Newbies

Mechanical Considerations:
- A newbie can be identified by an [N] tag beside their name. This tag will appear in the @who listing as well as when you LOOK at the player. Additionally, when you SCAN a newbie's starship the [N] tag will appear beside their ship name in the scan output. When you LOOK at a newbie's landed ship, it will include a line about being shiny and new. It is your responsibility to look for this tag before you attack somebody. We will not accept 'I didn't see the tag!' as a reason for attacking a newbie.
- Newbies are given a two day initiation period. The counter for this period is only running when the player is connected to the game, so it's important to log out when you're done playing. For example, if you play for one hour every day, you will have a newbie tag for 48 days. During this time, experienced players may NOT attack the newbie unless they have done something to warrant such an attack. See the section on 'newbie actions' below for more information on the protocol for retaliating against a newbie attack.

Human Decency:
If a newbie asks for help, do not be rude or insulting to them. They are trying to understand the game, not trying to personally insult you or annoy you. Be courteous to them and explain the information they need without adding commentary that might make them feel unwelcome or uncomfortable asking a question. Avoid using acronyms that the newbie might not know. If you feel the need to redirect the newbie to another communication channel, please use full sentence explanations. Don't just say "chatter". Rather, say something like: "That question would better be served on the chatter channel. This channel is for discussion of rock monsters and the threat they pose to our way of life."

Newbie Shields:
Newbies are absolutely not to be used to shield your character against another. The mechanical and policy protections afforded to newbies do not extend to non-newbie players. What does this mean? This means that you should not use newbie ships to fly around in to gain the newbie tag, you should not allow newbies on board your ship and count on their newbie tag to protect you from attack, you should not take COVER behind a newbie so that they get shot instead of you, or any other action that would exploit the fact that newbies are more protected than regular players.

Newbie Actions: Educate, don't retaliate!
It's always worth keeping in mind that a newbie is a new player. They want to experiment with the game and try the various systems out to get used to them. Oftentimes, they truly do not understand the ramifications of their actions and may not fully appreciate what response they are bringing down upon themselves. If a newbie attacks your ship or fires a stun weapon at you, you must make an effort to explain to the newbie what will happen to them if they continue. With newbies, you should always opt to educate over retaliate. However, if the newbie continues to assault you, you are within your rights to defend yourself.

After Newbiedom:
Finally, please be aware that losing the newbie tag does not mean that the player automatically knows everything about the game. We hope that you will continue to be courteous and helpful toward them for weeks to come. Persistent targeting of players simply because they recently lost their newbie tag will not be allowed. This means that if you choose to destroy their ship because of something they did, end it there. Don't target them for life. Give them a chance to recover and understand what is happening.

Enforcement

1. You will receive a warning.
2. You will lose whichever is greater: 100 license points or 10% of your total license points
3. You will be locked out of the game for two weeks.
4. You will be locked out of the game for one month.
5. You will be permanently banned.

Related Help Files

Examples

• Asteroid hauling in a newbie's asteroid hauler to avoid being destroyed by other players while venturing into uncharted space.
• Destroying a newbie's ship because they shot you once. Rather than destroying them, you should explain to them how shooting other players in the future could result in retaliatory actions that may not be ideal.
• Responding to a newbie's question with a short answer, such as "chatter" or "IC question". These only serve to turn newbies away, since it is unlikely they know what you are talking about.
• Telling a newbie that they will find something of use in sector 14 or 24, when in reality the only thing they will find is destruction.
• Telling a newbie that DENEWBIEing their character would be a fabulous idea.
• Using a newbie's ship to avoid actively armed proximity weapons in a sector.