Recruiting "Find Members"

[Elf Emma]

This was in the General Discussion but I think it really deserves a 2nd look by Inno.

The "Find Members" is basically useless as it currently exists.

My suggestions would be that the list generated actually attempt to match make players with fellowships seeking new members.

Elvenstats indicates the type of players that would be good matches for a fellowship based on points and boosts. Take that a step further by including tourney and spire track records. And of course only provide names of players that are active and actually looking for or wanting to change their fellowship alliance. A timer on how long players name will appear in the list is also a good idea.

These are just my suggestions.

Anyone else want to comment?

 

[samidodamage]

I agree that in-game recruiting needs improvement and this would be much better for mobile recruiting. There is no 'find members' on the browser version at all. In order for this to move beyond us just all talking amongst ourselves and actually get in front of someone who has the authority to make the changes, you'll need to review this post for requirements and how that process works. Basically, a player posts an idea following the outline of necessary components, a discussion ensues, the player edits the original idea to include any changes appropriate due to the discussion, then asks Helya to put up an official poll once the idea is all polished and ready. Players only vote on what is in the original post and one should assume the discussion is only seen by the other posters on the forum, since that post is what the devs see. If voting is in favor of the idea, it's forwarded to Helya's list to be submitted to all the CM's for voting. The top 3 ideas in a 2wk voting period from that group are sent on to the devs.

ElvenStats is a player run site that can only gather information in-game that anyone could see by visiting all the cities. Also, his family has had 2 bundles of joy appear since he opened the site and his time to update the site for features launched since creation is severely curtailed, albeit for the best of reasons!

Providing in-game resources directly from Inno would be the best option, imo. Then, of course, we run into the privacy laws of the various countries where Elvenar has a presence. Those can limit the amount of data that can be revealed on a player's activity level. It can be debated whether those laws are an actual hurdle or just a convenient excuse to avoid complex programming, but either way it still limits what the company can/is willing to do. I think I'd avoid trying to get parity between mobile/browser for this idea and just stick with improving what's available on mobile. That will avoid the 'what we need to do first for parity between mobile and browser' arguments. I'm old with fat fingers and bad eyes and generally don't care for my 8" tablet's mobile screen, but if it had a usable recruiting tool, I'd get over it, and might even buy a 10" tablet, lol! That could be listed as a pro: drive more players to the mobile app; this is generally viewed as a positive by the company as growth on the mobile platform is greater than that on browser.

As to the idea itself: maybe an 'opt-in' from players on the 'available for FS' list? Those who aren't interested wouldn't be listed; those who are would be. I haven't actually looked at this tool on mobile yet, will try to do so later today and come back if I I have further comments.

 

[SoggyShorts]

Anyone else want to comment?

Filters.
If a FS was allowed to add recruitment filters then only players who fit could join.
If a player was able to add filters then they would only find FS with similar goals.

 

[Elf Emma]

Thank you both for taking the time to respond.

 

[crackie]

If a player was able to add filters then they would only find FS with similar goals.

I feel like that's what they were trying to do with the Trophy case, but failed miserably. Although I could be completely wrong as lately, it feels like I play a different game than the product designers. Perhaps those trophies are just pretty stickers that serve no purpose other than stroke egos. Like it is not at all useful in letting us know the TOTAL number of Spire crystals a FS has acquired if we don't know how long that FS has been in existence or when the Trophy case started tallying. If they're a casual FS that's been around forever, they can slowpoke their way to a pile of TOTAL Spire crystals at a turtle rate of one crystal a week, but that in no way, shape, or form mean they are an active Spire FS. Same with tourney chests. Elvenstats show us AVERAGE tourney chests and that's infinitely more useful to help someone figure out if that's a good fit when shopping for a FS. Tell us the AVERAGE tourney chest from 1-19, and AVERAGE Spire crystal from 1-12 that they achieve weekly.

 

[Elf Emma]

Filters.
If a FS was allowed to add recruitment filters then only players who fit could join.
If a player was able to add filters then they would only find FS with similar goals.

I like the idea of filters but I am not sure that would solve the joining the "right" fellowship issues that exist. Especially true for players that are currently in a fellowship but need a better fit for their play style and don't want to be without a fellowship while they conduct a search for another one.

And the other "recruiting" problem for seasoned fellowships seeking experienced and active players when all those players are already in a fellowship.

How do you see that working?

 

[SoggyShorts]

I like the idea of filters but I am not sure that would solve the joining the "right" fellowship issues that exist.

Aside from personality which is a crapshoot, I think joining the "right FS" is mostly all about goals.

• Spire Level,
• tournament chests,
• FAs

and the rest boils down to a few keywords

• "Casual/laid back" or "dedicated" or "hardcore"
• "training" or "experienced" or

For newer/smaller FS add in boosts if you want to filter those as well

Basically take the overview pages and make them into drop-down filters.

And the other "recruiting" problem for seasoned fellowships seeking experienced and active players when all those players are already in a fellowship.

How do you see that working?

I don't really have a fix for that. There seems to be a pretty big gap between new players and seasoned with relatively few in the middle. Much of this is because of Innos decision to make 8 identical servers, but also some rewards like Blueprints and gold spire are rather "all or nothing", and only very few players are willing to put in Gold Spire amounts of time into a game like this.
Those that do all get the exact same rewards, so there's really no reason to pick one FS over another after that point other than personality, which as I said, is a crapshoot.

The result is that the advanced FS become a little incesteous. If I look at any of the other Gold FS there are a couple of players who used to be in ours and ours is full of players who used to be in others.


So I suppose that turning more new into experienced players is the fix, and good luck with that

 

[Elf Emma]

Thx Soggy!

 

[samidodamage]

I took a look at that mobile 'find members' tool; not impressed. There was a huge difference in my 2 cities: KWorld had a scrolling list of possible recruits; EWorld had 8 possible recruits. When I tapped the button to see more, I got the same 8 names. Not sure what's up with that, will look into it more later. I'd still need to be on my tablet while having ElvenStats open on browser to check out the players, though I guess it's a starting point...

I think part of the issue of recruiting is varying definitions of some of the common terms used, for example: Casual FS. There can be a variety of groups that fit within this descriptions: an FS of mostly daily players can be casual as can an FS of mostly weekend warriors who drop in quickly during the workweek for collections/resets only, but play off & on throughout the day Sat/Sun. Those less than daily player FSs may have an occasion where they decide to play competitively in the Spire as a 'push' one week. The daily player FSs may be consistent tourney players, less so in Spire and competitive in FA's. The ability to use the filters to communicate that may be harder than it appears.

Including filters to indicate interest level in spire/tourney/FA's would be a great help. NH visits to FS members required/wk is a good indicator of frequency of play expected from the FS. Tourney/Spire minimums are a great indicator of what the expectations of the FS are in terms of dedication, but there are other levels of dedication as well. That casual, mostly daily player FS may consistently reach Silver Spire, but will never be a 'Gold every week' FS. A weekend warrior player may top the Spire every Sunday, but do much less in the tourney and hate the FA's. Making it easier to start a conversation for an FS looking for members or players looking for an FS would be helpful in sussing all that out. Maybe it could somehow be included as part of the 'invitation' or 'application'.

 

[able99]

Then, of course, we run into the privacy laws of the various countries where Elvenar has a presence. Those can limit the amount of data that can be revealed on a player's activity level. It can be debated whether those laws are an actual hurdle or just a convenient excuse to avoid complex programming, but either way it still limits what the company can/is willing to do.

I've seen this issue about "Privacy Laws" brought up numerous times in many discussion.
Someone has to explain it to me because I would think privacy concerns is for people. Here we are talking about fictional cities, in fictional worlds occupied by strange races and Avatars.
I believe INNO's obligation is to keep peoples identity secret and not reveal the person behind the Avatar. No one knows my real name or identity, or my email address, or the city I live in. or even if I am male or female or other. If I choose disclose anything about my true identity then you have to consider if it is true or not.
I am not an attorney, but think INNOs obligation is simply not to reveal the true identity of us Avatars. Avatars do not have rights as long as INNO does not connect an Avatar to a real identifiable person.