Mentor Program (of sorts)

[Traderjill]

This is a bit of a suggestion in a couple parts mainly aimed at making the new player experience a bit more friendly.

1. Get rid of Neutral/Omni/Clan Newbie OOC and just make 1 'Newbie OOC' channel.

2. Extend this new Newbie OOC to level 26 or even level 30. I'm suggesting a higher level because it is really after players are done with the subway that they really start asking a lot of more in depth questions.

(Here's where the actual work comes in)

3. Allow players to apply to be Newbie OOC Mentors. Basically, doing so, would allow them access to Newbie OOC on all toons on their account(s) (or if this is not possible, have them provide a toon list when they apply). The application could be a few simple questions (i.e. why do you want to be a newbie ooc mentor?) and you could setup a forum area similar to the bug/exploit forum section for application submission.

Giving new players a 'safe' place to ask questions to people that truly wish to be helpful can only be an overall win for the game. Right now, the few newbie inquiries that we get often get lost in the bickering and trolling in the normal OOC channels.

[Dysfunction]

I approve

[vitriolic-v]

I think that an in-game help channel is a great idea, but doing it exactly this way puts too much gatekeeping in the way of people getting help. We also have to be careful that we're not requesting that FC implement something that would mean not just work required to implement it, but work required to maintain and moderate it constantly.

Newbie OOC? Great idea.

Level 30 cap? I disagree. It's easy to end up in a "just follow me I'll get you some levels" trap past 30 and then still have no idea what to do, no idea what gear you should not pass up before dungeon level caps, etc. People are going to have reasonable questions at all levels their first time around. They'll eventually learn to use the out-of-game resources for this, but people have to know they exist. Even then, sometimes the guides may be confusingly written for some readers. The best way for everyone to be able to get help is to let Newbie OOC be used by all players. Couple this with the egpal filter being enabled by default and we won't have credspam problems.

However, if there were to be a level cap, I'd say place it closer to level 100. The level cap should be relative to the point by which people should be familiar with their profession toolkit. My first character made it to level 30 at least without ever putting IP into nanoskills, as I recall. I was like, "what me need nano skill for? Me have gun, bang bang! Huh huh huh!"

Applying to be a mentor? I disagree with this, as well. If you're just waiting around to do something, and you decide, "hey, why don't I help some newbies for a few minutes," you shouldn't be barred pending somebody at Funcom letting you in -- and they're busy, so putting extra work in their hands reviewing applications is a great way to make sure this never gets off the ground.

So, caps and application processes would be detrimental to the process. Getting Funcom to proactively moderate this channel against spam is not going to happen, either, and banning spammers after the damage is done is useless, as peoples' game time has already been wasted. Getting Funcom to place official moderation power in the hands of players isn't all that likely either; there are liability issues there, and issues with players seeming to be representatives of Funcom, and that's not something Funcom would want to happen. "We'll be good, we promise" doesn't fly.

Conclusion: A player-run bot might help, because players could actively moderate against the channel being used for LFT/LFM/lootrights/WTS/spam (hopefully more lenient than neutnet; player-moderators could report infractions to the bot, the bot could keep track of three strikes and then ban, in cases where a ban needed to be instant (credspam), a final-solution report could be filed for instant processing), and it would add no work for Funcom to have to do. However, if Funcom were to promote this help chat, in a tip of the day, or by having a player's first logon send an invite request to the bot, that would be the only way to catch all the newbies who need help.

[Animalz]

Create a 3rd party program. would be the easiest way, just have to make sure to announce it on newbie island.. like 2 Pet professions with scripts on pets, giving directions and guidance to join.(Seen this done by a guild, don't remember name)
and +1, always bumping ideas to help newbies.

[vitriolic-v]

Advertisement over a bot's head could still be easily missed, and players have no reason to believe that it's legit.

[Animalz]

Advertisement over a bot's head could still be easily missed, and players have no reason to believe that it's legit.

As with every advertisement.
Sadly you cant force players to get help.
But I am sure FC could participate in creating a poster, email notification of sorts to make it more "legit".