Holding mentors accountable?

[KaivaC]

So I'm at a little bit of a loss about something occurring on my server's novice network. I'm a sprout there, and yesterday, there was a sprout who was asking about how to obtain Samurai. I let them know and almost immediately, had a pair of mentors who said that the sprout shouldn't waste their time on the job. The only thing I said to the sprout after that was to give it a try, and if they like it, go ahead and play with the job as long as they want.

The two mentors jumped on my case about being a sprout and not knowing what I was talking about. I wish I had saved the screenshot, but I ended up just logging off for the night. One of the mentors, I reported for outright pedophilia comments made, which I don't think has gone anywhere.

If my server's novice network isn't busy kicking each other over petty arguments, some give outright false information. I don't want to turn this into a rant post with other examples of things I've seen on my current character, but it just bothers me because some sprouts are getting bad information, others are quitting the network over the petty fighting, and some, like me, just stop paying attention to the network entirely. I don't know if this occurs on other servers, and maybe I'm just caring a little too much, but shouldn't mentors be held accountable for their actions?

[Crystal_Raven]

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.

[Remedi]

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.

Wait what? Is that bad nowadays on the mentor channel?

[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.

[Naryoril]

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.

Thank you very much, but you can keep your insults to yourself. I don't know about your case and we only have your side of the story, but if you acted there the way you act here, i can see why they kicked you.

That said, i am a mentor on Cerberus and i try to help whenever i can, on the network and outside of it. Yes, there are some bad apples in the network, but it's nowhere near the way you describe it here.

I didn't know the sentiment towards the network or mentors is the way people describe it here. But i'm with the few people here that say "If nobody is trying to improve the network because they have heard it's a bad place, it will never improve. So i'll work for that improvement." In the future i'll keep an eye out for the bad apples in there and call them out for it and/or report them.

[silverlunarfox]

As a mentor, I left the Novice Network a long time ago and feel bad for sprouts I see that are possibly in that same network. I just help people outside of it now. It's a shame how the few are ruining the mentor status and what it should stand for. NN needs heavy moderation...as it is now, it will never get better.

[Kaoru_Nagisa]

I still advocate for the entire mentor system to either be abolished entirely, or put under a very critical microscope and reworked so it will actually produce what they had wished for it to in the first place.

Or at the very least, put a small task force on hand to specifically deal with complaints of abusive or disgusting mentors who do not deserve the title whatsoever. As it is now, anyone and their dog could be a mentor - regardless of whether they're actually going to mentor or not. And that isn't scratching the surface of how downright horrible most mentors are in attitude or playstyle.

It is kind of sad that I immediately associate that crown to terrible behavior and crappy skill at the game. And get proven right with that assumption 99% of the time.

[KaivaC]

It feels very much like an NA/EU thing, but it bugs me a lot, especially as I know some of the things being done are just wrong.

[Kaoru_Nagisa]

It feels very much like an NA/EU thing,

And that right there is the problem in its entirety.

JP mentor system, more than likely, works exactly as intended because their entire culture is built around the community instead of the individual.

Mentoring requires that sort of desire to aid the larger community so that we produce more knowledgeable players who go into end game with the necessary skills and information needed to do more than be a bare minimum 2-button lazy dps (or Cure-spam healer. Or a tank who can't hold aggro on anything). But most people on NA/EU only want the mentor title for the shiny glamour next to their nameplate, or for the two-seater pegasus. They don't care about actually fostering a positive, welcoming, or helpful community that aids newer players in their first steps within the game. Half the time, they're the exact same crappy-skilled player they always complain about - and yet never take the time to try and educate someone else so they can better themselves.

Part of the problem is how easy it is to get the mentor title. The current requirements are far too low and too easy to cheese due to our unsync system amongst other things. They really need to reevaluate the requirements and buff them so it's actually a viable method of finding people who deserve to be called a mentor.

That, or - y'know, realize NA/EU is a cesspool and assign a task force to deal with mentor complaints in those data centers.