New Player Guide Feedback!

Please leave any feedback, criticisms, and suggestions for the New Player Guide here!

If I had a way to give you a thumbs up I would; and then I would create ten sock-puppet accounts and give you ten more.

You have my thumbs, as well!

First off, thanks for putting this together. It was very helpful for someone new to Gamers Plane.

A couple of things that I found that could have been clearer.

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Big Issue #1: How to get to the game forum for a particular game. I had a devil of a time figuring out how to find the game forum. In my case, the first game I joined had a private forum, so I ended up just asking the GM. While this isn't really an issue with your guide so much as a usability issue with the site, I would have expected a link to the game forum from the game details page. I feel this would be especially important if the GM was using a public forum and placing the character creation information or a more detailed description of their campaign world, etc, in the game forum itself instead of the game description. For a new user, this was super confusing. Even as a user who has now been accepted into a game, the only way I know of to get to the game forum (besides the link from the emails sent by the forum subscription) is to go to the Forums Tab, have the Public Games toggle turned to off, and scroll down to my game's forum. From a usability standpoint, this sucks. The homepage has a link to the Game details, but not the forum. So, even once I'm in a game, if I don't use the link in the email, I'm having to take several steps to get to the forum where I'm doing the most important activity on the site (posting), assuming I don't just have it bookmarked:

1. Go to the homepage.
2. Go to the forums tab.
3. Scroll down to the Game Forums section.
4. Find the link to my game (If it's a private forum and I have public games toggled off, this isn't so bad. Otherwise, it's a pain.)

An improved version could look like this:

1. Go to the homepage. In addition to having the *games* I'm in listed with a link to the *game* there should be a link to the game forum.
2. Click on the link to the forum for my game.

Given the URLs involved, I wouldn't be surprised if all it took was a simple lookup of the forum associated with a given game, and building the URL for the link would be child's play (game ### -> forum ####, so a build a link to /forums/####). I'd be shocked if that information wasn't available in the database, and that relationship must already be modeled somehow.

Anyway, to get back to the point about the Guide, I'd explicitly mention that you won't be able to get to the forums from the game details page, in bold. Beat them over the head with this so they don't miss it, since it's something that I think most players would expect if they've been on a site like Myth Weavers or other PbP sites.

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In Step 2: Find a Game, you have the instructions for applying under sub item 1. I think it would be clearer to have it separated into
a) finding a game you'd like to join
b) applying to the game.

When you first mention applying to a game, I think it would be helpful to restate that you'll be creating the actual character in the next step, after you've been accepted. I found myself wondering whether I should be worrying about character creation before applying. It felt strange to apply for a game by simply hitting a button, rather than posting to a forum and chatting with the GM about a character concepts, the campaign conceit, etc. If there's a particular accepted etiquette around chatting up a GM before simply hitting the button, an explanation of that might help reduce any confusion. In my experience on other PbP sites, getting into a game could be very difficult because there are so many players applying, and GMs often have to do a sort of audition process, where every applicant essentially pitches a character concept and creates a character sheet, and the GM sifts through them and then decides who gets into the game. Things appear to be different here, so maybe a quick note to any gamers who are coming in with experience from other PbP sites would be good, or maybe my experience here so far (hitting the apply button, getting accepted right away, then jumping into character creation) has been outside the norm.

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I hope both of the suggestions are taken in the spirit they were offered. I love the look and feel of the site for the most part, and I was really impressed with the guide you put together. I definitely think new players could benefit from a better experience getting to (or knowing how to) get to the game forums, and getting a better intro up front to how the application/character submission process works.

-Origami

For the first issue, there is a link to the individual game forum, though it's becoming clearer and clearer it's not obvious: on any page relating to a game, there is a red bar that sticks to the bottom of your window with relevant links. For the GM it contains characters, will eventually have special notes, etc. It also contains, for everyone, a link to the forums for the game along with a dice roller.

One thing I really would love is to have that show up on mobile somehow, in some form. I use my phone for the site a lot. On the bus I use an iPad with a Bluetooth keyboard. That bar doesn't show up in either place so I find myself having to open a bunch of mobile tabs then browsing to pages to read stuff I need to respond on.

Also it would be super awesome to quickly add rolls without having to go to the advanced page so I could always scroll up as I build up response posts and add rolls in reaction.

Of course both of those have nothing to do with the Player Guide, I think that is coming along pretty well and will only get better.

Great work with the New Player Guide, Naatkinson! I'm about to run my first game on GP (I'm bringing in my RL gaming group) and this guide is going to be a ton of help!

I put in a fix for the bottom bar a bit ago; others are saying they see it now. You still don't?
I'm in the middle of upgrading the forums now. Once that's done, I'd like to build a more advanced Quick Post, with stuff like a roll short code (we'll need to have a long discussion about that), multi quote, and maybe even a sticky post frame so you can move around and even change pages without losing your post.

I've noticed in just the past day or two that this shows up on my iPhone. I was very happy to see it!

Well crap... of course now I see it. I think it gets mentally filtered out as just another footer item.

Thanks for the quick response, Keleth. Hope I didn't come across too whiney :-)

I have only one thing to ask at present and that is how you Friend members? To make it easier to keep in contact with each other?

There's no functionality like that right now, and actually the first time I've heard someone ask for it. I'll have to consider that. It fits the mentality of the website, though doesn't fit it functionally. I suspect this will be more a cause of how we make it work rather than actually making it work.

Awesome.

If only I had this 2 months ago when I joined! Super helpful.

I cleared up a little bit of wording and such, in addition to adding a little blurb about making new threads (can't believe I didn't have it there before).

I never asked, but is a link to the guide included in the welcome emails? Or maybe it should be stickied on the front page of people's accounts for the first two weeks after joining?

Question- was there ever a guide created for new GMs?

Yeah, right?

I've begun work on one, but haven't done much with it lately. I'll look into working on it some more this weekend

Thanks Natch! I really need the help.

Here's a question for the GMs FAQ: How do we flip the forum posts around so that the most recent post appears at the top, instead of at the very end of the thread? This little fix would save me many hours over a span of just one year.

Thanks in advance!

Cru

I'm pretty sure that you can't do that. What I do when looking for the newest post is to use the down arrow after the pages numbers:



That will take you to the most recent post in a forum.

This isn't possible at this time. I'll consider this feature, but if it's implemented, it'll be later; it's a bit contrary to how forums work, and with there already being a "jump to last post" feature, it'd be considered low priority.

Now that I know about that feature, even less so... That little black dog-eared page icon is going to change my life!! ;)

I'm sorry but I have a question, I'm in a game at the moment, and I heard there is a 'post as' button and I can't find it, I'm told by multiple people that its around the text window (like this one), but I'm unable to find it. Is it because I'm blind or is it truly not there?

Have you submitted a character sheet to the game (and the GM has accepted the sheet), and does the character sheet have an avatar uploaded? I think if that isn't the case, the POST AS dropdown box doesn't appear.

I have submitted a character and an avatar the GM has accepted me I think as it says I'm in the game, is the avatar to small perhaps?

Not sure. If you edit the character sheet and click change Avatar, does it still show/preview it?

Also, try refreshing the page.

Hmmm it dosn't show it, it does show a green check mark though, Going to try and change it here.

Nope, didn't work, maybe I was invited but not accepted? If that makes any sense.

It may be that you as the player are in the game but the character you submitted hasn't been approved yet. The GM has to click a button to approve the character before it's available in the game.

Have you asked the GM if your character has been accepted?

Well I am a new player and this is well done!

Thank you :)

With the slew of new sign-ups (judging solely by the number of introduction posts) I've taken another look at the New GP Member Guide, which I think hasn't been updated in a while. Just a few thoughts:

1. It seems like people are still missing the red bar at the bottom, so it might be good to mention that.

2. It might be a good idea to take the information presented in nhoj858's Guide to Embedding Images into your Post and include it in the New GP Member Guide.

3. This:

Hey Naatkinson. Do you think it would be worth adding the list of public games to the new guide, so new members can browse around and check how GP works? (I cannot find that post though...)

The index of public games is here.

thanks! that's the one. I'm getting the feeling new member may like having easy access to that :D

I'd go as far as suggesting replacing the "Random appearing subforums, Batman!" homepage post with the New Player Guide and maybe link important resources from there :D (at least for Players that are less than 1 month old or something like that)

As a new member I’m finding that link very helpful. I’m just reading the saltmarsh adventure now.

That's great to hear, Adam! That's why I always include those links in my welcome message. I like CESN's idea of linking to the New Player Guide from the index page. Maybe the Games Tavern and Public Games Index as well? Just a thought.

I will try to remember to do that tonight! Where in the thread should I post it? Beginning, middle, end?

though question... with the table of contents it probably doesn't make much difference ...

maybe as 1b? introduce yourself -> check some games -> find a game

I dunno, be patient with me - I'm new here. Here's my story.

My experience was:
1) I know RPG, but I'm interested in PbP - How does that work? I google and end up here.
2) Rolls investigation. Nat 1. Nah. I don't get it. What does PbP on here actually look like? I don't know if I missed it, but it would have been helpful to see the public games before registering.
3) I wander off, then come back again.
4) Passive perception 10. Ooo - there are games to join. Let's register and see if I can have some of that.
5) I've registered. It says "Join a game!" in big letters. I click that. Find a game and apply to game.
6) I then find the guide, and start following it. I've already clicked join game (step 2), so I guess I'd better quickly create a character.
7) I then skip back to step 1, introduce myself, and start browsing the forums.

Only when I got around to reading the forums I realised that it wasn't as simple as the guide made out. Most games appear to be in progress and there don't seem to be that many open games (am I wrong?). Encouraging people to "join a game" is perhaps setting an unrealistic expectation? I don't know.

Now I've read some of the forum posts I think I understand some of the problems. It's incredibly frustrating to have players join a game only to drop out. It's super simple to register on this site, but playing requires a level of commitment that many people won't have. I completely understand why it's not as simple as just "Joining a game". This completely makes sense now.

Okay, I think. I'm really keen to do this. I'm pretty sure that I can commit time to this. I'm happy to chill in the forums until a game turns up and DMs can trust that I'll post. But what am I letting myself in for? How different is this to regular RPGs?

That's when I discover the public games thread and it all makes sense.

8) (I'm still on this bit). Oh, this looks cool. I wonder how often new games turn up? If there's a shortage of games, maybe I should even thinking about DMing one (although I'll need to browse the forums for tips on that). In the meantime, let's continue reading the forums.

But for me, reading the Public Games and other forum posts, is when it all made sense.

Although... I've only just arrived, and this is just my onboarding experience.

It's entirely possible that I'm wrong or I'm missing something.

That is awesome feedback, documenting the order of your impressions and learning curve. Thank you!

As a reward, heh, want to join a 5e game in progress? The players just completed the first stage of the campaign, and are now level five. A dragon they rescued is sending them to rescue (wait for it) more dragons.

I'd love to! Which game is it? How do I find it?

Will they have to kill a princess to save the dragon?

Here is the link to the game detail. I can't invite you, it keeps trying to add a different Adam variation, but click to Apply to Game and I'll accept you.

The presence of princesses or lack thereof has yet to be established for the players. Spoiler alert: no princesses.

Okay, thanks. I think I've applied.

You're in. You should be able to see the Tribute to Dragons forums now when you click the Forums in the navigation bar, and you can also get to it by clicking the Forums link at the bottom of the Games Detail page.

@Adam - I just posted an interest check for a Tales from the Yawning Portal game if you'd like to throw your hat in.

Thanks. I'm in. I've submitted Tarqin von Cillary a NG half-orc noble sorcerer and posted a question about character creation (basically, do you want me to level him up?).