Mentors and the Novice Network

SE this was a good experiment.

Have some of the more experienced players in the game help the new players and returners get going.

However, the Novice Network on most servers is a toxic place to where "Mentors" try to rule and moderate like kings trolling and kicking anyone who disagrees with them.

It's time to actually monitor this network and punish these players.

It's not only toxic and harming new players experiences but as a business you should know "unhappy player = cancelled/not renewed sub = less money."

Yeah, it's a good idea overall, but there needs to be some actual oversight. Right now the only thing people can do is kick an offending player (which only lasts a few hours at most) and report them, but SE has really strict requirements on who they'll take reports from and even when the appropriate person reports, they don't seem inclined to take action. Worse still, people can utilize the kick function to harass people who are actually behaving appropriately or otherwise carry out personal vendettas. A lot of the players who are in the channel never help (this is an extra big problem on Balmung where there are so many people the people who do help often can't get in), some even only make their presence known to pick fights and otherwise stir up drama. Even of the players that do offer help, many can be quite condescending and rude about it. I wouldn't really trust additional power in the hands of the players, so it really needs to be up to SE to be a bit more proactive about pruning mentors who do not act in a way that constructively contributes to the channel.

A good solution would be that if someone doesn't chat in the NN once an hour they are removed from it until they select to rejoin.

A big issue is also people who want the crown because, well, they want to be that monarch.

We are helping sprouts so change it to a less wanted watering can. ;P

We have to click an agreement to be helpful and polite when we become a Mentor and every time we equip the crown after.

We need a no nonsense policy where when someone is abusing their power they are removed from the Mentor system permanently.

No questions, no arguments, etc.

The system is here for us to assist new players and not for a special mount/Roulette.

Like a normal person, I remove my crown when I don't want to field questions and leave the NN.

When I am willing to help I equip it again again then decide whether I'm willing to join the NN and field *THAT* many questions.

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Originally Posted by IhzaMhaskova

A good solution would be that if someone doesn't chat in the NN once an hour they are removed from it until they select to rejoin.

A big issue is also people who want the crown because, well, they want to be that monarch.

We are helping sprouts so change it to a less wanted watering can. ;P

We have to click an agreement to be helpful and polite when we become a Mentor and every time we equip the crown after.

We need a no nonsense policy where when someone is abusing their power they are removed from the Mentor system permanently.

No questions, no arguments, etc.

The system is here for us to assist new players and not for a special mount/Roulette.

Like a normal person, I remove my crown when I don't want to field questions and leave the NN.

When I am willing to help I equip it again again then decide whether I'm willing to join the NN and field *THAT* many questions.

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I like the watering can idea, honestly. I also can't remember if it automatically puts you in NN when you become a mentor. If it does, perhaps it shouldn't. You can be a mentor and access mentor roulette without being in NN, so that would help keep rewards-only "mentors" from clogging up NN.

Personally though, I've never worn the crown other than for the few seconds after becoming a mentor when it was automatically enabled. The only time it displays is if I do mentor roulette, but I rarely touch that because I wouldn't be comfortable leading a lot of the ex content.

Thumbs up for the watering can :D
I'm a mentor because I enjoy helping and advising people, not for some icon. I would wear your watering can with pride.

On our server though NN was a great addition. It's usual a social place and people will gladly answer questions from sprouts or fellow mentors alike.

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Originally Posted by Nixxe

I like the watering can idea, honestly. I also can't remember if it automatically puts you in NN when you become a mentor. If it does, perhaps it shouldn't. You can be a mentor and access mentor roulette without being in NN, so that would help keep rewards-only "mentors" from clogging up NN.

Personally though, I've never worn the crown other than for the few seconds after becoming a mentor when it was automatically enabled. The only time it displays is if I do mentor roulette, but I rarely touch that because I wouldn't be comfortable leading a lot of the ex content.

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Same.

I steered away now because I'm crap at Sephirot and Zurvan and don't want to give bad advice or destroy a group.

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Originally Posted by Lelila38

Thumbs up for the watering can :D
I'm a mentor because I enjoy helping and advising people, not for some icon. I would wear your watering can with pride.

On our server though NN was a great addition. It's usual a social place and people will gladly answer questions from sprouts or fellow mentors alike.

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It stays pretty good on Exodus but we are a much smaller server than most.

Well, medium~ish sized.

I can't imagine it on large servers, though.

We deal with the occasional troll but the horror stories I've heard from the big servers....

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Originally Posted by IhzaMhaskova

It stays pretty good on Exodus but we are a much smaller server than most.

Well, medium~ish sized.

I can't imagine it on large servers, though.

We deal with the occasional troll but the horror stories I've heard from the big servers....

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Yeah, I've heard those too and I'm sorry for what NN has become on those servers. I agree they need a better way of monitoring and regulating it.
I'm Cactuar, I believe these days we're counted among the higher pop servers. I'm glad that apart from the occasional spam or troll post our network is rather friendly and helpful and I hope it stays like this.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lelila38

I'm a mentor because I enjoy helping and advising people, not for some icon.

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I'm a mentor because that's what happens when you try and get all the mounts/minions, and level all the classes(minus crafters really..)

The Novice Network, in my opinion, is one of the most toxic chat rooms in an MMO (on SOME servers) I have ever seen. And I HAVE seen some pretty bad chat rooms in my day.

You know it's bad when you have mentors who get PERMA banned for the things they said in Novice Chat (I wont go into the details of their perma ban but lets just say that was the least SE could do).

In my opinion, the mentor program needs to be edited severely. I will gladly give up the title so SE can do a more stringent selection process where they can get Mentors who really helped. It wasn't about ego. It was about being helpful.

I was involved with EQ2 and EVE's mentor process. It was pretty strict. But because of that strict nature, you had mentors who...actually mentored.

If SE completely scrapped the program now, I would not be upset. Create a space for new people who receives help from people are who mature and knowledgeable enough to help new players.