Greeter

Greeters are player volunteers who enjoy helping new players (greenies). Their names appear pink to greenies, other on-duty greeters, and Ocean Masters. Regular yellow named players see them as yellow named players.

Greeters can regularly be seen on the docks of islands where greenies start out, answering any questions they might have. Greeters are often also responsible for running special tournaments and greeter pillage trips for greenies to help them become more comfortable with the game. Greeters may run other activities for greenies and whatever they can to help them out and get them having fun.

If you've been directed to this page by using /duty for the first time or are otherwise interested in becoming a greeter, you might want to check the new greeter FAQ.

Greeter eligibility[]

DutyWarning — The first time a player tries to go on duty they receive this warning and an automatic link to this page.

Any user of Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates will be permitted to use the /duty command to gain access to the greeter tools if they meet all of the following requirements:

Account at least 6 months old
Clocked a minimum of 200 in-game hours
Have a reasonably clean discipline record

The following conditions will ban you from greetership:

A suspension in the last six months
A blackspot in the last two months

The first time an eligible greeter goes on /duty, the pirate will receive a warning (displayed here on the right) and automatically be directed to this page. It is important that a new greeter understands the responsibilities that come with the duty of being a greeter. Players are strongly encouraged to review the YPPedia information and general documentation on greetership and the game in general before /dutying on for the first time. Regular review of this information for updates is encouraged.

General principles[]

A Greeter should always act with the interests of the Greenies at heart.
Greeters should not abuse their greeter status for recruiting into their crew or flag. If the greeter status is abused, it will be taken away by the OMs.
A Greeter should always answer questions politely, or decline politely if they are busy.
Any communication with greenies should be done with proper English (or whatever the language being used by the greenie is). Leetspeak, IMspeak, and other such things should be avoided, as not all English speakers are fluent. If the greenie begins to speak IM, only then may you match them, if you so desire. Mild pirate lingo would also be acceptable.
Greeters should know how to use resources at their disposal to answer questions, such as crew, flag, hearties, forums, and the YPPedia. These should be the first line of defence when presented with a question to answer.
The majority of teaching (whether conscious or not) is done not by direction, but by example. It is important how greeters act because the new player will see it and emulate it. Players remember their greeter role models even after they turn yellow.
Greeters should go off-duty if they will be unable to focus properly on a tell from a greenie. This could be because of talking with someone else, puzzling, or CO'ing a pillage. Missing a /tell is not the end of the world, but should be actively avoided.
A Greeter should never log on a greenie alternate account to 'test' other greeters.
A good Greeter knows their own limits. They seek help to answer questions when they need it, and they go off-duty if their patience runs out.

Greeter pillages[]

Main article: Greeter pillage

Greeters may hold special training missions to help new players learn how to play the game. In order to set a ship to greeter pillage, the hold of the ship must be empty. Cannonballs and rum are not consumed during this pillage. Greeter pillages can only be run on ships with a maximum capacity of 15 pirates: currently, the longship is the largest ship available. Eligible greeters who job onto a greeter pillage are placed on duty as soon as they accept the offer to job.

When holding a greeter pillage you should be prepared to be patient with the large amount of green players you will receive, and preferably have multiple greeters on-hand to deal with questions as they pop up. If you don't want to deal with greenies, then you should probably set your voyage as a regular pillage instead- as a greeter you shouldn't tax your patience too much.

Do not use greeter pillages (or your greeter status, for that matter) to recruit people for your crew/flag. Specifically, this means that there should be no active recruiting on training pillages. However, if you are approached by a greenie whilst on your training pillage and they ask to join the crew without any prompting whatsoever, then you have the option of signing them up.

Greeter pillages are not meant for profit. As such, non-greenies will not receive the pre-divy cut of the booty. Greeter pillages also do not find expedition maps.

Greeter Chat (/greeter)[]

Main article: /greeter

Please be aware that an on-duty Ocean Master can see everything written in greeter chat, the following rules are in place to try to keep extra chatter to a minimum. Although Oceanmasters do lightly monitor the chat when they can, they will not always see or be available to intervene if someone is using chat inappropriately.

In cases where a player is abusing the greeter chat channel, please submit a /complain indicating they are abusing greeter chat and how. Complaints will be dealt with based on the included chat as time permits.
If you feel someone may be misusing greeter chat without realizing it, send them a /tell explaining the rules to them.
A blackspot should never be used to remove greeter status.

Greeter chat is to be used solely for greetering related conversations, including such things as:[]

Finding answers to non-opinion questions that you can't answer on your own. (We recommend that you use a petition for more advanced questions.)
Finding someone who speaks a language you don't know in order to assist a new player
Making other greeters aware of new player oriented events or pillages about to take place

Greeter chat is not a place to do things like:[]

Answer questions that you're not sure the answer to. (If you don't know, let someone else answer who does)
Advertise your business, non-greeter voyages or monster locations .
Chat with other greeters about non greeter topics.
Ask a specific person a question; this is what /tell is for.
Find another specific greeter; this is what /who and /gwho are for.
Editorialize about greeter mechanics.

Some general greeter channel etiquette:[]

Ask yer question, preferably on one line. There is no need to ask permission to ask a question, just ask it.
Give detailed replies, "go look at the YPPedia" isn't helpful - include search terms or full links if the answer is best found on a webpage.
If you are a slower typist, or unsure of the answer, see if it gets answered by a faster typist or more knowledgeable person before hitting send.
If a conversation gets more involved, take it to /tells.
Be polite in all situations.
Take requests to stop spamming to /tells, unless it is a group that is doing it.
Don't feel the need to always have the last word. If any spam has stopped, then there is no more need to discuss spamming.
Do not berate anyone over the channel. Use /complain as appropriate or send them a polite /tell.

What greeters do not have to do[]

Greeters do not have to deal with bad behaviour. If someone is offensive complain them to the OMs and get it dealt with.
Greeters do not have to answer questions. They can go off-duty.
Greeters do not have to lend money, clothes, or any other items to greenies.
Greeters do not have to be around at any particular time.
Greeters can always turn off their Greeterhood and pick it up again later. Don't burn out.

Greeter abilities[]

Greeters have access to the /greeter chat channel.
Greeters can view the current starter island when /gwho is typed
Greeters can receive tells from greenies via the Ask a greeter button.
Greeter shortkeys are available to on duty greeters.
Greeters have a pink name visible only to greenies, other greeters, and Ringers.
Greeters can run a greeter pillage on a ship, if they have officer privileges.
Greeters do not have access to special banning or shunning privileges. They must meet the same requirements as other players for using the blackspot.

The effect of the "Talk to a greeter" button

Trophies[]

Spoiler warning: Details about trophies are hidden below.

History[]

Greetership was added in Beta release 7.
Prior to Beta release 15, a greeter's status could be viewed by all players.
Prior to Release 2006-10-17, the greeters were a closed group who kept their members and methods private for a variety of reasons.
The Greeter Broadcast was removed in release 2007-05-24.