The Newb Experiment: The Beginning

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October 16th, 2008 - By Dalmarus

The Vanguard: Saga of Heroes trial went live in recent weeks with the introduction of the Isle of Dawn. Shortly before the Isle went live, I wrote an article in which I talked about how well I thought the development team had improved the initial experience for players new to the lands of Telon entitled, Isle of Dawn: An Overview. All of this was, of course, taken from the point of view from a very experienced MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) player since I've been involved with these types of games almost 10 years now.

I stand by the words I wrote then, but for a while now, I've wanted to put those impressions to a test. Unfortunately, all of my friends have been playing MMOG's nearly as long as I have, with some of them having played just as long. That left me in a bit of a quandary until I came up with an idea to also introduce my wife to the genre.

For gamers across the country, perhaps even the world, getting your spouse or significant other to play the games you love can arguably be compared to Sir Lancelot's quest for the Holy Grail. Over the course of the last 10 years, I've made progress, but getting my wife interested in the MMOG genre has always proven more elusive than an eel greased with warm butter. Thus was born the article you're reading now, one I hope to turn into a series as the weeks go by.

Draconnia!

While not a complete novice to all games, this was my wife's first step into the MMOG arena. She's played (and loved) Sacred, Diablo I & II, Gauntlet: Dark Legends, and numerous other RPG (Role-Playing Game) Hack & Slash games. I thought previously getting into other games and later Vanguard would have been a natural progression, but so far, I’ve been wrong.

The other week, I finally came up with a plan to satisfy both issues I'd been trying to resolve. With a request to try out the game to give me (and my readers) a perspective on the Isle of Dawn experience from a player new to MMOG's, I had a chance to not only see if my impressions of the Isle were correct, I may also have found the Holy Grail. Time will tell.

Over the next few weeks (and possibly longer), I hope to bring you these articles on a regular basis. I have to admit that the answers gathered below surprised me. Not that anything about them was actually strange, but in the fact that I've seen the same theme from other interviews in the past and never really thought of my wife as a gamer. It made for some interesting reading on multiple levels, so I hope you enjoy it.

As a quick note, if anyone else would like to try this experiment with a spouse, significant other, or friend, just follow these steps:

• Have them download the trial on their computer.
• Let them play for a couple hours with instructions that they are only to ask you questions if they find themselves stuck and begin getting highly frustrated. Remember, this is supposed to be a point of view from a new player, not one with a guardian angel hovering over their shoulder.
• Leave the room for a couple hours. I'm serious. Use it as an excuse to play that console game that's been sitting there teasing you with your lack of time, get caught up on some reading, television, or any other myriad number of things you've been meaning to do.
• Once they've played for a while, ask them to fill out this set of questions.
• Finally, send a screenshot of their character and the answered questions to me HERE!

Here's a brief Interview with my wife, completed shortly after her play session this past Saturday. Enjoy!