a few thoughts about the tutorial

[Prolix]

Having created a new account to test the verification process I decided to go through the tutorial once again. I believe it has been updated somewhat since the last time I looked at it and am not sure if the tweeking is still in progress. I would like to say that I was pleased to discover that the starting cash has been increased making the reward selection more of a choice. Greedy people will likely choose the most valuable item but it is far less necessary.

A few other comments. It seems to me that there ought to be more affirmative and negative synonyms accepted for example "ya" wasn't understood. I suppose this is not specific to the tutorial.

There were a couple other conceptual issues I noticed. When you are melting the ore, if you have no metallurgy skill as I had none, you might expect to be able to melt ore once you reach the game. I am not certain whether it is possible to melt iron with no metallurgy in the game proper but it would seem unlikely. If it is not possible in the game then you might want to mention in the tutorial that it is a special case.

I think that forcing a player to say yes to 'gonna play by the rules?' is kind of pointless.  It might be better to just mark the player who answers no and then using that for a factor iresolving any complaints about their behavior. After X number of playing time the mark could be removed. Certainly someone who is intending to cause problems will have no trouble saying yes to that question. It probably does not matter in the end.

[Caarrie]

There were a couple other conceptual issues I noticed. When you are melting the ore, if you have no metallurgy skill as I had none, you might expect to be able to melt ore once you reach the game. I am not certain whether it is possible to melt iron with no metallurgy in the game proper but it would seem unlikely. If it is not possible in the game then you might want to mention in the tutorial that it is a special case.

Nothing in the tutorial is specific to it but the npcs that live there. If you can do it there you should be able to do it in yliakum

[Prolix]

It seems to me that the last time I did the tutorial with no metallurgy I was required to provide a pile of dust. Apparently this was changed. The last time I tried to smelt anything without "Working With Stock" I got a message saying "I did not know what would happen" but I cannot say I have tried to melt iron other than to make steel for a while. I will take a look at this with a more developed character. I will expect to find it as you say.

[ThomPhoenix]

I don't think you'd want to encourage the use of language like "ya" for yes in PlaneShift. What's next, saying "yo" instead of hello?

[Prolix]

I do not know about that. How many peasants do you know have perfect diction. Then again "Sure" is not accepted as an affirmative answer either, nor is "OK". How about "fine" as an indication of resigned agreement? It sure does not need to be anytime soon but someday it would be nice to allow more synonyms. I just think that something as basic as an expression of agreement or not should be a candidate for a little variety.

OKfine thankyouverymuch! <-- not that of course How about "whatever"? ... not!

[neko kyouran]

Or another way you could look at is to say that the NPCs are all stuck ups snobs who don't bother to have conversations with the lowly peasants in their lowly non-perfect diction style of speaking so those peasants better learn proper diction or they aren't going to be able to communicate with those NPCs.

 

[Prolix]

Guess they won't be talking to you either neko, run-on sentences do not pass the grammatical sniff test. It does seem to me that for all the NPCs that speak in the vernacular or otherwise have odd speech patterns, it is a little strange that they require exactitude. I do understand that what I am asking is a somewhat easier said than done.

Then again I have never heard of a merchant who turned up his nose at a sack of gold because he did not like how someone said something.

Is Aye and Nay acceptable? Should we take the npc's predilections as indications of proper speech? They say all sorts of wacky things.

[Rizin]

I do not know about that. How many peasants do you know have perfect diction. Then again "Sure" is not accepted as an affirmative answer either, nor is "OK". How about "fine" as an indication of resigned agreement? It sure does not need to be anytime soon but someday it would be nice to allow more synonyms. I just think that something as basic as an expression of agreement or not should be a candidate for a little variety.

OKfine thankyouverymuch! <-- not that of course How about "whatever"? ... not!

Prolix - OK, sure, and fine should all have worked for an affirmative. 

Can you please send me the log snippet so I can compare and test.

I do appreciate tutorial feedback as it is a growing and changing thing, so as long as the suggestions are constructive as this has been so far keep them coming.

Edit: aye should work as well.

[Prolix]

I have another new account so I will try those myself. I have tried one or two of them before but of course things change. 
Sometimes I forget that people listen and repeat myself without checking if the things I said were dealt with already.

This:

(13:53:54) Xargon Guurn says:  Greetings, stranger, and welcome to the city of Hydlaa. Lovely weather we're having, aye?
(13:54:04) Areririe says: sure birdy
(13:54:06) -Xargon grins.-

would seem to indicate I was speaking out of turn, buy a lot of things are acceptable at that point so I did not pay it any notice.

I made the statement hastily so I'll get back to you if it is not as you say. I might try "alright," "That's acceptable" and "agreed" but I suspect that may be asking too much. You never know I might be surprised.

[Rizin]

I have another new account so I will try those myself. I have tried one or two of them before but of course things change. 
Sometimes I forget that people listen and repeat myself without checking if the things I said were dealt with already.

This:

(13:53:54) Xargon Guurn says:  Greetings, stranger, and welcome to the city of Hydlaa. Lovely weather we're having, aye?
(13:54:04) Areririe says: sure birdy
(13:54:06) -Xargon grins.-

would seem to indicate I was speaking out of turn, buy a lot of things are acceptable at that point so I did not pay it any notice.

I made the statement hastily so I'll get back to you if it is not as you say. I might try "alright," "That's acceptable" and "agreed" but I suspect that may be asking too much. You never know I might be surprised.

Looking at just those three lines that looks like the correct progression. You responded, and he grinned, which should have been followed by some commentary from Xargon.

[Prolix]

The point about those lines was that there and some other places he will take almost anything, seemingly.

I tried a bunch of different things this time and what you said and more seemed to work. No seemed to be the only negative that was acceptable. "Of course" worked here and there, naturally I did not try it everywhere. "prepared" worked for "ready" but I could not find anything else.
Link removed.
I did leave the tutorial with about 60 lbs of rat parts and about 7 more PPs than the last time. I have mentioned this previously though too.

[Raa]

I don't think you'd want to encourage the use of language like "ya" for yes in PlaneShift. What's next, saying "yo" instead of hello?

By the way... "Ya" isn't even a word. It's "yeah."

[Prolix]

Oh?
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Ya
Ya\ (y[aum]), adv. Yea. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. *

You YA's need to get your ya-ya's out a little more often 

[Raa]

That's a lie... I'm always right...

Edit:

Wait. After reading that asterisk thingummy... I am right! Told you I'm always right. Noob.

Edit:

Actually, it is a word, it's just slang. But I'm still right.

[Velh Krome]

Derived from here

1. Apply the use of brackets on the Tutorial's NPCs consequently - to have them trying to explain the difference, while using brackets correctly can only be a benefit.

2. Add a rude chara to it. That way newbies would be introduced to the difference between IC and OOC behaviour right from the start. And in the end it could provide the chance to have meant to be thuggish and rowdily NPCs indeed and authentically appearing like that.