today i had the fortune to come across a new player who did'nt have a clue what a RP server was. since i was'nt busy i decided to give him/her a little lesson in RP and the basics.... half an hour later he/she was using emotes, speaking properly IC and OOC and forming a personality. After looking back on it when i gave him my little test. I came up with this idea.

Why not make a portal in the start area for a Basic RP course for new comers or beginners to the RP type servers.

so how would this work. Well first they would need to learn to talk properly, such as a simple sentence like "hello my name is _____" now i've seen on servers that allow you to open doors and such by speaking passwords and that, if you could do that except do it so it moves them through the course. Then we have emotes and descriptions *______ smiles* exactly the same way the first part would be scripted, then lastly talking OOC using the exact same method as the previous two... Then at the end of the course you would be portaled back to the start area and then able to choose to start in sanctuary or the underdark.

This will greatly improve New comers RP skills to the server as well as providing a refresher course to those who are just bored or want to see what the course is like.

If you have any extra RP tip you could add to the course, feel free to post it.

I know we have guides and people who generally go out of their way to help a new person in need, but those type of people wont always be there.

I've seen this exact thing done on other servers and it does help out the clueless newbie who really wants to learn.

Ironically, this exact thing came up in a DM discussion the other day when talking about how to make the server newbie friendly. I think some kind of optional tutorial is likely to come in the future. We are also looking at more tutorial type quests as well. Any suggestions for tutorials are welcome, as there is plenty to flesh out here.

Thrawn, while messing around with the new domains I stumbles across the new "tour the city Fetch quests". That is an excellent idea to do that, and well implemented. A how to RP lesson/ quest may be a great addition -if- they see it. I think an entry portal that drops you at an alternate location in the city where the quest giver is.

But the thing is, people may just ignore it. I've met people who knew what RPing was, but instantly skipped the start area and somehow missed the fact that the server was RP. The thing is, even if this is added, not everyone will use it. Most things is people who know what RPing is, but don't pay attention in the start area. I've seen at least 10 of those, and none who actually don't know how to RP. But that could just be my luck, maybe there are a lot of people who don't know how.

While this may improve RP.... if I had to jump through these kind of hoops(as described in the original post) the first time I went onto a server, I think I would quit and not come back...... if it was mandatory. If it is not mandatory, the people who would most benefit from it, will just skip it.

The initial few minutes make a big first impression.... if something like this is added, it should be fun, not just informative.

I am not trying to be a nay sayer, just sharing my perspective.

yes i agree with you there, fun should be added into it. Any ideas of how to add fun into it would be great thanks