News corner

[rose]

:o But guys, there are help instructions and tutorial mansions!!! They should give you all necessary information.
After that there is a learning period. Start with the easy original mansions and the more skilled you get you try harder ones. In the custom mansions there might be tricks that aren't in the original mansions but if the player don't find them out by them self they can ask in the forum!

[hawaii]

Hi Rose,

Newbies cannot ask in the forum, if all Admins are on holidays and no one is available to allow them to post.

How many people do you know read the instructions on anything they buy and have to assemble? The same goes for games. People just want to jump in and play. yes? no?
[smiley=engel017.gif]

[rose]

That is right Missy and everyone wants the information in a different way, but still there is information on how to play.

[SandyBean]

Hi All,

Lots of great discussion on the

News Corner

topic, and some good ideas.

I have been off the boards for a bit now, pretty busy lately at the Horse Rescue, and with training my two dogs for the Therapy work they do in the local hospital.

I can't believe it has only been a year since I joined the forum, with all the great people and conversations, it feels like I have been part of the MM Family for much longer!

I do remember a bit about being a

Newbie

.  I was warmly welcomed on the boards very quickly by the admins, especially Freddy and Brell, and as I started out with about a million questions, I was pleasantly surprised to have my posts answered very nicely and in a timely fashion. :

I also remember at first having a bit of a learning curve for both the game itself, and then the use of the forum (but it was my Very First), and needing to do some detective work to find the CM's.  This did not deter me in the least, as I love solving problems, and did eventually figure most of it out (and I had lots of help from members!).

I personally like the idea of a simple

Info  Mansion

, it would be fun to learn, explore, and discover all at once, and I too, did not originally read the instructions, I played a few mansions, and kept going back to the written instructions as needed.      It would need input and mutual agreement as to what hints/instructions to release, and what to hold back for adventuring sake.

It might be better if there was a separate tab for 'new registration' for an easy instruction page, and links to follow, and a bit of an explanation on rules of posting, and how to find CM's, etc.

I do like the idea of the news corner being used to announce new CM's, and maybe this would be a place to put Newbie Instructions; like  

New to the Forum? Click Here

.

I also agree the Admins Absence is a little confusing, considering the date of the post, and may need a bit of updating to be clearer.  For me it was no problem, as Freddy responded immediately   and helped me get my bearings.

All in all, I think it is a wonderful forum, and as with anything that involves intelligent, caring people, it is always expanding, improving and is a 'work in progress'.

Take care, and I hope everyone is having a great summer !  8-)

SandyBean [smiley=2vrolijk_08.gif]

[Lara]

Whilst we are talking about organising things, what do we think about tidying up the message board a bit?

I often think that the message board looks quite big and confusing. Many message boards have a main page, and then some sub pages. What do the admins think about changing the board so we have the following main pages?

- Announcements
- Midnight Mansion Game
- Expansion Pack
- Custom Mansions Area
- Free Chat

Also, if we want to promote the totally awesome custom mansions, maybe we could move the Custom Mansions up the page?

What about this order?

- Midnight Mansion Game
- Custom Mansions Area
- Announcements
- Expansion Pack
- Free Chat


Just some ideas...

[hawaii]

YES, Laura, that is a GREAT IDEA.

And in each category, maybe each mansion can have it's own Topic header so that one does not have to surf all over the forum for hints.

Great idea. [smiley=tekst-toppie.gif]

[josephine]

rose wrote: ... there are help instructions and tutorial mansions!!!

Of course there are. But are we going to get nitpicky about The One True Proper Way to start playing MM? Or do we want newbies to dive in and get hooked on the game before they run into problems? MM is loads of fun, but some people get frustrated when they're stuck and may just give up if they can't easily find the answer (this isn't a test, it's a game.) Why penalize those people (ie: paying customers) with more difficulty when we want them to enjoy it?

Missy- great idea about each mansion having it's own separate header. Players could find answers more easily and it would prevent the same questions from being asked multiple times.

Lara- tidying up the forums would simplify things too. That whole

admin absence

really had me confused when I joined! I thought maybe they weren't involved in the game anymore because the dates were a year old. I love the idea of a

Newbies- Get Unstuck Here!

header, with a list of basic help tips like

command D to find the room number

or

there is a map included for each mansion

(I didn't know this )


Hey SandyBean- not to hijack the thread, I have a question about your horse rescue. Check out the speaker's corner area.

[hawaii]

Hello,

Pls. note the page numbers at the bottom or the top of the page. In other Topics they are even smaller.

Well, it's hard to see which page number is selected. Also, it would be nice if their was a

next page

option.

Thank you

[nancygevans]

I agree. I remember first logging on to the new board and having to e-mail Freddy about what to do. We want to encourage the new guys and the way it is it's confusing.

[Freddy]

Like everybody has seen , brell is absent for the time being. And I am not going to change anything before we had contact.

But ... improving changes are to come. Definitely.

I like to thank everybody for their contributions.