The few that I have seen ended up being multi-accounting rings. The vast majority of realms these days will let damn near anyone join their councils, so long as the character involved is willing to work with the realm. i.e. as long as the character isn't a known troublemaker. And some realms will even embrace those.
Troublemaker is a matter of perspective. Of course not everyone like troublemaker, but some who do. They are good cause for war, justify war. This game is called Battlemaster for a reason. I even welcome any newbie who state their intention to become region lord, joining a council and many more.
Last time it took me I think quite sometime to become region lord. It took me even longer to become Duke and Ruler. Now the position vacancies are quite numerous, if you know which realm has the vacancy. Maybe we should have some Indicator Bar to show which realm has high turnover of lords?
As I mention in my previous post, welcome back Mentor class and it will help the older players contribute back to the game by teaching the younger players. By the way, I am interested to pick up on the survey: Which realm/island you joined that make you experience this?
As far as I know, I often welcome the new players, try to guide and train them with knowledge I have and some roleplaying.
I actually think this survey would make a great research project. It doesn't have to be forced, and developers and players don't need to make any decision about it. But I think it would be great as a descriptor of our gaming community. We could ask how long someone has been playing the game, and then ask those 4 questions, and see if the time one has been playing in the realm correlates to having a greater sense of belonging to the player community.
We can think of more indicators of "belongingness" or "excludedness" (there are probably other words for these that are actually real words, but I'm brainstorming here), and then make a scale to measure it.
Anyone up to it?
I could contribute some posts to help on this project. I try to make the new players/characters feel "belonged" to the realm. Should they need help or have any question, I try to help them out. Realm should be their family and most trusted place in the game, where they are not afraid to voice out.