[Suggestion] Guided Tour for new members

Upon joining, the new player is presented with an option to get a guided tour.
(So the new player understands what is offered and requests the tour.)

Experienced players can register to provide the tour.
When there is a new player, they, if not afk, get a message and can accept to provide the tour.

There is a short guide's manual with few points about what to do and what not to do.
There is a list with recommendations for what to do during the tour. Some points should be obligatory. The guide chooses what to do and in which order based on a quick assessment (3-4 questions, "Are you new to Minecraft?" ...)
A tour should last somewhere between 10 and 30 minutes.

When completed and confirmed from the new player, the guide could get a reward, items and/or tokens and/or rupees. Perhaps a special reward every so many completed tours, like for voting. Or simply voting count is bumped and voting rewards are handed out accordingly.

The option to get the tour should be available for all players that haven't been connected to EMC since at least one year, so old, returning players can get the tour as well.

+500

It wouldn't even have to be a super special feature, it should already be possible with basic Minecraft mechanics.

The moment you apply to be a 'helper' your account gets tagged (/scoreboard players tag @p add helper). Then when a new player presses the button all the system would do is message those players with the helper tag present. So you'd basically only get something like: "New player <name> has requested for someone to show them around" after which you can make contact with them and talk them through a few things. Using common sense helps: also keep in mind that others might be doing the same thing, so I'd start using town chat and move on from there.

Its already doable to test for players who have such a tag present, so the system would also tell the new player that helpers have been contacted or give them a warning when there are no helpers around but that they can always try to ask for help in town chat when they need it.

You know...

• testfor @a[tag=helper]
• title @a[tag=helper] actionbar {"text":"A new player requests a little help!"}

(very crude example, but still...).

The main advantage should be obvious: you don't risk pushing yourself onto a player when they might not really like it. Instead you'll know for a fact that the new player would like a bit of a guiding hand, and the new player(s) will known right from the start that there are probably people around willing to help.

Honestly I didn't read anything anyone has posted on here.... Well I read the title of guided tours...

We want retention!!! We want retention!!! When do we want it ? Now!!! How will we get it? IDK!!!!!

+1. I'd sign right up for this. This is something I hadn't thought of, but I like it!

How about gilded tours? Huh?

I like this idea and if it was implemented I would 100% apply to be a guide, however it may be difficult to maintain. Sometimes new players will log in at times that EMC has very few players online, some of which are AFK so they wouldn't get a guided tour. Another thing, first impressions are everything when deciding a server, and one of the main reasons I don't play a server, is if the tutorial drags on. Plus there is potential for player error, so the guide may misunderstand a question and give the new player false information. I really like the idea, I just have to point out the negatives so we can work them out

I like the idea
There aren't as many experienced players active on EMC any more, but this might give them something to do. The feature would differ depending on who's online, like Ryan said, but it could be an interesting experiment.

+9001

I am a big fan of this as I agree retention of new players is what we all would prefer. I have seen many new players come in and maybe as someone mentioned above they left before even finishing the tutorial. ...Though I'm a fan as EMC has lots to offer and you are overwhelmed with options and commands even if you pay attention yet alone if you do not. I also see many who spend the time to finish then they leave almost immediately. Those may be the ones that someone can save. The only other issue with this I see is the "needy people" who join. I don't mind making a friend online, helping out (especially new players) but I'm not looking to find that person to go visit each res, travel side by side each time they go to the waste and so on.

In the end, I give this a +1 (or more but I think this is all that is needed) and I agree anything to make a new player enjoy EMC will build retention which is good for all.

Personally, when I have a friend join, I will meet them in the tutorial and walk them through it. Since I already do this for them, I probably would love to work with other new players as well. Plus, I always give amazing tours!

+1 from me!

I think this is more of a player tutorial, I see a lot of people join the tutorial and leave possibly due to it having too much information. I have been playing over 1000 days and I've revisited the tutorial and found information I had never used before. A guided tour seems to me like a system in which experienced players help the new player learn tricks and what commands they will use more than others

You're missing the point here.

Sure new players can offer a tour. But the idea is to give the new players the option to decide if they'd like the extra help or not.

The difference between the two: when players offer a tour it could be picked up as being a little too intrusive (too many new players see a colored name and pick that up as someone being staff for example). When you give the new players the choice themselves it'll become perfectly clear who wants a bit of extra guidance and who doesn't. This will avoid bugging new players while they'd actually would like to be left alone.

Sometimes I honestly wonder if you guys aren't taking the new players a little bit for granted...

I wanna be a penguin again!
Who ever got the Refrence, I'm pwoud of you ^-^ lol

Interesting... So seeing how active the Stream Team is when could we expect this video? Before or after Dragon Tombs?

Some points from your comment...

Or leave the server never to be heard from again.

As I said: you're missing the point.

This isn't about players obtaining some kind of status or anything like that. The players don't even need to stand out in chat, I think most of us who are interested in this suggestion would even prefer that we're not.

As to staff... No offense intended but one of the first thing I often get to hear when people are dealing with a griefing or other issue is "As usually there are no staff online when you need them". Now, such comments are from the heat of the moment, sure, and there are more ways to contact staff. But fact of the matter is that plenty of servers hardly see any staff in-game.

I'm not saying that this is a bad thing, not at all, but it does somewhat invalidate your argument about staff helping new players. For that to happen they'd need to be online in the first place.

What about 'm? This would all be on voluntary basis, also made perfectly clear to the new member at hand.

The essence of all this, in the way I picked up the suggestion, is to have the initiative to ask for help with the new player instead of the currently playing ones.

Of course.. M1ner would be the better person to dive into this because I'm simply basing myself on his suggestion.

Which is exactly why I think a setup like this could actually benefit the Empire in the longer run.

This I actually agree on. And it's absolutely true.

However, I do think there's a difference between a brief tour (showing the basic commands for example) and spoonfeeding them. But... you still make a very fair point here.

Assuming nothing changes and needs updating.

For example... The Empire Shop has been gone for quite a few months already yet the new players guide still talks about it and how you can use /shop to visit this unlimited shop with massive high prices.

So yeah, I don't necessarily agree because this is basically the same as keeping the wiki open and using that as reference material.

However... I do think that this is a good idea in general.

Because lets face it: reading things is soo 2000 nowadays, people more or less expect video's everywhere. So with that in mind I do think this can definitely improve on the whole situation.

Thanks for taking your time to read into all this. We may not agree on all points but I do appreciate the effort you took.

Something I have often seen in Chat:
Player #1 - "Can someone be my friend?"
Player #2 - "We're all your friends."

It's treated as a joke but it is true. You can ignore people or connect with them, but as soon as you join the server you are interacting with all the other members in one way or another.

I don't think we need a special group for tours or helping players and I think Krysyy has a good point regarding too much help or the wrong kind hindering some players' development. People do come here to communicate and make connections with other people though. If players want to give tours and a new player desires it then I do not see anything wrong with it.

Something I think would be helpful would be global chat. It does not matter how many tour guides we have if someone new joins when they are not also online. If a new player's tutorial completion and Welcome Message were announced server-wide along with their SMP number then anyone who is logged in could potentially welcome them and offer help.

We could possibly also modify the server that is selected for a new player based on the number of players that are active on it. I think we currently rotate servers or select the ones with the least population, which is fine, but we could perhaps also avoid letting a player join an empty server or one with only AFK players in the dead of night. In that case a different one with active players could be chosen instead. Preferably with players who are in Town or with players like Supporters or Staff who can see Town Chat and interact.

That is crazy smart right there ^