We've had a couple ridiculous novices lately that have really gotten me thinking about how to deal with them in general. On one hand, we need to do our best to keep new players and get them to stick with Lusternia if we're going to grow and prosper. On the other hand, if they were established players I'd have booted them without a second thought.

If they decide to stick all their lessons in Beastmastery or something instead of anything productive, what do you do? If they completely ignore everything you say, how do you help them? Do you even try? If they appear to have zero interest in the guild or the city/commune and just want to play around with random stuff, do you cut them loose and tell them to have fun elsewhere?

I keep reaching for the outguild button and stopping because I hate being mean to newbies, but it's seriously getting old. How do you guys do it?

Why would you outguild them just because they're not interested in the guild/commune right away? That sort of stuff takes awhile to get into.

You have to be patient with some novices, especially ones that are true newbies as if they come from anywhere, it's another IRE or this may be their first time playing a mud at all. Try to help them as best as you can, mention that they may enjoy things more if they learn their suggested guild skills, etc.

I know it's frustrating, but some of them are real gems that just need some polish.

I don't see why whimsy is such a bad thing...

Just make sure they really understand that nature -> bashing -> gold/levels -> new skills

Past that, just keep 'em within the bounds of the rules.

If they insist on putting all of their lessons into Beastmastery, that's their decision. If they have no interest in the commune and the want to find the Great Squirrel of Shenaniganville, wave and smile.

Haha, the thing about Beastmastery makes me remember this one novice back from when Phoebus first became an Instructor!

...His name was just Beastmaster, and all he did was learn Beastmastery. I was kind of like, what I do?

The thing is, they won't respond at all. It's like talking to a wall.

If they don't respond, they may not have seen the tell, or.. they just don't want to, in that case. Leave them alone until they're ready to talk I suppose.

Edit: Or they may not know how!

They know how, they're just ignoring us completely.

As long as they aren't disruptive, I don't really care what they do. If they aren't interested in learning the skills you tell them to, then thats their choice, hardly worth outguilding. They're probably only ignoring you in hopes you go away so they can keep the skills they want. The best you can do is offer advice, and if they ignore it, help them with what they are interested in. If they still ignore you, just leave them be unless they are causing trouble.

It the novice ignores you, ignore it. Use the guild logs and write down "Newbie JackFace has refused assistance." So people know.
If it chooses to spend it's skills poorly, all you can do is try to advise it. That's about it.

Ensure that their grave is dug by their own hands. Be there, give advice, try to help them. They don't want to do things properly, cut'em lose and bury the body. This is one of the few ways to keep your sanity as a novice helper.

If they want to do things right, they'll listen. If they just want to mess around, it'll become clear quickly. The important thing here is that you identify the worthwhile ones, the middleling ones, and the poor ones. Worthwhile ones are the newbies you dream about. Middle ones tends to make a lot of mistakes, but tend to want to learn. Poor ones ignore you, or jerk around too much.

And yes, you'll note that I tend not to treat newbies as human. Until they prove that they are worth it, they have no gender or value to me. I spent way, way too much time as an undersecretary to be otherwise.

What Acrune said.

Though, you'd be surprised how easy it is to miss how to talk with other people.

They have talked to us. A few times. Last time all I managed to get was "Not yet" when I told them to get the hell off of Ethereal in the middle of a raid they'd died twice in already.

This is why I've been GM twice but stay away from GA at all costs.

The only time novices require a certain level of patience is when they're new to MUDs in general, not just Lusternia.
Some people are just cut out for teaching and mediating others. If you find it terribly frustrating, don't be an undersec.

If you shove commands at them, it's like a domineering sales clerk making you buy that expensive face cream you don't want. You sort of have to bring people to you, and invite them to learn. Guide them.

Many new players don't care about the political state of the city or their guild because they're still trying to figure out how to immerse themselves in the game world. Chances are that novice may even recreate and leave because they don't feel they fit there.

Huzzah for GC, can move them about and confuse them if they refuse to stay still

In conclusion, I guess what I was trying to say is its partially your responsibility to make those people care about their city or commune in the first place. It may seem like a fruitless job. Well, it is most of the time.

My fiance kind of got driven away from the game (at first, I intend on bringing him back) because when he asked a question in CGT, he did so in a similar way to how he would in WoW RP, and was perhaps a bit silly. People got on his case for it, and he decided after that that he didn't want to bother. It was upsetting to me, because I'd really like to play with him on Lusternia.

This is where patience with true newbies comes in. You have to be willing to give them some leeway as far as learning how the game works. Gently saying, "Using emotes like that in CGT isn't condoned by the administration" is much better than saying, "What the hell? Why are you talking like that? What's wrong with you?"

Not exactly the same situation, but similar in my eyes.

How do you do that without communicating with them? If they absolutely refuse to talk to you, what do you do?

You just kind of...give up, I guess. Some people just want to be left alone.

Sometimes, there's just nothing else you can do. They'll come when they feel like it.

I tried to teach a novice how to put things in his rift the other day after some pennyroyal fell from his inventory when he logged out. He got back on, I gave him his herbs, and when I told him to INR, he put them in his pack and logged again. He wouldn't talk to me either. Sometimes you just have to let them learn for themselves.