Does Tavern spam drive off new players?

[Naga]

The 'Tree of Life'.
This is a famous but quite unusual inn. The air is fresh and the
marble-tiled ground is clean. Few rowdy guests can be seen, and the
furniture looks undamaged by brawls, which are very common in other pubs
all around the world. The decoration looks extremely valuable and would fit
into a palace, but in this city it's quite ordinary. In the middle of the
room are velvet covered chairs and benches, which surround large oaken
tables. A large sign is fixed to the northern wall behind a wooden bar. In
one corner you notice a fireplace.
There are two obvious exits: east, up.
An energetic green-eyed female elf, a red-eyed slender male elf, a
round-faced happy male halfling, and a statue of a starry-eyed thick-legged male half-elf.

The energetic green-eyed female elf smiles happily.
The round-faced happy male halfling tells you in Common: Hey, I got you a
job opportunity for you!
The energetic green-eyed female elf says in Common: Welcome to my Inn!
The round-faced happy male halfling ponders the situation.
The round-faced happy male halfling offers in Common: The Queen herself has
requested for a helper!
You sit down on the first chair.
>The statue of the starry-eyed thick-legged male half-elf crumbles to dust.
The round-faced happy male halfling offers in Common: What an honour to be
helping the Queen of Elves!
You emote: Naga mumbles something a about a "stiff drink".
The round-faced happy male halfling smiles brightly.
The round-faced happy male halfling offers in Common: The Palace is on the
northern side of the town.
You hear a cracking sound from the fireplace as the flames consume a large
piece of wood.
The round-faced happy male halfling smiles brightly.
You hear an elf say: Humans might have started a war against us, but at
least they don't stink like dwarves.

It might be my imagination, but a lot more new players seem to be vanishing in the starting taverns. As Newbie Helper, I generally try to wander into a tavern, have a seat, grab a stiff drink, peer from down the bar at the newbie, and bury my face into a book... glancing up now and then at the unfamiliar face. Not forcing myself on them but trying to start an exchange that could lead to the new player finding the game interesting.

Is the instantaneous NPC spam, both directed towards the new player and whoever comes in to offer some interaction (so some hear it all twice!), intimidating those logging on for the first time?

[chara]

I don't know if the number is increasing, but I do know that there have always been a lot of people who create a character and then log out before ever leaving the tavern. Personally, I appreciate having some direction when I first start a game. Some fellow eying me grimly from down the bar is not going to motivate me to talk to him, since I won't even know if it's a player or an NPC. Someone who gives me an idea how to start and where to go is appreciated, though.

It's surely not an ideal problem. Hopefully in the future we'll have a better setup for newbies. But I do think that the newbie helpers are at least a step in the right direction.

[Sairina]

I agree with Chara there. I didn't mind the NPC "spam" when I started myself, and I don't think you can expect a newbie to dive head-first into serious roleplay, without even having a basic idea about the world and the mechanics of gameplay.

I'm obviously one of the guys who stayed long enough to leave the tavern
Still, there's a lot of things I would have appreciated as a newbie. Player maps, for example, at least of the starting cities. More information about the world, available before starting the game - like a timeline of more recent "big" events (for example: is there a war going on right now?). There's no in-character informations here in the forum, but that makes it harder for a new player to get an impression of the atmosphere in a game, which for me is an important part in the decision of playing or not playing something (ok, there's the wiki with logs and character backgrounds, which is a nice step in that direction).
Information on guilds would be important, as well - what can be done, but also what the goals and ideals of the politically important groups are. Or of the villains. This information on the homepage is still missing for many guilds and is obviously outdated, since of those that did bother about a description, some are crossed out. So there's no information about the skalds, but still some about the non-existing legion. Made a bad impression on me as a possible future player, because it does make the (very very wrong) first impression that nobody's really working on the game and it's improvement right now. And after all, first impressions matter.

[Vargrahim]

I'm a little against all the NPC spam, but only if it is unnecessary. For example, the NPC messengers are placed in the middle of the road and instantly tell you something like "wanna leave a message?" even if you pass by rapidly (and I never understood their significant utility anyway). Also Elvandar is kind of crowded with groups of guards walking by, in this aspect Arborea is better. Perhaps these guards could be put in the palace and only awake on invasion? Or at least be decreased in numbers.. I think if too much spams up your screen when you're new to the game it is just frustrating because apart from being lost, you don't have time to read it all, and if you do, it's mostly unnecessary information.

Anyway, I think a good way of removing the spam is to delay the tells a bit just a second or so and also decrease the number of guards moving in the city. I also agree with Sairina about the lack of "important" information like which groups/organisations there are.

[vurdijak]

I'm thinking the spam doesn't drive off too many new players. Thats just an opinion not based on any fact. Its been a long time since I sat in an inn. If newbies seem to be overwhelmed by it, maybe the NPC could just say one thing when someone enters the room.

After reading Sairina's post, I remembered being a newbie and wondering where I could see a map of Forostar on the website. Understandably, a lot of information is kept IC, but I think a general map of the continent posted on the website would do a few things for Geas:

1. Show potential players that there are several big cities, each with its own distinct features.
2. Show potential players that Geas is full of intriguing sites that make for excellent exploration.
3. Give Geas that much more fantasy credibility. I know, this one sounds like bullshit, but open most fantasy books and you will see a map of the world at the beginning. This map is used as a reference when reading...now where are those adventurers again?

I do not think a map of this sort would take away from the atmosphere in Geas at all or intrude on the fantasy in any way. Unfortunately I suck as an artist or I would attempt to draw the thing myself. Future land masses could be added as needed.

Sairina's point about the guilds on the webpage is a good one. Although the Legion being crossed out is fun and I think it should stay that way.

[Sairina]

I would prefer former guilds as an extra section, but that's probably just a matter of taste.

I would also love to paint a map, but I don't know the continent well enough to do so.

Since such a continental map shouldn't tell any mysteries, but just give a basic overview of the lands, I don't think that this would be too much IC information.
And maps of the cities are given away to newbies ingame right at the start anyway, so why not have them on the homepage as well.

[chara]

I'm pretty sure that if someone wanted to take the time to create a map of the continent, the administration would love to see it.