Breaking Down the Entry Barrier

evi1r0n

evi1r0n

Baron
I would like to encourage more players to join up with Alliance but as I have grown as a LARPer I realize that Alliance has one of the larger entry barriers. I wanted to start a discussion on how to lower that barrier.

In the NW, where my LARP experience comes from, Alliance has one of the more complex rules systems. Alliance Oregon and Seattle tend to have fairly high-end costuming among the player base, which socially pressures newer folk to "up their costume game". Now this isn't an active social pressure but one that is created by a commitment to immersion by the local players.

Coming into Alliance can be intimidating and costuming isn't cheap. As someone who isn't crafty and didn't have crafty friends, pre-LARP, getting good costuming is expensive.

What solutions would you recommend to encourage new players to attend?
 
Unless you are specifically talking about garb, I honestly think the biggest barrier to entry is just guidance. That's why I asked about creating the New Player Representative position for Oregon and why Seattle followed along shortly after with the idea. If we can answer the questions that new players have in a quick and efficient manner, they are more likely to see just how open and welcoming this community is. While we can't do a lot to change the rules system, if you are a decent person about teaching the system then I find that players pick it up quick. They may have to ask "what does that do" every now and then, of course. But, hell, I find myself asking questions like that. Especially about our ritual system.

If you are talking about costuming in general, I don't have a problem seeing new players trying the game out in wearing stuff that might not be ideal. In fact, in the New Player FAQ that I have written for Alliance Oregon, I include a section about getting into very basic costuming. Is it epic? No. Is it something they should wear for their entire LARPing career? No. But it is something to get started with. Link to my FAQ is here: http://allianceoregon.com/game-info/new-player-faq/
 
There is one other thing that we can do as a Monster Camp and that is have "loaner" garb. It's a simple shirt and wrap pants, ring belt and a pouch. Have about 3 sets designated to go to people who want to try without going out and purchasing crazy gear. Sure it won't get them armor, but it will get them into game.
 
New Player Reps are great! I am biased because I am one!

Seriously though, from the feedback we've received, having a dedicated staff member new players can ping with any questions they have has been really great for player and character entry. It helps that I'm also the Plot person who does IBGAs and approves character histories, so new players know that nothing is getting lost in translation between asking questions and writing a history. We have two pages on our site to ease players into the world, the OOG one (what to bring, what to expect, etc) and the IG one (briefly describing the history of the chapter), in addition to the new player training we do on-site.

New Players: http://alliancedeadlands.com/?page_id=187
Beginner's Guide: http://alliancedeadlands.com/?page_id=447

(Also, nice page Oregon! I may have to snag some of your sections to expand ours!)

I'm interested to hear what chapters can do as a whole to welcome new players. Opening ceremonies where newbies introduce themselves? A highbie/lowbie PC mentor system? Hugs? Sometimes it's hard to involve new players without singling them out, which can be equally scary, so I'd love to hear some ways to mitigate that.
 
New Player Contacts,
Would you guys like a section on the boards for easier communication between all of you? Perhaps a way to trade best practices, or other types of information? Would that be helpful to you guys?

-Ali
 
In Denver, we started a group entirely focused on costume, helping people with costume, pooling resources, sharing skills, collecting tutorials and examples, and discussing individual costume developement, improvement and upkeep. Its worked out really good and different people even hose workshops for anybody to attend and get the hands-oh help and advice they might be lookin for. We even have an unofficial written guide to help new people figure out what to wear, how to make it or where to buyit...heh... we're set in that respect.

But costuming as a barrier aside (I dont really think its a major barrier, just remind new players that everyone started somewhere.) a lot of it seems to be involved in just being welcoming, answering lots of questions without losing patience, being supportive to help new players who are often really shy overcome shyness- and then also offering opportunities for new players to come and sorta get involved and meet people and get exposure through extraneous events that are not actual game event weekens- like fighter practice, various workshops, and other get-togethers that dont call for anything other than showing up so they can come take a look, talk to people, get invo, try some stuff out, without any commitment or pressure- wich gives us the chance to say 'No really your costume is fine, just start with that and build as you go, here try this belt and check out this tutorial' or 'You're doin good, keep your shield up tho' or 'So this is how roleplay works, lets try an example' or 'If you want to build a tank, heres how to set up a good basic sheet to get started'...and so on and so forth. Teaching opportunities!.
 
Back in pre-split days, one of the chapters I helped run plot with had a "New Player Committee" that would run an "Introduction to <Alliance>" module for all players who were attending their first event as a PC. It was in-world and consisted of a series of encounters that walk new players through some of the common things they'll see:

Encounter 1 - here's a monster, note the mask, ask "WDIS", listen to the response, note the weapons, go.
Encounter 2 - here's a trapped hallway. Here's ways you can negotiate this.
Encounter 3 - here's a module-specific rule ("this boards represent flaming pits. If you step on one, take X damage"). New monster with packets - <Pause encounter> note the packet attack rules, etc.
Encounter 4 - Here's a room with a monster, a module-specific rule, a trapped area and a locked box. Have at it!

Our games had an OOG Opening Announcements that got all of the new players off on their first adventure before getting together with their friends, etc. It also got them a chance to meet other new players and be new together, before being thrown into the high-level mix of things.

That same chapter also ran one event per month, and every third or fourth month, their event was a separate level-capped game (cap of 5th). New players were always invited to start their before moving on to the larger events, and it encouraged players with high-level characters to either start new characters or come NPC.
 
As the New Player Representative for Alliance Seattle (and Ron's successor, for that matter!), I take this subject very seriously.

Ron's absolutely correct in that there are barriers for new players coming into a game. For the Pac NW, this tends to be:

1) Financial - When I PC in Seattle, I tend to spend a bit over $100 (gas, food plan, event fee) an event. Oregon tends to be around $50 or more, depending on food and gas circumstances. These are affordable for me, but not for everyone.

2) Costuming: Garb is expensive. God help you if you start getting into leather costuming and latex weaponry.

3) Props: Weapons and shield creation procedures are sorta...meh. They take some level of experience, so I can't tell you how often I've had new players show up at events with heavy/unsafe weapons because they didn't know what they were doing, and their stuff didn't clear.

4) Social barriers: Want to get a new player? Show that player that your community is fun and welcoming. Want to lose that new player forever? Get proven wrong. I personally feel that the entire community at a chapter needs to feel some level of obligation for making their chapter accessible for new players, and that new players have a safe outlet for feedback if they feel like they're not having the experience they hoped for.

And Ali, I think I'd love a section for us New Player Representatives. :)
 
Yes, a section for us New Player Reps would be cool, me thinks.

Thanks for the kind words on the New Player FAQ. I would take any feedback you have on it to heart.
 
cost of garb is actually pretty achievable, imo. But I have some expensive hobby in hockey where dropping a few hundred every couple years is a given.
Finding the right people to talk to and the ruleset tends to be the hard part of Alliance, imo.
 
I find it really, really helps to have new player contacts and Logistics folks who have time to answer a lot of questions. It frustrates new players when they're all excited and amped up to get going and people have real life stuff to do and can't answer everything all the time.

We could definitely make a concerted effort to direct more new players here, to the New Player Questions section. The weapon building tutorials in the rulebook are pretty bad, honestly, and could use a revamp.

Something I liked that my local SCA groups do is a Newbie Packet, with some basic social familiarization, some info about the local area and who's who, and basic garb and gear instructions that they can hand out. I may have to look into putting together such a thing. T-tunic, a tabard, and wrap pants are dirt easy, even for people who don't sew well, and look fine.
 
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