*Adopt a Newbie* ~ new concept brainstorming and ideas

Frustrated with this, so far, as you know

I put the word about that you need more socs to sign up, as that was said in the forum somwhere, but my impression atm is that you actually have too many socs competing for the very few serious newbies who sign up, Certainly, the times when I've thought "This sounds like somebody who'll stick with the game and/or fit in with my soc" I've usually found that some other Soc put in an offer first. In all other cases , the newbie in question did not respond to the offer...except for one, who somehow hasn't got around to actually joining us.

I think that soc leaders have a nose for potentially serious players, hence that unintended competition. What do we go by? Well, first and foremost age is one really big factor. this is not a kids game. Most, but not all, teens get bored within a week. Soc leaders soon get to learn as much, and feel ever-less-willing to invest their time and resources in younger players. This would be why most of the players who fail to get a contract are under 20. And all the over-30s get snapped up fast, Solution? Hmm, i'm not sure it's much of a problem, because most of those teens will have drifted off before they even appeared on the list. But if would be nice if one or two Socs (maybe led by younger players?) could specialise in adopting younger players, accepting all the attendant frustrations.

I'm not prejudiced. We do actually have a few teens in my Soc, and I've extended offers to one or two teens on the list, but I'm very aware of this issue and I'm not willing to turn my Soc into a stop-gap Soc for unwanted teens! Most of us are mature people anyway, so they wouldn't really fit in especially well. But I do see a need for such a Soc.

Sadly there are a few people who won't likely get any offers., like the guy who clearly can't commumicate in English (unless a Soc that speaks his native language should notice him) Or the woman who desribes herself as "militaristic" (unless WarAnts or similar start taking on noobs). It doesn't follow that there are too many newbies on the lists, and that you therefore need to slow down on recruiting newbies.

Anyway, I've taken an interest in ANF because it seems like a worthy project and I'd like to do my bit to help. Not because we're so desperate for new recruits that I'll fight other Socs for the prize! or totally put aside all my criteria, and make an offer to every newbie on the list until finally one of them accepts. So I'm gonna step back for a while, and see what future developments transpire. No hard feelings. I just don't think my Soc is actually needed, atm, after all. Though an all-teen soc is very much needed, imo.

jay :)

 

Same here. I had about 7 disciples in all, not one of whom made it to graduation (though one of the might have, if the system hadn't been scrapped). That's one reason why I'm not surprised when a newbie doesn't respond to an adoption offer. And that's not all such a bad thing. It saves cluttering up our membership list with early drop-outs, and that twinge of guilt when you kick them w/o explanation (because they might just come back, but the system doesn't provide for off-line messages, like "you're welcome back if you ever start playing again")

I have tried to set this up as proff as possible in a game were you cant force people to stand by their commitments, for example through the contract, but it doesnt seem to work. Not because the contract doesnt work, or because the idea is a failure, but becsuse a lot of the newbies doesnt sign in again here after.

And I certainly wouln't expect you to do that. Point is that the less mature people are less likely to get offers...but also less likely to care, because they are, in general, the same ones who get bored with EU pretty quickly Soc, or no Soc. Their presence on the "waiting " list doesn't necessarily mean that there are loads of people still waiting for adoption, and a corresponding shortage of Socs. Like I said, the ideal solution would be a Soc that's prepared to specifically target the teens, but I'll bet they would find that nearly all their offers fell on deaf ears, because those people moved on to more immediately grartifying games.

As for "well-spoken". I think that if somebody speaks such bad English that I can't understand what they're trying to say, then an English-speaking Soc is not for them, and would be very frustrating for both parties. No criticism of that person intended, nor to say that they should not be on the list. Just it's no big surprise if they don't get an offer, and does not imply "too many newbies, shortage of socs". (Just not a big enough variety of languages represented)

I think you're trying to say that other factors than time-zone should not be important. I partially agree, in that I've extended offers to some people that I didn't think would really fit in with my Soc on a long-term basis, but would benefit from some short term-help. This is mostly about mentoring newbies, rather than recruiting. I get that. But on the other hand, it would surely be ideal, for all parties, if the newbie landed in a Soc they could gel with, rather than needing to move on, after 4 weeks. So I think it good that we have enough info to make an educated guess as to who would fit in.

What I've personally done is think hard about whether they would fit in with my Soc before making an offer to people at the top of the list (who are likely to get other offers), but then relaxed my criteria for those who've already been on the list for some time, because they clearly haven't found a "better fit" soc than mine, and any Soc will be better than none. If all Socs do the same, I think we'll get as near to that ideal situation as possible.

But I don't think it right, nor should it be necessary, to relax those criteria to the point where I'm taking on people who would probably irritate existing members, and/or extending offer after offer to people who likely gave up already, they've been on the list so long.

.

I've no problem with that system at all . It just shows , to my mind, that there are too many socs rather than too many newbies, when we always get beaten! And no loss to ANF, if TAO takes a backseat for a while, just a bit less "paperwork" to deal with


jay :)

 

Enlightening post, Jay, thanks for that!

In response I firstly have to say that it's unfortunate that things have worked out as you explained so far, but ANF is still a very new thing and we are still finding our feet as a Foundation.

I really have appreciated your input so far, it definitely hasn't gone unnoticed by us as I'm sure you know. Your post here especially, has helped me to see how things stand from an external but involved perspective. I see it as a kind of snapshot which gives a pause for thoughts about how things have been going until this point and how things should be structured hereafter. It's great!

So, how have things actually been going? Well I have been at Swamp Camp for probably an average of 8 hours every day for the last week, talking to newbies, giving advice, healing and trying to recruit newbies for our list (ask anyone at Swamp Camp and they can probably recite my newbie-recruitment shouts by heart . They love it really). Some of the people I talked to made it here and registered. Some of those are already adopted. The nice thing about being at Swamp Camp and actually talking the newbies through the process of registering is that I get to remind them to keep checking the Forum regularly, and to let us know of any changes like whether they found a soc. I've already noticed the improvement in newbie retainment since I've been at Swamp Camp and it's an area I'm always trying to better myself in, by talking on a personal level to them and giving them a personality to relate to. That seems important to keep their interest.

Before this last week, I dedicated some time to recruiting new Societies for the Society List. Some of those made it to the list, some are still pending. I feel comfortable with my results as far as Societies go, at the moment. In fact, as you suggested, I may have even overdone it a bit. My idea was that I would set up a "base" of at least 10 societies to start with, so that when the newbies started coming in there were actually societies waiting to grab them (Lykke already had a nice few by the time I joined). Preferably societies from both main time-zones, American and European, with different preferences/requirements.

As for the role of the societies, it obviously wasn't intended for such "competition" in the Newbie List among societies. The focus was always on the newbies; "as long as they find a home, that's all that matters," I thought. It's quite natural that if you seem to notice the "decent" (for you soc) newbies after others, that the others will quickly fill up their allocated spaces (specified in my Society List Table) for newbies in their societies and thereby give you more of a chance to pick from the Newbie List. Otherwise, I'm sure we can arrange something between us to ensure that you get newbies who fit your main criteria (I want to dispell any thoughts of "preferential treatment" or "newbie-stealing lameness" right now, this is about everyone being happy to be involved with ANF, and if someone has any kind of gripe, big or small, direct or indirect, I feel responsible to make sure that's ironed out instead of turning 'round and saying "tough luck, if you don't like it you can get out!"). I'm perfectly happy to work with you that way Jay.

As I said before, this is a new venture for everyone. We'll all learn and work together to overcome problems like this in the way that suits everyone best, including you :)

Please bear with us, and thank you for your patience and help so far!



PS. Lykke, you can see this as a kind of progress update