(third and final vocab thread, I promise. This one is the real daddy)
Okay, I have gathered all the vocab. I assume you all know what vocab is, but if you did not: vocab terms are words that appear in game in red and underlined that you can click on and it gives either a definition, or a role's role logic. Vocab seeks to make the game easier to understand for new users, or users not as experienced with the game and the terminology its users use. There are two types of vocab:
Terms - These words give definitions. Think: LYLO, or D1. Users click on them to get definitions of terms, usually what they stand for and an elaboration of what that means.
Roles - These words give role logic (like you get off the learn page). They come in two forms: exact role name (think: cop, snoop) or another term (usually a shortening) of that role (think: crier for Town Crier, or gator for Interrogator).
Now, before we talk about what terms you'd like to be added: let us look at what we have. The following paste has:
A. Term vocab
B. What roles (verbatim) ARE vocab and give role logic.
C. What roles have only SEPARATE term for them that are vocab and give role logic (term will be listed).
D. Roles that have NO way to list their logic via vocab.
I hope, going forward, all roles will be able to linked to verbatim. Right now, all two word roles can only be marked as vocab via writing them as one word (e.x. "catlady" for the two-word role Cat Lady). New users have no way to know this, and if system message support vocab, this may complicate things.
ALL VOCAB: https://pastebin.com/VHsTarPS
Now, what do we do next? Let's pretend we are a new user. What would be most helpful. In my opinion, the big ones are:
A. System messesages need to include vocab. If Lover dies, a user should be able to hover over the word "Lover" in the death messesage, to find out what it does, and what its alignment is. New users are often confused as to what roles are what alignment, especially when some of the icons are not 100% specific as to their alignment (this has been helped slightly by icon direction, but it could be helped so much more with system messesages supporting vocab).
B. Items need to be vocab words. "What does detonator do?" is something I hear constantly from returning users that are not new, even though you usually should not out a detonator... but, I mean, what does a detonator do? The only place it's written is on the learn page under Demolitionist, and how should I know to look there? Items need a way to show what they are and what they do when you receive them. New users have no reason to know what bread, or a snowball does. I will go further: they need to be specific: if someone says "fab gun" it should list a different definition than if someone says "gun."
C. All Roles Verbatim Should Be Vocab. It is do-able. Even if a role is two words, it should be a vocab term. The only way to find out what Cat Lady does in-game is to type "catlady." That does not help new users at all. The only way to find out what associate does is to type "asso." Same deal. In the above list I linked, all C and D roles need to have their verbatim role names made into vocab terms, and vocab needs to support two-word terms (for the two word roles).
I think with those three things, we lower a significant barrier to entry for new users.
What do you all think? What new vocab terms need to be added, and what changes would you make to the existing terms?
