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Why don't we have an official Mentor Program; or Global Help Chat in SWTOR anymore?


Kass

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I was grinding up my BH to 75 via Heroics (I only run story on my Main, after the Class stories), and I was just queing up teleport for the next Heroic, when in Dromund Kaas General Chat I see "I'm so lost"; just as I teleport.

 

I would have helped the player, and It reminded me that some games have a formal Mentor Program.

 

Maybe Global "Help Chat" needs to come back and be a thing again - and be on the chat tabs by Default, and then can be removed through Chat Settings?

 

I'm sure some of us Veterans aren't so jaded to not... pass on what (we) have learned?

 

(Maybe I'm miss remembering, or thinking of a different game, but I could have swore that we used to have an active Help Chat in this game?? - 10 years is a long time... so not sure if I'm even close to the mark on this one)

Edited by Kass
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Who would approve of what player is permitted to "mentor"? Where would BW find the time/resources for personnel to do this, or monitor what is going on in a mentor program or chat help channel?

 

Have you seen how crazy some people are in the game and on these forums? I've legitimately come away disturbed by what I read sometimes in general chat. I know some people are "trolls", but I think others actually just express what they believe.

 

The best thing you can do as a veteran player that does want to help someone new out is answer those questions when you see them, and potentially refer them to what you know is a welcoming guild/environment for newer players. Then they can simply ask questions in guild chat and have them answered properly.

 

I generally don't post on the forums much except lately with the PTS testing, so I don't know what the rules are, but, at least on Star Forge, all the Sanctuary-related guilds are a good place to refer them to. Those guilds are run by really nice people, have rules that keep things civil and focused on just the game, people that run all levels of content (from the most basic solo PVE to NiM Ops and Ranked PVP and literally everything else in the game), and are genuinely a good place for someone brand new to learn about the parts of the game they're interested in and their class.

 

There's no doubt more responsible/friendly guilds out there for newer people, so maybe others can chime in on who they have experience with on their particular server.

Edited by arunav
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Who would approve of what player is permitted to "mentor"? Where would BW find the time/resources for personnel to do this, or monitor what is going on in a mentor program or chat help channel?

 

/snip

 

Volunteer Program made up of screened players that act as Moderators in a Global Help Channel that is open for anyone to solicit or offer assistance. Trolls get chat bans or account suspensions; Administrated by the SWTOR Community Relations Team.

 

ditto to what arunav said...

...

I don't recall seeing a global help channel...

 

And now I remember which game does this successfully - Star Trek Online.

 

They have a successful Gobal Help Chat that has volunteer Mentors and rando Veterans that can help answer questions. Also Guilds would jump all over the chance to offer help that might market themselves to a potential new player.

 

This Doom and Gloom Bantha Podoo everyone loves to post is all great and everything, but there's far more good players that want to help, love their community, and want to see new players successful, than there are people that 'act' like they want to see it all burn.

 

I mean JUST LOOK AT MY SIGNATURE, yet I'm here proposing a Community based solution to a new player issue/dilemma that is re-occuring. Proving that no matter how much a troll you might be in one thread, post, or environment... does not mean you won't be an angle in another helping newbies with advice under the watchful eye of mods...

 

And if someone were to abuse such a chat anyway, and then try to defraud a new player out of credits or a rare item, then a simple addition to the Customer Service options menu for complaining against a 'mentor' or other other player would trigger an "OPEN UP FBI" response from Bioware and Customer Service GMs and the troll would get their virtual teeth kicked in.

 

There's way way too many people that can help, and just need a program administered through the Community Relations Team and JackieKo & Co. (see what I did there :d_cool: ) to take volunteer applications.

 

If games like EVE Online can have a whole player elected government, you need to stop pretending that we are so uncivilized in SWTOR to not also make this type of volunteer based community Help initiative work under the auspices of Bioware in case there are any attempts to subvert what otherwise would be a great idea.

 

So stop with the :mon_trap:

 

Many other games have done this, continue to do it, and SWTOR would benefit from emulating the successes of a few of these in-game Help initiatives.

 

Now exactly which program or programs to emulate - that ofc needs to rest with JackieKo & Co. :d_wink:

Edited by Kass
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I don't think the SWTOR team has the human power to govern and monitor a player-based help chat.

The best we could do is to help ppl in chat when we see it. Most of the time ppl's question got the correct answer.

Some ppl actually whispered me back to ask more questions, I help when I could.

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I don't think the SWTOR team has the human power to govern and monitor a player-based help chat.

The best we could do is to help ppl in chat when we see it. Most of the time ppl's question got the correct answer.

Some ppl actually whispered me back to ask more questions, I help when I could.

 

I can't claim to know the company side management of such a official volunteer program where you select and interview applicants to act as unpaid moderators on behalf of the company for such a channel, who then monitor the chat and facilitate a Global Help Chat...

 

But... the one in Star Trek Online works very well, and other games with a official volunteer program seem to do fine, and I can't imagine there being virtually any overhead to doing this other than giving and existing Community Relations Team member(s) the additional responsibility of reviewing and approving volunteer applications, and now and again secretly monitoring the Global Help Chat - no different than is done currently on the Forums (minus the volunteer part).

 

I still think it could work! :d_cool:

Edited by Kass
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I was grinding up my BH to 75 via Heroics (I only run story on my Main, after the Class stories), and I was just queing up teleport for the next Heroic, when in Dromund Kaas General Chat I see "I'm so lost"; just as I teleport.

 

I would have helped the player, and It reminded me that some games have a formal Mentor Program.

You could have very easily whispered them after you teleported. Why didn't you?

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You could have very easily whispered them after you teleported. Why didn't you?

 

I couldn't catch the full spelling of a semi-complicated name... no other reason. Getting a bit old I guess. :hope_08:

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I couldn't catch the full spelling of a semi-complicated name... no other reason. Getting a bit old I guess. :hope_08:

 

Not to be nit picky, and you are absolutely not obliged to help if you're busy, but isn't their name in the chat log and you just right click it to bring up several options including whisper? Even after you port the chat log still has the person asking for help.

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The only type of mentor system that has ever worked in my experience is the type of mentor system that lvl sync people down to the lvl that the helped player is at and give additional experience while awarding the mentor some kind of prize for his effort.

 

The type of mentor that ffxiv has for example is a complete disaster because the mentor chat channel is filled with trolls misinformation and spam. Alot of the mentors dont know what they are talking about and the community has generally accepted that the image of a mentor is a guy with a burgerking crown that sucks at the game. It has completely failed to do what it set out to do.

 

and anything relating to giving certain players higher authority over other players in terms of punishment/investigating/reporting/modding is a terrible idea because many mmos in the past tried this years ago and it just ended up turning into an abusive system that overall led to scandals or creating a bad image for the game.

 

Any real mentorship should come from your guild in my opinion but thats being idealistic cause alot of guilds cant pull off good organization and leadership.

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Not to be nit picky, and you are absolutely not obliged to help if you're busy, but isn't their name in the chat log and you just right click it to bring up several options including whisper? Even after you port the chat log still has the person asking for help.

 

:d_eek:

 

Dang you're right... I didn't even think to do that, because the chat auto hid in the next instance and my mind wrongly left me with the idea that since I had changed instances, that was that...

 

Now I feel really bad I didn't help that player /facepalm

Edited by Kass
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...

 

and anything relating to giving certain players higher authority over other players in terms of punishment/investigating/reporting/modding is a terrible idea because many mmos in the past tried this years ago and it just ended up turning into an abusive system that overall led to scandals or creating a bad image for the game.

 

...

 

 

I disagree that the idea proposed would be giving a volunteer player authority or control over another player. Moderating a Chat Channel is not that kind of control.

 

After an application and screening interview, they would be given Moderator authority over "the channel" with prior training and rules and instructions with the ability to PM a on duty Bioware GM; akin to being a part of the Community Relations Team, but as a official volunteer.

 

So again, while the worst case scenario that can be theorized abound, my personal belief is that with a vetting process through the Community Relations Team, good and knowledgeable players will step forward to help, and will jump through the application and screening hoops for a chance to be more deeply a part of SWTOR as fans and experienced players.

 

This ultimately is a proposal to circumvent the COST of hiring interns or employees to the Community Relations Team staff.

 

If that was proposed the opposition would be that it would be prohibitively expensive visa vi cost vs benefit.

 

This idea removes all those issues, and only requires a management regime instituted by Bioware to over see the volunteers that have been pre-screened to Moderate a Global Help chat channel with back up from GMs and review by the Community Relations Team.

 

Basically this comes down to: Leave things as is, or take a risk and Trust that there are members of the SWTOR Community that aren't total Rakgouls :rak_05:

 

I'd prefer to lean on the - there are more swtorista's in our community than not. :ph_use_the_force:

Edited by Kass
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I disagree that the idea proposed would be giving a volunteer player authority or control over another player. Moderating a Chat Channel is not that kind of control.

 

After an application and screening interview, they would be given Moderator authority over "the channel" with prior training and rules and instructions with the ability to PM a on duty Bioware GM; akin to being a part of the Community Relations Team, but as a official volunteer.

 

So again, while the worst case scenario that can be theorized abound, my personal belief is that with a vetting process through the Community Relations Team, good and knowledgeable players will step forward to help, and will jump through the application and screening hoops for a chance to be more deeply a part of SWTOR as fans and experienced players.

 

This ultimately is a proposal to circumvent the COST of hiring interns or employees to the Community Relations Team staff.

 

If that was proposed the opposition would be that it would be prohibitively expensive visa vi cost vs benefit.

 

This idea removes all those issues, and only requires a management regime instituted by Bioware to over see the volunteers that have been pre-screened to Moderate a Global Help chat channel with back up from GMs and review by the Community Relations Team.

 

Basically this comes down to: Leave things as is, or take a risk and Trust that there are members of the SWTOR Community that aren't total Rakgouls :rak_05:

 

I'd prefer to lean on the - there are more swtorista's in our community than not. :ph_use_the_force:

 

The points I made still stand. The vetting process has been tried. The fact is that people arent likely to be as professional as someone who does it for money and for their career. Prior mmos have shown this to be the case.

 

I know you like to think there are more kind people than bad but if the entirety of the internet is to be used as an example its that theres more bad than good.

 

Regardless, i'll just agree to disagree.

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Amorphous and Nebulous claims of 'has been tried... didn't work' - 'this is the internet everyone is a troll' so do nothing, risk nothing, change nothing...

 

Bantha Poodoo.

 

Either name specific games, or cite gaming news articles, etc. or take a seat.

 

Opinions don't trump facts, and the fact is that Star Trek Online has a vibrant and highly successful Global Help Chat for newbies run by volunteers.

 

And if there are examples of unsuccessful community volunteer initiatives, then learn from that mistaken endeavor...

 

But at least try!

 

If it turns out to be a Dumpster Fire... then you shut the program down.

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