joined, I was met with open arms, wonderful rp, and tons of help from my respective community, which has kept me going to this day. Hope new players can experience that. Just make sure to not be too pushy, and not pretend and befriend with a fake bubbly persona as mentioned above, just to bolster your nation's population. Makes you feel used when its realized. 🙏

[Toffee 1069]

+1 Really nice post!

I think it's super important to give new players agency and feeling like they're creating their own story rather than pigeon-holing them into something right off the bat, so I really appreciate the examples in here of setting little tasks/missions for them to complete like finding a particular character.

 

Another thing I think is quite cool is being able to learn about culture and history through RP for example in libraries and museums! Definitely want to see more museums and paintings of historical figures with an indication of where someone can go to learn more. Even things like statues and monuments about recent history is a good way to indicate important events that new players might want to learn more about rather than them having to wade through the forums/wiki.

[Polysemic 798]

I want to give my five cents as a community team member as well. One thing we frequently see, as mentioned in the original post, is the divide between new players; Some will have an extremely hard time integrating into the community, while some others will be here for a month and no one could tell you when they joined just from their ability to roleplay.

 

8 hours ago, Unwillingly said:

don’t take the time to teach new players every single command you can think of nor explain every detail of the server. Instead, teach them the basics (#w, #q, #rp, #s, #looc).

 

When we do Monk Guidance (which is only done if players request it with an /sreq) these days, we try to explain new players the above channels, as well as some simple things such as how Soulstones work - A thing new players often get wrong, so if you tell them to use their Soulstone, make sure they do it correctly. Another thing we do is try to explain them how the auctiohouse and the bank plugin works, as well as a quick rundown on how to interact with shops; Using the ones provided at CT as an example.

 

8 hours ago, Unwillingly said:

A personal rule I always try to follow is to never leave a new player without some sort of goal or purpose to accomplish in RP.

 

After this, we generally ask the player whether they had a settlement they had in mind where they wanted to go - Usually, they'll have mentioned something in their biography in their application and they will want to go there. If not, we check for active places and explain some of those to them, then ask them where they want to go.

Then comes the hardest part for us; Integrating people into RP. It's hard for multiple reasons, number one being that most of the time, people aren't exactly looking forward to roleplaying with a new player - Because they generally don't have much new stuff to offer, because they're still new.

 

 

8 hours ago, Unwillingly said:

just that typically CT monk characters aren’t the most reliable source of long-term roleplay for new players, especially when it comes to actually getting new players engaged in any sort of meaningful experience. 

 

I think that this is one of the main problems we face - As much as I'd like to offer a new player and their character some sort of hook, a quest they can go for, albeit in information or slaying some creature or doing whatever else, that's simply not something we can realistically do. We can't really offer closure to such a thing, and we can't offer a new player some sort of information that they would normally get in character - Because Monk characters are only used for guidance.

 

8 hours ago, Unwillingly said:

they may be asking themselves the question: What do I do next?

 

And then there's the question every community team member or person who frequents OOC or WS has seen at least once: "What do I do next?" For us, the answer tends to be obvious: You do what you want to do, you set a goal for yourself and work toward it. But for most new players, this isn't as obvious. They don't see LotC as the expansive sandbox that it can be yet, most will see it as an RPG, with a set out road which you could best follow to become... Powerful. Most people who've played for a little bit will realize LotC isn't like this, and it's more about collaborative storytelling than anything - But it also makes it hard for people to just... Hand these new players a goal, since it's something they'll have to decide for themselves.

[The Great Mongol Khan 1091]

I am a certified noob wrangler.