One request and one OT

Post by **Duke** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 8:59 am

I have lost track of how I am suppoused to do this so I am simply posting my issue on the board and wait for the response.

I have found it quite hard to recruite new players to the game. I have managed to get a few people intrested but obviously not enough to join and I think one part of the problem is that I have directed them towards the different clans and their clan heads and I guess the newbies have found our system either complicated or simply not appealing.

I have then thought of a different way of doing things. If I put together a new clan with the newibies and function as some sort of "parent" for them then it would be more of an "open door" for them. I cant remember the rules about clan heads but my idea was then when one of the newbies has took a liking to the game and has played one or two groups then I leave them to their destiny.

I have no time to play games of my own at the moment since I sometimes get online every day and sometimes are away for 1,5 weeks but I do belive that I can reply to questions and give pointers to newcomers.

This all depends on the fact that the general community trust that I dont try to benefit from it and that I can separate my clan affiliation with my assignment as "teacher".

Give me your thoughts on this.

The rest is OT so if you arent intrested then stop reading here.

I post this simply to give you all some perspective of life in general. Maybe you re-evaluate some things you now consider as major personal problems and after reading it you might think that your life isnt all that bad after all.

I have over the last 7 years sponsored a child in Romania. She was 2 when I started and naturally she hasnt been able to respond to any mails until the last few years and then it is by local voulonteers who has translated them back and fourth. At one time I actually got a photo of her. The orphans in Romania isnt really considered a priority by the local authorities so they get poor food and shelters if any at all and the result is that they tend to get sick.

When I started with the sponsorship she didnt even have a name, imagine that! They women at the orphanage then named her Daniela since it is a common name in Romania and my first name is Daniel.

Anyway, she now has some major internal malfunctions in most of her organs and it is probably related to her mother. 99% of the orphans comes from parents with heavy drug problems which tends to mess up their body or brain.

Daniela is now at a hospital in Bucharest and the sponsor organisation will pay for her hospital fees for another 6 days and then she is on her own.

To stay alive she needs to transplant 7 vital body functions including heart and liver. First of all it isnt even possible to do in Romania. Second of all it would cost above 500.000 USD with the surgery alone, not counting the aftermath that would come.

So, you have guessed it. On saturday at 10 pm they will pull the plug. Actually she will recieve a shot of something so she falls into sleep before her body gives up since it would be really painful for her if she was awake when it hit. Anyway, I dont really know her since I have never met her but as I understand it I am one of the few in her life that has actually cared for her so I'll be dam**d if I will let her die alone in some hospital with only nurses and doctors. She has been living a nightmare from the day she was born and she should at least have it easy leaving this cursed world.
Tomorrow I will be on a plane to Bucharest with a mission to make her last few days worth it all. I have a hard time even writing this so I have no clue about how I should be able to put on a smile when I get there but as they say, when the going gets tough.... I guess I'll soon find out if I am one of those who then gets going or if I crack under the pressure. I will at least give it a shot or it will haunt me the rest of my life.

No need to wish me luck. Luck has turned its back on her life a long time ago. Why should it show up now?

One week ago I was worried about if one of my warmwater pipes was leaking and thought a lot about it. I'm not anymore.

Post by **korexus** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 9:19 am

Wow.

Maybe I should redefine "doing a Duke" on that other post.

You're a better man than I am, Duke.

korexus.

Saladin · Post by **Saladin** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 11:26 am

Duke,

I think your idea is really good. We should make it easier for people to come in to this game and make sure that their start is an easy one for them!

Forcing them to choose a clan they really know nothing off (and making them stick to that clan), can scare of some potential new players.

So by creating a 'newbie' clan they don't have to worry about that and can take there time to find a clan. Of course they are allowed to join a clan when they think they found the right clan for themselves. But they would have till they become advanced to choose a clan.

Now they also will need a lot of guidance to learn the game. This means that they should get a personal mentor from the start. Now if we let the clans take care of this. Some clans will do a good job and some, well they might let the player lose interest.

I would be more than happy if Duke would like to set up this newbie clan and be it's clan head. Duke also makes a great mentor.

But i believe that we need more than one mentor for this group. I myself am always willing to help a new player learn the game and i hope that we can find a couple more people who are willing to become the personal mentor of a new player. Answering all his/her questions.

Post by **gm_al** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 11:43 am

Hmmm. two VERY different subjects in one thread, maybe you should have split the topics there Duke. I hate to talk about your humanitarian heart while having to discuss WOK issues. Let me just say I admire what you do and it just completes the picture I have from you as a human being.

Back to WOK, I think it is a good idea to get some overhaul of the Clan system, lets say a "polish" of what we have.

I for my part love the idea of a "mentor" being given to every n00b showing up. How about we force the Clans to assign one person to each n00b that signs in for some waitlist (n00b = beginner) ? If the n00b misses a few Turns, the mentor can jump in. This also means all n00bs have someone that will guide them, someone responsible - and everything more personal means lower dropouts.

We also need a few votes regarding that darn "I pick old VPs from an extinct Clan" stuff, so here is the open call to GH to come up with a few possible votes, including the rating stuff so we can get things going. Im ready to help with all you need.

Post by **Duke** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 12:02 pm

Just wanted to reply to some things.

Al (and in a way Korexus), the OT part wasnt there to be commented on, it was put there as a wake-up call to those who think their everyday life sucks. If someone does want to discuss it, either mail me or open up a new thread for it. And Korexus, I sat and watched for 7 years. How does that make me better then anyone?

The WOK part, Al I didnt get what you thought about my newbieclan idea. Should we vote or? Saladin seems to like it but is there a rule here I should follow?

Saladin · Post by **Saladin** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 1:03 pm

Duke the e-mail address that's listed on this forum is not working. What's the address you're using now?

Post by **Duke** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 1:27 pm

Changed it now.

It is mrmelin@home.se

Post by **Egbert** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 1:42 pm

That is a sad, sad situation Duke. I am often reminded of how lucky I am --- not in WOK, but to have the family I have. This is the type of situation that you hope there is a God out there with a master plan, and a reason for all the suffering. Maybe Daniela comes back in the next life as something wonderful.

As for WOK, I hope Brykovian reads this thread --- he has had this same idea of a "school" for quite some time. I see some problems with it though. I think it would only work if all beginners were required to go through this training school, because otherwise there wouldn't be enough of an influx to justify it. But some beginners just want to join their buddies' clan to start, and don't get proper training (and soon drop out). Also, I don't mean to disrespect the other clans, but one of the attractions of the Scholars for newbies is that we will teach you how to properly play this game, and win. Starting a school would take away from that attraction --- I actually think of the Scholars' Academy as that school that everyone is now talking about.

Saladin · Post by **Saladin** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 2:47 pm

Well i tend to agree with Egbert, that the Scholar library is awesome.

If a newbie wants to join a clan right away because he knows the people in that clan, that's great. Then it's his clans task to take good care of him. But like Duke said there are plenty of players who do not know anything about the clans and will get put off by it and not join Kaomaris.

Even all the new Scholar recruits have been friends from TK, so not even the great Scholars attract new recruits out of the blue...sadly.

Underdog · Post by **Underdog** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 1:01 am

Duke I just noticed this thread.
I am sad to hear of Daniella.

Now, as for the new clan idea. Some changes would need to be made to the rule about not more than 2 members of the same clan in a game. I would be happy to help you with anything you might need. I agree that the Scholar library was very helpful to me when I started and I did have a document in the CoN files but I suspect that is gone And I don't think I have a copy anymore. I hope it was helpful to those players who entered CoN as beginners and I suspect it was since they, for the most part, did pretty well. I know Calidus had something to do with that though. I think the big reason we made the clan champs game the two times we did was because of our beginners.

Post by **trewqh** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 9:58 am

gm_al wrote:Back to WOK, I think it is a good idea to get some overhaul of the Clan system, lets say a "polish" of what we have.

Uuuhh, you mean you want me to come up with some 'bright' ideas?

gm_al wrote:We also need a few votes regarding that darn "I pick old VPs from an extinct Clan" stuff, so here is the open call to GH to come up with a few possible votes, including the rating stuff so we can get things going. Im ready to help with all you need.

GH is not on the WSC. Dameon is the chairman. Thought you'd like to know that, Al.

trewqh