Without a shadow of a doubt, there will be a time when you will need help. It doesn't matter how old you are, or how much you know about the Disc - at one time or another, you WILL need some assistance. These are some of the ways to get it:
SHOUTING
Amazingly, this arguably crude form of communication is one of the best ways to get help, because everyone can hear you, and there is bound to be someone who will help you. Most of the time, players shout to request for portals to certain areas, to complain about the lag, to ask for help, to advertise something they are selling, or to greet everyone when they log on/say goodbye when they log off. It's a very sociable thing, and hence requires social points. Social points is the number of points you can use to do social things. (What an amazing definition) Er...let me try again. Social points are...bugger. Well I think they're pretty easy to understand. When you shout, you use up a certain number of social points based on how long the thing you're shouting is. Social points do regenerate over time, and one of the most annoying things about being a newbie is that you only get 50 out of a possible 500 social points. I mean, you'd THINK that a newbie would need it more. But then again, newbies have the newbie-channel, which brings me on to my next point....
THE NEWBIE CHANNEL
Channel for newbies :) Many players are very very strict about the rules of the newbie channel, which are:
1. No chatting. You can't say things like "It's a nice day today" on the channel - it's questions only.
The newbie channel is seen by everybody, so if you break one of these rules you can definitely expect a ragging by at least ONE person. The channel can be earmuffed if you don't want to have to listen to constant questions. After you're 18 hours old, you are not allowed access to the newbie channel any more, because the Creators figure you're old enough to ask questions elsewhere. You can regain access to the channel, however, after you're 4 days old, to answer and help newbies via the channel directly. This is done by sending Shining (a creator) a mudmail asking her politely. I think. She hasn't replied my mail yet, so this will be confirmed at some point.
FELLOW GUILD MEMBERS
After you've joined a guild, you can always ask for help from your guild members - you can see a list of the currently online members of your guild by typing who [guild], for example, who thieves or who priests or who witches. This will give you a list of the respective guild members on line at the moment, as well as their titles and how long they've been idle. After this, just choose one who's relatively high in the guild (you can usually see by their titles) and ask :) Sometimes you have the occasional git who doesn't reply, and sometimes you've picked someone who's just as clueless as you are, but most of the time you will get a decent answer. It's also a good way to socialise a bit.
PEOPLE YOU KNOW
It is possible to make friends on the Disc, and usually they can be counted on to help you out any time you need it. The more sociable you are, the more people you'll have to help you when you really need help. That's my theory anyway. This does not mean, however, lying around doing nothing but socialising. It will not get you anywhere. (YES I know I do it. It doesn't mean you have to be as lazy as me :P)
TALKER CHANNELS
These are individual channels for the various guilds, and it is advisable for older newbies to acquire a talker so that you aren't constantly being told off in the newbie channel to "ask that on the talker". I don't know much about these, as I rarely use them, but they are really useful. I'm going to have to get help on this topic though, I don't even know the syntax for talking on a talker :)
RANDOM HELP
Finally, asking anyone you see along your travels through the Disc for help isn't really as stupid as it sounds. There are always people who are more than willing to help out people in trouble, and people tend to be nicer in virtual life than in real life :) And if all else fails, I suppose you could always check if I'm online, in which case I will try to help you out as well as I can :)
Note: If you would like to be included on this section of my page as a Newbie Helper, i.e. I can write your name here as part of 'How to Get Help On The Disc', send me an email or mudmail. You must be....
over 4 days old.
have experience in at least 3 guilds.
be a relatively regular player.
be a relatively nice person.
be above level 35-40 in your respective guild/s.
I will check quite carefully that you meet this criteria, because I don't want to put people down here as helpers when they are unqualified to. Please include in your mail your character name, any alts you may have, the respective guilds and ages of your character/alts and your guild level. Also tell me if you would like to specifically help in certain areas of Discworld life, like fighting, stealing etc, and don't forget to include a list of which guilds you have tried out before.
