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Treating immies gently.
Breakin' in a new chummer with that hardened touch.

Withmore is a tough town, and a lot of people play characters that do some pretty tough shit to get by. I think that's awesome, and it's what makes the game so gritty and fun. The other day, though, some new player came in and said on xgame that they had gotten mugged three times since they'd come in.

Someone, of course, came back with 'please don't share IC info'. Okay, I get it, it's a rule, but can we please try to sympathize with these new players a little and explain to them about the theme a little first? Somebody else chimed in with something along the lines of 'deal with it'.

That person left. They aren't coming back. This is happening constantly, I see it a lot and I'm not around all that much.

This post is a two parter in that way, two requests for the community:

1) Play a badass thug who mugs everyone he sees? Just spot an immy with tattered pants and 50 chy to their name? Maybe -start- to mug them, then RP with them about how they aren't even worth mugging yet. Because they aren't. This gives the feeling of danger, shows them their place in the Dome, and gives them the option to play a white hat or black hat, having just met a very black hat. The backbone of this is that playing a game is supposed to be fun, and we need to let these brand spanking new people get a sense of the fun of the game before they get bent over the barrel so hard they just say fuck it.

2) OOC communication, particularly on xgame, is fucked. It has been fucked for a while, and it actually almost lead me to leave after day 1. Was I not such a stubborn punk in real life, I would have left after the first "FOIC!!!" I received. Things have gotten better, the karma is oddly successful at making people play nice, but I'm just asking can we please please please be civil to new people? If you find yourself retorting a first-day immy's questions on xgame with snippy shit, maybe xgame isn't for you. If we want more players, and I think we all do, we need to help people learn the game and find the fun that we all see in it. If we all shit on every new person that walks in the door when they say, 'hey I just died what do I do?', we're never going to have new players. Encourage people to keep trying, gently remind them of the rule -after- you help them out, and we will all benefit.

Please, go the extra mile IC and OOC to make sure the brand new players are having fun. It only takes a few days to get somebody stoked on a new game, but it really only takes one bad interaction for them to turn away and never show up again.

The first time i step foot in Withmore 12+ years ago, I talked shit to some baka that was max UE back then. He hung me over a roof top and threatened to kill me if I don't watch what the hell I was doing. It was my first RP experience in a text based game.

Here I am, twelve years later, a $justice on Sindome.

Some people aren't fit for our theme. Getting hazed roughly as you come into the city gives us a good indication on whether or not they can handle Sindome.

Just saying.

True. ICly be rough, but read the room. OOCly, be nice. You can tell immies that you can't tell them what they're asking to know and keep a polite tone and it'll help them understand *why* you can't tell them and that you're not just telling them to fuck off. Just 'I'm sorry, but I can't tell you that, and remember that this is an OOC channel, but...'

Sindome's rough atmosphere doesn't have to translate over to OOC and frankly, it just fosters bad first impressions and a slightly toxic atmosphere. We're all here to have fun.

Hung you off the ledge and threatened you, but let you walk away and probably even let you keep your 50 chy. Spot on RP there, I don't have any issue with that. He sparked danger, made a potential enemy, and showed you some cool things in the game like the potential to throw someone off a roof.
He robbed me blind and left me naked. I later on watched him get cut down and put in cryo first-hand.

Harshness breeds rivalry, rivalry fuels RP.

There isn't one rule to fit them all, read the room is good advice. We also don't need to dumb things down to the point we're being fluffy for the sake of people who are conflict adverse. They aren't exactly what we want for the community.

Most people fucking with immies are other new characters, not max UE badasses. It's a good opportunity for them to jump right into CP conflict.

There's an entire job for being nice to immies and showing them how to play already.

That's a good point, sometimes it's other new players playing the game... really, really well.
I think another side to this is, not all immigrants are new players. Some are experienced - to some degree - but starting a new character. Also, some experienced players roleplay being 'immigrants' as part of their RP (looking the part). So, that opens a can of worms because then PCs have to start using OOC to determine which immigrants to 'fuck with' and which not to. I think there's some good ideas to RPing out a mugging, yeah. But, it isn't always necessary. If a new player is getting frustrated early on in the game and can't handle the environment, they are going to get even more frustrated when the real hardcore shit starts happening. This is a time for them not only to learn the game mechanics but also the theme and the valuable lessons for OOC/IC handling of the intensity of Sindome.

Just my thoughts.

Just my view on this.

This topic is definitely a fine line of “teaching new players the way of the game” and “making sure things aren’t too toxic and that new players feel welcome.” But there’s not much we can do on that except stay true to it IC. Do I think that new player should have gotten mugged three times on their first day? Hell no. That’s way too much. But sadly there isn’t a way as of now to tell that that happened. It makes sense IC that you wouldn’t want to mug someone if they have absolutely nothing of value, and that should definitely be kept in mind. So I do think as players, we should at least keep in mind that the game keeps its popularity by bringing in new players, and that being overly toxic towards them is just simply not okay. But if a player is sleeping in the middle of the street or something, it’s a bit of a common knowledge lesson not to, however sad to say.

There's a balance. It's important to show new players that other players aren't out to get them and are genuinely glad to see them here and hope they'll sink their teeth in and bounce back. Friendly OOC tone in answering questions and some patience in explaining the game's atmosphere goes a long way. The upside to immigration is that with a little determination, you can bounce back and get even, but to a point, players have to have a reasonable impression and getting absolutely, repentantly demolished first day might not get that across very well.

Like I said, read the room. I think the IC treatment isn't off, just you know, be careful. OOCly, just try to be polite and give people a good impression of the community.

Agreed. I was online the other day when said immie went to the xgame channel and brought up their frustrations. While some people were more polite about it and explained that that just is how the game is sometimes, others were more along the lines of “suck it up and deal with it,” which is never a welcoming attitude to have with new players.
I think most players have some level of IC leniency when it comes to immies, regardless of whether their player is a newbie or a veteran - because who wants to be known as that guy who beats up on weaklings all the time? And if they do for whatever reason, the game has its own way of weeding that out IC.

Some of it can be accounted to just Bad Luck™ and for other people the game just might not be for them.

Adding to the previous thought - digging yourself into a hole (as long as it seems escapable) is a good plot hook for a player who otherwise might get overwhelmed and not know what direction to go in.

That just falls on the other more experienced players to be responsible with our beatings and foster RP with them. :D

I honestly feel that Slither's catch phrase says it best: Cooperative Competition.

Compete ICly. Be Cyberpunk. Be your character (who is hopefully morally grey) Cooperate OOCly. Help each other learn and grow. Be respectful.

My biggest problem with some of the ideas presented here is that they foster meta behavior. People start using Time In Dome as a measure for character power ICly when that is bull. People start trying to identify returning players on new characters when it shouldn't matter. Characters start acting in unnatural ways because of meta information. I would rather not see these things become any more prevalent.

I have never been one to kill without reason or to constantly pick on lower UE characters and the like. But sometimes it is what's called for given the IC situation and the characters involved. Sindome is a game where you will die. You will be robbed. And nothing is fair. Please stop thinking that you deserve a fair chance at anything. Please!

I would also argue against this idea that getting beat up or mugged or even killed is terrible and takes the fun from people. Maybe it does for some. Personally, some of my fondest memories involve those things happening to me. I love it. There might be an emotional hit right then but those times honestly provided more RP, motivation and plain old stick with me far better than the ones where I 'won' something. I urge people to consider how meaningful those losses are and what kind of RP they can lead to.

Lastly, I am not a fan of this 'poor immies' trend. As long as players are being thoughtful of their character's actions, not acting like this is a hack and slash and being respectful and helpful OOCly, I am good. Let immies kill immies. Let Immies kill themselves by running into the brick wall that is a powerful character. Let them play the game - a game that is very PvP oriented I might add.

Anyways. Just my thoughts on the topic. Cooperative Competition. That's where it's at in my opinion.

I don't think anybody is advocating that immies not be killed or mugged. Far from it. I think we're suggesting that it's important not to go overboard and that it's important to manage expectations for new players- that means not coddling them as much as it means not murdering them off of the game in a day's time and telling them to fuck off when they struggle to learn the game's mechanics and theme. It's similar to the reason that we have a rule against rampant PKing- as much as PKing and stealing is part of the game, if it was *too* frequent, things would start to break down a bit.

There's a point of moderation and for many new players, the game's atmosphere isn't going to be something they know going in or that they're used to. There's a good chance that many will be won over once they get a taste for things, but it takes just a bit of consideration and reading the room to make sure they're not soured before they ever get that taste.

I can relate to the general toxicity of the xgame channel. There are a few people on there who seem to, more often than not, offer some variation on, "Suck it up you whiner."

In an ideal world, those people would realize that they have shitty attitudes and remove themselves from the channel. Given that is not likely to happen, it would be great if staff paid close attention to the channel for a month or two and suggested to overly negative people that if they do not want to help, that they should leave the channel.

Some people have it in themselves to be helpful in just about any situation. Others do not. IRL, I twice ran into situations where major clients requested that I be removed from meetings and no longer involved with their accounts. It was the kind of action that would have gotten me fired if the company could have replaced me. I say that to be transparent here and acknowledge that I am the type of person who does not always have it in me to be helpful, or to necessarily put up with what I consider to be "stupid people".

My plea is to players out there whose responses are often times either, "FOIC" or "That's not a question we answer on this channel.", go ahead and remove yourself from the channel. You are not helping, and you are actively turning off new players. It is not your job to play the IC police, or to control the conversation on xgame. There are staffers on that channel who do a great job of doing that already.

I agree with many of JMo's points, particularly the OOC ones. As others have pointed out however, there's a certain balance to be had here.

If it's someone who's *just OOCly saying something the lines of "I got mugged three times," then it is not unreasonable to encourage other players to NOT respond with "suck it up," "deal with it," or "gg ez get rekt." Joking about that last one of course.

It is only when these new players get belligerent and rude do I think harsh OOC words are reasonable to expect.

But as long as the new player in question is being reasonable then it's only beneficial for the community to more patiently explain "Negative things happening, or happening to your character is part of the game, and you will benefit by thinking of these in-game negative events as opportunities for roleplay. What is bad for your character is actually good for you as a player, as long as you approach the situation from that angle."

Not everyone realizes what they're getting into with Sindome, and if they don't then explaining to them what they are getting into is okay to do instead of being kind of cold to them OOCly.

There is too much bleed of IC toughness going into OOC interactions.

Atleast they’re probably not getting murdered right off the jump. It took me a few characters to have one that could afford a clone and “figure it out”. The game also had a MUCH harsher atmosphere and learning curve 15 years ago IMO. That was also a few before my current one. It takes a level of “suck it up and try again” in many cases to play Sindome. Many times getting mugged out of the gate is two fold; bad luck or they brought it upon themselves and aren’t sharing that aspect of it. Coddle a new character if you want, but as someone said earlier using time as a measure of your worth is lame. I always find it kind of meta if a new character walks in with an attitude and the characters that have been around 2-3 months with weaksauce stats/skills but know they’re atleast better then a new player start trying to “teach them a lesson” or “welcome them” when otherwise in their normal day to day lives they run crates and try to be nice to everyone else. Be consistent!

I agree though don’t be an OOC douche canoe or brown noser. You don’t even have to be new to want to reach through your screen and slap someone. Try to talk to people in ooc as you would to their face. If that still means you’re going to be an unpleasant person stay off xgame.

...and I should have read this post before making mine... although they're slightly a different topic.

Full disclosure, I've never played a MUD/MOO before and I'm on my first few days.

In general, people have been OOCly very helpful. I think I would have left on day one otherwise. I've also had some brilliant bits of RP that make me want more.

Now, where I get stuck is that the advice I'm given doesn't match up to what's happening. ICly asking about work gives me the advice of running crates. Cool. Running crates got me mugged 3 of 4 runs. So I've lost several hundred cheyn over four runs and can't do that without typing work for 3-5 hours now. I'm sure there are ways to be a good crate runner. I've asked ICly and the responses have been about what was expected, a mix of good and bad IC advice. Just... I don't know which is which.

That's not a complaint, but I get it that I should be doing X, but X doesn't seem to work for me. So when I'm asking how to do Y, I get told to go back to X. I know there are likely stats/mechanics that most people who've played know. I get that. I don't mind being mugged. I also know that it's bad for me to keep doing something that is going to lose me money in the short term and perhaps in the long term.

So yeah...

I don't care about going backwards, or even being killed. I just want to have an idea of what I am doing wrong. That's not an easy thing to get answered over IC :)

Let's take the generic problem of, "I have no idea how to make money running crates because they keep getting taken from me."

I think it's important to stress is that the best solutions will not be upping specific stats/skills. You need to think more about what RP you can engage in to tackle this problem. What alternatives you might have. Who might care. What you might be able to do to get someone to care.

Sindome is not a fun game to play in isolation (in my opinion). You have a problem - that is awesome! The problems breathe life into this game. Now you need to start RPing your way through it. Talk to people. Gather data. Talk to other people. Make overtures. Make plans and pursue them. Be ready to fail. Have a backup plan for if this doesn't get you satisfactory results. Enjoy the journey.

In general, I really encourage you to think beyond figuring out which stat/skill to increase or what command sequence will win. I'm not saying that character build and command/game familiarity is not important. But I think that you need to focus on more than that. If you have confusion about builds/commands/systems I recommend you review Archetypes, help files and seek advice ICly. It is fairly common for characters to seek training, advice and even mentorship from other characters.

The same applies towards making money in general. Lots of ways to do it and simply upping the right stat/skill (while a legit thing to pursue) will not yield the the same kind of quality/effective results RP can. This is largely true with any problem you will face.

Just my thoughts BlazingCoconut!

Immigrants get 2 weeks' grace from combat.
Don't be nice to immies, make their life tough. Make them want to go out and pal up with people bigger and tougher than you because you mugged them of their thrift clothes. Make them learn the hard way, it's usually pretty effective and might come back to bite you in the ass long term. Which is always fun.
The two weeks grace isn't always honored.
Immunity from combat is coded in. If they break it by initiating combat themselves that's on them.
The two weeks grace period only counts towards being killed in combat, and only if you didn't instigate it if I remember right. I'm sure it was explained as a fallback for muggings gone wrong and things like that. It's possible to veto that grace period, of course.
If you don't involve immies in your RP what are they going to do? Get bored and initiate fluffy romance RP with your waifu. Do you want to be cucked by an immigrant? No? Give them the welcome to Withmore.
I want to be cucked though.
Thanks! I appreciate all the thoughts.

Yeah, I've come to the conclusion that I probably made some horrible choices in chargen... not because they won't pan out eventually (although I've had a lot of people ICly tell me that they probably won't which is... worrying) but because being new they are definitely not helping me mechanically overcome the problems that I'm encountering at this stage in my characters life, which are also exacerbated by being a new player. That's okay, I'll get permed at some point and know more for round two.

So while I've been asking things here and in game, I have been trying to progress where I can. I did have a plan to move forward. Crate running... was not going to be a thing for me. So, I've done things to try and progress other ways. Getting a phone by working in SHI for... I have no idea how many hours was a big first step. (Is saying that against the IC/OOC thing, if it is, forgive me for saying what I did). However, I do want to at least let people know I'm not just wallowing in a bar, or on the street. I've done very specific (and apparently not optimal) things to progress. They may be wrong, but I am not just beating my head against the wall over and over.

Now, to the question at hand.

As a new player I do not want to be exempt from muggings, I do not want to have a grace period. If I piss people off, then they'll kill me and that's fine. I met a cannibal on day one and had no idea if there were going to be in game repercussions for helping them or not. It was a riot! Getting crates stolen was kind of cool... although I really tried to find the person that did it to RP some things out of it to no avail. So that was a little disappointing as it was a game thing that happened before I even knew it.

However, here is where I do struggle.

There's no where that I can easily learn about things that people who have played for a long time take for granted. I mentioned having a phone, I got a call and realized I had no idea how to answer the damned thing :)

Yes, there are help files and usually they are pretty good. [Kudos to whoever has worked on them over the years]. However, when the phone rings, or someone kicks a crate out of your hands there is no time to find the help file. Yes, I can read it for later, but there is a massive learning curve coming from a graphical MMO background. I might have read it and it's just one of a thousand simple things that I have not committed to memory yet. Also, if I didn't know something was a thing, I certainly wouldn't have tried to read a help file on something I didn't know was going to happen. Asking how to stop people knocking things out of my hands ICly did not really result in what I wanted to ask which was, can I put a crate in inventory?

I know... just try it. But at the moment I can't afford to run crates because I can't pay the guy for the ones that I've lost. Not a complaint, but just putting out there that I would try it if I could at this point.

Additionally, the help files do not tell me why my character seems defenseless against some things. Is the other person better? Did I just do something wrong? Was it a tactical error just walking out of the ACME building? Those are things that are hard to ask. I want to ask specifics, but as a character I can't or won't. So I'll talk about crate running on SIC. That returns a mixed bag of advice as well as the expected 'NOOB stop complaining' comments [of which are totally genre specific. Not complaining about that]. It does make it difficult to get more specific information about why didn't I even see anyone in the street when I left. How can they attack me when I have three moves queued up in the client and I can't even get a look command in before they're gone :)

With that said, some people have reached out to me to give me more specific IC advice and spent some quality time helping/explaining things to me. THANK YOU so much for that to all of you who did! While I'm still confused about some things at least some of the basics make more sense now.

As an Immie, and a very new one at that. I don't expect people to be gentle but it would be nice if there was a little more of the mechanics that were exposed to people so they could do something other than "damnit I got mugged again!". Maybe having a page with some of the basic things on it? I know there's a @newbie guide, which I've read 2-3 times, but it doesn't cover some concepts which were apparently obvious to a lot of people other than me :)

So... wall of text conclusion. I don't want a free ride. I don't care if you screw me over. I don't care if I get permed. I do want to keep trying to figure out why these things happened and maybe ask that a little more is exposed in @newbie or on the site?

I strongly urge you to find a mentor as your CHARACTER, BlazingCoconut. They are new to the city, thrust into the criminal underbelly without heads up besides the degrading structure the deeper they get into the Dome via immigration from the Badlands to the Omega Gates. You are new too and I get the impression you will go far if you stick it out because your posts are well thought out and you show promise/willingness without knowing how to tackle these issues or handle them as the player, while experiencing them as the character and learning and growing along their journey. They're in for the ride, not the destination, just like you are chum, and everyday spent learning new things from the view of your character while discovering as the player drives this and the mentor point home. Find a mentor. Persist, ask at all hours, ask on different platforms if need be. Just try to get one, someone has to step up to their calling. Just don't give up. It'll make for good RP in the end.
Nope. No giving up. I think I have found one... although the word bait was used which makes me wonder!
Definitely be as nice and forthcoming OOCly, but sometimes new characters/players do stupid shit that results in some action. I had it done to me with my fresh into the game and out the gate by attacking a NPC ganger. It made me learn that NPC's will attack back and GM's will puppet them. A good learning experience.

I do, however, pull my punches when it comes to obvious new guys. Instead of knocking them out and sending them back to character generation with death, try slapping them around and treating them like a joke. They live and possibly get to come back stronger to be an actual threat, and you get some good RP outta it.

Heyo !

I'm a newbie player and after some recent events that happened to my immie character, I must say, Whitmore is a pretty unforgiving place, over the span of just a few days getting into the game, I've been mugged and beaten quite a few times.

How do I feel about this? Oddly very satisfying, and happy that it happened ! I know I've come to points where most other newbie players would just throw their arms up in the air, and give up. I loved every moment of it, why? You may ask? Well, it's because every single encounter, everytime I've had my ass handed to me, I improved a bit, I learnt what to do, what not to do, staying alert and keeping my wits about me.

Sure, losing chyen is pretty daunting, and even I had a realization of "why do I keep doing this?" only to have my character wake up and realize "I'm still in this, I can't let this drag me down, I'm going to beat this person !", it's this determination that fuels me to keep going, and I can understand wholeheartedly where other newbies who give up might be coming from, putting your best effort trying to make money only to be taken on by someone who is ridiculously stronger then you and won't leave you a chance is kind of...Unfun.

However, I do agree with Coconut, I too feel kind of stuck on certain issues, but I know if I can keep going, I'll overcome it in no time.

Thanks for reading this big ol' block of text from this newbie boy.

Yes, and I'm still here kicking along as well. I'm still pretty clueless about things that people seem to take for granted. However, I am getting to a point where I feel I can influence some things in the game and what Ephemeralis says is very correct. Since everyone can advance at the same rate you are likely going to be behind a lot of people for a long time.

I would love to see some basics on how things work more transparent, but I do understand why they are not. The GMs want you concentrating on interacting with people as opposed to systems and stats.

Anyway, if it's any consolation, keep at it and have fun while you are. I'm still a noob and will be for a long time, but having a great time anyway.

I'm sorry for bumping this old thread, but I'm brand new to the game and I'd like to share a little something of my own experience.

I had a hard time breaking into the game and I went a few days without finding any RP, and I didn't find those newbie helpers. I asked around ICly for jobs and I asked OOCly for advice, and finally I got both. Since people were aware that I was brand new and really wanted to get into the game and RP and meet people, I thought maybe on my first real RP encounter I'd be given a little leniency. The RPers were really forgiving for my newbish screw-ups so I misread my RP partners and amped up the RP a little bit with a funny comment and then got beat up by someone whom I'd have no chance with. My courier crate was taken from me and all of the chy I picked up from courier runs and the little RP job they gave me was taken away. Then I was dismissed from RP and sent away to do anything else that didn't involve them.

I had a hard time just getting into the game. My computer crashed and I lost my history so I had to type it up again. I had also had trouble logging into the game my first few times until I figured out why. I had trouble finding RP until I asked for newbie advice on the OOC channel and got a conversation going.

I guess Sindome is supposed to be "hardcore" and I should be thankful that I wasn't permakilled since I didn't have a clone, and maybe I shouldn't have been so snarky while RPing, but I don't think it would hurt all that much to have a little something to help introduce newbies to the game without them having to be robbed of everything and told to stay away from an RP zone on their first encounter.

I'm not upset that my one and only RP encounter ended up the way it did and I appreciate the other players taking time to RP with me. Maybe my biggest newbie mistake was not knowing how hard and fast the consequences would hit a newbie.

As cliche it is, the reality of it is... Welcome to Withmore. The game can be very unforgiving.
Yeah I get that, it's just disheartening to start all over from zero because of my screwing up an encounter with an experienced player.

I guess the answer to my situation is "git gud."

The streets of Withmore are a cruel and unforgiving place. But every issue is also an opportunity. Be it for yourself, or for someone else. There's always a chance to crawl out of the gutter, straighten up, and make a name for yourself.

We even have a nickname for when an immy character needs reminding that Withmore isn't a nice place, and though someone's PC might be a sheerly sadistic an cruel shit, I can assure you on the other end of the screen, nine times outta ten, they're the opposite of that.

Anyhow, that's the harsh society of Sindome. It's gritty, harsh, and ruthless. but with some persistance, it's very much survivable.

Huh. I thought you were protected from this as a newbie for your first two weeks, unless you took hostile action against someone already. I thought I read that somewhere, but can't find the file now.
There is no way for the person who killed you to know you are 'knew' for all they know you are a old player returning on a new character.

Dont expect no consequences to your actions. Bite the big dogs with no saftey nets and you will die just like a 10 year old character with no safety nets.

Don't give up, get even! You got to stick to it, man. It's tough and you WILL get frustrated, but it's worth it when you finally get that win.
Your crate and flash are ultimately meaningless.

The accumulation of wealth is usually to purchase things that will be taken away via RP at some point. Remember, the only thing that matters in this game ultimately, is your character.

Role play it out. Be a street urchin. Tell people you were robbed, scheme to get others to do revenge plots for you. Make friends, etc.

Flip getting robbed into a plot hook for others, and you will certainly find people willing and able to have fun with you. Good luck!

I heard about newbie helpers in the game but I never found them and I wish my first encounter was with one of them. That's not to say the quality of my RP partners was lacking, actually I had fun RPing with them.
I encourage you not to be discouraged. Instead of letting at that, consider it an opportunity for your character to now get involved in the nitty, gritty society. Find a way to get angry, and get even.
Personally I wouldn't use straight-up combat in a situation like that with a first day immy, it's better to push them around a bit and threaten them unless they push it. Getting the shit beaten out of you can stall your ability to do anything which is a major bummer when you just started playing.

If it's any consolation, whatever you had on you would be really easy to gain back and you probably aren't going to face any real permanent consequences for pissing a couple people off on your first day.

I guess my point is that if there really are IC newbie helpers (and I was told that there are people who do nothing but that) then maybe they should be a little more visible. I spent a lot of time just wandering around not really knowing what else to do. My own situation limits my playtime so if I spend my playtime just collecting chyen from NPCs to enrich experienced players at my expense it makes it hard for me to want to work that angle of being the beta robbed chump.
The IC helpers are also PCs. Chances are you timed it poorly when none were online and active. It's a limited job with limited slots, but they tend to be very useful if you can catch them.
I guess I just wasn't on at the right time.

I admit though that I feel like a sap for being screwed over in my very first RP encounter and that's probably coloring my opinion, so I guess I'm biased here. But it's not my game and if Sindome works when it's run in "hardcore" mode then I shouldn't criticize.

I posted the italicized to reddit a year ago in response to a similar comment and feel it relates here. At the time, I was playing a PC who preyed on just about anyone they could. A large contingent of those victim's ended up being Immy's as they were a crate thief. My personal commitment/justification was to provide those Immy's an RP experience of being robbed. A story to tell. Sure, it's easy to initiate combat and rob someone blind - we've all done it. As a community we need to strive to be better though in a lot of regards but with this in particular I think if you're going to commit to robbing Immy's who are potentially new players - you owe to them to provide something memorable. If you're too worried about exposing yourself to the IC consequences to do this, you are most likely part of the problem. In that same regard, we owe to each other to foster a CP environment, I've seen a lot of 5 chy heroes as of late who interject themselves in anything they can. My only suggestion here is be consistent - if you're not a hero everyday and only one when you recognize PC conflict you can strong-arm...are you really adding anything to the game or pushing us toward Fluffy Bunny Land?

I'm a veteran player of Sindome and can speak to the learning curve being aggressive to say the least. A lot of what seems substantial and meaningful from the newbie perspective in terms of experience/skills/money really isn't in the grand scheme of things but it doesn't change those losses from feeling devastating when you're just starting out.

Crates and even the majority of the jobs in Sindome are a crutch. One designed to help you build ties, get involved in RP, and have some spending money. The real meat and potatoes of Sindome is the plots you'll knowingly or in many cases unknowingly be pulled into.

Personally, I feel like crates are the newbie's first true introduction into Sindome. You can do your job the way your supposed too and make meager amount of money for each delivery...or you can steal them from others and make ten times that amount per crate. Sindome is a game where nice guys truly finish last. The RP intensity of the game allows clever solutions to problems. Tired of getting robbed by some half-starved street urchin? Keep some Empanada's in your pocket and maybe offer them instead. Silly? Perhaps but if that player is sticking to their RP that just might work.

Your points and feelings are very much heard though. Those of us in the SD community need to find better ways to train/shelter/expose newbie's to the things that make us love the game which can be difficult when they're starting out. I am taking this to heart and trying to make this better. Eventually, we all end up with the shit kicked out of us lying face down in the gutter though. So when it does happen try not to take it personally. Just pick up the pieces and plot your inevitable revenge.

<3

I get the point, newbies really can't expect to get off any easier than anyone else and in this game I suppose I have to deal with it or find another game. Someone got paid good chyen to briefly RP with me and that's the way it goes.
TalonCzar is right. Nothing you have really matters all that much and you will lose all of it 100% of the time if you play long enough. Other games condition you to think about your money and gear as progress, but it really, really isn't here. It's just stuff to make stories with.

I know the old timers know what's up, but if you're a middle or lowbie, consider acacia's experience and how you can help. You might not have a lot of money or work for immies and your character might not be a charitable soul, but it can really make or break someone's experience to be pulled in on even some simple RP. I distinctly remember all the characters I met in my first month who went out of their way to be theme ambassadors - new players are very impressionable so it's a great chance to showcase your character and make someone feel welcome, even if your character is terrifying.

Ily Reefer
If you're running crates and able to RP, you're already in many regards past the benchmark where most of the IC resources are dedicated in terms of bringing new players up to speed.

People tend to overstate the amount of rewarding conflict-based RP that exists for new players. If you don't enjoy chatting with chums in the local dive enough to put up with getting your shoes robbed from you occasionally, and maybe one day leveraging those friendships to ruin the life of the person who wronged you, SD is probably going to seem like a bleak, soul-crushing experience.

Simple suggestions for those wanting to beef with noobies for (reasons):

Beat them to hell and back, then pay for their medical bills. RP out why your character feels guilty, maybe they didn't know the person was a true immy!

Hold them over a ledge, put a gun to their head, grapple them and hold a blade to their throat.. whatever menacing bad guy RP you can do to save face for your hard-boiled crew, but also present the immy with ways of RPing it out without red text.

Rob them blind, then offer them to work for the return of their gear. Don't just have them go get you a pizza, make it an actually interesting and engaging plot. Give them a spray can and tell them to go tag up gold (perhaps with a reminder that crime topside needs an XHELP in local OOC!) or do something else that is going to draw the attention of your peers.

Give them a scar, take a finger, burn your initials into their face, etc. Explain in local OOC they should update the nakeds accordingly, and then let them RP it out, and decide for themselves if they want to keep such an experience on further clones.

Put them in debt to you, but be very careful doing this. I see people do this commonly, and rather than it being motivational, it's stifling to the noobie, and they quit logging in not long after. Maybe offer them a job right off the bat to make 1/3 to 1/2 the lost chyen back.

Just some ideas!

These are all wonderful ideas, and absolutely how I at least try to deal with newbies/immies. I personally love the idea of robbing someone blind/giving them a debt for pissing me off, and then making them work to either earn it back, or work the debt off. It gives them a chance to learn new things in the game, and get good RP out of it.
I would totally have gone for doing something to get my character's money back or something, but what burned me was being told to leave the RP scene and not come back because I guess more interesting people were around to RP with.

I ended up paying someone to RP with me, that's what bothered me the most.

Sometimes you might need to give the offending character time to cool off, go do their thing and come back to you. Or, better yet. If you're ballsy, chase them up and ask if there's things you can do to make amends with them. That can always lead to some interesting turns of events.
Acacia, this is just my limited take on things, but it sound like you were told to make yourself scarce (probably for the purposes of the all-important public flexing.) I doubt very much you are forever banned, or anything along those lines.

In fact, if your character feels strongly about being told to fuck off, maybe re-engage and apologize, or simply come back when the other baddie is not around.

I don't have any money to pay them for another RP encounter.
Then don't pay them. Walk up, and ask if there's a way to make your cash back, maybe it's an opportunity to get some work, some RP, a chance to meet other people. Maybe it'll end in a lesson on why Withmore is the way it is, or why that person is the way they are.

There's countless ways to capitalize on your loss, and I'd suggest following on from it in some kinda way. Be it with them, or with someone else. Maybe they were trying to give you some kind of in that you missed, or maybe they were just an asshole, and now you've got an enemy you can go and try make life hell for. There's many a possibility here.

It's been said, and I simply CANNOT stress this enough to people.

A good enemy is your very best friend in the dome. Your job won't give you tons of RP. Running boxes won't give you tons of RP. Waifu sex online™ won't give you tons of RP.

Having someone your character HATES and who HATES you in turn? Now that is where you have a wellspring of RP to tap from, every minute of every day.

Make some friends. Make more enemies.

I mean if someone got insulted and beat you up, why would you want to hang out with them or vice versa? They didn't dismiss you to go hang out with the cool kids, you just don't generally hang out with muggers right after they almost kill you.
Point taken.
Although there is a sort of...increasingly fictional archetype of a villainous PC with a benevolent player behind them, in reality there's some toxic people who play SD and, surprise, they often gravitate to where they can prey on the naive or defenseless. This is not reserved for simple muggers. No one owes you RP, by the same token, you owe no one else your time and effort. If someone is unhealthy for you to interact with, then don't.
I don't know that we need to go calling people toxic just for trying to play their characters. It sounds like someone made a perfectly valid IC decision. Could they have used a lighter touch knowing their opponent was probably helpless and maybe OOC clueless? Sure, but it's not the end of the world.
I'm speaking generally.

In these sorts of threads there's often a stance of 'we're trying to play our characters and make good stories', which is absolutely true in many people's cases, but it's not universally true and I think it's good for new players to recognize and enforce their personal boundaries about what they're willing to engage with.

Does mugging an immy make someone toxic? No. Are there some players that it's detrimental in every sense for certain other players to engage with? Absolutely. I think sometimes there's encouragement of like, yeah you should enjoy having enemies, but sometimes people are just not worth the time, and it's important for new players to be comfortable knowing that.

The corollary to that, to avoid a bleak take, is there are some incredible people in SD, genuinely brilliant and compelling to know -- so my advice is really, don't settle for wondering if you're really enjoying yourself or not, feeling good about things or not. When you are, you'll know.
Good points 0x1mm.

There are some people that need more help developing than others, I'm certainly guilty of my own share of mis-deeds, mostly to the frustration of staff (of whom I am endlessly grateful to.) I think it's a general kind of.. knowing both the game, as well as yourself when it comes to deciding what's good for the game or not. We are tasked with riding this thin line where we have to suspend disbelief just enough to realize that we need to work together to collectively be murdering jerkfaces together as a community.

I will say, to your point of there being incredible people playing here, that there are characters that I'd not give the time of day to, that I have seen various oldbies take under their wings to try and foster them to become better RP players and better characters as a result. That really speaks volumes for the community that we have here, that people tend to get second, third or fifty-seventh chances. Not everyone, of course, and people do fall through the gaps all the time, but it -does- happen. And that's a good, good thing.

@acacia: I was in your position once. My character had saved up over 15,000c worth of gear and chy, and had it all taken from me in a robbery. Told whoever I could and then just went to be a grump in my apartment.

I didn't know it at the time, but it sent me down the path of a two-week plot that was thrilling and made me gain friends and enemies. 😁

Getting screwed over is just the beginning. Take the plot hooks and run with them! 😊👍

Is it fair to say that someone being “toxic “ could just be a perception issue and just not get along with you or your faction/clique but do plenty of other good things in game and have plenty of great interactions with other players?

I Think it is a negative take to try and paint people in that light. I think 9/10 of my Sindome enemies do great things in their own circles and are generally good for the game. Anyone who is “toxic” in the OOC sense typically get forced down the road or Eventually just fuck off somewhere else.

One thing I will offer to new players though is it is hard to take them under your wing if there is no effort on their side. By that I mean willingness to understand constructive criticism, the time to pay attention and learn, and the lack of a self defeating attitude when things don’t work out for them the first time. This is by no means limited to new players, but it helps tremendously if you recognize these traits in yourself and push them to the side if you need help getting into the groove of things.

I feel like it's probably not unfair to say that there are toxic people in every community. There is going to be at least one person in this fairly substantial community who plays, or has played, a character who fucks over new people because they like the feeling of fucking over new people OOC.
I see your point. I see I previously posted in this thread shortly after I came back to Sindome after being gone for a few years, and with the massive playerbase increase you are sure to have people that will be all about that, and I noticed it when I came back. Being an outspoken player on public communication methods led me to a lot of conflict. Pretending to be a day one immigrant compounded that to where people who were not generally aggressive or confident in their combat ability became overly confident because they thought they were talking back to someone who just left chargen and thought it was their time to haze or whatever. I get it. But what I haven’t ever gotten from playing Sindome is the vibe that an overwhelming number of people are toxic ic or use unjustifiable force towards new characters just to get off on it, quite the opposite. I notice that the vast majority go out of their way to do the opposite, and it leaves me, from my perspective which could very well be incorrect, to be a fringe case of people.
There's a lot going on in this thread, but I wanted to add two points:

1. There is a fine balance Sindome plays in its theme and player retention. Withmore is not a nice place by any standard, and in my opinion, it should never appear as such. Sometimes new immies get lucky; I've watched it happen where an immy gets lucky for a while and then they suddenly get very unlucky. Sometimes new immies definitely don't get lucky and have a horrible go at it, only to take those awful experiences and really turn it around to become total bad asses. Both scenarios are the very basis of CP. But Sindome needs players so there's a fine line between being true to theme and providing fun for new players. I think it takes a particular mindset to take what seems unfair and owning it in your own character's story. Sindome is one of the few places I've played where it does that, and I think that's themely.

From my perspective, I've interacted several immies and except for rare occasions, I literally cannot tell the difference between a new player and a new character played by an old player who is just a very good RPer. Either way, the way my character interacts with them has to be true to my character, no matter if the immy is new or not. The actor behind the screen can't come into play. I feel that we should be providing RP, whether that is happy RP or really not-happy RP. This is why Sindome isn't for everyone, because the theme can truly be too dark, and I'd rather a new player know what they're dealing with on day one.

That said, finding RP in the beginning can be a little rough. While running crates is important, what worked for me is spending time in bars. I would find the most crowded I could find and meet others. Get drunk in public. Flirt with the bartender. Dance with a stranger. Gossip. Decide to hate on a total stranger for no good reason. This is how plots start.

2. Players are people and are not their characters. I cannot stress this enough. There are characters whose responsibility is to help new players, but those characters also have lives of their own AND the players behind them do as well. My advice is even if it's been a few days since a new character has been in town, still ask for one of these characters for help. They may have not been awake when they were needed, but that doesn't change the fact that they provide assistance long after someone first comes through the gate.

As for toxicity, I really don't see it much from an OOC perspective (but I rarely use xooc, so what do I know). But does Sindome have toxic characters? Your damn right it does. It should. But every character I've run across has been incredibly dynamic and are worth getting to know. Not every character met is going to be a good fit; there have been plenty where my character has basically told someone to go walk into a fire. But that's the nature of people; if a character isn't blending with another, eff them. Move on. Meet new bad ass people to love (or to Talon's point, vehemently hate).

Either way, Sindome has been an amazing experience for me and I'm hopeful that new players have a similar experience. Emotionally gut-wrenching. Laugh-out-loud funny. I think it's great, just as long as you can get through the learning curve.

@acacia

I am going to encourage you to stick with it.

I have been playing here for a little less than a year. My first character only lasted a month or so. I got so frustrated with the game, the staff and the players that I gave up.

After a couple of weeks off, I came back and created the character that I am currently playing. Since then, my enjoyment from playing here has been trying to survive. It's a harsh environment, but not so harsh as to be impossible.

As others have pointed out, there are characters out there who you are going to want to steer clear from. That's perfectly themely and to be expected.

On the other hand, there are characters who I look forward to seeing. There are characters who I have been able to count on for the things that my character needs to make it through another day.

There are a few phases that you will go through. You're in the hardest one right now. You're brand new, don't know anything and don't have any friends. Nobody wants to help you out because nobody is sure you are going to last. It is a tough spot to be in. The good news is it does not last forever.

Give it a while and you will start to get the hang of things. There are only so many ways you can be tricked and deceived. You'll start figuring out which parts of the city are relatively safe. You will establish a bit of routine and a hustle. You will figure out what you might want from other people. More importantly, you will start to get an idea of what you can offer in return.

Once you get to the point where you can keep a roof over your head and food in your belly, you're pretty much set. You slowly stack your chyen, buy some gear that you think will increase your survivability, and start looking for ways to take advantage of other characters. What could possibly go wrong?

If there is one tip I can offer it would be that your reputation is priceless. Guard it with your life. It is extremely easy to destroy, and practically impossible to recover once it is gone. It will proceed you everywhere you go. It's your choice whether it becomes a platform that you stand upon, or a weight around your neck that drags you down.

Best of luck.

My profile said I started playing the game 5 years ago because I'll admit 5 years ago when I was looking for an RP game I found Sindome (but I was looking for Shadowrun, my first introduction to the cyberpunk genre, which is true of many RPers who are looking for a cyberpunk game). The learning curve was hard -- I came into the game wanting to play an experienced street samurai only to learn that I couldn't, that I had to start the game weak and powerless and not the badass I wanted to be. I was what a friend and I refer to as an RP consumer;

It wasn't what I was looking for at the time because I was ignorant of how good a little independent RP game's theme could be. Whenever I wanted to ask questions, there was that damnable reply: FOIC -- Find Out In Character.

5 years later a more experienced RPer (but still one looking for a hardboiled story to tell) retreated from a different RP MUD where he dedicated a lot of time trying to be an RP provider due to the OOC feuds that started there. I found a lot of great worlds out there, but they were mostly MUSHes where scenes had to be arranged and the players of characters decided when another player could even have conflict with them. The people who play on these games were no less storytellers than the people who play on riskier games, but ultimately it wasn't what I was looking for.

Then I found Sindome again, mentioned on a Discord channel I had rejoined to find where some people I might enjoy writing with could be. What appealed to me that didn't before was the dogma of Finding Out In Character. Coming back to the game, I immediately realized how much passion went into it. This code is very special. I've seen it before in another game I tried out, Cybersphere, which was in those days more in the spirit of what I was looking for (I was an RP consumer then, rather than an RP provider). Due to the nature of the MU* RP community, I suspect there might be bad blood there, but a part of me did hope there wasn't because it helped shift me from an RP consumer to an RP provider).

The code was familiar. The start wasn't.

I became quickly frustrated at how hard it was for my character to make money. If I wanted to be a good guy, I couldn't befriend most of these crazy psycopaths. If I wanted to be a bad guy who didn't back down I'd run the risk of getting killed early. Not willing to swallow my pride and do that damnable thing I suddenly and unfairly cursed again: Find Out In Character, I googled Sindome immy on your forums to see if any players leaked clues on easier ways to score chyen.

I stumbled upon this thread in my search. Scanning over it, I saw one newbie who initially seemed like she had the same frustrations I did, but she was a little braver than I was (if she is still playing, I'm very happy for her) and acted tough to someone who didn't like that. I felt connected to her at first, and while I joined the other side fairly quickly after finishing this thread, I still understand her concerns and hope she found the game she was looking for. That aside, this thread revealed the heart and soul of this game -- there were veteran players who were a little callous but justified the actions of the exchange logically. There were veteran players who were more gentle and found compromise with her while still standing by the exchange was a justified one.

Backtracking a little, another gem I played in between the first time I tried Sindome and my current foray into it was an RPI that eventually ended, called Atonement. The game was good throughout its rather short lifespan, but its Alpha phase was the most fun I've ever had on a game before. To summarize, you were on an alien-insect infested spaceship, and the aliens made people zombies when they killed them. In this game, all players started off waking from a cryosleep naked and without any memories. It was some of the most intense roleplaying I've ever seen, and I'd say more than any game since it has shaped the sort of game I'm looking for.

Still with me?

This thread revealed the culture of this game and the story it's trying to tell. Nearly every post in reply to the newbie is a glowing review of the game that I think the developers should be proud of. I would make an argument to the staff to put this thread on their newbie helpfile and delete this long post I'm appending to it so it doesn't deface what I think is one of the best newbie threads I've ever seen. The thread reminded me I should be an RP provider rather than an RP consumer and I think going forward I'll play the game in that spirit.

What would make this thread much better is if we find out if the newbie who started it is still playing. If she's moved on, I hope she eventually finds her way back like I did.

Just started myself. I tried Sindome years ago and was in a similar boat. I'm older now, and while I wouldn't want to lose a character (I'm always going to be a bit of a mechanical nut, it drives me personally crazy to not know how the crunch operates.) Not knowing is also one of the reasons I enjoy a game.

To explain: normal games, PS4 etc, entertain me up until the point that I have fully understood their underlying systems. Unless the story is good, in which case I'll hear out the story before I toss it. For example, I've finished a handful of games of the I shit you not hundreds of PS4 games I've played. All of which had a good story. Graphics etc ultimately do not matter, if I understand the crunch 100% I quit, its dull, the illusion is broken. It took me YEARS of gaming to realize that's why I was bored, and came back to Sindome.

I'll still eventually figure all that shit out. I'm OCD about it, it will happen. I'll find a mentor in game, I'll potentially lose a toon, ad rinse until I know what I'm doing. The reason I came back to Sindome is the same reason I like RP, the story. I used to RP on a site that had mechanical functions and dice similar to a tabletop, and used dice and so on in a very limited capacity to resolve conflict and the rest was just RP. It died, it also had no overarching theme or a playerbase anywhere near this size. Sindome has the bits and pieces I'm looking for and now I see that.

Cyberpunk is also my all time favorite setting, so that helps.

I do still have some feedback about the (grain of salt here, character has been in game for less than 20 hours, so very green) immy process. I grasp the FOIC mantra, and the rule against OOC communication outside the established channels/rules. Its simple really, you trickle feed important information about the systems to the newbs, especially for ones like me that eat that shit up. Even if its just to make my character fit the image I had in my head, as soon as I know how shit works, I'm going to use it.

Having *Bob tell me OOCly on a discord all the in's and out's of combat and who to fight and who not to is gonna rob me of potentially hundreds of hours of enjoyment, a little bit sadistic enjoyment, but enjoyment nonetheless. Part of the progress and feeling of accomplishment is figuring that shit out. Now, lets take the switch side to that, the way Sindome (to my first impression) is supposed to work:

My character meets some chummer in a bar after struggling to figure out exactly what to do, I complain a bit IC and she tells me I do need to find someone who knows more about being a bit of a brawler to help me figure out what to do. My character has a couple skills, I relay them ICly and it's suggested that even though I use could em, I should avoid packing heat even if I somehow find myself with the ability to get a gun. She also asks for me to please not mug her.

This tells me a lot about what I could do, not necessarily how to do it. This also suggests that someone who's also been a brawler or knows how to grapple etc could help me learn ICly how that shit works. Yeah its gonna take time, but fuck thats the point innit?

I was also told about a loan shark and clones, but haven't decided exactly how my character would respond. Take the loan for the added security of having a clone, or chance it? Not sure yet.

Anyway, thanks for reading this block of text. It'll probably suck if my character gets ghosted permanently, I'd hate to have to redo all that shit right away, but she's got enough survival sense not to flip people off in a new city that she's got exactly zero clout or resources in, at least not where they'll see it.

On the flip side of all this, I can see where a newb would get turned off to the whole experience. I've been trying to wrack my head (because I find the whole thing so cool and would like to see it grow even more) of what exactly, from a fresh perspective, could help and I came up with these points:

1) Finding out in character does not mean that no one is going to explain to you how things work. It means they will do it in a manner that makes literary sense. If they're a thief, they'll probably explain to you (I have no idea how this works, by the by haven't found out myself) what sort of tactics you'll need, whether your bulking muscles will make a bit of difference or perhaps your grace might be more helpful, and so on. They might even state things in a way that helps a particularly dense player understand what their character now ICly knows. The same way OOC should not affect your characters behavior, your OOC knowledge should not be a detriment to your IC actions. (This is what I think is frustrating to new players, from a person who personally eats up the crunch as much as he enjoys the RP I like to know, its maddening)

2. Utilizing the RP Systems. I haven't tried this myself yet, (I haven't been in game much, spent most of my time doing history and nakeds and all that in immigration) This thing is different than a MUSH, its got mechanics, the best of which from a new perspective are completely independent of character stats and money. By which I mean, I could leave resume's for NPCs, I can go around looking for work, even from people who don't really even want to give my character the time of day. Yeah I might get robbed, but what really do I have to lose, I'm already wearing some free shit and am broke, and if my RPing is decent it probably won't be a shit show unless I act like a prick that needs a boot up my ass.

Point 1 is the real sticker. I can see people feeling limited in what there character can do because despite say, having a Journeychum rank in Martial Arts, an in character skill, they couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag because they just don't OOCly know any commands besides attack and kill. (I don't, and I only list them here because its listed directly in the help)

My solution would possibly be pretty complicated (I've never programmed a mu* all my experience is with php, databases and pentesting) but some kind of system that examined a character after their history is approved for skills past a certain point that gives them a BASIC rundown of how those skills work, at least in more detail than are default. Then at least, the IC will not be limited by the OOC knowledge of the game, which is a reverse issue to meta gaming.

I'm having a blast, thanks for reading my book.

So there is the @newbie command which as far as I know explains most of the basics of combat and directs players to the help files which explain 99% of the coded mechanical and command syntax aspects of combat.

As far as I know all new characters are directed to read through @newbie as part of their character creation, at lot of the time they just don't.

@Koots,

I will suggest two things.

1. Use @notes. The more detail you put in there, especially around IC-Goals and IC-Actions, the more fodder the admins have to work with.

2. Use the 'think' command. You never know who might be listening to what your character is thinking.

I want to add my voice to what 0x1mm has said. Please actually take advantage of the tons of resources staff has put together to help make your newbie experience a bit better. All too often we get xhelps or questions on xgame that are clearly answered in @newbie - people just choose not to read it.

Sindome is a game where the proactive thrive. Proactive IC and OOC. And staff over the years have put together a massive amount of material for players to consume if they so choose. There is @newbie. @newbie also points to video tutorials. @newbie also points to help files. Help files point to other help files. We even have an IC guidebook characters can easily acquire.

I started playing long ago when the newbie experience was far rougher then it is today. With just an hour of proactively reading @newbie and some helpfiles that seemed relevant to my character, I had a solid understanding of combat (attack, stop attacking, postures, flee, weapons, skills, stats, grapple, resist, free, @default-weapon, and more). I also had a solid understanding of SIC (cm, cc, ce, ce+, ce-, ca, ct, who, how it functions from an IC perspective) and with basic RP commands (say, to, emote, watch, address).

I still had to reference specific commands for a while but I was able to do so easily because of the proactive effort I put in up front. And believe me, I am not super smart or some kind of savant and this was my first MUD/MOO ever. It was just me choosing to go and learn the basics and a bit more.

I urge new players to proactively arm themselves. I urge other players to instruct new players on how and where to find answers to their questions whenever possible. The game can be rough on new players but a new player can influence how rough. :-)

Tried the game, gave up.

It's a rich, well-developed world, full of nice players with an interesting theme and it's completely unplayable for me because of the lack of OOC communication. Any time I hear of a scene going down I can never find it. Everyone is using aliases so I have no one I can ask for clarification.

If I have questions about what my character can see in a person's description the only way to ask them is to blurt it out to the whole room in OOC chat, and I just got sick and tired of missing things because the game lacks even the BASIC FUNCTIONS of a cooperative role-playing MU* like a page function where you can talk with someone OOCly who isn't in the same room.

The final straw for me was when I walked out of a shop and a shrouded person asked me if I was ok but by the time I typed out a reply they had moved on because they probably thought I was AFK like all the other people standing in the street doing nothing. On any normal game, I could have paged them and told them to come back and we could have a scene but there is no way to do that and that was just one stupid, pointless, wasted opportunity too many.

This game could be great, I really wanted to love it, and it's a shame that this obsession with keeping everything IC ruins the role play it is intended to enhance.

I hope you give Sindome another try, MintChip. You have valid concerns, though I feel they are necessary parts of Sindome's unique flavor.

You're right: the lack of OOC communication functions can make clarification and coordination between players difficult at times. (Though, I have always found players welcoming and friendly in local OOC when I have a necessary question).

The speed of gameplay, especially on the streets of Red, is also quite fast. This is understandable; characters in the open may be at considerable risk from their enemies or common pickpockets. If you were to try again, I'd recommend tossing out a quick 'nod' just to let a player know you're there. If they stick around, then RP a lengthier reply. Usually, people are more comfortable with lengthier RP in bars, or in private, where they feel safer.

This is entirely thematic, ICly. The streets of Red are intended to be very dangerous. Thugs and violence are constant presences, even if they aren't coded realities in every room. People often don't want to linger and chat in that environment.

Also, I'd invite you to consider other explanations for your experience. A person walking around in a shroud probably has things going on in their life in Red. Maybe they received an urgent message just then and had to leave immediately. I find I enjoy roleplaying games more when I give other players the benefit of the doubt, and I try to make fewer assumptions about their motives.

The strict adherence to the IC/OOC divide has real benefits that other, more permissive games lack. It does present its challenges, though, you're right. The more I play Sindome, the more I appreciate the respect the staff and playerbase has for the divide. I'd invite you to consider the benefits that may apply to characters who make their living being secretive.