Forum How-To Tutorial

1. Play this game on your laptop/computer. It is FAR harder to win competitions and socialize/strategize if you are on mobile. If you DO use mobile, please click on the three bars at the top right of your screen and then click on "Web Version." That will make it 10x easier to navigate.

2. Read every single thread posted in "White Lotus Council." In this area, there are multiple threads. Among them are:
- The Schedule: Arguably the most important thread on this forum and where exactly what time and date each competition will be are posted.
- The Format: This is where we describe the format of the season, be sure to read over this to understand how the rounds will work.
- Finalized Cast List: This is where you can view who is on your cast, which will be updated as the season progresses
- Hosting Team: Information on the hosts and how to reach us
- Supplies You Will Need: Some competitions might require supplies, this is where we will let you know.
- Rules of the Game: Also one of the most important threads, this is where rules and expectations are set. It is important for everyone to be familiar with all of our rules, so please read through them and ask any questions if necessary.

3. The next thing that may be important to learn are Forum functions, which are the formatting things one can do when writing a post. For example, you can BOLDEN a word, italicize it, underline it, strike it through, enlarge it, or color it. You can do that by writing a message out and then selecting the area you want, then pressing whichever function you want; all functions are shown at the top of your text bar. These formatting functions CAN stack on top of one another. You can post pictures and gifs in your messages as well. To do this, just press the "insert image" icon and paste the image URL of the photo or gif you'd like to use. If you are sending a picture or gif that has been uploaded to your computer, we'd prefer you use the IMGUR site when posting in a public thread; this is to conceal your identity. When posting in your Diary Room, it is perfectly fine if you upload images using the "host an image" button and uploading the file. If you'd like to resize images once you've posted them, feel free to edit the HTML coding like this:

Code:

[img(500px,0px)URL HERE[/img]

As shown above, you can edit the the "px" to be larger or smaller. We understand this seems complicated to read like this, so again, feel free to ask a host if you need one on one guidance for anything!

4. To communicate with your fellow castmates, one on one private rooms have been set up for you. At the bottom of the home page, you should see a tab for "Private Rooms." This is where all of your one on one and group alliance chats will be. If you would like a group alliance chat created, request the room in the private room request thread in your diary room and follow the instructions provided there. If you notice any one on one rooms missing or that something seems off, please reach out to hosts to fix the issue and we will address it as soon as possible. Production will like your room request once it is being worked on.

5. Almost every day will have 1-2 competitions: The Daily Challenge and the Placement competition or the Agni Kai. These competitions will be posted in the "Competition Area." These competitions will test your intellect, googling skills, speed, creativity, ability to stay up late, etc. These competitions will ALWAYS be posted in the threads, however they will NOT always be played in those threads. Sometimes we will have you submit your answers to a competition in your Diary Room or you will answer in the main chat of the competition thread. It is highly recommended to either use two tabs or use two devices to compete in these challenges. Some may even find it helpful to get an auto-refresher Chrome extension so that you don't have to press cntrl r a bunch of times or manually click the refresh button while waiting for a post.

6. Next, you should also set up a profile.
-  In order to set up a profile avatar: At the top of the forum, press "Profile," then "Avatar." From there you will have uploading options.
-In Profile Preferences, set "Allow members to contact me by e-mail" to 'No'
- In Profile Preferences, it is RECOMMENDED to set timezone into Eastern. I know many people who live in separate timezones but still set their time to New York time for the sake of the forum, however if you don't want to, then you don't have to.
- THIS IS IMPORTANT: In Profile Preferences, set "Date Format" to the third option, which will display the date and time. The time will show exactly what SECOND you posted on, which will be needed for many competitions.
- In order to stop e-mails, go to the top of the forum, click "Profile," then "Notifications," and uncheck any boxes under the email column.
- In Profile Preferences, we recommend checking "no" on "Display a notification when new replies are written" because there will be a pop up window that will keep you from posting immediately after someone if they posted in between the last time you posted - if you leave it on, it could hinder your ability to answer quickly in a thread. This is up to you, however. Azula, for example, does not do this, whereas most others do.

Just bumping this to make sure y’all have read it! If you have any additional questions about the forum or how to change preferences/notifs/etc, I advise doing so before the first competition tonight! Hope you all are having a great day and look forward to tonight!