The way I look at newbies playing is the same thing as the King of a nation dying and his third son is given the crown. He must learn kingship on the job! While the King may have talented advisors and army commanders he does not have to listen to them.
Publish a rating on the difficulty of running all nations. Ask for 5 nations that a player would like to run. If more experienced players do not request the most difficlut nation and the newbie does, then WTF! Let him play the nation he requested, no one else wanted to. How do you learn something better? Having someone tell you that getting hit upside the head with a stick hurts OR getting hit upside the head with a stick.
My opinion, I could be wrong...
Steve
Richard DEVEREUX wrote:
RD: And who can blame them? A newbie's money is as good as the
money of the most senior veteran. You start restricting the nations
which a newbie is "allowed" to play (what a breathtakingly arrogant
concept!) and you will cut off the flow of new blood into the game.
You mean, as opposed to the "breathtakingly arrogant" concept of showing
up your first game and demanding the biggest, most important nation,
regardless of advice to the contrary?
I still do not understand the controversy of having people "step up" in
difficulty over the course of 2-3 games. Everyone benefits in the long
run. New players get less frustrated because their nations don't get
stepped on (and they don't get yelled at), and experienced players are
less frustrated because their games go more smoothly.
WTF! Let him play the nation he requested, no one else wanted to. How do you learn something better? Having someone tell you that getting hit upside the head with a stick hurts OR getting hit upside the head with a stick.
My problem with the collective "newbies learn by getting hammered" idea is that it ignores that fact that MEPBM isn't a 1 vs 19 game. If one player gets hit with a stick, the entire team does.
There are 19 other people, counting both teams, who want a good game (and a win, but that's secondary). Allowing first-time players to slam 6000MA into a city/citidel against all advice doesn't just hurt him - it hurts everyone, all of whom are paying customers.
It's fairly clear to me that I'm in the minority here, and I know Clint will do his best to keep the games balanced. I just don't want to be the beneficiary of the "I wonder what this does" syndrome.
The other thing to note is that with all the information out there on
the web (such as the Mouth of Sauron newsletters, from which I learned
before and during my first game), even a new player isn't completely
at a loss, and can have a reasonable shot at not messing up.
Tony Z
···
On Thu, Nov 21, 2002 at 05:05:26PM -0500, Jason Bennett wrote:
Steve Prindeville wrote:
> WTF! Let him play the nation he requested, no one else wanted to. How
> do you learn something better? Having someone tell you that getting
> hit upside the head with a stick hurts OR getting hit upside the head
> with a stick.
My problem with the collective "newbies learn by getting hammered" idea
is that it ignores that fact that MEPBM isn't a 1 vs 19 game. If one
player gets hit with a stick, the entire team does.
--
The real danger of lying to kids is not that they'll find out you
lied and stop trusting you; it's that they'll believe the lies and
try to live by them. --Eileen Lufkin
> My problem with the collective "newbies learn by getting hammered" idea
> is that it ignores that fact that MEPBM isn't a 1 vs 19 game. If one
> player gets hit with a stick, the entire team does.
The other thing to note is that with all the information out there on
the web (such as the Mouth of Sauron newsletters, from which I learned
before and during my first game), even a new player isn't completely
at a loss, and can have a reasonable shot at not messing up.
*** I would guesstimate that over half the players who join have never seen Bree or MoS or have a clue about the game. Informed choices of positions I am a fan of - then let the team help out, but ill-informed or no information at game start I am worried about.
