Top 10 Things Every Newbie Should Know

[bigdamnprincipal]

1. You get out of this game what you put into it. If you want to get involved, the key is to get your character to know other characters. If there's a common room post or any post that says 'open' that's an invitation to go for it. If you want people to notice you, you have to put in the effort to be noticed.

2. Don't bite off more than you can chew. With such a big game, there is always a lot going on and even within one post there is the temptation to ping into every thread. It's better to be timely in replying to the few threads you have than make people wait ages while you get through everyone. Same goes for workshops, classes, clubs and plots.

3. ICA=ICC. You will see this acronym a lot. It means "in character actions = in character consequences." If your character does something, you are expected to deal with the consequences. Pretty easy stuff!

4. Everyone is fictional, so no one is fictional. We use meta in place of normal pop culture references so that everyone stays real. So, for example, even if Heroes is a real show in your character's universe, your character would not know that show in Fandom. They would know it as 'Supers' (the meta version). Confused? We use fake names for shows/movies/some books/etc so everyone here gets to stay real. You can find examples at the FH Wiki at www.fhwiki.com. The exceptions are mainstream Disney (Mickey, Minnie, etc), Looney Tunes, The Muppets and classic literature (excluding Hamlet, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet). Your characters could conceivably know about these things because Bugs, Mickey and Co. are considered to be real "people" who are actors and perform their shows. The Muppet Show pretended to be a real stage show, so the Muppets were an acting troupe in their time and classic lit is free game until a character from there shows up, then we pretend the meta name was in usage all along or that the book is a retelling of a real person's life. Reality is still reality, so reality TV shows, Do It Yourself makeover-type shows and The Food Network stay as is. Confused? You'll get the hang of it.

5. Learn the ropes. The handbook is a great place to figure out the basics of what goes where. If in doubt, ask someone if you're confused, but learning the basics is a good place to start. FHWiki is also great for poking around for information (especially if you have no freaking clue what some people are going on about. Sometimes it's an easily explained in-joke).

6. OOC Communication is Your New Best Friend. Got a problem? Talk to someone about it. Don't know what you're doing? Talk to someone about it. Pretty much everything can be resolved by talking to someone. Keeping your lines of communication open makes things oh so much easier. It's probably a good idea to get AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) as that's what most folks around here use.

7. You don't have to read everything. Lots of people. Lots of characters. Lots going on. You don't have to get through it all. fandom_radio's main purpose is to summarize the day's events in an in character broadcast (ie: the characters can tune in and listen to the day's gossip) and give you links that you, the player, can click on to read if you really want to. But you're not expected to know everything that's going on. Just be sure to keep up to date with fandomhigh_ooc and listen out for in character announcements on the fandomhigh comm. Everything else is optional.

8. Modding is bad, mkay? Modding is when you try to dictate what someone else's character or environment is doing. The biggie here is that you can't dictate what the weather is (check fh_weather for up to date details) and you can't suddenly come up with big things that the rest of the island will have to deal with like a new statue in the park or a herd of mammoths waltzing through town. On a smaller scale, infer what you want to do, but always give your RPing partner a chance to do something else with their character if they want to. Example of modding: "Hades hugged Rikku." Example of getting the point across without modding: "Hades went to hug Rikku." This states Hades' intention and still gives Rikku a chance to run far, far away if she wants. If in doubt, check with your RPing partner to see what's okay either via OOC comments in the thread or poke them on AIM.

9. You have to run guest stars and plots by the admins first. Want to run a storyline of your own? You'll get the hang of this by seeing what other people do, and definitely talk to your sibling/buddy about this as they'll be able to explain it in more detail, but basically if you want to do anything big or have anyone visit the island for whatever reason, you need to email the admins for approval in advance. This is to moderate character traffic, make sure things stay cool for everyone involved in the game and so the admins can help you iron out any problems that you might not immediately see. This pretty much falls under the "when in doubt, ask" thing.

10. Don't assume everyone knows your canon. You'll find an array of players at Fandom High coming from a variety of backgrounds. Even if you think your show/movie/comic/book/play is the most commonplace thing ever, chances are someone will never have heard of it and, as such, may not know that your character is awesome. Enlighten them! Put up an information post, tell people where they can get the canon if they want to, fill them in on details about your character if they ask. The best way to pimp your canon is to give the best portrayal of your character that you can.


Other random tidbits:
* Don't flaunt your powers if you have them or expect people to get too worked up about them. So many people have powers that it's not a big deal in a place like this.
* Make sure your user profile contains all this info, set up a voicemail post and have an OOC email address readily available on your user info page so people can contact you if they have to.
* You don't have to be online 24/7. See #1 for what I mean, but really, we have people who only check in once a week and they still have a great time.
* Keep people informed if you're going to drop off the face of the planet. Everyone knows real life is important. We just like to know whether you're going to be around or not.
* Pay attention to the other information posts that are going to come your way regarding special places in Fandom. Some areas have their own guidelines.
* Show up to classes. You only have to sign in, but it's the bare minimum to stay in the game.
* Don't be a jerk. That solves so many problems!


Linky linky
Fandom High Website with directory and handbook
The Fandom High Wiki
Admins, Mods and Maintainers for all your omniscient needs
Library Info
Detention Info
Radio Info
Friending List Info
Class Expectations
Where to find other stuff
All about Fandom
We have Del.icio.us!


This may look like a lot, but basically it's just here to try to pre-emptively answer any questions you might have, and to be a nifty reference tool. We love us some obsessive-compulsiveness when it comes to being organized.

Comments

[withoutverona]

The exceptions are mainstream Disney (Mickey, Minnie, etc), Looney Tunes, The Muppets and classic literature (excluding Hamlet and Macbeth).

*cough*

Thanks for posting this!

[bigdamnprincipal]

*la la la edits* :D

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Is Wizard of Oz considered "classic literature"? He's not from the original Baumian Oz obviously, but his canon bounces around it. *just checking*

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

Wizard of Oz should be meta'd as should Wicked now that Liir (and Glitch really) are in game.

[trashmouth7.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this!