A New Group for New Players to get Involved

[Deadlyx39]

Now I understand how there was just new people added to the Event Staff, however I propose a new group for those that are new players to help bring in fresh faces towards FFR.

I first thought of this idea, when I realized that since I signed up in September 2014, there has been very few people that have joined the site since then, and many new players sign up only to leave a week later.

How do we as a community get new players into FFR? I propose a new group into the Event Staff called the "Newbie Event Staff". What the Newbie Event Staff would do, is be in charge of finding new players to liven up the community as a whole. I believe that one of the main problems that we see in new players is their unwillingness to stay in the community, thanks in part to the large gap in skill levels found throughout the site and how many of the active players on this site have been around for 5 years or more. Joining into a new community where all you see is all these high skilled players who have been here for possibly even a decade can be quite intimidating to a new player of the D1 variety.

That's why the proposed Newbie Event Staff will consist of players that are in Divisions 1, 2 or 3 and have been on the site for less than three years. Their job - on top of finding new players - will be to hold events for all of these new players to get them accommodated to FFR before they start partaking in the normal events found on FFR, such as User/Official Tournaments.

I feel that the Event Staff and the Newbie Event Staff should be two separate entities. The normal Event Staff can continue doing what they are doing. The Newbie Event Staff should be only to help new players get used to FFR. While it isn't intended, when I first joined the site, it was hard for me to get used to the community, knowing that there was much better people than me and have been on the site for a very long time. That's why the Newbie Event Staff should be made of newer and lower level players only. It bridges the gap for these new players to not feel hesitant about joining the site as they now know they can have a group on the site to turn towards for help integrating themselves into the community.

I'd love to hear some feedback about what you guys think about this. I also realize that "Newbie Event Staff" might not be the best name for the group, but I am terrible trying to name new groups.

[psychoangel691]

The event staff does events that cater to all different levels of skill, even the official tournament having divisions does that. Most places don't have divisions when it comes to tournaments, it's just the best of the best competing.

I'm all for getting new players on but I don't think there has to be another whole staff thing for it. Part of what I'm doing with all this social media stuff is trying to draw more new people in and the YouTube is intended to help newer players understand things about the game/site and get accustom to the community with the player interviews, game showcases, etc.

[YoshL]

events and competitions have never been limited to "only event staff is able to make events and competitions"

[Deadlyx39]

Originally Posted by psychoangel691

The event staff does events that cater to all different levels of skill, even the official tournament having divisions does that. Most places don't have divisions when it comes to tournaments, it's just the best of the best competing.

I'm all for getting new players on but I don't think there has to be another whole staff thing for it. Part of what I'm doing with all this social media stuff is trying to draw more new people in and the YouTube is intended to help newer players understand things about the game/site and get accustom to the community with the player interviews, game showcases, etc.

What I'm saying about this is that I feel that there should be an extra group of willing people that are of a lower skill and fairly new themselves because any potential new players will feel more welcome knowing there's someone that is going to help them get accommodated to the site.

I used divisions because the lower level players will be able to relate better to people that are around their skill level. For example, a new Division 1 type player will be more active on the site if they have a Division 2 or 3 type player helping them get used to the site. They won't have to worry about going up to one of the top D6 or D7 players. While I'm sure most D6 and D7 players would love to help new players, these newbies may feel too intimidated to go to veterans or higher level players.

Originally Posted by YoshL

events and competitions have never been limited to "only event staff is able to make events and competitions"

Maybe using the term "Event Staff" was inappropriate. I used it more to distinguish a group of people that are there to help new players whenever they need it, on top of holding events aimed at getting new players used to the game and the community in general.

EDIT: The term "Getting used to the game" means teaching them about spread and other types of playstyle instead of using the directional keys.

[psychoangel691]

Any user can welcome new people in and help them, any user can make events.

I just see no reason to make an actual staff position out of it, which your first post made it sound like you wanted.

[Deadlyx39]

Originally Posted by psychoangel691

Any user can welcome new people in and help them, any user can make events.

I just see no reason to make an actual staff position out of it, which your first post made it sound like you wanted.

That wasn't the case. This wasn't supposed to be about me. I'm just saying having a specific group designed to help out new people would be very beneficial to the site. Just so new players know exactly who to go to for help or for finding new players.

[psychoangel691]

Originally Posted by Deadlyx39

That wasn't the case. This wasn't supposed to be about me. I'm just saying having a specific group designed to help out new people would be very beneficial to the site. Just so new players know exactly who to go to for help or for finding new players.

Honestly, what would the chances be of the new people finding the group? Is this group just going to constantly contact new players that come on to the site?

As per the ends part, again the YouTube channel is going to have all sorts of tutorials, how to's and information about the site for new people.

[Deadlyx39]

Originally Posted by psychoangel691

Honestly, what would the chances be of the new people finding the group? Is this group just going to constantly contact new players that come on to the site?

As per the ends part, again the YouTube channel is going to have all sorts of tutorials, how to's and information about the site for new people.

For the first part, why not have a page that redirects any players that sign up to FFR listing how to contact anybody on the staff? Where it'll list their name and how to PM them or even contact them through Skype if the staff member chooses to list it. That way they'd have ways to communicate with this new proposed group, as well as all the other members of the staff on the site.

I love the idea of the YouTube site, however this part that I stated is if the players wanted to learn through talking to someone instead of just watching a video.

[_Zenith_]

I was trying to push a "User Tournament Group" into being official but it never happened because Event Staff covers most event grounds on FFR; obviously excluding user events because those aren't hosted by Event Staff members. We performed three successful tournaments before we parted ways onto other things we were interested in.

I am to believe that this group won't ever become "officially sanctioned as staff", though you can do what we had done and just be general active users making events for the community aside from what the Event Staff already does. If you make any events that address strictly D1-D3 or what you consider "New" to be, I would recommend just having a tag along with the event "[Beginners Only]" or a reiteration of that.

If newer players are intimidated by the higher ranked players, that is their stigma of being fearful to approach because of being coined "A Noob", though that isn't how top ranked players see newer players; we just see them as new players and hope they prosper as we did. Catering to newer players is already in the works various ways, such as stated, the YouTube channel, your idea to cater specific events to newer players, and there is general motion of newer and experienced players getting along and helping out.

There are two Rivalry threads/groups and it is D1-D3, D4-D6, where I believe a lot of newer player interaction and older player knowledge has been active (as of lately, diminishing, sadly) and it has shown growth in not only player skill but the stigma of reaching out to a better or inexperienced player and asking or providing assistance by questioning.

[Rapta]

Originally Posted by Deadlyx39

why not have a page that redirects any players that sign up to FFR listing how to contact anybody on the staff

That sounds stupid imo.

[_Zenith_]

Originally Posted by Rapta

That sounds stupid imo.

There is a page to contact all staff members already, though it isn't given out to any players. You have to look through the FAQ on "I need to contact a staff member, who are they?".

This is the page: http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/vbz/showgroups.php

It does not contain certain staff groups, like Event Staff.

[Deadlyx39]

Originally Posted by _Zenith_

There is a page to contact all staff members already, though it isn't given out to any players. You have to look through the FAQ on "I need to contact a staff member, who are they?".

This is the page: http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/vbz/showgroups.php

It does not contain certain staff groups, like Event Staff.

I'm saying to redirect new players to this contact page. So they know exactly where to go.

[_Zenith_]

But my question is why is it important for new players to know who staff is, especially if said new player hasn't checked the forums or hasn't put the effort to contact the community and get to test the waters?

New Players are also more keen to poke their head into profile chat, where as of lately plenty of staff members have also poked their heads into so meeting actual staff members are pretty simple at this time.

[Deadlyx39]

Originally Posted by _Zenith_

But my question is why is it important for new players to know who staff is, especially if said new player hasn't checked the forums or hasn't put the effort to contact the community and get to test the waters?

New Players are also more keen to poke their head into profile chat, where as of lately plenty of staff members have also poked their heads into so meeting actual staff members are pretty simple at this time.

It's more for people who don't know where to start. It gives the new players a surefire place that they can have everything they need to contact anyone in one single place.