New Player Experience: Would you participate in a sort of "Mentor" system?

CodeVertigo · 2013-01-07, 03:12 AM

Was up late last night and got to thinking about the whole New Player Experience thing. You know, the one that teaches you basically nothing about the game at all and drops clueless newbies in the middle of either a clusterfuck or an empty base. I began wondering if it could be replaced by some kind of player-driven "mentoring" system of some kind.

The rough idea is that a more senior player might be able to spend a small, but not insignificant amount of certs into being able to flag/unflag themselves as a mentor (say, I don't know, 50-75 certs). People first logging into the game will be asked via dialogue box whether they would like to learn from a mentor. If they choose to do so, a small symbol will appear next to players that have their "Mentor" flag on. They can then directly go to these mentors for help and instruction in playing the game.

In theory, this has potential benefits for all if it works. SOE can save money making an actual tutorial, newbies still get a directed first experience with the added bonus of being able to ask questions, outfits have a more natural source for recruitment and the community overall could become more appealing and welcoming to new players.

Of course, the success of such a system would obviously depend on the people that would go out of their way to perform this mentoring. There is the very real possibility that nobody would do it at all because their game-time is precious, implying that incentives are necessary, but introducing incentives may result in people doing it for the wrong reasons, or attempting to exploit the system.

The question I suppose I'm asking is this - if there were such a mentoring system, would you participate? If so, why, and how many people would you be willing to take on at once? If not, why not?

Thanks for your time.

AThreatToYou · 2013-01-07, 03:53 AM

Sure, It's a good idea and I'd pay into it (certs),

but I can almost guarantee you, 75% of the players who sign in for mentor are just going to troll or not listen. Teaching is hard...

The real thing you'd do is pop 6-12 people all for one mentor at the warpgate in a squad. after that, it's up to the mentor what happens.

SeraphC · 2013-01-07, 04:11 AM

Communication to make such a system work is hard enough in games where you have a solid text chat (and have the time to use it). To explain this game (or at least some aspects of it) would require large volumes of text. The game simply does not facilitate it.

I think it would help if they added a newbie forum on the official boards, but many people wouldn't find their way there.

Stanis · 2013-01-07, 04:55 AM

For every good mentor, there will be at least one bad one.

For each time a mentor is needed, someone will be too busy, distracted or just plain lazy.

Everyone needs the same introductory experience.
I said in a previous post that a lot of timers and restrictions should be lifted on the First Character per account.
Until BR10 or the first 12hrs of actual gameplay they should be free to jump around the map, drop in and out of battles, deploy into hot zones.
(A little abusable by 'spies' if you're worried about that sort of thing)

The new user experience should be standard and of the same quality for each player - a giant hook to get them enthused about the game and understanding core mechanics so that they start to make informed (hopefully smart) choices.

Plus, VR training area to fly and drive around in and test guns/certs would be a massive advantage for all players.

Chowley · 2013-01-07, 06:31 AM

I would, I was involved in a mentor system in Eve Online. I enjoyed it I have to say, although there was a hell of a lot more depth to Eve of course

. But ya might help people with this game, i do occasionally see questions in yell/say ingame from baffled players.

stordito · 2013-01-07, 07:54 AM

teaching would be hard, but can you imagine the chaos leading 12 BR1 noobs into battle?
it would require you having a mission system like "go there or i f****** blow your head off with this remote"

Fear The Amish · 2013-01-07, 10:56 AM

Originally Posted by stordito

teaching would be hard, but can you imagine the chaos leading 12 BR1 noobs into battle?
it would require you having a mission system like "go there or i f****** blow your head off with this remote"

its actually not that bad did it first couple days of launch... only problem comes in when they don't have a working mic. just Grabbed a sundie and would advise how to get to me. Then went over all the things on map and in the menu. Then loaded them up and drove them to were my outfit was fighting.

Misato · 2013-01-07, 03:31 PM

Originally Posted by Fear The Amish

its actually not that bad did it first couple days of launch... only problem comes in when they don't have a working mic. just Grabbed a sundie and would advise how to get to me. Then went over all the things on map and in the menu. Then loaded them up and drove them to were my outfit was fighting.

This is what we do. Not having a mic makes things a little more tedious but personally I think it works out in the long run. THey get taught the basics, run with us for a little bit and so on.

RSphil · 2013-01-07, 03:35 PM

sounds good. i help anyone who asks for it in chat atm and the new players i bring to game i always spend the time to teach them what they need to know to enjoy the game and to be useful for the faction

VaderShake · 2013-01-07, 04:35 PM

I seriously do not know why this is such a big deal. I never played PS1 but I have played FPS's/MMO's, I knew nothing of PS2 until I found a trailer for it, I watched it, I hit some websites, Joined a forum asked some questions, read a bit, watched some more vids, and when I spawned in I already knew what the game was about and did not feel like I had "no clue" and "did not know what to do".

I'm not saying SOE can't improve this expirience but is it really that hard for people to read a little and put 2 and 2 together to understand PS2????

OCNSethy · 2013-01-07, 05:24 PM

Most outfits that recruit do have training and mentoring systems.

I like the idea but as said before, you would need the right person to be the mentor. If the mentor is good, then it would work well. If they are not so good, the newbie will get taught nothing and get jaded in the process.

Thanks for putting this idea up, it may not get a run but at least your contributing positively to the community. Kudos.

CodeVertigo · 2013-01-08, 12:03 PM

Okay, thanks for the replies, guys.

So, from what I've read, I take it that a main concern is actually the quality of the mentor in question, and how well they can select information and disseminate it to the newbies.

I would suppose that as long as there is an option to turn the mentor indicator on and off, it would reduce the incidences of low-quality teaching due to the mentor being too busy, distracted or unmotivated. The idea is that if they felt that they did not want to mentor for whatever reason, they could simply turn off the indicator so newbies don't go to them.

The main source of ineffective mentors then would appear to be those who simply aren't as good at teaching, or trolls. Working on the basis that trolls are always going to try (and probably succeed) at beating any system put in place to try and exclude them, I propose that a gating mechanism should instead be focused on making it easier to identify good mentors.

My instinctual suggestion would be some sort of Endorsement system. Think of it as sort of a "thumbs-up" feature (with no "thumbs-down" option), where students attached to a mentor can give them an Endorsement after their tutelage ends (say, maybe when they hit a certain Battle Rank, or a certain amount of XP).

It is a pretty simple system though, with its own problems. So if anyone has any other suggestions for identifying better mentors, I'd like to hear them.

Fear The Amish · 2013-01-08, 01:27 PM

I think the best option would be a "help" chat that you are in until lvl10 except if you exit it. That certain people can volunteer to assist in (like eve), this would allow new players to converse with each other and share idea's as well as get assistance for top level people.

DirtyBird · 2013-01-08, 04:19 PM

I thought I was mentoring last night when a nub ran in to the spawn room firing at my dying MAX.
I suggested that if he wanted to make himself useful to grab an Engy kit and repair me for free XP.
He kept firing and said this was more fun.

I'll try to find one that isn't 11yrs old with ADHD next time.

StumpyTheOzzie · 2013-01-08, 04:19 PM

How about a tutorial?

A virtual reality weapons simulation lab that teaches them how to shoot, cap, hack, pull vehicles, use squad chat to talk to a robot and test their mics for sound and distortion, explain weapon types, bullet drop/degradation, HEvsAPvsHEATvsAA

and THEN have the mentoring thing as an option?

to answer OP, I'm up for mentoring, but I'm a libwhore. So maybe not the best person to be a mentor. Maybe BuzzCutPsycho would be a better choice? At least he plays infantry sometimes and is used to positions of leadership and teaching (Indoctrination? Brainwashing?). And TotalBiscuit too.