Help getting friends into DST

[R3N_R3N]

So I bought the game for a couple of friends recently and I'm struggling to get them into it. Teaching the games mechanics goes fine for the first few minutes but then I end up getting overwhelmed by all the questions and tasks that need to get done and end up fizzling out. But since they're new to the game, if I were to leave them to their own devices they end up dying, get frustrated or generally stand still and do nothing. I've tried sending them a couple guide videos but even I understand not wanting to sit through an entire video before getting into the game itself. Anyone have some advice? Maybe I should install some mods to make the game easier? 

[Cheggf]

I just revive my friends when they make lethal mistake and sometimes they ask me questions. If your friends struggle really hard and are constantly asking questions and sitting around doing nothing I'd wager that either this game isn't for them or you're conditioning them into being stupid by over explaining. If people think for themselves they're conditioned to think, and if people are told what to do they're conditioned to do as told. It's not fun and will make learning harder, not easier. Too much help will only hurt.

[Ohan]

Give them some time and let them choose their own survivor even if theyre not technically the most beginner friendly.

I remember when my friend first got me into DST (back in e.a.) I thought it was a weird and ugly game lmao and only played very sporadically and only with them. Now dst is my most played game by far 

What kept me interested was Wickerbottom’s character as a wise librarian with informative quotes and magical books even though I rarely made use of the books in the beginning. None of the other survivors spoke to me and definitely not Wilson who is often pushed on new players.

Wickerbottom’s lvl1 science allowed me to make backpacks for everyone out of the gate and feel helpful that way. Then eventually I also took it upon myself to make a shovel and gather bushes/plants and later also farmplot materials for the base. Tasks like this that played to my survivor’s strength made me feel like I was fulfilling an important role and being helpful and it encouraged me to learn more about what Wickerbottom can do and so the game in general. 

Tldr: what worked for me is choosing a survivor I was interested in and learning the game through their strengths. Connecting game mechanics with the character they like might encourage them to keep learning and getting better. 
If ur friend likes Wigfrid teach them how to gather meat and make drying racks/jerky. How to gather gold and rocks for her helmets etc 

[mr. brj]

I just give my friends basic tasks like "get lots of rocks and gold" and tell them that they will be fine. And although one of them figured out that standing still during the night is a bad option and burning trees for light is an efficient strategy, I still remind them to use their torches in the night and craft them a lantern as soon as possible. They will somehow figure out most of the other basic stuff on their own anyways.

Also while playing with rather unexperienced players, I task myself with keeping them alive as long as possible. This means that I won't be playing as I would with more experienced players, so I just focus on building a nice base, creating meat farms, cooking dishes, etc. I also bring lots (and I mean lots) of food to the base, even when one of those players is playing Wendy and knows how to massacre spiders. Most of the times it's better to provide those players with enough resources, and more than often, this encourages them to do more tasks and results in them contributing to the team more frequently.

[Mike23Ua]

Best thing you can do is just let them play and do their own thing put the game mode on Endless and tell them if they die they can float back to the spawn portal and revive themselves.

or alternatively put the game on Wilderness so each time they die they can pick a new character to play as and will spawn somewhere randomly in the world.

these are the best ways to teach your friends how to play the game, without teaching them ANYTHING.

Maybe how to craft & light a basic flare for you to find them but other then that.. no help is best help  

[GamePlayer42]

Make sure they aren't getting bored as well. Send them on tasks, but not too many that they feel overwhelmed and make sure you pick a character that keeps them well fed and/or revived.

[CaptainChaotica]

This isn't really like, a proper way to do it or anything, but when I gave my brother my extra copy of my game and then we eventually played together, basically, instead of loading him up with basic info at the beginning, I'd tell him what I felt was the most important bit of info about each thing _as we ran into it_.  For example: 

--"Okay, you see these grass and twigs and things?  Yeah, keep gathering them like you're doing.  Those are the most basic crafting materials." 
--"Can you make an axe?  You should chop down this tree.  We're gonna need wood too."
--"A wormhole!  These teleport you places.  These can lead to dangerous places and they hit your sanity a bit, but right now it's daytime so we'll be able to run away quickly, and our sanity is fine.  I'm'a jump into it."
--"The desert!  This is actually really good.  Those cacti are a good food source, and tumbleweeds are awes--OH MY GOD YOU FOUND A GEAR IN YOUR FIRST TUMBLEWEED EVER you have no idea how lucky that is.  Gears are used to  make important things, and they're not that easy to find."
--(I make a fire)  "As you might've guessed from the overall feel, this is a game where darkness kills you.  This is why you MUST have fire materials on you at all time.  Or torch materials, at least."
--"Your sanity's getting low?  Go over to the science machine and I think you have the materials to make a straw roll.  You can sleep through the night and restore sanity that way."

It required a lot of quick talking and having to think of "How do I describe this to get the most important information out first, without being too long-winded, but also without making it sound like I'm talking down to the other person?" on the fly--but in general I think the "tell them about specific things _when they need to know_ (or slightly before, if it's something best avoided)" policy seemed to work fairly well...?

It helps, of course, that my brother is videogame-literate in general and had played other crafting-survival-explorer games, so...

...Notorious

[Notecja]

Maybe instead with all friends, try one by one teach game? At least flood of questions will be smaller.

[Cannoli]

On 3/20/2022 at 6:16 AM, AquaRC said:

if I were to leave them to their own devices they end up dying, get frustrated or generally stand still and do nothing.

The truth is: they didn't like the game or the game is not for them. Accept the truth and move on.