So basically, someone signs up here and then newish players contact them to request help? It seems a bit odd to me, but that might be because I don't usually want to ask for help from others in this game. Who knows, I'll sign up if there is anyone that wants help... (so long as they're not in my games)

The idea is to prevent spamming via PMs of people who don't want to help. This way the new players seeking advice know who will be receptive and don't get some asshole (like me sometimes) chewing them out.

Eh, sure, what the hell. I think I still owe Eggxavier a writeup for something anyhow. This is as good an excuse as any.

*Eggzavier

> You are posting too frequently, please slow down.

Nope.avi

I've never noticed this PM spamming business myself...

I've come around to thinking I'll help. Good way to grow the community, so I'm on board. I told someone once "one player per hand" but I can see how this doesn't have to apply here. I would hope, however, people in the leagues or torunaments wouldn't look for help with their league/tourny games.

Is experienced players getting spammed for advice such a common problem? Would noobs even know to consult this thread first anyways?

Seems like signing up on this thread as a "volunteer advisor" is more about stroking one's own ego.

Also, where does one draw the line on giving advice? At what point does it simply become the advisor playing the game by proxy? Is that fair?

Also how do you know what advice to give. At what point does all your advice just turn into, "Don't trust him, but also don't stop talking to him."

Also, even if it may be legal (to a reasonable extent), is it really something that we should actively promote or encourage?

Where were you two a couple days back when this was being discussed because some of us (myself included) did get slammed with a request for advice.

My thought is that maybe we could get a list of players posted in the FAQ.

"Seems like signing up on this thread as a "volunteer advisor" is more about stroking one's own ego."

Yes, very much why I would like to be one.

@eden, i believe you meant this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvdf5n-zI14

You can list me.

Indeed. I capitalize the 'N,' but yeah.

And really, guys? Wanting to help people -> you're looking for an ego stroke? Yebellz, I definitely appreciate your input because you're a straight shooter about it, but I think you're off-base here. As Draugnar said, there actually *have* been newer players messaging people for advice about things lately. They might know to consult the thread if it were adequately bumped.

The questions concerning what kind of advice to give... that's another matter. No standard has been developed, so it's certainly open for debate. I know that what I typically do in advising friends on this game is that I look strictly at the board and analyze it, without looking at the diplomacy, and allow the specific player to use what s/he knows from diplomatic discussions to make a more informed decision with the board analysis as a base. I don't explicitly advise actions -- no "You should xxxx" -- but plenty of "yyyy isn't defending himself well, zzzz is about to be devoured by the aaaa/bbbb alliance," etc. I think that's staying away from playing by proxy.

I think it would be better to say the Mods haven't passed judgement, rather than aren't against it.

To me, it seems like getting help from someone outside of a game is a clear case of metagaming. But, that's my personal opinion.

@abge - Tat was my original view, but figle had no problem with it (IIRC, it was figlr, but I could be wrong).

@Eden - I'm of the same mindset. I don't want to know the communication. Think of it as gunboat and if asked a question about a specific move, just answer it honestly saying something like "But if XXXX attacks YYYY, that support is cut".

there's appropriate ways to address situations in a game without metagaming. it's one thing to tell someone how to move, its another thing to simply state what common things to look out for are.

most noob questions will commonly ask what to do in various situations and they will probably indicate who they are allied with, etc. when teaching, most 'students' simply want an answer to their question. they dont want to have to think about the problem. there are ways of posing information that gets them to think about the situation for themselves so that if they encounter the same situation in a future game, they can relate the two circumstances to each other.