Rules, and how to learn them :D

[Hylindar]

After reading through some "Banhammer" posts, and a general feeling of concern regarding our rules here on Zedwork. Well, not the rules themselves, but the manner in which they are presented. Now, the book of rules is great and a leap better than the tradition wall of text(signs) that server tend to have. But not everywhere reads the books(assume most do not) and there is no incentive to do so, except of course to not be banned; a fate which many new players receive.

-Perhaps there is a gentle, subtle way to nudge players into reading them? Maybe we could rig up something which knows they have at least opened the books before providing any build rights?

I do *not* have the answer, but maybe one of your wonderful community members can help with an idea. Maybe I am way off here too and people think what we have works? Let us put our brains together folks.
<3 Cap'n Hyl

[Kayzee21]

I like the idea of something nudging them to read the books. I know that some people on the server do this already, but it can get really annoying if it is a busy day with a bunch of newcomers. Maybe there is a way to have message pop up for them when they join telling them about the books? Also, I've noticed that many new people that do stick around still ask questions about claiming when it is already described in the book. I think that adding a "Can't remember how to claim? Give the rulebooks another glance with /rulebook get" banner like the one's about claimblocks and the market might be a good idea. If possible. On the other hand, nobody told me to read the rules when I joined the server, and I still did so. I think that if someone doesn't want to read the rules they kind of deserve whatever happens, but that is just me.

[Hylindar]

I like the concept of text to remind them of the rule books after the fact. I think text telling them when they join will be overwhelming since you already get a bunch of text, and then people saying welcome and stuff too. I know I don't pay any mind to the initial log in text...though when I am around new servers I do.
I also agree to some extent that if you want to play here, you should at least have a glance at the rules, and that goes for any server. That being said, those who join and can't spare the 2 minutes to at least flip through the book...do they deserve their chance to play here? I think they do, but only because joining a survival server can be chaos at times. As soon as you join, you are "Vulnerable" to death by mob. This means, "Welcome to Zedwork"....ok, I need to get somewhere safe, I need a home ASAP! I can see why somebody would seek shelter in one of Honicia's wonderful homes. It is in here though where they should read the rules instead of blindly stealing.....

I don't know, good points kayzee though

I hate to think that we have turned away players who would otherwise make positive contribution to the server, who were scared for their lives upon joining and thought maybe they were borrowing? Usually I am all about, no read=see ya later, so I don't know what has opened my eyes, but ...yup

[mdes]

One time I joined a server where they had a password intermixed in the rules.
To get out of the initial spawn room, they had to type in some command that included the password like /password <...>

I can't quite see that going along with the theme and atmosphere here,
as well it will deter most players as they are too lazy to read.

Just a suggestion if you need to resort to desperate measures.

-mdes

[Zedwick]

One time I joined a server where they had a password intermixed in the rules.
To get out of the initial spawn room, they had to type in some command that included the password like /password <...>

Yeah, the intention has always been to just let people get out there and play. The rules are essentially just "be a good person.", and I don't want to put up blocks against anyone that would naturally avoid taking from other people's chests. The books are optional, but highly recommended.

One of the super large servers I visited had a multiple choice quiz you had to go through to get out (kinda like a maze, with the correct answers showing the way out). I never made it out of that server's spawn... (I got the answers right, though!). I gave up after 40 minutes at spawn, wandering around