I would like to propose a revamp of the recruitment and sponsorship system. As it stands, the game is toggling between normal and rebuild mode constantly as a result of the difficulties in sponsorship coverage. In my experience currently, I barely have enough active members to be sponsors, let alone develop an entire coverage schedule for all of the necessary time zones.

In addition, sponsorship has several built-in issues, all of which have to do with recruitment:

1) Trusting your sponsors not to simply turn alerts off. Solution: Choose better sponsors. Incentivize your sponsors. Motivate your sponsors. 

2) New players following through with the necessary amount of jobs. Solution: the #associates IRC channel that we were recently made aware of. 

3) The crews that do have jobs available not being appealing to the new player. Solution: Reach out to their desired family themselves or wait for sponsors to come online.

4) The largest of all, however, would be what Izzy mentioned himself in the recent rebuild change: that the game mechanic is "broken" any time a job is not available.

So, with that being said, my proposal is to change the recruitment system so that it does not break at all. 

The suggestion is this: when a player joins the game, rather than leaving their fate at the hands of sponsors, simply allow them to choose whichever crew (with open space) they would like to join and automatically place them within that crew. The upper-structure will get a notification saying, "User X has joined the gang" or something to that effect. The player will then be allocated a sponsor from within the family they have joined.

Essentially, you are removing the recruitment part of sponsorship but leaving all of the perks that make the role valuable; the mentorship, the kick ups, the hierarchy, and responsibility. 

As it stands, zero vetting takes place in recruitment anyway. If you follow the standard mail procedure - 'Interested in joining us?' -> 'Sure' -> 'Great, here's an invite' - no one gets turned away. No sensitive information is kept in the HQ forums. There are no paydays. In other words, there is very little opportunity for sabotage. Why not skip that process of 1-3 standard mails and cut right to the end game?

With the job board system, you are trusting new players to understand what is happening and existing players to not disregard their duty for a process that is in itself rarely rewarding. Little is discovered in the recruitment process, while everything that is valuable from sponsorship and being an associate comes after. 

If we are to take note of recent changes and discussions around rebuild mode, it is clear that what matters most is that players make it into a crew in the first place. 

As for their decision, it is not one that has to define their playthrough. It is common practice to allow any player under Made to float between crews if they desire; no one is anchored to their family until they have made their bones (a seperate discussion could be the introduction of an easier transfer system for associates under Made, if necessary). It is also an option for all Mades to leave for their own 5-man HQ whenever they wish, if they get that far in their character and then regret their choice. 

As for the work of the upper structures and sponsors, recruitment will become a matter of focusing on and incentivizing how a crew presents itself in their information page and in practice; on the streets, in their profiles, by their activity - essentially anything in the public eye. The traditional invite system will also, of course, still exist. 

When you take into account that the game is trying to attract a new generation of players, streamlining the introductory process seems vital to the health of the userbase. This is one way to remove a contentious feature while holding on to all of the benefits, while taking a big step toward doing just that. 

Cromwell - I think that this is a very interesting idea, and a positive one.  With a few net benefits.

1/ - New players will be given a sponsor, someone with a vested interest in their development.  Talented sponsors will come to be sought after, much like talented hitters are.  I remember well my first mentor - Lexicon - and I was pleased to learn the ropes under her tutelage.  This system facilitates what I think Izzy actually wants - experience to be passed on to new players.

2/ - Where a player is returning to the game following a killing, their auto-enrollment into a crew forces crews to talk to each other.  An interesting "internal market" could end up operating.

3/ - This leaves no room for excuses.  When a new player is allocated to a crew, it is obvious where the failure sits.

4/ - I think that this system would lessen the workload of the admin team and ensure that the user base steps up to the very clear and very unambiguous challenge set.

Definite +1 from me

A great idea Cromwell, certainly a +1 from me.

A huge +1 from me. This is a great solution to the problem which has been around for a while now. From a personal point of view I love engaging with all of our family. I take people under my wing where needed & love the feeling of shared success when a new aspect of the game 'clicks' for someone, or they start to really engage with / enjoy the game. Everyone who has been here a while remembers fondly the names of the people who mentored them in their early days. I do not enjoy sending people a generic message when they complete 3 jobs to often be ignored completely. Giving a new user (An actual new user not returning players) a real choice rather than just accepting the first person to message them (Which is what I believe is what happens now-Would love to see some data on that) for me can only be a benefit.

This solution gets the new guys into a HQ they can then start to enjoy what the game is really about, building friendships & having fun, the new aspects of trying to get people on board, presenting your family well in public etc will also add a new dynamic to recruitment.

Does the data set only speak for user retention under the current job board/sponsorship parameters? It seems to me that, if that is the case, the users who do take longer before they are approached - ie the ones the game loses - could benefit from a more streamlined process into finding a community on the game. I'm somewhat skeptical of the idea that it is that generic recruitment interaction that is keeping users interested, as opposed to the culmination of factors that see them proceed with their understanding of what direction they are meant to be going, one of which is entering a family. 

Its not, actual Sponsors who are active and engaging are the key, but apparently they are hard to come by

Yes, unfortunately, my suggestion was based partially on the fact that a game mechanic that is dependent on effort and going the extra mile is asking a lot of people. It is difficult to motivate users who have played the game for years going on decades to be enthusiastic about responding to associate alerts and/or going over the top to be welcoming in general. From my experience over the past year that I have been back playing the game, the responsibility is nearly unanimously seen as a burden rather than a blessing. This is not a userbase comprised of fresh and eager faces. There is a lot of apathy when it comes to the small things; you don't have to look further than the fact that it takes either outrage or cash incentives to get most people into The Streets more than once in a blue moon. 

Looking purely at the mechanics of it, I know from my own times as a sponsor recently that it has been extremely difficult to keep alerts on, as I am often on and off the game on mobile while working or doing other things and don't want to get myself or my crewleader in trouble for missing too many. I don't know if that is a similar experience for others but I can imagine I am not alone. There are times where I have been idling at home on my laptop and missed alerts because I don't check the page every 5 minutes. In a family as small as mine with as few eligible sponsors, one missed alert is all the difference. 

The addition of the disclaimer paragraph on sponsor assignment pages also makes crewleaders wary of who they appoint, as it points to a clear path towards being punished for behavior that is out of their control. I know that is a matter of trust but it is a different ballgame when talking about trusting your members not to get you shot by other users as opposed to being punished by the admins. I have appointed a couple sponsors in my crew who I have no relationship with beyond the past week but I wouldn't be surprised if others would feel wary. 

The point I am trying to make is that I hoped to see some way to bridge that gap of breakability beyond the whims of users. It is very, very difficult to push people to do more than the bare minimum, if even that. 

In any case, thank you for the reply. I'll go back to the drawing board on trying to find ways to make proper engagement in sponsorship more appealing to my crew, at the very least. 

We are looking for human interaction within the first 10 minute mark.  (Ideally at 7 minutes or less).  We notice a huge increase in user retention the sooner the player is approached by another player.  

This could probably be helped by not making new players invisible for their first few minutes?