Hello Whyvillians! This week a new feature has come to Whyville - the Whyville Tour Guides. But what are Whyville Tour Guides? According to the Welcome Page, Whyville Tour Guides are a system where citizens can "take (newbies) around on tour, answer their questions, and, in general, be friendly to new citizens who might just be feeling a little bit intimidated."
When a citizen arrives at the Welcome Lounge (where the system is located) they'll first be told whether they're eligible to be a Whyville Guide or not. If they are, they can go into the Lounge, get a very stylish hat and start touring Newbies by whispering "tour" to them. They can then go to different locations by typing "teleport (location)" or just by traveling there manually. A Newbie will immediately go to the Welcome Lounge, get an equally stylish hat and just wait for someone to pick them up as a tour buddy.
I was glad to see that when I entered, there were more Whyville Guides than there were Newbies. This meant that every Newbie had at least one guide. However, I did find that after talking to quite a few of the helpers (around 20 over the space of half an hour) that a lot of them hadn't even given a tour yet. Only about 1 in 5 of the Newbies coming in were getting a tour. I feel that this was more due to the fact that the Newbies weren't reliable more than the guides. I decided I wanted to find out as much as I can about how well the system was going. First, I talked to some guides . . .
Cobd: So, How have the tours you've been on so far gone?
cohenlm: The tours I've gone on have been rather fun, exciting, & they went well. There was only one problem I had. My problem was that the people I was guiding through Whyville, would always poof after so many minutes. (Sadly)
ly100: The past tours have gone fairly well. Many of the guests end up overly satisfied and decide to explore the rest of Whyville on their own. All the Whyville Guide really has to do is just take the guest or person who wants a tour to some of their favorite places, talk to them about other of the places and how they can get there, and from there, the guest is pretty much ready to explore Whyville. I like to start by taking my tourist to one of my favorite places: the Moon, and then telling them about the other amazing places they can teleport to. Most of the time, the visitors will stick with me all the way through, though at the beginning of my guiding "career" though (as in the first day) I realized that I needed to be really enthusiastic about Whyville so that the tourist would not get bored and just leave in the middle of the tour. Now, I use that method and also have concise tours.
chucktay: The tours I've already been on were pretty good. A lot of the Newbies were so eager to get started! They had really good questions, none of them stuff like, "Where do I find a boyfriend?" Good stuff, such as how to raise their salary. All of the tours have went well.
Cobd: What do you think about the Whyville Guide system?
cohenlm: I think the Whyville Guide system is great! I think that it's a great way to help new people out in whyville. I'm not very sure if I would say it has flaws too it.
ly100: I think that the Whyville Guide is very proficient. I like the fact that your tourists wear the same colored hats as the guide does as to avoid confusion. However, sometimes two Whyville Guides somehow end up with the same color hat, but to fix that problem all that needs to be done is that one of the guides just has to exit the tour and enter the WhyHouse again so that they get a new colored hat. Another rather small flaw in this system is that because sometimes Whyville unexpectedly freezes you can be prone to losing your tourist and having to end the tour on a rather disappointing note. On the other hand, glitches are just part of the web, so overall, I love the Whyville Guides (WG) system.
chucktay: I really, really think it's a great idea! I definitely could have used a guide when I first started. You know, a helping hand. I've seen a lot of guides, and this is a big flaw, add Newbies and then teleport to an area without even asking if they wanted a tour! I think the starters should have to agree to go on a tour before they can even add them to their tour. It's so cool though, to see so many different Whyvillians so wanting to help new members! It's really cool, and a great way to bond. I think it helps Newbies feel wanted. I think it's so neat.
Cobd: How would you improve the Whyville Guide System?
cohenlm: I would improve the system by the following statements. I would make it have a little more organization, for the Newbs & Guides.
ly100: To improve the system, I would request that there be a test for Whyville Guides before they actually get the job. I think that being a guide is a privilege and I wouldn't want anyone to abuse of their job as I have unfortunately seen some people do. Before users become guides, they need to know that our guests need to be respected just as other regular members are respected.
chucktay: As mentioned before, the guests should have to accept joining before the tour can begin. A lot like the Trading Post, I think. Like maybe a screen popping up to the guests saying, in example, "Chucktay wants to give you a tour! Do you accept?"
Cobd: Any other comments?
cohenlm: Yes, I have one other comment. Come on & join the guides today! xD Thanks!
ly100: I love the idea of having the Whyville Guides system. Even if members didn't get paid to guide new members and guests through Whyville, I would still be a guide. It is a great feeling to help the Whyvillian population grow larger by guiding more people through this virtual community.
chucktay: I really love this system! I think it's very helpful, and I really like it. Just remember to accept what the new members say, and don't force them to go on a tour with you!!
These interviews were surprisingly positive and I was a tad suspicious so I decided that the best way to figure out whether the system was working was to go for a tour or two myself under a Newbie account.
Guide 1
Appearing in the newbie lounge, I was promptly assigned to a tour guide and she briefly introduced herself in a friendly manner. I suddenly found myself appearing at the beach . . . without a guide. I stayed there for a few minutes without a guide but no guide appeared. That was a short-lived tour! I found her again though! It was a bit of an odd tour.
"This is the moon... This is the beach... Pool party... Jupiter... Any questions?"
It wasn't anything about this Whyville Guide that was wrong - in fact, she was really nice. I'm just not sure how helpful that particular tour would be to a prospective Whyvillian.
Guide 2
I can't believe how well this tour went! I had the loveliest tour guide called Emma1456. She took me to Whyville Square (didn't teleport me anywhere) where she explained all of the useful things in Whyville Square and useful tips like "Club Why might be a bit of a waste of money" (which it is now . . . kind of) and "Salary raising games at WASA and the Getty Museum". Then she took me to Whyville West and did the same there . . . I felt satisfied in my tour at that point and so decided to play a game of kalah with her (at my request) :-). This was an amazingly helpful tour and I'm sure that any Newbie coming into Whyville would feel incredibly welcomed by her and ready to face Whyville.
Overall, it seems that this system has worked out really well. It's really going to help Newbies and it will really help new Whyvillians get into Whyville and not come for a day then disappear because they haven't a clue what to do. I went out with this thought that in the early stages of this project there must be something disastrously wrong . . . but there wasn't. However, I feel that there are some guides who maybe don't quite know how to tackle the tour and so there should be a little generated page with pointers for them. Also, as suggested by one of my interviewees, Newbies being able to "accept" whether they want a tour or not might be helpful too although if they don't want a tour, they can always say "exit tour" and they'll exit. Unfortunately, this doesn't help if the tour guide teleports them places.
So go, become a Whyville Tour Guide today and you and your Whyville tourist will get an awesome looking hat.
This is Cobd . . .
Author's Note: Can I just say a massive thanks to everyone I interviewed and it shows how you don't have to be a really well-known Whyvillian to give amazing interviews ;-).
