About to get some New Players!

Any information from the Steward
Forum rules
Do not to post anything abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, or sexually-orientated.
Do not post anything negative about any player.
No advertising other games.
The management reserves the right to delete or lock threads and messages at any time.
Read the complete SIM rules and legal information.
User avatar
Regina Moore
Hall of Fame
Posts: 2702
Joined: 15 years ago
Location: Castle Rock, CO
Contact:

Re: About to get some New Players!

Post by Regina Moore »

I've worked with a lot of new players, and it gets really frustrating when they ask me, "If I do X, Y, and then Z with my horse, will it be rested in time for its next race?" The best answer is, "Vet your horse and see!" But even with it only costing $500, newish players (and any that don't have much money) are very reluctant to spend their limited funds to vet their horses, so rather than learn about tiredness/rest cycles, they want to keep asking other players.

So, I wish vetting cost a lot less for new players. Like, $100 or something. Maybe even have it be free, so they'd be encouraged to learn how certain activities affect the tiredness of their horses.
User avatar
Amy Bahama
Grade 2 Winner
Posts: 713
Joined: 18 years ago
Location: Crystal Spring, PA

Re: About to get some New Players!

Post by Amy Bahama »

I have some allowance/stakes type mixers I'd be willing to offer up for some new players to run for a year. If you get me a list of newbies, I can reach out.
Iron City Louisiana

Home to many quality stallions to meet all your racing needs for a reasonable fee.
User avatar
Ronnie Dee
Hall of Fame
Posts: 3256
Joined: 16 years ago

Re: About to get some New Players!

Post by Ronnie Dee »

The Admin wrote: 5 years ago
Tammy Stawicki wrote: 5 years ago Also speaking of shortening the learning curve perhaps players could get a brief tip sheet to help prevent common newbie mistakes (warnings about training horses to much while racing, overspending for junk horses on the sales page, etc)
FYI. For the first six weeks of a new players time in the SIM, they constantly get tips displayed at the top of their Sim pages. The tips include:
  1. Horses only need to race once every 14 days or less. If your horse races on Week 1 Day 1, it can race again Week 3 Day 1.
  2. Check the parents of your horses to find out what distance and surface your horse will prefer.
  3. Once you have been playing the game for two weeks, you will receive an additional $75,000. Make sure to budget your money!
  4. Don't waste your money on broodmares; you can't breed until you've been playing a full six weeks.
  5. You can view the New Player Sales Page, where veterans put up horses for a maximum of $10,000.
  6. Introduce yourself on the forum and in the chat room. People like to give away horses and hints to new players.
  7. Don't stress out about your jockey or the horse's equipment yet. Focus on distances and surfaces instead.
  8. Shipping a horse to a farm after a race will help it recover more quickly.
  9. If a horse is racing regularly, it doesn't need any extra exercise, such as galloping or jogging.
  10. All two-year-olds must have two recorded workouts before they can start.
  11. Auctions are a great way to buy horses. Just go to My Office --> Auctions to view any open or upcoming sales!
  12. Write articles for the Feature Race News. It's a great way to learn about the SIM while making money.
  13. New players can't stand stallions because they need to have at least $350,000 in earnings to be successful and you have to buy numerous mares to support them.
  14. When using farms to rest horses between races, pick a farm that is both affordable and close to save on shipping costs.
  15. Galloping, jogging and workouts build fitness but aren't needed once a horse is racing regularly.
  16. Training tools such as gate schooling and longeing build fitness before a horse's first race.
  17. Too much exercise will end in injury to the horse. Check with the vet to be sure!
  18. Don't give a yearling a workout before Week 5 each year. They will be injured if you do!
  19. Yearlings, foals and mares don't make you any money. Only racehorses do.
  20. There is a 'Recommended' filter on the sales page just for New Players.
If you think we are missing anything important, let us know.
Wow! Kudos to whoever thought of this idea!
Great Stallions at Great Prices -- Stud Fee of only $12,500 each

Hero Morgan
5 furlong specialist extraordinaire!

Bennie and the Jets
SC AW Classic (twice) and Pegasus Winner

Mage
Versatile (AR/DR/TR and AM/DM/TM) RL stallion
Harper Daniels
Two Year Old
Posts: 19
Joined: 6 years ago

Re: About to get some New Players!

Post by Harper Daniels »

Dylan Christensen wrote: 5 years ago
Harper Daniels wrote: 5 years ago Somebody mentioned before a NP Claim game in the chat. We could do one for Junior Players too! It would be super fun I think :) I could help a lot with this if we figure out what to do!
The game is for all Harper :)
I know I was just saying maybe an individual new player one! :)
User avatar
Ronnie Dee
Hall of Fame
Posts: 3256
Joined: 16 years ago

Re: About to get some New Players!

Post by Ronnie Dee »

The Admin wrote: 5 years ago ...
If you think we are missing anything important, let us know.
Possible Addition:
Take advantage of racing at Trial Park where you will only compete against your fellow new players.
Great Stallions at Great Prices -- Stud Fee of only $12,500 each

Hero Morgan
5 furlong specialist extraordinaire!

Bennie and the Jets
SC AW Classic (twice) and Pegasus Winner

Mage
Versatile (AR/DR/TR and AM/DM/TM) RL stallion
User avatar
Dylan Christensen
Hall of Fame
Posts: 2297
Joined: 5 years ago

Re: About to get some New Players!

Post by Dylan Christensen »

Harper Daniels wrote: 5 years ago
Dylan Christensen wrote: 5 years ago
Harper Daniels wrote: 5 years ago Somebody mentioned before a NP Claim game in the chat. We could do one for Junior Players too! It would be super fun I think :) I could help a lot with this if we figure out what to do!
The game is for all Harper :)
I know I was just saying maybe an individual new player one! :)
Ohh ok
yeah
User avatar
The Admin
Eclipse Champion
Posts: 1069
Joined: 18 years ago

Re: About to get some New Players!

Post by The Admin »

Ronnie Dee wrote: 5 years ago Possible Addition:
Take advantage of racing at Trial Park where you will only compete against your fellow new players.
Excellent. We will add it to the new player tips.
User avatar
Steve Leavitt
Grade 1 Winner
Posts: 902
Joined: 8 years ago

Re: About to get some New Players!

Post by Steve Leavitt »

Ronnie Dee wrote: 5 years ago
The Admin wrote: 5 years ago
Tammy Stawicki wrote: 5 years ago Also speaking of shortening the learning curve perhaps players could get a brief tip sheet to help prevent common newbie mistakes (warnings about training horses to much while racing, overspending for junk horses on the sales page, etc)
FYI. For the first six weeks of a new players time in the SIM, they constantly get tips displayed at the top of their Sim pages. The tips include:
  1. Horses only need to race once every 14 days or less. If your horse races on Week 1 Day 1, it can race again Week 3 Day 1.
  2. Check the parents of your horses to find out what distance and surface your horse will prefer.
  3. Once you have been playing the game for two weeks, you will receive an additional $75,000. Make sure to budget your money!
  4. Don't waste your money on broodmares; you can't breed until you've been playing a full six weeks.
  5. You can view the New Player Sales Page, where veterans put up horses for a maximum of $10,000.
  6. Introduce yourself on the forum and in the chat room. People like to give away horses and hints to new players.
  7. Don't stress out about your jockey or the horse's equipment yet. Focus on distances and surfaces instead.
  8. Shipping a horse to a farm after a race will help it recover more quickly.
  9. If a horse is racing regularly, it doesn't need any extra exercise, such as galloping or jogging.
  10. All two-year-olds must have two recorded workouts before they can start.
  11. Auctions are a great way to buy horses. Just go to My Office --> Auctions to view any open or upcoming sales!
  12. Write articles for the Feature Race News. It's a great way to learn about the SIM while making money.
  13. New players can't stand stallions because they need to have at least $350,000 in earnings to be successful and you have to buy numerous mares to support them.
  14. When using farms to rest horses between races, pick a farm that is both affordable and close to save on shipping costs.
  15. Galloping, jogging and workouts build fitness but aren't needed once a horse is racing regularly.
  16. Training tools such as gate schooling and longeing build fitness before a horse's first race.
  17. Too much exercise will end in injury to the horse. Check with the vet to be sure!
  18. Don't give a yearling a workout before Week 5 each year. They will be injured if you do!
  19. Yearlings, foals and mares don't make you any money. Only racehorses do.
  20. There is a 'Recommended' filter on the sales page just for New Players.
If you think we are missing anything important, let us know.
Wow! Kudos to whoever thought of this idea!
On tip #1, "every 14 days or less" almost sounds like they can race on shorter turnarounds. I know it's clarified in the following sentence, but maybe add the word "often", as in "every 14 days or less often"?

On tip #10, change the word at the end of the sentence from "start", to "race"?

On tip #18, add the word "timed", as in "timed workout", otherwise a newbie may mistake this to mean don't jog or gallop or anything else prior to Week 5.
User avatar
Regina Moore
Hall of Fame
Posts: 2702
Joined: 15 years ago
Location: Castle Rock, CO
Contact:

Re: About to get some New Players!

Post by Regina Moore »

Is anyone even in charge of the mentor thread? I've offered to answer specific questions for various players while they're waiting to be paired with a mentor, and then when I ask them later if they ever got paired with someone, they say they were never contacted. This has been going on for years, and now I see that someone has recently posted a second request.

And, no, I'm not volunteering to handle the thread. It's just that we always give new players the impression that they merely have to ask for a mentor to get help from someone, and I don't think that's been true for a long, long time. Perhaps start a new thread with an intro post that newbies should say a little about themselves, and then an agreeable veteran can post that they'll take that newbie on?
User avatar
The Steward
Hall of Fame
Posts: 16522
Joined: 18 years ago
Location: So Cal!
Contact:

Re: About to get some New Players!

Post by The Steward »

Seven new signups today! Hi everyone!!!
"There's no secret to training a good horse. It's a matter of being fortunate enough to get one."
"Funny how you often regret the stuff you didn't do more than the stuff you did do" - GG
User avatar
Ali Hedgestone
Eclipse Champion
Posts: 1486
Joined: 12 years ago
Location: Oregon
Contact:

Re: About to get some New Players!

Post by Ali Hedgestone »

Regina Moore wrote: 5 years ago Is anyone even in charge of the mentor thread? I've offered to answer specific questions for various players while they're waiting to be paired with a mentor, and then when I ask them later if they ever got paired with someone, they say they were never contacted. This has been going on for years, and now I see that someone has recently posted a second request.

And, no, I'm not volunteering to handle the thread. It's just that we always give new players the impression that they merely have to ask for a mentor to get help from someone, and I don't think that's been true for a long, long time. Perhaps start a new thread with an intro post that newbies should say a little about themselves, and then an agreeable veteran can post that they'll take that newbie on?
I took it on awhile ago. But then work took over, so I've unfortunately haven't been able to keep up. I think a new thread where newbies introduce themselves and people can volunteer to mentor would be a much better system than relying on one coordinator. :)
Dan Kauffman: 52 mixers previewed. You (and Glenn) should get paid or institutionalized (Y48, W15, D3)
Kamden Walters
Two Year Old
Posts: 5
Joined: 3 years ago

Re: About to get some New Players!

Post by Kamden Walters »

need a mentor
User avatar
Kelly Haggerty
Eclipse Champion
Posts: 1512
Joined: 3 years ago

Re: About to get some New Players!

Post by Kelly Haggerty »

Ronnie Dee wrote: 5 years ago
The Admin wrote: 5 years ago ...
If you think we are missing anything important, let us know.
Possible Addition:
Take advantage of racing at Trial Park where you will only compete against your fellow new players.
But be very careful to check the races first. If all of the horses entered are stakes quality (ask your mentor if you don't know what this means) it will do you no good to try to run a productive or solid in that race.
User avatar
Kelly Haggerty
Eclipse Champion
Posts: 1512
Joined: 3 years ago

Re: About to get some New Players!

Post by Kelly Haggerty »

Also, now that I am no longer new I can say this....giving horses to new players is great, but please spread them out! It isn't good for the game for 1 or 2 new players to get a barn full of stakes horses to run at TP against the other new joiners that maybe don't even have a mentor or any help yet at all. If we want the newbies to stay then they will all need to earn money at TP in order to survive.
User avatar
Dylan Christensen
Hall of Fame
Posts: 2297
Joined: 5 years ago

Re: About to get some New Players!

Post by Dylan Christensen »

Who says we want the new players to stick around?
yeah
Post Reply