Giving back in-game mentors

[Stue (DC)]

Rare new players are condemned to forums from the very beginning, they are not given opportunity to choose path where they will be dedicated to in-game play as they can hardly overcome basics without hanging on forum help.

Bringing back in-game mentors would give more alternatives to new players, current circumstances just fuel forum-master.

[Foxglove]

Could put an anonymous island-wide help channel into the game for each playing world where people can ask questions and get answers. It would encourage people to ask for help in the game rather than on the forum.

[Dishman]

I'd like to see banker take the role of mentor for newbies in realms. With auto-orders for food and the region-balance, it would be a good spot for a realm-mentor. A nice title, some extra gold here and there....would be a a good incentive program.

[Anaris]

I'm definitely open to suggestions for this. The island-wide help channel isn't a bad idea, and anonymity would certainly reduce the potential problems with people targeting good advice at allies or realmmates.

[Stue (DC)]

indeed, any kind of multi-realm mentors channel would likely improve things as it is not predictable how many mentors would exist within particular realm, but on continent level that would possibly smooth out.

if will exists, it could be even something like diplomatic activity - rulers sign mentors agreement between realms that would open common mentors channel. that could give sort of additional in-game flavor to mentors activities.

[Eldargard]

I actually see room for two distinct forms of mentorship - IC and OOC. I honestly prefer to keep them fairly separate but I do agree that each form of mentoring should be accessible in game.

I think IC mentoring can, and should, be handled in game using the tools already present. It is just a matter of experienced players having their experienced characters help the characters of new players as appropriate. Of course not every character will be motivated to receive or give help and these relationships should fit existing RP. Just being open to offering a helping hand is he key piece here.

Access to OOC mentoring is what I think is missing here and I really like the idea of an island wide system that maintains anonymity as much as possible. My thoughts on how it could look:

One Possibility:
1. Players have the option of becoming a mentor on a character by character basis. This can simply be a "Become a Menor"/"Stop Mentoring" toggle button or a "Be a Mentor" check box placed in a logical location.
    a. Though you enable mentoring on a character by character basis, the player is the mentor - not the character.
    b. When you turn on mentoring for a specific character you are saying "I the player want to be a mentor for the island this character is currently on and want all mentor messages to appear in this characters message queue."
    c. The become a mentor option might be better placed in the player info section though it would still be good if the player could decide which islands they want to mentor on and which characters receive mentor messages.
2. As long as there is at least one character is a mentor on the island, "Mentors" is a potential recipient when sending messages.
    a. It is only possible to send OOC messages to mentors
    b. It is not possible to send messages to mentors  and other recipients at the same time
    c. Messages sent to Mentors are signed "Asker"
3. Any message sent Mentors by all characters show up in the message queues of all Mentors as defined in step 1.
    a. Though the mentors can not see who the sent the message, they can respond to it like any other message.
    b. Responses are sent to the asking player and all other mentors
    c. Messages from mentors can only be OOC messages
    d. Messages from mentors are signed "Mentors"

Another Option:

1. Players have the choice of joining the "Help" group on a character by character basis. This can simply be a "Join Help Group"/"Leave Help Group" toggle button or a "Seand and Receive Help Messages" check box placed in a logical location.
    a. Though you enable Help groups on a character by character basis, the player is the helper or asker - not the character.
    b. When a specific character of yours joins the Help group "I the player want to be be able to ask/answer OOC questions for the island this character is currently on and want all Help messages to appear in this characters message queue."
2. Once a part of the group, "Help"  becomes a potential recipient when sending messages.
    a. It is only possible to send OOC messages to the Help group
    b. It is not possible to send messages to the Help group  and other recipients at the same time
    c. Messages to the Help group are all signed "Anonymous".
3. Any message sent the Help group show up in the message queues of characters who have joined the Help group per step 1.
    a. Though you can not see who the sent the message, you can respond to it like any other message.
    b. Responses are sent to all characters in the Help group
    c. Responses can only be OOC messages
    d. Responses are all signed "Anonymous".

Just my thought!

[Eldargard]

I also seem to recall a few awesome "Mentor Guides" on the wiki in which players had gone through and created a list of day by day messages to send out to new players. Some of them were pretty good. It might be cool if we took one of these canned messages, update them and then send them to characters automatically on a daily basis. When you create a new character a simple "Do you want to receive Mentoring messages for this character?" question can be presented so even older player can chose to get the messages and newer player could chose not to.

[Anaris]

    b. It is not possible to send messages to mentors  and other recipients at the same time

This part I disagree with, for one simple reason:

Sometimes, mentors will be wrong. And it's important for there to be a mechanism for others to recognize that they're wrong, and enlighten them, so they don't continue to misinform hapless newbies.

[Eldargard]

I get that. But that mechanism is kind of already there in both forms. Either all mentors are seeing all questions and answers or all members of the Help group are seeing all questions and answers. In either case someone is free to speak up when they see an answer that does not add up.

[Anaris]

I get that. But that mechanism is kind of already there in both forms. Either all mentors are seeing all questions and answers or all members of the Help group are seeing all questions and answers. In either case someone is free to speak up when they see an answer that does not add up.

Oh, it sounded like you wanted answers to go just to the askers.

...and now I see that you totally wrote this right from the start:

    b. Responses are sent to the asking player and all other mentors

Whoops! ;D

[Stue (DC)]

i believe if ic mentors would turn back, some natural relationship could be developed between ic and ooc help.

ooc help could still retain domination in all "how to" questions on micro-level. ic mentors would likely prevail in general advice on how to approach the game and develop in-game career.

ic mentors cannot be wrong in that whatever their advice is if it is not intention of developers to completely suppress all alternative aspects of gameplay away from "rally-in-region-a-go-back-to-refit" mode.

moreover, having both system in place allows player to choose rather than be tied to one option.

[Eldargard]

I guess I just do not see a point in any extra mechanics in regards to IC mentors. All the needed buttons and stuff are already there. The last character I created in the far east was quickly approached by a duke and a mentor/student relationship quickly developed without the need for mechanics. He gained a supported and my character found opportunities open up more quickly than they might have without the Dukes support.

With another character I created on East island, I quickly sought another player with an established lord to collaborate with.  Back story was that my character had served as one of his squires up until his coming of age. There was my IC mentor. Though our relationship was a bit rough (my character was determined to show he could manage on his own while his mentor kept offering help that was both comforting and irritating to the new knight). No fancy buttons needed.

Once my character n the far east became a lord, I eagerly recruited new players as knights and did my best to act as a mentor to them (though that character's version of mentoring was a bit demanding and harsh). I think that any lord who takes on a knight should really consider assuming a mentor lie relationship with their vassal.

In all I felt that the old mentor system felt a bit contrived and unnecessary. The only benefit the system provided in my mind was incentive. While I would be totally in favor of finding a way to reward players who have their characters assume an IC mentor role, I think anything more is not needed. Unfortunately, I can not think of a god way to encourage such behavior! Just my two cents.

[Foxglove]

The island-wide anonymous help channel has the advantage of being simple and presumably wouldn't take a massive amount of Dev work to set up, with it just using the message system. As Unwin said, everybody seeing the answers would ensure wrong information is corrected and everyone learns. Plus it's self-policing to avoid people trying to gain game advantages by giving wrong advice if they think it might hinder an enemy (because some questions are bound to be clearly identifiable to a particular situation). With everybody seeing the advice, it couldn't be gamed for advantage.

It seems like a straight forward and easy to use solution, and would be sure to encourage people to ask for help in-game rather than in other places. It might also create a more friendly atmosphere for new players who don't want to be seen as newbies - they can just ask stuff anonymously.

[Indirik]

I actually like the island-wide anonymous system.

However.... It definitely needs strict policing, and hooks to ferret out any abusers.

Messages to that channel should probably also have a slug line that points to the Helpline or Newbie Corner on the forum.

[Penchant]

I actually like the island-wide anonymous system.

However.... It definitely needs strict policing, and hooks to ferret out any abusers.

Messages to that channel should probably also have a slug line that points to the Helpline or Newbie Corner on the forum.

That is what I am worried about. Get a ton of people in this and someone asks a military question, I feel like you are going to get a lot of arguing going on.