I had two very different experiences with two new players the other day.
The first encounter started after LR announced that he had again killed and podded someone. It was the second time that day and the third time in the last two or three. I checked the character's age and decided that they were, indeed new.
I will shoot a new player, I admit. Eve is to much the game of alts not to shoot that rookie ship or shuttle. However, I do send them eve mails and occasional start up conversations if I think they are new. Often, I am ignored. Sometimes, I help people out.
I can only assume that it was inevitable that my ego would catch up with me.
I sent this guy a conversation request and said hi. He said hi back. Everything seemed good. I asked him if he was new because I noticed that one of my corp mates had destroyed his ship and pod several times. Because of this, I thought that he might not be aware of warping the pod off to safety and things like instant undocks to avoid pirates that may be camping the undock of a station.
"I don't know what any of that means," he told me.
I started to explain. I started with the first part, pods. I explained that pods pretty much warp instantly and a large ship takes forever to target one. So, if he is losing his ship he can just warp off. As I explained about spamming warping to a celestial he interrupts me and says, "I don't have good reflexes. I normally don't play combat."
Now, he is in a low sec system and shopping at my market, but okay. As I try to suggest instant undocks he goes, "I'm going to go back to my missions, thanks," and closes chat. I just sat there with my fingers waving lifelessly over my keyboard. I opened and closed my mouth a few times and oh well, I guess. I let him go, back off to do missions in low sec. I felt kind of bad but, well, I tried.
The second was a conversation that popped up. As is per my habit, I accepted. "You don't know me," was the start, "but Lain told me to hunt you down for help." Lain is my carebear turned little vicious weekend PvPer. He sends people he likes to my public chat so that they can get some help with Eve and meet new people. I'm a firm believer that having some type of social circle helps keep people in Eve. A chatroom can serve as a great grounder when it has people in who will answer questions and just be social to help the new player not feel alone.
He proceeded to crack my head open and try to scoop out all of the knowledge that he could. I left a bit dumber and with scars but it was positive stuff. He got engaged in conversations. There was the eternal "Can I plex my account from the start," discussion of playing for work vs playing for play when you are young and it ISK doesn't just flow.
The second made up for the first.
The first encounter started after LR announced that he had again killed and podded someone. It was the second time that day and the third time in the last two or three. I checked the character's age and decided that they were, indeed new.
I will shoot a new player, I admit. Eve is to much the game of alts not to shoot that rookie ship or shuttle. However, I do send them eve mails and occasional start up conversations if I think they are new. Often, I am ignored. Sometimes, I help people out.
I can only assume that it was inevitable that my ego would catch up with me.
I sent this guy a conversation request and said hi. He said hi back. Everything seemed good. I asked him if he was new because I noticed that one of my corp mates had destroyed his ship and pod several times. Because of this, I thought that he might not be aware of warping the pod off to safety and things like instant undocks to avoid pirates that may be camping the undock of a station.
"I don't know what any of that means," he told me.
I started to explain. I started with the first part, pods. I explained that pods pretty much warp instantly and a large ship takes forever to target one. So, if he is losing his ship he can just warp off. As I explained about spamming warping to a celestial he interrupts me and says, "I don't have good reflexes. I normally don't play combat."
Now, he is in a low sec system and shopping at my market, but okay. As I try to suggest instant undocks he goes, "I'm going to go back to my missions, thanks," and closes chat. I just sat there with my fingers waving lifelessly over my keyboard. I opened and closed my mouth a few times and oh well, I guess. I let him go, back off to do missions in low sec. I felt kind of bad but, well, I tried.
The second was a conversation that popped up. As is per my habit, I accepted. "You don't know me," was the start, "but Lain told me to hunt you down for help." Lain is my carebear turned little vicious weekend PvPer. He sends people he likes to my public chat so that they can get some help with Eve and meet new people. I'm a firm believer that having some type of social circle helps keep people in Eve. A chatroom can serve as a great grounder when it has people in who will answer questions and just be social to help the new player not feel alone.
He proceeded to crack my head open and try to scoop out all of the knowledge that he could. I left a bit dumber and with scars but it was positive stuff. He got engaged in conversations. There was the eternal "Can I plex my account from the start," discussion of playing for work vs playing for play when you are young and it ISK doesn't just flow.
The second made up for the first.
Its nice of you to convo the guys and offer help. You are correct, there are lots of alts but even there - they may be PvP alts of industrial pilots and appreciating advice.
ReplyDeleteI blew up someone on his second day - he had scanned down a WH (really) and I wired him some ISK afterward. He had no idea that another player had shot at him, he thought it had been (his words) a "space monster"... ;-)