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Mekantos | Mon 17-Nov-08 08:10 PM |
Member since 06th Dec 2003
796 posts
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#159, "Mentor System"
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Hey there.
One of my good friends is stuck at home, and has been for a couple months, due to messing up his back. He's in his early thirties and is a very sharp guy. He's quite thorough and analytical about things, probably owing to the fact that he manages QA departments in the bay area for a living.
I'm saying that because I want to make it clear that this is probably someone who could and should be able to catch onto the complexity of CF, and excel at handling it.
I got him to roll up a character, because it would be a perfect way for him to pass the time.
Here's where it got difficult
Despite all the thorough helpfiles that exist for newbies to utilize, it's still a jungle for them and, to be fair to them, it's probably harder now than it was way back when I got into the game. That me seem counter-intuitive, but I attribute the statement to the ever-increasing complexity of CF.
Bottom line, if I had not taken time to literally walk him around, there is no way in hell he would have stayed. He would have shut down CF and probably never bothered with it again.
So, how do we fix it?
Glad you asked.
I propose that a volunteer-run Mentor System be put into effect.
Here is how it would work:
Upon rolling a character, in big bold letters (even for those who don't say they are new to the game) the next "Mentoring Session" is announced. Additionally, the "mentor" command could be used to discover the next session as well.
Anyways, what would these sessions consist of? Imms, heroimms, and/or approved volunteer players using a newly-rolled character to run new players around and literally play the game with them. The sessions could be weekly, bi-weekly, or whatever. On your guy's end I'd suggest that you pre-roll characters for volunteer, non-staff people to use and then shoot them an email with the name and password on the day of the mentoring session. They could then use some kind of in-game code (also given by you) to begin the session and let all interested parties know that they will be leading it.
I'm not going to go all into the nitty gritty of how it could work, but basically it is doing a hands-on approach. I really think that, if given the chance, lots of people would jump in and give a hand here. And, if it worked, it would be an awesome thing to advertise...
"What?! The CarrionFields people actually have a system where veteran players and staff members will literally play along with new people and show them the ropes?! I can't get that kind of lovin' anywhere else!"
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  What's stopping you today?,
Zulghinlour,
18-Nov-08 03:04 PM, #1
 You know...,
Mekantos,
18-Nov-08 06:07 PM, #2
 RE: You know...,
Zulghinlour,
18-Nov-08 06:11 PM, #3
RE: You know...,
Mekantos,
19-Nov-08 12:17 AM, #4
Not stiff, just too broad.,
Fjarn ,
19-Nov-08 02:31 PM, #6
Possible Santa-Zulg stuff,
Fjarn,
19-Nov-08 02:31 PM, #5
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Zulghinlour | Tue 18-Nov-08 03:04 PM |
Member since 04th Mar 2003
9792 posts
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#160, "What's stopping you today?"
In response to Reply #0
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You haven't proposed anything here that you can't do today as a mortal other than having specific office hours.
Why didn't you run through with your friend to get him used to the game, and give him a bit of advice? And if you did...then you accomplished what you already asked for.
So long, and thanks for all the fish!
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Mekantos | Tue 18-Nov-08 03:58 PM |
Member since 06th Dec 2003
796 posts
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#161, "You know..."
In response to Reply #1
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...I can't help but think you're being intentionally stiff right here dude. My friend is one guy. There are lots of others who do actually come to CF without being referred by a buddy. This would help retain THOSE players.
The idea is to make a formal system for this kind of thing. You need a more focused effort towards retaining new blood man.
Do you honestly believe this wouldn't help?
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Zulghinlour | Tue 18-Nov-08 06:11 PM |
Member since 04th Mar 2003
9792 posts
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#162, "RE: You know..."
In response to Reply #2
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>...I can't help but think you're being intentionally stiff
>right here dude. My friend is one guy. There are lots of
>others who do actually come to CF without being referred by a
>buddy. This would help retain THOSE players.
>
>The idea is to make a formal system for this kind of thing.
>You need a more focused effort towards retaining new blood
>man.
>
>Do you honestly believe this wouldn't help?
I never said I didn't think it would help. I asked why you can't do this today and why you need specific office hours to make this happen.
Even if you make specific office hours that are once a week at a random date/random time so that eventually everyone can be a part of it, how is that going to help the newbie running around the academy right now? What happens when the next office hours are 6 days from now and I'm not interested enough to come back then. So long, and thanks for all the fish!
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Mekantos | Tue 18-Nov-08 11:47 PM |
Member since 06th Dec 2003
796 posts
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#163, "RE: You know..."
In response to Reply #3
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Even if you make specific office hours that are once a week at a random date/random time so that eventually everyone can be a part of it, how is that going to help the newbie running around the academy right now? What happens when the next office hours are 6 days from now and I'm not interested enough to come back then.
That newbie will at least know the best time to come get help. What other MUD offers that?
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Fjarn | Wed 19-Nov-08 02:04 PM |
Member since 03rd Jun 2008
173 posts
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#165, "Possible Santa-Zulg stuff"
In response to Reply #1
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While anyone "can" mentor, I think Mek's right that it's hard to be a mentor for someone who isn't a friend or buddy, especially if you don't know that they need mentoring. So, here are some possible Santa-Zulg style options that might or might not be worth pursuing.
1) "Mentor of Newbies" title that is only visible to level 10 players and below. This title is ideally given to a staff member who is visible and available, and willing to "goto" to answer questions and help with things that might need more elaboration than a newbie channel Q&A. Title would probably need to be togglable...with a new "mentor" command? The idea would be to provide a new player with the means to to identify someone who can help face-to-face and OOC, when the newbie channel might not help.
1a) Have a (Mentor) flag and/or title automatically applied to Imms and Heroimms when they are in the Academy, to more visibly set them apart from the players and NPC's in the Academy as "Helpful Staff" (tm).
2) Have an alert tied to some number of consecutive "huh?" responses on an unknown command - I think Valg clued me in to a true newbie in the academy because of repeated unrecognized commands. I went to him and helped him out directly, which hopefully made a good impression. This would allow someone with "mentor" toggled on to be alerted to a sub-10 player who might be stuck, particularly useful if they don't have the ability to snoop mortal inputs.
3) "There are 3 mentors online" at the end of "who". Even if they're wizinvis, a new player could see whether there are any mentor-toggled people online at the moment. If not visible, they could send a request to the newbie channel for a mentor to help. Just another whiz-bang whistle to tag on, if something like this was implemented. Doesn't help much if they can't use the newbie channel, but it would help wizinvis mentors maintain anonymity and still be available to help newbies.
4) Mentor day. This is more in line with Mek's suggestion - a hands-on hand-holding session. It might be held in a new area that is only accessible via transfer, so as not to interfere with players moving through the real Academy. The idea is to provide a show-me, teach-me style to compliment the plethora of help files. You would need a new few-rooms-large area, or a copy of the academy. Or, use the real Academy with the knowledge that OOC will be prevalent if other non-mentor players are trying to roleplay at level 2 or whatever. This is a little obscure, so I'm not sure what the proposed Santa Zulg tasks would be - a place to hold the session and an updateable alert at character creation would be two options.
These are probably ideas that would be a nightmare to implement, but I think there are some Santa Zulgable suggestions here based on Mek's mentoring idea, even if they are round-filed.
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