View source for MTS2:Chat/Why No Help

==Why do we not do help in the MTS chat?==

* 99% of problems can be solved just by browsing the Help FAQs and doing what they say to do.

* The chat rooms have specific purposes - General is for just fun random chat, while Creation is for talk about creating custom content.  Helping with game problems is not a part of either chat's focus.

* The people in chat usually are not very knowledgeable about game issues.  Their advice is often wrong - sometimes just won't fix the issue, but sometimes will make the problem far worse - even downright damaging!  And because it's a chat which moves quickly, somebody who knows better can't come along later to say, "Wait, no, don't do that, that's a terrible idea!"

* The folks that really know how to fix game issues don't hang out in chat much - or if they do, they're only on for short periods.  You're much more likely to get an answer from someone who knows their stuff posting in the Help forums.

* Asking for help in chat means you're relying on someone who knows how to fix your issue being on right then.  Posting on the forums means that anyone who knows how to fix it can respond - even if they were in bed asleep when you first posted your question.

* Pointing people at the Help FAQs and forums means they know where to go the next time they have problems too - rather than just coming back into chat and expecting someone to help them.

* Posting a thread in the forums not only means that you get help, but if someone else has the same problem later, they can find your thread and get the answer to the problem without having to ask again themselves.

* If there is a bug or glitch that is common to many simmers, being able to track it via forum threads means the Help Staff can more easily keep track of important issues that may need to be converted to FAQ articles.

* Our volunteer (unpaid) Help Staff spend a lot of their own free time and effort making FAQ articles to cover common issues - their time is better spent helping thousands of people with useful articles than helping one person in chat.


===We used to have a Help chat, but...===

* People requesting help would come in, go, "Is anyone here, I need help!!!" and then almost immediately leave, or they'd state their problem and most of the time, would leave while the person trying to help was still typing their response.

* For those people whose issues were covered in the FAQs, many would simply refuse to read them, instead demanding personal one-on-one help for something that was explained very well and with pictures in a FAQ, taking up often an hour of someone else's time when they could have just read the information already provided.