ID:154440
 
It doesn't matter how detailed or self-explanatory or simple or intuitive your game rules of conduct or play may be... the vast majority of casual players (who make up the vast majority of players, at least to a new game) will simply click through them without reading, then proceed to break the rules or demand to know how to play. Perhaps this is an insurmountable problem, but I believe I've hit upon a solution that will weed out the intractable non-readers and guarantee that anyone who plays the game will have at least some idea what's what.

Most games present their rules/instructions in a pop-up box, or in the text or browser window alongside the game. My idea is this: display only the browser window. Instead of automatically placing new players into the game, or putting them into the character creation process, give them the rules. A topic link at (or near) the end can activate the character initialization. If they have to click through several pages of text (I'm thinking three: rules of conduct, game instructions, and then tips) before they get to play the game, then hopefully, a lot of the sort of players you don't want will wander away, and those that stay have no one to blame but themselves if they get booted immediately for breaking a rule or muted/ignored for their repeated cries for answers to questions that have already been clearly explained to them.
Toss in a pop-up -before- char creation and ask them a few questions about what they read in the rules and such, and itd work even better ^^ Ive played online games that use that idea to some degree..

Elorien the depressed -.-;
In response to Elorien
I've thought about this. Even, you need a password that is somwhere in the reading (not at the end) to get into the game. Also, there will be no OOC. That, too, will help with the game. Also, there is a tutorial that is required in the first part of the game where you learn basic skills (walking, running, jumping, etc.) and learn about basic buildings, banking, and other things. In this will be various rules and regulations. If you do have questoins, you can "Call GM", which will make a PNC GM appear next to you. You can ask it a lot of questions out of a list, a lot like an FAQ. Also, Call Admin will be a verb. An NPC admin will come near you, and ask you what the problem is. Your answer will be forwarded to an admin as an alert, not cluttering the chat box. The real admins cannot be yelled at, and don't have to bother with dumb people. If newbs make trouble, admins have no worry. The law is strict. If you take a sword to somone in the city, your butt is put in jail. After your sentance, you can't even use a weapon in the city. If you make trouble in the woods... A monster will kill you any way.
There was some talk of a BYOND version that would have you download the whole game before it logged you in. If there were some way browser info could be displayed during this time, that might be good.

Z
The best way to get people to read your help files is to tell them not to. :P
In response to Shadowdarke
Shadowdarke wrote:
The best way to get people to read your help files is to tell them not to. :P

Or, to tell them that there are cheats in it. :P
In response to Lord of Water
Lord of Water wrote:
Shadowdarke wrote:
The best way to get people to read your help files is to tell them not to. :P

Or, to tell them that there are cheats in it. :P

And then the supposed "cheats" don't actually allow you to cheat, but rather remove the penalty for not entering them. =)
The best way to make them read is to give them moments where they're bored enough that they actually want to.

Example: Just starting out in a mud, know some of the basic stuff. Hanging out in a tavern, people are talking about something that you just find utterly boring. Don't wanna listen? Read the help files.
In response to Foomer
Foomer wrote:
The best way to make them read is to give them moments where they're bored enough that they actually want to.

Example: Just starting out in a mud, know some of the basic stuff. Hanging out in a tavern, people are talking about something that you just find utterly boring. Don't wanna listen? Read the help files.

If I find a game boring, I leave. On the other hand, I read help files too.
In response to Shadowdarke
If I find a game boring, I leave. On the other hand, I read help files too.

Except, I read the help files when I'm interested in the game, not when I'm playing it, or am bored by it.

Some help files are rather poorly formatted, but as long as the help is right, any help is good help*.
One way that seems to work for my latest craze, Nexus TK, is to have them go through a mandatory tutorial (playing all the while), then at the end, ask them about what they've learned. Something like that, I was banned for no apparent reason, so I haven't checked up on it lately.

One way I work it, in Parachute (lil' mini game I created) is to have them not allowed to go up into the air before they read the rules, and have got at least 50%+* on a small test on what they've read.

*I should be a teacher.

In response to Shadowdarke
I was refering to slow points in an otherwise good game.
In response to Foomer
Once again, game laws can easily enforce rules: small things that can be detected in a game (stealing from somone) may result in one minute in jail. In this time, while you have nothing else to do, most people will read the help file. In the cell, that will be the only thing on the wall. If you try to attack somone in a city... 15-45 minutes is enough time to read somthing...
LexyBitch wrote:
It doesn't matter how detailed or self-explanatory or simple or intuitive your game rules of conduct or play may be... the vast majority of casual players (who make up the vast majority of players, at least to a new game) will simply click through them without reading, then proceed to break the rules or demand to know how to play. Perhaps this is an insurmountable problem, but I believe I've hit upon a solution that will weed out the intractable non-readers and guarantee that anyone who plays the game will have at least some idea what's what.

Most games present their rules/instructions in a pop-up box, or in the text or browser window alongside the game. My idea is this: display only the browser window. Instead of automatically placing new players into the game, or putting them into the character creation process, give them the rules. A topic link at (or near) the end can activate the character initialization. If they have to click through several pages of text (I'm thinking three: rules of conduct, game instructions, and then tips) before they get to play the game, then hopefully, a lot of the sort of players you don't want will wander away, and those that stay have no one to blame but themselves if they get booted immediately for breaking a rule or muted/ignored for their repeated cries for answers to questions that have already been clearly explained to them.

another approach is the way that ultima online did it, where you started inside of a building and it made you do things to learn the game, if you did not do those things, you would never get any farther, also, you have an acount based on time of play for the amount that you pay, meaning you better hurry up and do whatever you need to do before you run out of playing time, now this time isnt like 10 minutes, its more like a month, but if your stuck in the tutorial building for longer than 20 minutes, i pitty you!!!

anyways, making the character do basic actions before joining the "others" will hopefully make him/her learn the rules before actually playing.
In response to FIREking
anyways, making the character do basic actions before joining the "others" will hopefully make him/her learn the rules before actually playing.

But make sure your tutorial area is actually a meaningful, worthwhile place to be and not some newbie day care, or players might get frustrated and leave--not because they're unwilling to learn, but because they feel belittled by a tutorial system which unavoidably walks them step by step through basic concepts they're already completely aware of or could have grasped the relevance of in a much shorter time. Don't get me wrong; it's a very good idea to try and design tutorials and your help system in general such that anyone, regardless of how much gaming experience they have, can learn the ins and outs of the game at a reasonable rate, but you should attempt to do so in an unobtrusive manner so that you're not forcing experienced players to sit there and read on what they already know.
In response to Leftley
Leftley wrote:
anyways, making the character do basic actions before joining the "others" will hopefully make him/her learn the rules before actually playing.

But make sure your tutorial area is actually a meaningful, worthwhile place to be and not some newbie day care, or players might get frustrated and leave--not because they're unwilling to learn, but because they feel belittled by a tutorial system which unavoidably walks them step by step through basic concepts they're already completely aware of or could have grasped the relevance of in a much shorter time. Don't get me wrong; it's a very good idea to try and design tutorials and your help system in general such that anyone, regardless of how much gaming experience they have, can learn the ins and outs of the game at a reasonable rate, but you should attempt to do so in an unobtrusive manner so that you're not forcing experienced players to sit there and read on what they already know.

by basic actions, i mean something like having the player attack a "dummy" monster a few times to get the hang of the battle system, then have them mess with a few objects like a healing potion, something like this

showing them how common things will work, such as casting a spell, weilding a sword, whatever your game may require

and if the person feels, or knows, that he has grasped those basic concepts, then he should fly right through the tutorial with ease, and will join the game quickly.

Its up to the designer to balance the tutorial out.
With Unreal Tournament as another example, you are sat down and shown exactley how to play each style of level, if its capture the flag, or domination, you are told how to do it, in a orderly manner, and if you feel you know what the chick gonna say next, you can just click or hit escape to skip to the next sentence. But doing this makes it so that the player can just whiz through the tutorial not even paying attention.

As long as the tutorial explains how the game is different from other games in a fasion that shows you how to do basic things within the game at the same time, then you will have a balance tutorial start that wouldnt be argued with.

--FIREking