Every month, I go to reread a special post about how Staff Members are Good Reflections of Vizzed and every month, I hope that Staff Members will think twice before rehashing how the "good old days" were when the "best people" were still around and the chat wasn't so "dead." To new people, those kinds of words are pretty much a nail in the coffin. Even if the coffin was empty, they'll think there is something in it and run far, far away. Every month, I sit down and stare at my screen, thinking of myself as a new member and think about the first buttons/links I would click if I was a member joining Vizzed for the first time. Each month, I do a little role-play after tracing through the steps of the random new people I'd chosen to stalk observe for a while. I find that this helps me to organize my thoughts and ideas for what I can do as a Staff Member to help the new users that just joined Vizzed. This is the result for last month:

1. OMG There's this site called Vizzed! It's too good to be true, right? Free old games? Like, Oregon Trail and some games from wayyy before I was born? Where has this site been all my life?! I'm going to play as a Guest to see if it's any good first. But wait, I have to install this Vizzed RGR Plugin thing? Is it safe? Does it have a virus? What about Freemake? That's more likely to contain a virus, right? =/

2. ... Fine, I'll try it. I've got Sandboxie, I'm not afraid of any viruses. So I finally get the Vizzed RGR Plugin installed with the VC whatever, started a game, and it works! =D And no viruses! XD Maybe it's okay to sign up and get the unlimited plays.

3. Okay, so I finally signed up, luckily without any problems, and now I'm going to play unlimited games for free! Oh wait, what just happened? This new game's not loading?! Wait, don't panic, maybe it's just a little bug, I'll just press Reset or something. Okay, that's not working either. Fine, I'll find some help in the Forums.

3. After scratching my head and reading all the Forum posts, I'm back at square one and the Vizzed Emulator is still Closed! This black screen is driving me insane! Why did this happen and who can I ask for help?! DX

3. Okay, so I finally found the RGR Staff and PMed him/her (or them?? I don't know) but they haven't gotten back to me yet. I have no patience so I go to other sites and try to look up another way to play the game I want. No other site has that game so I come right back to Vizzed. A PM from the RGR Staff awaits me. It's all awesome and I can't believe they actually replied, until I open the PM and it's just asking me if I tried all the browsers already. What? What does this have to do with the black screen?

4. The RGR Staff person helps me to get the Plugin working again and it's all sunshine and daisies until I get tired of the ads and running out of Viz. I read somewhere that to get more Viz, I should post and introduce myself in the Forums. I think to myself, okay, why not? If they don't reply to my thread, I'll just never come back, it's okay...

5. I post my Newbie Thread and call it lol , very well aware that they're going to look down on me just for being a newbie that can't spell properly (I don't even know who "they" are, maybe nobody?), and sit back to wait for a reply. For a while, nothing happens.

6. Just when I'm about to give up on the Forums, a Staff Member replies and then another. And another. And they're all curious as to where I've come from, what games I like, etc. Well, I don't know if they're really nice or what, but I'm getting Viz for talking to them so I tell them I like Pokemon and the latest games and hold my breath. Yeah, I'm suspicious of them, this is a Retro Gaming website so there will be haters, right?

7. The first reply comes in and they like Pokemon! For realz?! I'm so excited I can barely sit still but I calm down after about an hour or so and tell them, "Yeah, I like Pokemon." Who am I kidding?! I love Pokemon! Pokemon is LIFE! After all, they can't possibly know about my complete collection of Pokemon figurines and Gold Amiibos. I can't tell them, they'll probably think I'm a freak- wait, someone said Anime?

8. OMG I LOVE ANIME but there's no way I'm going to admit it on this Christian site where there are lots of debate/controversy things going on. They're all going to say anime is hentai/ecchi and other ignorant stuff like that. Haters will be haters and- .... OMG they even have manga and movies too.

9. So with some apprehension (I'm not scared, okay? that word just sounds cool), I go to post in the anime threads where I find other people that have only watched Dragon Ball and Naruto. As a hardcore anime AND manga fan, it ticks me off but who am I to judge, maybe that's all they could afford, along with Cartoon Network and the dubbed stuff. After posting in all the places I dare wanted to post in, I look at the topics I never tried before: Debate. Nope, that's gonna get me banned, just look at all the other people that have been banned. And their posts got like 8 Dislikes? No thanks. I don't want to keep posting in the Cafe Corner, Anime, Gamer Forums and Crazy House, but all the other Forums look really complicated and I've got nothing to sell yet. I want to try a Game Review, but those rules scare me (okay, fine, I'm scared, okay?!). I don't think I write spam but I can't be sure because I like the Crazy House threads and a post with only, "Pokemon is the best!! Pokemon is LIFE!! Pokemon is the best!!" is perfectly fine with me. It's kind of artistic in its own way if you squint at it long enough. And plagiarism at 49%? That's a skill that should only be used in school.

10. After scratching my head some more, I give up and go off to play some Steam games and then come back to log in and get some more Viz. 100 Viz isn't bad, but I'm itching to get some more and there's no one I really want to refer yet and I only want to donate after I'm sure Vizzed is good. I think hard and finally decide to try it. I'm going to write something long, and I mean, LONG. Like, homework essay long. I look at the forums and get an idea. Of course! I'll just write poems about me!

11. I begin to post about myself a lot, writing really long essays/poems that I'm sure no one would care about and that's exactly what happens, no one cares about it. Since it's just for Viz, I don't care that no one reads it either. So I get 35,032 Viz and it's a lot of work, just writing about myself. There's gotta be an easier way to get more Viz, right?

12. I scour all the threads again and a Generosity Thread pops out at me. Why didn't I see this before?! People are literally giving away free Viz! Like 5,000 Viz at a time! Wait, 15,000?! 30,000? ... Okay, it's too late to Rage Quit, but I really wish someone would've told me about this before I made a fool of myself in the Forums. I go back to edit all my threads and consider making a new account.

13. Just as I'm about to make a new account, I see the sign that says you can only make 1 account and making new ones will get you permanently banned (Perma'd). So that's out, now what? Dejectedly, I go to beg in the Generosity Thread, where I get ignored for a while until someone decides to send me 15,000 Viz. OMG they actually sent me Viz! I love this guy! He's my hero and I'm going to love him forever!

14. I'd been eyeing the Playstation item in the Item Shop for a while now and now I'm going to be spending all my Viz on it. ... I tell myself that it'll be worth it, just like the VMachine item I got earlier after scraping together all the Viz from all of my threads. I hold my breath and click on it, and the PSX item appears! =D But wait! Where did my VMachine item go? OMGOMGOMG it disappeared! NOOOO I did that overwrite thing, didn't I?! DX I'm really going to Rage Quit this time. T_T Well, I would quit except my first friend on Vizzed will probably miss me... Or maybe not. Or maybe. Or- Well, I can't just give up when I'm THIS close to being able to play everything for free! DX

15. I cry rage for a few more hours and then calm down enough to post on my Friend's Wall. They reply with something sympathetic and tell me to go to the Generosity Thread again. Even more embarrassed than before, I go to the Generosity Thread and beg on my knees this time. Another kind soul (OMG I'M GOING TO LOVE HER FOREVER!1!!) gives me 30,000 Viz and I'm back to trying to make more Viz again.

16. After having experienced so many mishaps, I know the perfect things to post about, namely, the problems I faced with overwriting Items, installing Plugins, and trying to get all of the games to work. For some unknown reason, I suddenly feel the urge to look at the Newbie Forum and that's when I see a new thread from a new, random Newbie.

lol

Man, oh man, do I feel for you.

-The End?-

I would love it if more threads were as creative and personal as this one was. Good job. I very much approve.

Yuna1000 : great thread XD! the 14th thing that you mentioned   reminds me of what happened to my ticket item once when I purchased another item and forgot to put it in a different slot I ended up losing my ticket and had to pay another 5,000 Viz to replace it

Amiably Otaku :
Chindogu :
Eniitan :
TornadoMudkip :
Zlinqx :
deg2000 :
Sword legion :

Thank you so much for reading and liking my post, it really means a lot to me! (The newbie in me wants to give all of you a hug and say, "I love you all!!" and "OMG I'M GOING TO LOVE THEM ALL FOREVER!1!!" XD ) Admittedly, I have done some of the things in this thread myself, so I just thought it'd be fun to share my experiences... after blending it together with those of some other users for the anonymity factor. XD If it feels like I was writing about you, then maybe I really was watching you... =P j/k(?) =P Please feel free to share your experiences as well, I'd love to hear about any challenges or something heart-warming that happened to you when you first decided to join Vizzed or that ultimately led to your decision to stay in Vizzed.

Also, in case you're wondering why there were so many #3's, it's because each action was still distinct but giving them a new number made them a bit too short on their own, so rather than grouping them together under one number, I just wrote 3. several times (it's still the same step though). =) If you think it would look better if all of them are under one step, please let me know and I'll edit the post/renumber them. ^^

no 8120 : Thank you for reading/liking my thread and sharing your experiences! Aww, 5,000 Viz is actually quite a lot when you're new to Vizzed. D= I'm glad you were able to get your ticket back and didn't decide to leave (I would certainly miss you!). About the replacements, I've been wondering if maybe just adding a warning message will help to keep everyone from overwriting their items. It could be a simple warning:

"You already have an item in this Slot! Do you want to REPLACE it?
Warning: Items that are replaced CANNOT be recovered and NO refunds."

Then, maybe another dialogue box for some choices such as "Continue and Replace" or "Cancel and Exit" could be displayed next and the people that accidentally clicked on the Slot could breathe a sigh of relief when they manage to cancel the replacement. I don't know how many new people have actually already quit due to the replacement issues (we'll never know if they just silently pack up and leave after all), but no matter how I look at it, this replacement issue produces more frustration and negative emotions than it helps to endear a new person to Vizzed. ^^0 I know this is probably not currently the top priority for the ones working on the website, but I hope they will consider working on it soon! ^^

Is this your newbie thread? Because you post it in this forum. I like reading it though I can't like your post now (I just reach my daily limit maybe tomorrow) and it looks like a review because of its word length. Congratulations to you by the way, you are doing good writing this thread or a story of your life as a vizzed member.

Oh man, I love this thread. I want to sticky it so bad. xD

I was in that exact place with several of your points once. In fact I did the whole overwriting an item thing once...about a week before becoming a Moderator. xD So yeah, I can definitely understand that a newbie could make that mistake.

This whole thread was very entertaining, funny, cute, and actually thought provoking. Never really thought about how we tend to just expect newbies to adapt as they go instead of trying to put ourselves in their place (again) and help them. Nice work. I would like this about fifteen times if I could. Lol

Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Just, yes.

I LOVE that you felt inspired to make this thread. It's so easy to forget just how intimidating it is to first get involved with a forum board, it's completely new territory for most people. When I first joined, I was so far outside my comfort zone that I spent the first 3 months trying to both understand how a forum board worked and make people like me (and therefore want me to stay). In the end, Singelli was the first person who befriended me, and her intentional interaction with me encouraged me to stay (and just 4 years later, I'm the Head Admin on Vizzed's Minecraft Server and have been nearly every role on the site, excluding only Admin, at some point).

This just goes to further drive home your point - We need to be intentional and encouraging to our Newbies. Sure, it's great to remember the 'good old days' when some great friends were still around, but it helps to think of Vizzed as a train. We only fulfill our purpose when we continue to move forward. Every person on the train helps the train to fulfill its purpose and remain relevant, and the train helps everyone on board to new destinations. Some people may get off at their various stops, but that doesn't mean we need to keep our eyes on the rear-view mirror. If we don't keep moving forward as a community, each and every one of us, then the whole train will come to a halt, and everyone will be disappointed.

Basically, I'm encouraging us as a community to look forward, and not back. The train driver can easily keep a picture of his family in the cab to look at whenever he misses them, he doesn't need to try to turn the train around every time there's a bump in the tracks.

By now, you can tell how newbies fit in. While some of our 'veterans' are getting off the train for various reasons, we need to keep inviting new people onto the train to keep the train relevant and to help it continue to fulfill it's purpose. Unless we're inviting them into the main cars to join in our conversations and make them feel welcome, they likely won't be on the train for more than a few stops.

Basically, let's keep Vizzed about enjoying the journey to each of our individual 'destinations', rather than making it an exclusive club or something similar (metaphorically) to a subway (get on, get to your stop, get off).



In regards to your idea about replacing items, that's been an issue for a while that has been addressed every once in a while, with no real solution implemented currently. The problem isn't a lack of motivation to get this added in, nor is it a lack of desire to do so, but rather it'll require some reworking of the item shop code from David, and that's just not high enough on the current priority list. Hopefully soon, as David has been working on re-coding much of the site (as evidenced by all the new layouts for some main pages), but there's no telling.