Hello and welcome to the Official Riata "Getting Started" guide! Congratulations on choosing to join one of the best sim-horse games on the net! We're happy to have you here and hope the following guide answers most (if not all!) of your playing and starting out questions.
Riata is a game that was created by veterans of the sim-game world. Most of us have been around since 1997 or earlier playing various games. The grand-daddy of sim games were the various Horse Country games started, run, and administered by Kris Carroll. Most of the founding Riata players played in those games until Kris decided to close them down. Ever since then, the sim-horse world has been a splintered, fractured, all over the map sort of thing, with games opening and closing every day, members joining three, four, five, or more various games in the hopes of finding one that is actually active and that has some good longevity to it and so on. Riata was created in an effort to bring the spirit and the ideals of those Horse Country games back to the internet sim-game world.
With that in mind, Riata is fashioned in the vein of such old-school games. We don't want to become one of the fully automated, technologically advanced sort of game like Horseland and its clones. We believe that playing a game like this is ultimately more rewarding because of the human, hands-on component of it, so many of our activities and things are human and hands on. We also expect our members to play at a level we deem to be mature. The Horse Country games expected excellence in playing, and got nothing less. Riata is the same. Lazy punctuation and grammar are inexcusable, poor spelling is not permitted, and we ask for some effort in terms of creating and playing the game. We encourage individuals to do what works best for them, which ultimately means that it's best for the game. We value differing viewpoints, respect differing opinions, and embrace the many facets of the horse world; online and off.
If you're interested in taking part in a game like this, we encourage you to read the rules, read this guide, and then apply to join.
Riata is composed of some founding members and the supporting administration team. Occasionally, a spot opens up in the team, or a particularly outstanding player is brought to our attention. There is no set method for becoming part of the administration other than showing excellent playing skills, being helpful to other members, and just being a good person.
Hello! So you're here, thinking about joining, are you? Well, joining is easy and there aren't many steps you have to take before you do join.
Alright, so you've decided you want to join even after reading our scary rules and everything (which are really not that scary, believe me!). What do you do in order to join? Well, first, you apply to join. Riata isn't an automatic approval sort of game, so you need to fill out the joining form for us to see that you're interested in joining. Fill all the fields in with the correct answers, and the more information you give us, the more likely we are to accept you into the game. If all you give us is one-word answers, we aren't going to be able to get a feel of who you are, and will likely think the worst! Be chatty and talkative; we like reading lots of information to get a handle on your personality, whether or not you're at the level of play we ask all our players to be at, etc.
Once you've filled that out, don't do anything else. You're welcome to surf the site and look around at the barns and everything, but don't contact anyone yet, don't register on the Forums, and don't register on the Equine Database. All of those things are what you do once you've been approved to play, but doing it before you've been approved will mean that we'll automatically not approve you, since you have obviously not read the rules or this guide.
You should hear back from the administration very quickly, though. It is our goal to reply to everything within 24 hours. If it has been more than a few days and you haven't received a response, please feel free to send an e-mail to admin@riata-online.net and ask what's going on.
When you are approved, you'll get an e-mail from us saying something to that effect. If you are not approved to play, you'll also receive an e-mail telling you that. If you have been denied, some of the main reasons are: You have obviously not read the rules, you didn't fill the form out completely, you didn't use proper spelling, capitalization, or grammar when applying, you're too young, or we weren't confident that you would be able to play at the level we ask all members to be at.
Congratulations! You have been approved to play the game and are now ready to take the steps to ensure you're playing to the fullest extent possible.
Steps:
You're almost done with all the setup steps! This is the last, fun step of getting ready to play Riata. Look at the Barns page and choose a boarding barn to board at. They're all listed in a special section just for you. You need to e-mail the barn owner (or complete the boarding application on the barn's page) to make sure they have room for you to board there. If you don't hear back within a day or two, feel free to e-mail the barn owner again, or e-mail another barn owner. There are lots of places accepting boarders, so keep trying until you find a place. Once you've heard back and have officially been accepted as a boarder, you're ready to begin playing! Congratulations! If, on the off chance, you CAN'T find a place to board at, feel free to make a post on the forums asking for a boarding barn.
The owner of the barn you're boarding at automatically becomes your game "mentor" so any questions you might have should be directed to her, or to the help forum on the Community Board. It's important to develop a relationship with your mentor because she is one of the most important people who decide if and when you're ready to move to a mini-barn and whether or not you're ready to apply for a main barn. So get to know your mentor, befriend her, and don't be afraid to e-mail her for help or to answer any questions you might have.
Now that you're officially playing the game, you might wonder how you go about getting horses to play with. You have two options, really - buying or creating. The section below deals with buying horses and this one deals with creating them. It's very important to remember that you only have a certain number of creation credits for your whole time playing the game. If one of your created horses is sold, dies, leaves the game, or something else, you do not get another credit. Once you've created a horse, you lose that credit forever. So think long and hard about what horses you're creating!
To create a horse it's actually very easy. Just make everything up. There's no special form you have to fill out, just create the horse out of thin air. Most people make sure that the horses they create have the following information:
You're also welcome (and encouraged!) to flesh the horse out a bit. Find a picture for him/her (but make sure you have permission to use it from the horse's real owner), create a personality, write about his/her quirks, likes, and dislikes. The more realistic you make the horse, the more fun you'll have playing with it.
Once you have created the horse, make sure you go to the Equine Database and register the horse by logging in and clicking "My Barn". From there, choose the "Add" button. Fill out the information it asks for, but make sure to select "Created Horses" and putting the whole birthdate of the horse in. Click "Next Step!" and continue filling information in the boxes. Click "Finish" and presto! You've created your first horse. The database tracks your created and bred horses, so if it tells you that there's no more room for horses or that you can't create any more horses, then that's it until you move up a playing level.
New players are considered Pre-Boarders (even if they're boarding) until they have 50 posts and have been playing the game for a month. Pre-Boarders may only create two horses.
It is important that you make sure that every horse you own is registered in the Equine Database. The horse doesn't exist unless it's registered in there. When you buy a new horse, make sure the old owner transfers the horse to your name and when you sell a horse, transfer the horse to the new owner of the horse. When you create a horse, you need to register the horse, and when you breed two horses, the resulting foal also needs to be registered in the Equine Database.
One of the most important parts of the games (and one of the hardest!) is keeping good financial records. It can be a bit of a chore, but not if you keep them up to date and update them right when you write a cheque or receive a cheque. Most of the financial activity in Riata is done by cheque. Remember, though, that just as your horses are "fake", so too is the money. You don't e-mail people cheques for real money - it's all "Riata Dollars."
In order to write a cheque to someone, you need to include some specific information. You need to make sure the cheque specifies the name of the person you're writing the cheque to, the amount of the cheque, the date of the cheque, what the cheque is for, and your name. Below is one possible format for a cheque. You're free to use this or to create your own, as long as it has all the important information on it.
TO: [name of the person the cheque is to]
DATE: [the date you're writing the cheque]
AMOUNT: [the amount of the cheque]
MEMO: [what the cheque is for]
SIGNED: [your name/barn/signature]
Now, your next question will be "how do I keep track of my cheques?" That's a good question and exactly what this guide is written to answer. You keep track of your money in the most effective method for you. Some people write it down on paper - they add cheques they receive and subtract cheques they write. Some use a spreadsheet program like "Microsoft Excel." There is a great, free spreadsheet program in the OpenOffice office suite that you can use if you don't have Excel. Google Spreadsheets is also very useful. Some people use MS Money, Quicken, or some other sort of financial/accounting package. Make sure you make a note of:
It might also be a good idea to keep your records online and offline. If your computer dies, then you'll still have the records offline, and when you decide you want to apply for a barn, one of the things the approval committee has to see is that you're keeping good, accurate, up to date financial records.
How much money do you start with? What a good question! You can start with whatever amount you want to, but you can't start with anything over $250,000 Riata dollars. Use that as your starting figure and keep track from there. You get your money by choosing a starting sum and adding it to your financial records. You don't need to e-mail anyone asking for it. Just add it and get going.
So, you've decided that you want to buy a horse. Good decision! We like people who buy their horses because it creates demand and activity in Riata above and beyond that of creating horses. Buying a horse is fairly easy. Once you've found a horse that is for sale that you want to buy, you:
Remember that once you send a cheque to someone, you have to mark it down in your financial records!
Showing is one of the most fun things ever in Riata. It's important to do so that your horse wins ribbons and becomes well-known and popular and is also very important in getting your horse REAA approved. When you created your horse, you should have chosen a discipline for him or her to show in. We're a mature game and a realistic game, so make sure that your horse is doing something that it could do in real life. You aren't allowed to have a Shire horse competing in the Grand Prix jumpers and you're not allowed to have a Quarter Horse competing in Roping, Reining, Western Pleasure, and Western Speed, for example. Use your common sense and if you aren't sure, don't be afraid to ask - our members would love to help you sort out what disciplines are good and what aren't.
Now that you've chosen a discipline or two for your horse, you're ready to enter shows. Go to the "Upcoming Events" forum on the boards and there you'll find a list of all the shows that are open and accepting entries. Shows that have a strike through them (like this) are closed and not accepting entries, so don't try to enter those shows. Choose a show that has a discipline for your horse and click on the link.
You'll find a link to a classlist with rules, entering restrictions, and more. Make sure you read everything on that page very closely so that you know what format to use when entering, what rules to follow, how many horses are allowed in a class, how many classes one horse can enter, and any cross-entering rules. Not reading the rules for entering and entering wrong is probably one of the only things you can do that will make another player grumpy at you. Once you've read the rules, follow the entering format, use the correct subject line, and enter your horse. Don't forget to send a cheque for entry fees!
Once you've sent the entry off to the player (almost always via e-mail), you're done. Now you just wait for the host to put the results out. Once the results are our, they'll be posted on the Results board. Check to see if your horse placed and if it did, congratulations! Now you'll need to keep track of those results - make a note on the horse's page of the placing, the show name, and the class name, at the very minimum. Lots of people like to note the date, the number of entries, and if the horse won any money as well.
If you bought a horse or created a horse and now no longer want the horse, or need to sell horses for money, you are free to sell your horse to another player. Before doing so, however, make sure that the sales contract that you signed if you bought the horse doesn't say anything about letting the previous owner have "buybacks." If buybacks are specified, you need to get ahold of the owner and offer her the chance to buy the horse back from you. If the old owner declines, feel free to sell the horse like normal.
To sell a horse, make a post on the message board (or complete the sale privately if you're selling to a specific individual) with the horse's information or a link to the horse's page. Think of the price you'd like to get for the horse, and remember a horse with a nice picture, lots of achievements, and a detailed write-up will sell for more than a horse with no show record, no photo, and no information other than the basics. Once you've thought up a price and posted the horse, it's now time to sell the horse. Look at the people who are interested in the horse and choose someone to whom you'd like to sell the horse. Some people choose based on first come first served and others try and figure out who would be the best owner for the horse. It's up to you how you choose.
Once you've chosen the person you'd like to sell the horse to, contact her, let her know she's the lucky purchaser, and send along the sales contract or any instructions you might have. She'll send you a cheque and then you need to transfer the horse to the new owner via the Equine Database. Once you've done that, the horse is hers and you can add the cheque to your finances.
Breeding horses is very easy in Riata. Remember that if you aren't the owner of a breeding barn, you can only breed six horses a year, total, and that only two of those breedings can be from horses of a non-breeding barn or from your own barn. You can breed your mare to a stallion from a breeding barn (counts as a breeding barn breeding) as well. In order to breed horses, you either breed to a mare and a stallion that you own or that another player owns. If you want to breed to two horses that you own, you need to go to the Equine Database and choose the "Bred Horse" option. Put the mare and stallion's name in the box, choose the birthdate of the horse, and then continue as if you were creating the horse. Presto - the horse has been bred! In order to breed to another player's stallion or mare, you need to contact that player first and get permission. Once the other player has given permission, you input the information if you're breeding to an outside stallion. If you're breeding to an outside mare, then the other player must input the information and then transfer the horse to you.
If you still have questions after reading this guide, feel free to e-mail your mentor or to post on the Help forum on the boards. Players will be happy to help you!