Preliminary Poll: Fellowship Communication & Administrative Tools

[Genefer]

I know this would be considered an idea & suggestion, but this is more a rough idea at this point and would benefit from community input.

What is the purpose of a Fellowship?

Group Activities - Tournament, Spire, Adventures
Community - humans are social.
Support - ideas & suggestions for overcoming challenges.
Resources - larger trading market and more reliable help leveling Ancient Wonders

There are two forms of communication available to manage Fellowships - chat & Messages, and both with the singular function of - send/enter. Information shared in the chat is fleeting and both the chat & message system become cluttered.

We cannot:
Edit
Format
Add media.
Add active links.
Organize information.
Collaborate effectively - Adventures.

Information shared in the chat is fleeting and both the chat & message system become cluttered.

In other words, there are no tools available to support a Fellowship efficiently.

My suggestion - add administrative tools for Fellowship Management
My idea - A Suite of administrative tools and a Workspace

Similar to Office or Google
Word/Docs
Excel/Sheets
PowerPoint/Slides
Forms to manage - AWs & create polls.
Rooms or groups - like a mini forum
Indexing system - folders

I think if Fellowships were able to communicate efficiently - user retention would increase for both the Fellowship & Elvenar.

Please share any ideas - about the need and/or any additional ideas to support fellowships.

 

[Katwick]

Many Fellowships already use a website to suppliment the basic in-game chat and message functions.

A few Fellowships even make a point of advertising available information as their primary means of recruiting like-minded players.

I see no need for half-vast coordination tools, in-game. There are plenty of free or modestly priced general solutions, including Google Docs, which you already mentioned.

 

[Genefer]

True, but that requires members to leave the game.

I was in a very small Fellowship - and we used flock, but that requires the user to provide an email to be invited to the group, and some people do not want multiple emails to keep track of or to share their email with people who are basically anonymous.

Is it convenient to have to go offsite to read an answer to a question asked in chat, because unless stored offsite it will be gone or lost in the clutter?

Also, many people are not comfortable visiting sites shared - do these people not matter?

Obviously, we get by, but not efficiently.

And we are working with a half-vast tool - and I agree it is not effective.

 

[Sprite1313]

A quick search of the ideas and suggestions returned similar requests going back to 2015. Some of those improvements have been made, some have not. I agree that Inno needs to make some changes to the chat function, and would love to see a world chat included and a friend list, but I think getting too in-depth on in-game management tools would kill the bandwidth. Imagine trying to run that on a phone.

https://us.forum.elvenar.com/index.php?threads/request-c-p-links.703/

https://us.forum.elvenar.com/index.php?threads/player-contact-list.1353/

https://us.forum.elvenar.com/index.php?threads/messages-improvement.2677/

https://us.forum.elvenar.com/index.php?threads/fellowship-tools.5597/

https://us.forum.elvenar.com/index.php?threads/intra-fellowship-communication.6702/

https://us.forum.elvenar.com/index.php?threads/messaging-to-mages-only.28482/

 

[Genefer]

Some of those improvements have been made

What was it like before?

After replying to katwick's reply - I realized -in general people are highly resistant to change - "I've been doing it this way and it works fine" even when we know it's doesn't work efficiently - that is what we are familiar with, and nothing needs to change.

I do everything in notepad - it is my scratch paper - entirely disorganized as soon as I close the text - I can never find the information I added not related to the title. It is complete chaos, but this is what I am familiar with, but it is definitely not efficient.

However, there is now a tab system in notepad - so I can have several open - and lose far less information.

 

[Sprite1313]

What was it like before?

I would defer to players who have been around longer than I have for more details, but some of the minor changes that have been implemented that help with management:

- Indicator (browser only, and not 100% reliable) of who all is online (/who still works better)
- Filters for notifications
- Filters for fellowship trades
- Ability to select FS members in the mail system, instead of having to either select the entire FS, or manually enter player names
- Notifications lasting longer (this is partly a product of the different tabs for different types of notifications)

I didn't even copy all of the threads asking for a better way to manage FAs. Many of those touch on the challenges of communicating and managing an FA, and some basically talk about being able to share something like @Lelanya's spreadsheet in-game. There are a lot of players that won't use external sites, or don't want to add a chat app, along with game chat. So, I get it.

I like the idea of improved communications. However, the fact that some even simpler changes (world chat, contact list, easy way to insert emojis without a browser extension or having to know keyboard shortcuts) haven't been implemented, I can't see a major overhaul like this making the cut.

 

[Genefer]

Ability to select FS members in the mail system, instead of having to either select the entire FS, or manually enter player names

This is not available for PC

Filters for sorting in the trader & notifications are for individuals not a Fellowship. They make it easier for the individual to help Fellowship member trades far more convenient, but it is not group communication.

Notifications are not interactive - they are restricted to who gave neighborly help and who accepted your trade offers. This does not improve Fellowship communication.

The only improvement that can be categorized as Fellowship communication is the ability to select multiple members individually, and that is not available to PC users.


But you're right - it is not something Inno would invest in - if they won't even add a basic editor & the ability to post images.....

 

[Lelanya]

Improvements. Yep there've been some.
My mentor would write and teach me things, in the first couple of weeks that I played, and a few days later, he would delete the mail, and I would lose it too! When I asked him about it he said Make a note of it.

I kind of remember when mail didn't always work in someone else's city (but maybe that was a bug).

Hmm we had to clear out the inbox and outbox or it the mail would get jumbled, and sort of lock up.

All of the above was in the first half of 2016. Later on, the next winter maybe, mail notices got all weird and didn't come through correctly.

Ugh, and then when FA was introduced, face palm! Some would get group mail but others wouldn't. Chat worked intermittently, suddenly, no one was talking, we'd reload, to find 30 chat messages we'd missed. Could send out group mail, and no one would see it until I posted on it again. Then there was the glitch where the time stamp didn't work, and fights broke out over who owed what to whom, wrt swaps.

Yep there's a reason I maintain a Discord server for my crews.

 

[Moho]

After replying to katwick's reply - I realized -in general people are highly resistant to change - "I've been doing it this way and it works fine" even when we know it's doesn't work efficiently - that is what we are familiar with, and nothing needs to change.

I am not like that. I sometimes oppose the change simply because it looks like a regress.

But I support your idea. Unfortunately, I have seen it discussed before and it seems that Inno is not interested in implementing something superior. If this is true, it may be because it looks like a bad investment to them, or they are against complex forms of communication between players. Both of these things might cause them to lose money.

 

[Katwick]

I realized -in general people are highly resistant to change

Not in this case. There are a great variety of folks who use PROVEN tools to deal with common problems, rather than reinventing the wheel.

Just as an obvious example, https://xenforo.com/ is the vendor for this forum. InnoGames didn't write their own code. Why would you expect them to do something even more elaborate in-game, to support the very few players who would a} Use it, and z) Maintain it?

 

[elvenbee]

On the other hand, there is also a lot of players that refuse to move outside the platform, despite having better capabilities. They tend to be older, so more than likely they don't want to learn something new. Would they use these tools if provided in platform? They probably don't even know the answer to that because it would depend on accessibility and how easy it is to navigate them. Typically, younger people (like myself) would use Google Suite tools and send out info in messages, formatted specifically for how Elvenar messages send.

I do think some additional in-game tools to help your Fellowship would be great. The ability to send pictures in messages to receive/give help would be phenomenal. Making the chat a bit easier on mobile, I always have to pre-type my chat messages in my phone notepad then copy & paste. Push notifications for chat/messages would be great during FA's.

However, for the 'administrative' tools, I do think that would be a lot of time, effort, and money for features that might go over well and might be used by a smaller percentage, while increasing Inno cost [which means Inno will find ways to charge us in turn], increasing bandwidth usage and requiring more space on mobile? No thank you. I'd rather stick with Google Suite.

 

[Yavimaya]

I don't like how the app you cannot send website links that will actually show up blue and be able to click them and get straight to that website. An actual link not just typing the long thing out then having to write it all down bc long then open up browser and type it all in yourself.
I also would love to be able to send screenshots or photos in the app version. Would be very helpful as once again my point above to cannot put links in fs chat or mail.

 

[Sprite1313]

Typically, younger people (like myself) would use Google Suite tools and send out info in messages

Whereas older folks (like me) will use an abacus, and scrawl our findings on the cave walls to be discovered and misinterpreted millennia later.

 

[Sprite1313]

I do think some additional in-game tools to help your Fellowship would be great. The ability to send pictures in messages to receive/give help would be phenomenal. Making the chat a bit easier on mobile,

100% this - especially a better way to help people understand game mechanics. A picture is worth a thousand words, and some players just aren't/can't/won't go to an external source for a game.

 

[crackie]

This game has mostly turned into chatting for me. I can already do what I need to do fairly well with what I currently have so I don't have a lot of FOMO about events or chapters. I'm definitely not here for the storyline as I haven't even read it in 10+ chapters. I'm mostly here to have interesting conversations with interesting people, especially the international ones to give perspective about how crazy we are in the states. That, to me, has surpassed game play in entertainment value. Like many others, we've moved to discord for added functionalities. A lot of our chat takes place on discord too since one might only need 2 minutes to sweep in their city to collect/reset, but discord is open even when the game isn't. Therefore, it would be nice if they fixed/improve the chat system, but they're already way behind the curve where they've driven us to 3rd party solutions that now can exist independent of their game. I can stop playing and still keep in touch with people I want to keep in touch with, which is good for me, but bad for them. If they did fix the chat, we'd might spend more time in the game itself.

Of course, some players are content to be solo creatures and never type a word in chat though so it matters not at all what Inno does. They'll still be the ones to never reply to group threads no matter how many bells and whistles are implemented. They're fine too, but we reserve the right to make up their backstories.

Whereas older folks (like me) will use an abacus, and scrawl our findings on the cave walls to be discovered and misinterpreted millennia later.

The only archeologists that can interpret Sam's wall will be the descendants of @MaidenFair.

 

[Sprite1313]

The only archeologists that can interpret Sam's wall will be the descendants of @MaidenFair.

 

[defiantoneks]

i understand the need for better communication. I would not want to suggest having some huge suite of improvements. not to poo poo someone else's ideas, but i don't want a lot of administration added.

what I would like to see:

- the ability to send images and functional links. this one's touchy, but as long as messages are limited to FS only you should not have abuse.
- some capacity to keep permanent messages, so that tips and tricks are stored. perhaps a separate board that is not a message to the group, and would stay in place for newcomers without having to re-copy them to the message
- some capacity to set a pinned message. for instance, "Green for Path 1" or "Spire Push Week" in chat or as a flag on the play screen (something obvious and not in the mail, which some people dont read). maybe for AM or Mage only.
- the ability (as others have stated) to send mail to FS members based on rank or frankly any other criteria, with only a checkbox or some other simple way instead of having to type out names
- ability to set an "away" message and/or status

 

[Lelanya]

Right? Just to add, I never forget a guy I mentored in Elvenar, who would  erase mail right after reading it.
I mean, some things  are important.
"Oh you got mail." ... "You deleted it. What did it say?" "They're going to disband the fellowship." "WHAT? When? Why?" "I don't know, I deleted the mail".
Um

A couple of weeks later - "They booted me out of the fellowship, I wonder why".
"Oh let me see. They probably merged with another group, only you deleted the instructions on where to go."

 

[ajqtrz]

Whereas older folks (like me) will use an abacus, and scrawl our findings on the cave walls to be discovered and misinterpreted millennia later.

I've taken it upon myself to read the cave walls and put them into the latest format with which I am familiar. Clay tablets and cunieform. I'm still a little behind all the new tech stuff, but I'll get there. My only problem is finding the proper stylus for the clay I use. Sigh.

AJ