Holding mentors accountable?

[Rymm]

I will absolutely agree Novice Network (and really, all of the chat channels in general) need to be better moderated. Honestly, the game feels like Lord of the Flies sometimes.

As for more specifically, I can only speak for Lamia's NN, but by and large it works as intended. Not that people there (sprouts and mentors alike) don't occasionally disagree or argue, but I've never personally seen the pettiness or outright lying to sprouts that others have described from their servers. We're pretty chill and while a lot of the time it's just random chitchat in the channel, most of the mentors there jump at the chance to help sprouts- or even other mentors. All I can suggest to other people who don't have such pleasant experiences with their NN: be the change you want to see; get the crown and do your best to be positive and helpful. Even if you are just one person and can't change the overall tone of your NN channel, you are still helping those sprouts you are interacting with.

That being said, I don't wear the crown next to my name when doing DF (I sometimes leave it on while walking around cities in case I bump into a sprout who wants a NN invite) because of the times I've been outright verbally attacked in parties, before I can even type "Hi." Too many people with bad experiences with mentors see the crown and automatically assume I'm an arrogant *sshole and decide to be preemptive in "putting me in my place" (<someones actual words in one DF.) After I had enough of that, I switched it off. It's not like I can't help people just as well without the crown turned on as with it.

[Dogempire]

I've never been a mentor myself because I don't have any interest in tanking classes, but I've run into some mentors that make me question whether they're really qualified to be a mentor or not.

Heck, I've had a mentor cleave me with a tankbuster before and I gave them advice telling them to make sure the boss faces away from the party when he does his tankbuster to avoid cleaving and he started yelling at me, calling me a noob, and telling me to talk to him when I have a tank at level 70. Truly the kind of person you want advising new players when they can't even take constructive criticism themselves.

At this point I'm perfectly fine with just giving people advice whenever they seem to be having trouble instead of putting a crown above my head and acting like I'm qualified to advise everyone.

[Lukha]

I've been a mentor forever but I left the NN immediately because of the trolling and bickering.

How long ago was this? We run a pretty tight ship on Adamantoise these days. The chat is active and friendly, even if it does tend to be all over the place, and if someone asks a question people jump to answer. We've had a few serious troublemakers in the past, but they've been dealt with.

We actually get a lot of sprouts who grind out mentor status before they hit the last HW quest so they don't get suddenly kicked out into silence. The lack of any sort of global general chat can make the game feel downright desolate at times.

[KaivaC]

I like the idea of a general chat, but now that I'm really thinking about it, I could see it turning into a spam zone - particularly with RMT advertisement and probably naming and shaming over petty things. Certainly don't have enough experience with other MMOs to make a solid suggestion about alternatives, either. As for other NNs, thank you for clarifying the situation with other servers - I am only experienced with 4 NNs, but I do, or did, have a curiosity about how the NN worked on JP servers. Honestly, maybe the idea of holding mentors accountable is a losing battle. As I said in my OP, I reported a mentor who made some highly disturbing comments and to my knowledge, nothing really had been done, at least during that week when I made the report. I've been avoiding my server's NN this week

[LineageRazor]

Sometimes I wonder if Gilgamesh is the only Novice Network that got it right. I won't say we're a flawlessly oiled machine 24/7, but in general folks get along and newbies get help when they ask for it. I see more novices lamenting that their sprout is almost expired than I see asking to leave the channel. I see posts suggesting the Mentor system be abolished, and I'm just agog - in my experience, Novice Network and the Mentor system are an incredibly positive addition to the game, even factoring in the occasional bad egg.

I do have to point out though, that in the situation the OP wrote up, the mentors actually WERE being helpful, in their own eyes. They were warning a novice away from a job that they considered not to be "meta". Their attitude could certainly use some adjustment, but they were actually TRYING to mentor, in their own way. Far too many mentors don't even put forth even that level of effort - even on Gilgamesh.

[TSLsmokey]

Can't speak for other worlds but at the very least on Mateus' network, it's actually working pretty well where all can ask questions. Granted it's the only one I have contact with these days so my view is skewed. I would honestly love to have all mentors accountable rather than the laissez-faire attitude we currently have but at least it seems on my own world it's fine without it.

[Usho]

Cerberus only here.

The mentors are a depressing joke. Most give out false information, tell you what to play and HOW to play it and generally what they said is flat out wrong, that is when they aren't busy arguing with each other. And the best part, I used to be a sprout, I called them out on the false information, I got kicked from the network. I rejoined later, asked why I got kicked. The response was "don't argue with a mentor we know better" even though they were as intelligent as a goldfish and the information being given to people was flat out wrong.

No one holds mentors accountable, no one talks back to them, and they don't listen to anyone because their ego of being a mentor is massive. Honestly, these people need to be banned. Not have mentor status removed, but outright permanently suspend their service accounts as they are extremely toxic to the playerbase.

I've had a lot of people tell me I should rush for the crown and be a mentor. But for what? The mentor crown honestly disgusts me. I will never have that crown next to my name simply because it is disgusting. And it is that way because of the majority of the players.

That's because Mentors are also players, just like you, so putting them on a "higher standard" is kinda pointless. Some join for sake of helping newbies, some join for the sake of wearing the sexy gold crown next to their name. Some offer advice, some offer trolling, just like any regular player. It's a mixed bag, so you kinda gotta sort though it to find the best person. I'm not defending bad mentors, I'm just saying that suggesting that SE perma-ban bad mentors cause they are "toxic" is just dumb and wishful thinking. Would you want SE to ban a non-mentor player for giving bad advice or not being the "expert" just cause he or she is knowledgeable about the game? Hmm? Despite being bad, they are also players and they also pay their sub fee, like you or any other player.



Also, there's no point in holding mentors accountable cause it accomplishes nothing. As I said, they are also players, and a vast majority of players, even good mentors, aren't exactly fountains of knowledge or high maturity. I do agree that the mentor system is kind of a joke, and novice network (mentor chat) is a mixed bag of bullcrap, memes, trolls and s*x addicts, but there are good mentors out there who actually do care. My own suggestion is that you take the good with the bad and just deal with it. Mentors, good or bad ain't going no where. Mentor chat ain't going anywhere any time soon. And SE is perfectly fine and complicit with the current form of their mentor system.


Ninja Edit: Blisting bad mentors can help your frustration or you can just turn off Novice Network to save your sanity.





/2 cents

[KaivaC]

Ninja Edit: Blisting bad mentors can help your frustration or you can just turn off Novice Network to save your sanity.

I admit, I just kind of gave up on trying to help. Something as simple as me pointing out a website that could help new players as an option with their squadron missions ends up mentors telling me that I'm being reported for breaking ToS. I'm just going to leave the NN and whatever happens, happens.

[Canadane]

All these stories about the NN makes me really appreciate Hyperion's network.
Of course there's issues now and then but it never seems to escalate much. Even the worst trolls we had have cut their shenanigans out and have for a while.

[SenorPatty]

Greetings from Sarg

I've been in NN at least 4 times, one of those times as a sprout, a mentor and a returnee.

The experience was normal, though veering a lot at times on casual chat. What I did appreciate though was that mos times when someone asked a game related question, the social chat took a pause, the question was addressed and then they resumed.

This is from a limited scope though, mostly Mon-Fri, between the hours of 6pm-9pm EST and random times during weekends.