Hiya, tl;dr at the bottom.
so I've recently thrown around the idea of revamping the mentor system and fnoof said he would be interested in a more "solid, accessible, and expansive mentor program.", so I would like to suggest a few ideas here as well as get any additional discussion or feedback on how to improve it.
Because as the current state of it is, the mentor system is misused. People have to actively seek out to become a mentee or be a friend with the mentor and want to be listed off on the page. Either way, by the time either of those happen users are experienced enough that they don't need mentors.
First, I would like to bring up the necessities
- Mentors can add their own mentees
- Anyone over 10,000 points will be considered to become a mentor(Unless for sandbox), and encourage people to be mentors(or even offer incentives.)
- Make the mod/mentor page one of the main buttons(Either next to rules on the lobby page, or in the header make it a button next to round), or just focus on #4
- Main lobby bio and welcome message should include the mentor system*
*(Thanks for joining Epicmafia, the best place on the web to play online Mafia! appears when you create an account. Suggestion: Make it say "Make sure to read up on the rules(link to the rules), and get a mentor to show you the ropes!(Link to the mentor page)"
Second, the actual mentor page. When new users click on the mentor page, it can give a short blurb titled "Welcome to the mentor page! If you would like someone to advise you while playing games and help get you started, click on their username below."
Clicking on their username will be like if you hit the PM button on their profile. Any new users who join and see this will get a mentor, and that mentor will be able to assist them by answering any questions as well as helping them out in games.
Issues that may come up with this, and solutions:
- Listing all the mentees will spam the page up. Solution: Add a number next to them(Example: Ballsy, who's a mentor, will have the number 13 next to his username, clicking that will lead to a page listing all of his mentees).
- People will be added as mentees when they don't want to be. Solution: When you become a mentor, you promise to only add people who ask. Anyone found abusing the system will have mentor privileges revoked. Same for any other forms of manipulation through the system.
- Mentees/Mentors will be inactive. Solution: Automatically remove any mentees that have not been on a sufficient amount of time(I suggest a month). Also, let mentors list their timezone next to their username on the mentor page, so users can get an idea on who would be on during their timezone.
This way, any new users can receive help. The biggest issue is getting Lucid on board, as well as getting enough mentors to make this an efficient force. I think that if enough people are interested in helping new users, this would give new users the best introduction to the site, and instead of being faced with some hostile games, would help them correctly understand the game so they can play.
Tl;dr: The mentor system needs a serious revamp, and any of your opinions/suggestions below is appreciated.