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I got this message and it didn't feel right to me.

Out-of-Character from **********   (3 days, 6 hours ago)
Message sent to: Akakios, Albion Manx, Echetlaeus, Jean Jacques, Kero, Sammy, Tailai
Greeting,
If you want to play adventurer game, and if you want join adventurer guild, create your adv at Fronen, Beluaterra. And if you want create another noble, please consider to join Fronen, Beluaterra. War just started there, so its the best time to join now..

About island, Beluaterra is special, you cant create any noble there. So if you want to play at beluaterra, create noble at other island, and after 14 day, you can go to city near the sea/river and emigrate to beluaterra.

If you interested, reply me.
star  [reply to sender] | [ignore] | [userdetails]

I posted the message here not to get someone in trouble, but more to establish what is and is not acceptable in recruiting characters. It's the overall attitude to recruiting in the game that bothers me and I'd like to call for a broader discussion.

I was initially confused by this and it was explained to me.  The wording could be better. Even " Taxes are collected from the (peasants?) today and will be distributed to estates tomorrow." " Or will be counted and sorted by tomorrow." Or even better then that.

As a newbie I don't know best, that was my point.  The discussion did ramble on a bit to what was newbie friendly and I wanted to comment. I didn't know that the location of a family estate could have advantages, but I take it you know the game and I believe you. My other point is that as a new player, choice is irrelevant as I had no clue what to choose to get an advantage. I might have a better idea by now, but without advice, I still couldn't make the best choice.

I understood, as a new player, that I needed an estate.  I agree that this was a confusing and stressful process and any change or help given to a new player to do this would be wonderful. But again, choosing a region was hard as I knew nothing. It was luck based on how I liked the name. So choosing an estate as a first step instead or region would be based on luck (in my case on a name?) or do I misunderstand the suggestion? At least after randomly choosing a region, I could see what estates were available. None were free and I tried to roleplay. I asked for one with a lame introduction. (Hey I was worried to say too much) In the end I just took one and hoped to live. I chose well after a look around and got a rather good income. My second Noble was in a different realm and had a different experience, being welcomed and directed to an estate. There was more talk and I felt more comfortable.

Quote from Penchant "With an estate, you can a liege, someone who can give you advice on things and boss you around some which will help you understand the game, you will be able to put in an army which  gives you something to do and has you interacting with players, and you get gold so you can pay your men so if you weren't doing things in your army at least you can still do some other things with your unit. "
This was not my experience with either Noble. Second did get the army and the help and gold etc, but the source is not the liege. I must say it would have been nice to get some of this with my first Noble as I was completely at sea.

Actually, yes, it is.

And this is more than "hello"; it's not only getting a good enough handle on the game to understand that you need an estate to have an income, but also getting up enough courage to not only talk to these people you don't know, but ask them for something relatively serious.

Frankly, DamnTaffer, BattleMaster can use more players even if they aren't the chatty type. If everyone in the game were as talkative as you or I, sure, we'd have a lot more interactions—but the chances are, we'd also have a lot more discontent, since talkative players also tend to be players who want positions for their characters, and you start running into a "too many chiefs, not enough Indians" type of problem.

I agree with this. I'm not really shy, but still feel at a loss with some aspects of the game. Especially the interaction aspect. It's easier to join, learn, see what's expected and what the culture is like before becoming talkative. That way, maybe I'll make less of a fool of myself? I've already received comments in chat (unflattering ones) about my grasp on the game. (Actually it was two and five days after I had started playing) It feels a little like a wall I need to climb to get in the 'in' group or a bit like getting in the ocean for a swim - cold and do I ease in or take the plunge? You say you want new players but this is not always the case. Each experience will vary of course and mine has been a mixture of positives and negatives. The culture is geared to the experienced players. I am enjoying playing or I wouldn't be, but you as a community could do so much more to help and encourage us newbies.

However expecting me to choose a family estate on joining and assuming I have all the facts and the understanding to be happy with my choice is rather silly.  I still couldn't make a wise choice in that now.  I get that politics have evolved over years (in game and out) and that I need to play a while and get involved to feel comfortable. But still I feel at sea after so many months of playing. I may have some of the basics and I do have a player  (players) teaching and explaining to me. (Without him I would have quit by now) So in all I think this suggestion is beside the point and perhaps instead you can look for other suggestions to make the new players experience more comfortable.

More populated area might be useful or more active players in the area also, but the majority of players don't seem keen to help new players so maybe that should be the focus? Impossible to program of course. Having said that, is the estate so important? One can roleplay around what one wants as family estate? The location of my family estate is not near my active character or those I interact and learn from, but near my first character that I randomly placed as I like the sound of the name.

[And the most important question you need to ask yourself: Am I being an ass with this RP/letter/etc? If the answer is yes, scrap it until you can not be an ass about it.]

As with anything, you have to sit down and look at what you're about to do.

Is it edgy? Okay, fine. Is this in good taste? Yes, go ahead. No? Rework it. Would this be offensive on a totally IC level, and not an OOC level? Yes? Good. And the most important question you need to ask yourself: Am I being an ass with this RP/letter/etc? If the answer is yes, scrap it until you can not be an ass about it.

Then you never have to worry.

This is great advice and I agree wholeheartedly. The problem with bias though is that you don't know you have it. It seems normal and right to you. (The you I use is the plural general you) I've always thought of myself as tolerant and non-racist etc, but at times I have reflected on my thoughts and have blushed at my prejudice. Life is messy and we all are imperfect. I'm not excusing bad behaviour, just that we can learn and grow and become better.

And Tom, racism, sexism and other forms of prejudice are alive and well in 2013 in every part of the world I have visited. I see it often in my life and have been the 'victim' on the odd occasion. I am a white female, middle aged and I am shocked by my children's peers behaviour often. I work in a professional environment with a culture that actively promotes equality etc and I still see it there. I do think we have moved forward and it is tolerated much less then in my youth and certainly much less then in my parent's youth.

In regards to BM, I agree with much of what has been said. This is a game and not a place to grind an axe. We can roleplay in game intolerances in a tasteful way, I am sure. For example, sexism in a realm, if roleplayed and developed as a culture would be interesting and even entertaining. An Amazon Warrior group of female characters or an all male realm would be okay with me, even some gender slurs, as long as it's developed and has a background story and is in the spirit of the game and not a player agenda. Of course their would be in game offence taken and a conflict to fix the bad attitude of the offending realm etc. Sounds like a good storyline if done well.

I have met a Noble who is a pig of a man, sexist and has a huge ego. Thinks he is a ladies man and they drop at his feet etc. Again, it is done well and I love the roleplay. It was tasteful and fun to watch.

Let's have some fun!

I love it!

I also love Star Wars Day (May 4) and Talk Like A pirate Day (Sept 19)

Speaking ingame is like playing the football match, talking on IRC is like reminiscing about the match with your mates over a beer.

I started playing and went to the IRC after I found the wiki didn't answer all my questions on how to play.

I was keen to learn and asked lots of questions. I was invited to make a new Noble in a realm where I could be helped and tutored. I did and as annoying as my questions might be, I have, I think, made a contribution in this realm and I have learned so much from these players. I enjoy this aspect of the game now that I understand more. The politics and history and reasons can be more confusing then the mechanics at times.

I'm learning the rules, getting answers and being helped on IRC, thanks to all these kind players. I can ignore the trolls and have gotten to know some really nice players. I have had some good laughs and largely enjoy interacting on there. But most of all I am a more confident player.