SmallWorlds Blog
Top Tips for New SmallWorlds Citizens
May 4th, 2009 - SmallWorlds Chronicle
Imagine you’ve just been teleported from your home to a new land.
You step outside of the teleporter and discover that a) you can’t speak the language, b) you don’t know where the stores are and c) there seems to be tasks that you need to complete here and you’re confused about how to do them! You’d like to earn some money while you’re here but don’t know how. You’d also like to meet some of the locals, but aren’t sure where to go to meet new friends.
This is how you can feel as a new SmallWorlds citizen. We were all first time players once; you may even recall some of those ‘new immigrant’ feelings yourself. As SmallWorlds continues to grow in size and complexity, our newest citizens have more to learn than ever before.
Greatly inspired by a recent forum thread on top tips, (many thanks to SmallWorlds citizen Happy Guest and her other thread contributors!), we’ve put together some Top Tips for New SmallWorlds Citizens to help you on your way in exploring this new world. Lets face it, there’s nothing like a little bit ‘o’ local knowledge from the established residents of a new land! We’re really glad you found your way to SmallWorlds - stay, play, explore!
The Forums Are Your Friend
At the top left of your browser window, you’ll see a “forum” tab. Click it and you’ll be taken to the SmallWorlds Forums. There’s a massive ocean of information here. To make it easier to ‘wade’ through:
Read the “sticky” threads (the first posts at top of each forum, prefixed by the word ’sticky’ - they are posted by SmallWorlds staff).
Use the forum search option. The example in this forum thread teaches you how to search the forms by player/avatar name. You can also search by topic - just put in a keyword instead of an avatar name. For example, “pet tricks”, “magic items”, “popular missions”, etc.
Read the new posts each day. On slower days there will be time to read some older posts.
Help is Always FREE in SmallWorlds
Here in SmallWorlds, we have a fantastic team of Moderators and Helpers who are here to help you! They keep the game safe and fun for everyone. They are easy to spot, just look for avatars wearing their signature gold or maroon capes and an “M” (Moderator) or a “+” (Helper) sign floating above the head of their glowing avatars.
Sometimes a Mod or Helper may be stationed to assist within a specific room and may not be able to leave the space, so if you ask them to follow you somewhere they may not be able to. Mary’s Antiques is usually a great place to find a Helper.
No Need to Pay for HelpIf you some across anyone who wants you to pay for their help, they’re trying to scam you. Move on to someone else. If you are stuck or need more information, just ask, “Can someone please help me?”. There are plenty of genuine friendly citizens who will be happy to help you.
Do Your Tutorial Missions
Tutorial Missions will launch when you first create your avatar and choose your homespace. If you’d like to do the tutorial mission straightaway, click ‘Accept’. If you’d like to do it later, you’ll find it in ‘Active’ missions when you click on the Missions button. These tutorial missions will teach you the basics you need to know as a new resident in SmallWorlds: travelling to places, buying items, placing and moving furniture, changing room decor, and lots more.
In addition to earning Tokens and Experience points (XP), completing missions also gives you the chance to earn some great prizes like Flickr frames for displaying photos or pictures in your space, or Graffiti boards for creating cool artwork. To find the Tutorial Missions, simply click on the ‘Missions’ icon (hat & whip icon located bottom of your screen) then click ‘Active’.
SmallWorlds citizens are a creative crowd - there are literally thousands of player-generated missions out there, all varying in difficulty and entry fees. Once you have completed a few of the tutorial missions, you might like to try out some of the user-created missions.
Two missions we consider really useful for new players: Too Smart For Scammers and Scam Prevention Mission. Both will help you protect your SmallWorlds account, as well as assist you toward being SmallWorlds-streetwise!
Stuck inside a Mission? If you need to see the current “clue” or “task hint” on a mission again, simply click ‘Missions’, then ‘Active’. This is also useful if you feel like you have completed a task but the mission has not advanced.
Check Your Room Security
Your home space has a number of configurable settings; including wall color, lighting and security. Click the wrench tool in the room info bar (the bar at top right of the space with the space name) to see the settings, and take a little time to experiment with and understand them.
There’s a very useful forum thread written by Matt Action which discusses room security options. Before you assign a security level to anyone, we’d urge you to read it. Consider if you feel you can trust them enough to know that they will not abuse the privilege you have given them - like redecorating your space in ways you don’t like, or setting up interactions you don’t want.
Beware Scammers
Sadly, there are some citizens who like to prey on new members. We call these folks ‘Scammers’.
Don’t “lend” members tokens or items if asked, or in fact don’t give people tokens for any reason!
You may get people ‘begging’ (asking you for tokens). Best strategy is to just ignore them; eventually they will give up and go away. If you are buying items from a member, make sure the item has a “purchase” button on it. Do not buy something if the member says you have to pay them first and they will “gift” you the item.
Public spaces (Cue Club, The Island, Rachels Tea Rooms - anything owned by someone with SmallWorlds as a surname) are FREE SPACES and nobody works there, and you never need to pay to get in. If someone asks you for an entry fee to a public space, they are trying to scam you.
Report Abuse
If someone is being abusive, you can report them. Click on the offending avatar, click on the spanner icon, and then click ‘report user’. The on-duty moderators check reports as soon as they are made and will attend as soon as they can, sometimes within minutes. For guidelines on what to report (and what not to report!) check out this SmallWorlds blog post) Fill in the report as well as you can and it will make it so much easier for the moderators to help you.
I Need People!
Some of the tutorial missions we talked about earlier may require you to have other players visit your home space. Here are some do’s and don’ts on getting people there!
Attempt these missions when the game is busy. The busiest time in SmallWorlds is between 6pm and 8pm SWT (SWT = SmallWorlds time which is equivalent to US Eastern Standard time or EST). You can find out just when that is in your hometown by checking out this international timezone converter.
Send in-game messages to your friends, asking them to help you. To email them, First you’ll need to add them to your friends list by clicking on the ‘People’ icon at bottom of screen, search for your friends avatar name, click on their face, click ‘add to friends’ at right. Now you’ll be able to email them from the Mail icon.
Try asking people to help you when you are in SmallWorlds-owned spaces. A few to try: The Island, Thermae Spa or White Sands Resort. These are just a few examples. To find more, click on the Compass icon (Spaces) at the bottom of the screen and look in Featured Spaces.
To find out if a space is Smallworlds-owned, click the “i” button (information) at top left next to the space name. If the last name is “SmallWorlds” then its a SmallWorlds-owned public space. If you can’t get 3 users to your home space then try going to Thermae Spa, and helping users with the Take a Dip task (where they need 3 users to sit in a hot tub with them). After that, try asking them if they will help you - as always in life we get back what we put in!
Try not to ask SmallWorlds citizens to leave rooms owned by other players. Many players put a lot of time and effort in to marketing their galleries, missions and clubs. The last thing the room owner wants is a player to enter the room and ask everyone to leave - put yourself in their shoes!
You can temporarily change your room name to match what you need, e.g. “Need 3 ppl please” “Need 10 ppl please”. When people are searching for places to visit they’ll see your space name and hopefully come to help!
And remember, don’t pay people to help you with these missions. If someone wants payment, just move on and find someone who genuinely wants to help you. Let’s promote a friendly and helping culture here on SmallWorlds!
Play Safe
Never give out personal information to other players. Even when someone is really friendly, you never really know who you are talking to. The person you are chatting to may tell you things that are completely untrue. A guy may be a girl or a 17 yr old may be someone in their 30s or 40s! Keep it fun, keep it safe and keep your personal details (cellphone, email & personal address) to yourself. We’d just like to remind you that SmallWorlds is limited to players 13 yrs and over.
Give Respect and you’ll get Respect!
And as a final end note, SmallWorlds citizen Mr Cooltoyou made some really great points in Happy’s Top Tips thread, some of which we’d like to share with you.
“[here on SmallWorlds] there are people of all ages, from all walks of life and many different countries sharing in the enjoyment of this game. Some have a little extra money to spend on the game, and some do not. Some are in good health, while others struggle daily with infirmities. In this predominantly English-speaking game, some become frustrated trying to express themselves clearly. Every new person coming into this game should be made aware that there are real, live people behind each and every avatar. Most of the difficulties in-game all boil down to a lack of respect for others and so I think its important to reinforce the concept of respect to all players.”
Thanks Mr Cooltoyou, you’re totally onto it! As in real life, let’s treat all players in SmallWorlds as we ourselves would like to be treated.
We’re glad to have you with us!Have fun, play safe, get creative. Ask for help, and when you feel confident, offer help to others. We’re creating a fantastic world together, and YOU are a part of that.
Thanks for joining the SmallWorlds community, we’re really glad to have you here!
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Topic: 5/4/2009 Top Tips for New SmallWorlds Citizens (Read 4282 times)