Rather LARGE SBF Guide

[milon]

Okay, I've just noticed that a lot of people who post things that could potentially be offensive to others. So, here's a guide mostly molded from my preferences and opinion.

---> If you're looking for a boost start, you're in the right forum! Just browse all the topics until you find one that's active and offering what you want. THIS ONLY APPLIES TO NEWBIES!


Grammar/Posts:

• Do not post in all CAPS. Caps signify anger, or yelling/screaming. People don't enjoy being virtually yelled/screamed at. If you're trying to make a point about something, then capitalize certain words that are more important instead of the whole sentence. Plus, in addition to it being associated as yelling, it's hard on the eyes to read. Lower case letters are easy to glide over where capitals take more concentration and effort to read.

• Bright fonts are also hard on the eyes. Especially since SBF's theme colors are a rather bright, head splitting yellow, things such as 'Cyan' and 'Yellow' and 'White' are really painful for me. So, please refrain from doing colors unless you're absolutely in love with that color and don't plan on getting feedback. But, in that case, you shouldn't be posting if you don't want it read, right? Black, green, red, dark red, brown, blue, olive, dark blue, indigo, and even violet is okay. But, just to be safe using no color is the best.

• Please don't use chatspeak. It's harder to decipher what is being said like that. I suppose I can understand using 'u' instead of typing out 'you' or something similar to that, but other things that can easily be typed out are a bit annoying. Don't be lazy, if you don't want to type out things properly then you shouldn't post them in the first place. This isn't a IM or MySpace kind of thing, there are a lot of people here who enjoy grammatically correct posts. (( Example; hey, th1s iz so kewl and i luv sbf -- Instead> Heya! This is pretty cool and I love SBF! )) Do you see the difference in the two sentences?

• Don't use excessive amounts of smilies. Sure, one or two is good, but about five is overwhelming. It's a bit hard on the eyes, plus one is enough to make your point. And feel free to spread them around, don't glob them all in on place. It's a bit odd looking. =] (( Example of excessive smilies; ))

• There are spaces between sentences. After periods, after exclamation points, commas and parenthesis. If you haven't noticed this already, I just thought I'd point it out.

• There is usually a ' when you have two words squished into one. For example; 'don't. That's. It's. won't.' > Do - not = Don't. That is = that's. it is = it's. will not = won't. See?

Behavior Conduct:

• Refrain from insulting other players. Ever hear that saying: 'Don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.' Well, same thing applies on SBF. If you have something rude to say, or if you think that you're about to pop off with something rude just think about the consequences. One, you might get banned off SBF forums. Two, you're going to hurt someones feelings -- no one wants to do this, do they? Three, you're not bound to make friends by insulting, more along the lines of enemies. Besides, 'You attract more bees with honey than vinegar.' Just remember that.

• Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but if you think that it's going to cause an uproar and could potentially get your topic/their topic locked, then please, be careful. You aren't here to start a war, your here to enjoy yourself, learn valuable lessons, and lastly but not leastly - have fun!

• Don't take everything seriously. This is a game, not quite reality, but not quite some un-realistic atmosphere. And, every action causes a reaction. If you are serious then everyone else is going to be -too- serious, if you're goofy and silly but yet still down-to-earth, then everyone else will be. We want to keep it friendly and not brutal, realistic but not harsh.

• Don't beg. This is extremely annoying and only sinks you further down in the "food-chain". Meaning that the more you beg the less people are going to want to donate and in the end you won't receive any help at all. If you only do it occasionally, that's reasonable, but one thing after another is just irritating. Just remember; We can't help you unless you want to help yourself.

• Don't send trades that are taking money/tokens from a player. This is confusing, and in a sense, a scam. We don't appreciate things like that, and it will definitely place you on the least liked players.

• Don't pick on another/other player(s). We don't do cliques here, there aren't certain people who are higher ranked than the rest of us are. And, don't think because you have a certain animal/amount of cash/tokens that you're any better than everyone/anyone else. This isn't the way we work, everyone here makes a large place of help. Who knows, you could either add or take away from this community. It's what you make of it.

• Don't assume. Everyone knows what that means ((ass•u•me = makes a -erm- out of you & me.)) But, always assume a person is honest and true to their words, just have a bit of caution in your choices.

Animal Auctions/Sales:

• SB means 'smallest bid'. This is usually where the bidding starts, meaning you have to bid that amount or higher, but not lower. HB means 'highest bid' or the current bid. Usually, it's the person who has last posted a bid and is always higher than the previous. BIN means 'buy instantly'. This represents that if you 'BIN' an animal or otherwise, you are the new owner of the thing being auctioned. The auctioneer will have a usually ridiculous amount of money/tokens as a BIN. Mainly so others get the chance to bid in the auction. MBI means 'minimum bid increment' which is how you know what to bid next.
For example;
SB - 'Smallest Bid' 500k
HB - 'highest current bid'
MBI - 'minimum bid increment' 5k
BIN - 'buy instantly' 9 m

If the person before you bid 900k, you have to bid at least 905k or else the bid is invalid.

• 'K' means thousand. Ex; 900'k' is equivalent to 900,000 or nine-hundred thousand. 'M' means million. Ex; 5'm' is equivalent to 5 million or 5,000,000.

• When bidding in an auction, make sure to read the last few posts so you know what's happening, for example the animal was BIN'd. You didn't read thoroughly and bid. This makes you look slightly foolish, but also comes on as perhaps a scam. Be careful ;D

• Don't advertise in someone elses topic. This is just plain rude and highly annoying. That's a definite 'no-no'!

• You CANNOT sell your farm/account. You may, however, sell everything in this account. The animals, cash, tokens, art, rescues, etc. But not the actual account.

• You are allowed to do cash exchanges, but don't be pesky with it. It gets a bit annoying when you don't know what your talking about. And, beforehand you should know what the exchange rate is, it's helpful when creating BINs, SBs, etc.

• Exchange rates usually mean that SBF cash is the same amount as so much VP/VHR. At the moment, the token rate is 2 million per token.

• Tokens are like...gold here. Don't expect people to just give them to you. Sometimes, there are certain auctions that are for tokens only. This means that you can ONLY bid in tokens, not cash.

• Make sure to read everything in the auctioneer's post thoroughly. Sometimes there are stipulations, requirements, or valuable information that you aren't aware of unless you READ.

• Stipulations means an agreement. Like strings in a relationship. It's like a contract, guide, or rules for an animal/object.

• Make it obvious if you want your animal for a set price, if so then you should place your advertisement in the 'Animals for Sale' area. If you want to see the potential of profit, then you should auction the animal.

Art/Manipulations:

• There are currently no guides on how to draw or manipulate, because, one you have to learn for yourself. I'd suggest downloading GIMP. It's free, just do a google search and you'll find a download.

• Where do I upload my pictures at? You should go to Photobucket or Image Shack or Tiny Pic. Once you've uploaded your photo, you'll need either the URL or the [IMG] code and that's what you use to post links/images on the forums.

• How do I draw? I'd just say that you pick up some scratch paper (I don't reccommend printer paper, it smudges easily) and a pencil and just doodle. Find a reference picture from Google or Flickr, or even Deviant Art. Just don't trace the image, if you do your subject to feel the wraths of Copyright laws. Be careful.

Training/Animal Stats and Rarities:

• How do I train? - You should go to this thread and check out the guide. It's quite helpful. :3

• What are the different rarities? - Okay, so you're going to hear all kinds of terms on the forums about animals rarities. Such as end/ae. or thr/end.

Legend:
Rarity Key:
Rarity 0 = Almost Extinct
Rarity 1 = Endangered
Rarity 2 = Threatened
Rarity 3 = Extremely Rare
Rarity 4 = Very Rare
Rarity 5 = Rare
Rarity 6 = Exotic
Rarity 7 = Uncommon
Rarity 8 = Common
Rarity 9 = Abundant
Rarity 10 = Overpopulated

• What's the best stat to train first? - Agility. If you can increase stamina first, then the rest of your stats will train faster.

• How many exams does it take to bump each stat? - Fair > 50 exams || Average > 70 exams || Good > 80 exams || Very Good > 90 exams || Extremely Good > 95 exams || Awesome > 100 exams || Amazing > 105 exams || Inconceivable > 110 exams || ZOMG > 115 exams || NO WAI > 120 exams || Total to put each stat = 740 or 800.

fair > average > good > very good > extremely good > awesome > amazing > inconceivable > zomg > no wai

• Does it cost money to train? - Only if your prestige is lower than the costs of your enclosures. If it is, then it's time to go shopping!

• How often can you train? - You train by setting your animals to a stat, and taking exams. The amount of exams you get each day depends on the amount of animals on your farm. Any exams you don't use on one day carries over to the 'Extra' area. You can have a max of 300 exams stored up.

Game-play:

• How do I delete my account? - You can't. You can give/sell/trade whatever cash/tokens/animals but your account can't be deleted.

• My rating isn't 100? - Most likely what happens is if you have other people who use the same computer who have a SBF account as well. You can contact game administrators via email ( johnarras@gmail.com ). BE PATIENT, there are several games belonging to Orbis, and if you don't get immediate response don't give birth to a cow ¬.¬

• What does it mean when an animal goes to "Florida to play Shuffleboard"? - It means they died.



WIP, brosky! :]

[SisKate]

Wow! Really great information, Kat. This helped me a lot. I will come back here frequently to check the info you gave. Thanks again!

BarrelSis

[milon]

Thanks, Barrel. (:

I'm so surprised it got stickied!
cookies to whomever did that for me & SBF.

More has been added, still a WIP, but it will eventually be finished. ^_^

[Bezzella]

Very very good. ^^ Sort of like mine except much more official and smart looking.

[shadow_spinner]

Bezzella? Where'd you come from?
*huggles* Long time no see!

And awesome guide, Kat! Very niiiice...

[Amara]

SB - 'Starting Bid'
HB - 'highest bid'
MBI - 'minimum bid increment'
BIN - 'buy it now'