Options for server management to ensure pleasant new player experience

[AlteOgre]

Joining a server for the first time can be a very unpleasant experience for new players. The experience can be much different from that in single player in various ways (a.o. the progress of time). In this suggestion thread I wish to focus on the first in-game day or days of playing on a server. I want to address the fact that when a new player joins, they tend to be in urgent need to gather a lot of stuff that can help them settle for a safe passage of the night and/or go out on their first main adventure, to find a nice place to settle. This first experience can be quite hindered by the fact that players cannot see whether it is dawn or dusk, day or night on a server before they join. Also, a heavy temporal storm could just hit the moment a new player has just gathered their first resources to craft something simple as their first axe. It would be very helpful to ensure new players aren't set back too much from their first attempts to join a server if server management could have one or more of the following options at their disposal:

• Show in the server listing info what the time of day is on a server. The format for the displayed info could be made customisable for server management.
  • As soon as 'seasons' are implemented, season info may also be very useful for new players (any player) to have in the server listing info.
• Make the server time of day get adjusted to dawn as soon as a player joins the server for the first time. The exact time could be made customisable for server management.
• Make the temporal progress timer reset as soon as a player joins the server for the first time. I'm not sure what variables need to be considered for this, but I can imagine the exact 'shift' could be made customisable for server management.
• Provide new players with essential gear, a.k.a. a 'starters kit', as soon as a player joins the server for the first time. Server management obviously would want to be able to provide new players with anything they think fitting, including armour already donned, and mobile containers possibly already filled. All dependent on how they and their community would want a new player to experience their server.
  • With seasons, a season dependency may also be desirable. More favourable seasons may require less of a starter boost than a fresh start during the dark of winter.
• ...

Some of these options may have been suggested before and there can be more options to be considered for this purpose. I just wish to list them here and want to stress that whatever may get implemented of these options (if any) they should be considered as 'options' for server management to decide on using for their specific purpose and use any related settings at their own discretion. The view of server owners/staff/communities on how their server best be set up can differ quite dramatically.

I'm curious if there may be additional options the VS team could consider for this purpose. Please do not hesitate to add any in a comment below, nor to provide any other feedback on the above.

Note that this excludes any options like 'provide a pleasant spawn environment with plenty of food and what-have-you', because that is obviously already an option for server management.

Edited May 10, 2020 by AlteOgre
WIP!