More Help Page

[Eldargard]

Title:

More Help Pages


Summary:

Have an in game link to a wiki help page on EVERY page within the game.


Details:

Some pages have a question make help button on them that leads to a help page on the wiki that describes what that page is about and what the options there mean. I think it would be great of EVERY game page had that icon and an associated help page on the wiki.

I would be willing to create content for the new pages I have access to.


Benefits:

It would help let new players jump right in to the game if every page had such a help link and a quality wiki page behind it. Once could simply say (make sure to read the help pages as you go to learn more about the system. It would also make more information about the game available from within the game itself without the need to go searching the wiki or forums.

It also gives a bit of consistency. Knowing that every page has that help button makes would be nice and could make the game more accessible.


Possible Downsides or Exploits:

Redundancy and excess verboseness. Some may see this as a downside but I do not. I would rather have help wiki pages on seemingly obvious features and talk about the same features multiple times and from multiple angles than to find wholes in the coverage.

Additional links would also lead to blank wiki pages initially and that would seem less professional. This would hopefully be temporary though.

[Shizzle]

Downside

Effort for little gain. The devs shouldn't be doing this, and the experienced players who could don't have any incentive to do so.

I also don't know if it's desireable for everything to be spelled out in help pages. Most issues/questions can be resolved by asking ICly to senior realm-mates or contacts, or shooting an OOC message to established players. Or going on IRC.

[Eldargard]

Downside

Effort for little gain. The devs shouldn't be doing this, and the experienced players who could don't have any incentive to do so.

I also don't know if it's desireable for everything to be spelled out in help pages. Most issues/questions can be resolved by asking ICly to senior realm-mates or contacts, or shooting an OOC message to established players. Or going on IRC.

Every person is different but I would rather spend the little time I have to write messages writing messages in game and in character. Additionally, I have a hard time finding a way to ICly ask "What does the send button for contacts do on the Manage Contacts page?" I also think it is a bad idea to expect anyone to leave the game to get a question answered. Not everything needs to be spelled out but what a button does should be spelled out in my opinion. That is what these wiki help pages are good for!

[GundamMerc]

Every person is different but I would rather spend the little time I have to write messages writing messages in game and in character. Additionally, I have a hard time finding a way to ICly ask "What does the send button for contacts do on the Manage Contacts page?" I also think it is a bad idea to expect anyone to leave the game to get a question answered. Not everything needs to be spelled out but what a button does should be spelled out in my opinion. That is what these wiki help pages are good for!

There's an OOC message type for that...

[Eldargard]

Yep. Which is why I said I would rather spend my time writing in game, in character messages. When I want to know what a button (link) does I would rather just click the help button and have it explained than write an OOC message to my realm mates and hope one responds some time soon. My suggestion gives players to gain immediate information independently on basic things like what does this button do.

Imagine some fancy MMORPG refused to ship a manual and help system and instead told it's players to just ask other players what buttons did what! Sure, it is easy for a veteran player to say "that is all so obvious" but I doubt everyone would agree...