Difficulty with recruitment

RykerStruvian · 2012-12-26, 11:55 AM

I was just wondering if any other outfits are having problems recruiting people. My outfit is relatively new, nearing about a month old now. The problem is that the initial recruitment was successful and I had about 15 active people. Now, the numbers been bumped down to around 4 daily active people. I understand its the holidays and such, so that isn't necessarily an issue.

What is an issue is that I'm having a lot of difficulty recruiting people. I have posts here and on the main PS2 forums. I've been talking with other outfits as well and they have been having problems with recruitment. Is recruitment currently in a decline? I don't have any data yet (I'm starting a spreadsheet at least for my outfit) and I was curious on how I might be able to encourage recruitment.

bpostal · 2012-12-26, 12:50 PM

As hamma said in his latest Instant Action, alot of players are already in an outfit and those that aren't, are not exactly looking for one.
Couple in all the disincentives to play in a small outfit and you've got one giant shit sandwich.
Personally? I offer free blowjobs for every new recruit (but I don't mention the herpes) Your results may vary

GL!

james · 2012-12-26, 01:07 PM

As bpostal said, 90 percent of people who want an outfit are already in one. On the activity front, the honey moon phase of the game seems to be over and the new game feeling is starting to go away. The game when you sit down in look at it, lacks a meta game, has some serious balance issues, and right now its a crappy bf3 times with 2000 players, where no one wins. Then add some major stability issues. So seeing pop number drop is not surprising.

Tooterfish · 2012-12-26, 01:18 PM

Originally Posted by james

As bpostal said, 90 percent of people who want an outfit are already in one.

Agreed. Not sure why you added all the other stuff though.

Rolfski · 2012-12-26, 04:05 PM

Bpostal is hitting the nail here. Crappy blowjobs and already having an outfit is what makes people reluctant to look for a new one.

james · 2012-12-26, 04:37 PM

Originally Posted by Tooterfish

Agreed. Not sure why you added all the other stuff though.

Less people playing equals less people looking for outfits. Plus i think in the beginning he said how his outfit only had 4 people active vs 15 normal

DirkSmacker · 2012-12-26, 04:27 PM

I don't know your specific situation apart from what you mentioned, but merging with similar outfits could be a solution.

Sledgecrushr · 2012-12-26, 04:34 PM

Ok so I looked at your website. I looked at your promo on the official website. Your website needs some love man, its hard to take a group seriously with a "under construction" sign on your website.

Also if you are going to advertise for new recruits then you should try and keep your outfit on the front page. I noticed the last post on the recruitment page was a week ago. Show humor and excitement in your posts and the new recruits will feel that as well. A halfhearted attempt and a lack of effort bringing in recruits will hamstring you from the start.

Good luck, and finish your website and keep hammering away at your http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/i...recruiting.43/ page. Make funny videos!!!

StumpyTheOzzie · 2012-12-26, 04:42 PM

give it another month and we'll start to see the generalist outfit amalgamations. Then you'll get 3-5 big zergy outfits per faction and the "specialist 1337 ninja blackops" outfits who are really just RL buddies making alliances.

Graywolves · 2012-12-26, 05:04 PM

We just list our squad and put "recruiting" in the description. Got a few decent guys over the course of the week.

Rolfski · 2012-12-26, 05:18 PM

On a more serious note, Sledgecrushr is having a point here. Profile is everything, make sure you stand out. Publishing high quality Youtubes is an excellent way to make people interested in your outfit.

Hamma · 2012-12-26, 05:26 PM

Sledgecrushr definitely has a point as does bpostal. It's hard recruiting for an outfit right now especially with the game essentially supporting huge outfits that are already well established.

robocpf1 · 2012-12-26, 06:05 PM

If you're up to the challenge, just start sending people without outfit tags /tells and ask them if they'd be interested in joining.

I did that for years in PS1 when the game was in decline and managed to swell our ranks enough to keep us alive. I did that even when my outfit was one of the most well-known outfits in the game. For the years between 2007 and 2011 I talked up almost every No Outfit player I saw.

As a new outfit looking to expand, you cannot afford to wait for people to come to you. Go out and grab them.

Other than going out and actively hunting down No Outfit recruits, take the other advice in this thread. Clean, smooth website, a couple of good videos, "recruiting" squads, etc - but I'm telling you, while those things will certainly help, as a new small outfit there is no substitute for going into the field and recruiting people yourself.

Helwyr · 2012-12-26, 07:37 PM

Originally Posted by robocpf1

If you're up to the challenge, just start sending people without outfit tags /tells and ask them if they'd be interested in joining.

Please don't do that.

robocpf1 · 2012-12-26, 08:36 PM

Originally Posted by Helwyr

Please don't do that.

Why would you tell him not to recruit for his outfit? It's not like I'm telling him to blind invite everyone he comes across, I'm telling him to start talking to people and recruit them the way people join groups in real life - through social interaction.

Some people don't want to trudge through pages of outfit ads on a forum. The majority of players aren't on the forum to begin with.

If he wants any of those players, he has to actively recruit - send them a /tell, start a conversation about his outfit and what they do, and see if the person is interested. Most people are not going to go to an external website, they are recruited in-game. Every time I've joined an outfit it's been through in-game interactions, not searching through the Classified ads on the PS2 forum.