I
wanted to make sure that Christa knew what this
game was
about and what she would expect from it.  We went to lunch together one afternoon and I explained as much
of the
basics that I could.  What your
objective can be, what the races are, what classes they can choose and
who they
can become.  She understood the game’s
approach through my words, which was a good start.  I also asked her questions to understand what she might be
apprehensive
about.  Christa was genuinely nervous as
she sat in her chair biting her nails.  What would others think of her?  Will she like it?  Is it going to
be too complex?  I reassured her that I
would be playing with her at all times and that she didn’t have to make
any
social contact with anyone else if she didn’t want to.

So here
is what I have to work with:

Christa loves to play video games, but plays things like Wheel of Fortune, console fighting games, and her favorite game of all, The
Sims.  I know with these types of games
on her resume, EQ2 control is going to be a difficult thing to learn.  I know, she’s not going to be dodging
fireballs from hell demons or sniper fire from campers similar to most
first
person shooters, but the movement is similar.  Christa is also the most wonderful woman in the world and I’m
not just
saying that because I know she’ll be reading it later and making me
dinner.  <awkward pause>  Heh…

She’s a patient woman, so I’m pretty sure I won’t be in
danger of any physical threats and/or abuse. 

I
finally get down to starting a new account and I
log her
in.  She sat down in the captains chair
took the mouse with her right hand and looked blankly at the character
select
screen.

“So what do I do?” she asks.

“Well, here is where you chose your characters race.” I
answered.

“So which one should I pick?” she wondered aloud.

“It doesn’t really matter sweetie, just pick the one you
like the best.”

My wife started clicking on some of the choices, giggled at
the shorter races and sarcastically complimented the Trolls and Ogres.  Christa ended on the high elf and started
going to work on the character creation sliders taking her time with
the
hairstyles and color.

She stopped for a moment and asked me, “Can I change my hair
style whenever I want?”

“No,” I replied, “Once you pick a style, that is the one you
keep for the life of that character.”

“Well that’s just silly.” She said incredulously as I
laughed to myself.

Once
she finished creating her masterpiece, it was
time for
the boat ride to the Isle of refuge to test the usefulness of the Everquest 2 tutorial.  I left her to follow along
with the directions as I quickly put together a companion for her on my
own
account.  She liked the idea of creating
a mage for herself so I thought it best to be a fighter and manage the
aggro
while she nuked. 

Fresh
off the boat we started questing together
while small
parts of the tutorial would pop up for her to listen to.  I showed her how to auto follow my Barbarian
since control was still a little bit difficult for her.  Control will continue to take some time to
become comfortable with since one must click a mouse button to move the
camera.  Christa still likes to move her
character with the movement keys opposed to the mouse.  I showed her the shortcut keys for her
inventory and how to equip weapons, armor, food, etc.  She then learned how to follow her journal, managing quests and
collections.  Things were moving very
smoothly as I was able to deter any questions or duels that other
refugees threw
at her.

One of
the frustrating points of her training was
understanding what the specific spells do.  A lot of the descriptions for the spells are full of
role-playing jargon
that could understandably be very confusing for a first-timer.  I patiently explained the terminology and
helped her set up her user interface so that they made more sense by
location.  Attacks were put on one side
and buffs on the other.  Targeting was a
bit tough if I wasn’t directly in her sight, but teaching her how to
keep me
targeted by using the F2 key really helped.  We slayed goblins, found parts for an annoying gnome, chopped up
skeletons and bartered with the local NPC merchants. 

An enjoyable time was had by both of us through
the 5 hours
that we played together.  She even asked
when we could play again.  Next stop:
Qeynos.

If you
decide that you would like to teach you
significant
other how to play Everquest 2,
or any other MMORPG for that matter, I
would
highly recommend that you do things this way and take the time to make
this new
player comfortable.  Remember, this is
something that you want, but in order to accomplish it, the other
person must
enjoy it too.

style="font-weight: bold;">Dos and Don’ts

• Be Patient.  Do not
  try and rush your no0b player through anything.
  
• Answer questions.  Be
  detailed, but speak in Laymen’s terms as best you can.
  
• Keep your voice slow, soft and even.  The
  first couple hours of a new game will
  make or break a new player.  Frustration
  can come from simple things like the tone of a teacher’s voice.
  
• Repeat things often.  I must say that much of this games mechanics can be repetitive,
  so
  repeating things now will make a new user much more comfortable much
  faster.
  
• Never call your significant other a no0b or tell them they
  got pwned when a level 2 goblin just slaughters them-  (even if they just totally got PWNED by that lvl 2 green con
  mob…
  rofl!!11!!!one!!). Laughing is probably good to avoid also even if it is
  killing
  you.
• Remember, it's a game! - Good luck, have fun and don't kill each other.

Got a good story? Have more suggestions on how to maintain the peace and have fun playing EQ2 with your significant other? Relive that marital / relational bliss on the couples discussion thread!