The scenario:

- User retention is poor
- As such, any advertising budget is essentially wasted because ROI is so poor
- Naturally, this effects the whole game and userbase/community.
- The received wisdom is that mailing new members combats this problem because it gets/keeps their interest when they first log in. Whilst this is true, it's a concept that compromises the integrity of the game. Simply put, a made man in the Mafia would not approach a stranger and be up front about his position and start offering work around. It goes against core principles of secrecy, and 'respect = rank' that differentiated the Italian Mob so clearly from other criminal enterprises. However, this is a double edged sword because whilst this good for new members, it makes no sens RP Wise.

The Compomise:

The Grapevine.

The best example (albeit the wrong era) I can give you for this is Donnie Brasco. He sits in that bar for quite a while, just putting his face about and subtly letting people know he was 'Don the Jeweller' before Lefty ever approaches him; and he's only introduced to the real dodgy stuff gradually. It isn't just day one, boom 'hey, im in the mafia, wanna do some illegal shit?' He gets approached because he puts his feelers out and hangs around for a while. The idea here is to transplant this to the game. The bare bones of the idea:

- Sponsors no longer invite at 'random'. The may post 1 job per day on the 'Grapevine' - essentially a list of all available jobs (similar to the hitlist)
- All unsponsored members get a personal about available jobs. 'Cantona wants you to crack some skulls' or something along these lines. They are taken to the grapevine that lets them know they can carry out unlimited jobs for any number of sponsors, they keep 60% of the take for themselves, the rest goes to the sponsor (the value of the 'job' could be 10-20k, perhaps?)
- Unsponsored members can stay unsponsored and continue to do jobs for as long as possible; but  felonies will not be available and drug deals will be limited (to try and gently encourage unspons. to find a crew)
- Sponsors can invite an unspons. to be their associate if they have completed 5+ jobs for them.
- The concept would be 'RPed' by an NPC. Similar to the MIA spawn messages 'Your RHM asks you to take care of this'; the grapevine would be approached similarly, perhaps RPed by an NPC barman. "Same again? By the way, I heard Cantona was looking for someone to take care of business for him; you interested?"
 

Pros:

- It gives a more realistic representation of the mafia. You didn't simply join a crew and stay there for life, that honour was reserved for the made guys. Many 'associates' ran with several crews and did odd jobs for various connected guys - Henry Hill and Jimmy Conway being fantastic examples of this.

- It gets new members involved right from the off. I don't think there could be any disagreement that having several different options for crimes that involve real players right at the start would be more attention grabbing than a recruitment mail

- Provides new members with money and, with it, an almost instant sense of accomplishment

- The option of doing jobs for several different mobsters gives newer options to truly get a feel for who they want to join over the course of a couple of days; not just til their 4hour tag disappears for them to be promptly shot.

- From an RP point of view, it provides sponsors with a legitimate reason to get in touch. Once someone has done a couple of odd jobs for me, I would be much more comfortable introducing myself directly.

- Codewise, I can't imagine it would be *too* different from an organised crime or the hitlist

Cons:

- I honestly can't think of any at this point?

Anyway, apologies for the no doubt bad spelling/punctuation. This thread was inspired by a lively debate in #divinelunacy and I was keen to get my ideas down before they floated out of my head like...a floaty thing.
 

I much say this makes a lot of sense from a RP point of view. I really like the idea as a whole. But, with it how would we keep people from shooting them if they didn't want to join a family and just go around doing jobs?

Well, I think something could be arranged for the jobs they have done to be 'viewable' in their profile through the click of a link. If it's public knowledge they're active and doing jobs, I can't see the community at large being to happy at them being random wacked. Certainly from both a RP and OOC point of view, if some up-and-comer was running errands and making a tidy wedge for me, I'd be after the killer if they were randomly fitted for cement shoes!

There is definitely a serious flaw in the way recruitment is handled on this site. I agree that it's important to welcome new members and encourage them to stick around and contribute to the game/community/whatever, but from a role-play standpoint it doesn't make sense to have high level Mafiosi approaching a petty thief and offering him or her a place in a major criminal enterprise. If people come here to play a Mafia-style game and they find themselves in a game that's more about holding hands and making people happy, they might just as easily decide to quit playing.

The biggest "con" with Cantona's suggestion is that once someone is killed, they would have to wait five full days before being eligible to join a family. I don't necessarily see this as a problem, but I'm sure someone would gripe about it. Here's my take: It makes sense from a role-playing standpoint, as a new character is a previously unknown criminal. Of course, there was a certain level of nepotism in the Mafia, but if someone wants to sponsor a gangster and make him a right hand after five days of doing crimes, then that's fine. At the very least, it would allow different players to achieve more prominent positions and may contribute to a more dynamic game.

I think for the idea to really work, a player wouldn't be able to rank or earn a gun until after becoming an associate of a sponsor. This might eliminate the problem of having people remain unsponsored for great lengths of time, as I'd imagine just doing crimes for different sponsors and twiddling your thumbs would get boring after a while (of course, there are always the forums, but, well.... yeah). Without guns or rank, the unsponsored player wouldn't be a great threat to any individual or crew--no prowacking, no "rogue-ing," etc.

Anyway, I like this idea. Nice work, Cantona.

Eloquent as always Cantona. I would love to see something like this implemented, since it seems it could be the next progression of the characters after the tutorial that Squishy showed us would be added soon.

Anything that could hold the interest of the players without compromising role play aspects to the point of spamming new players with invite messages before they go inactive, is a great step towards helping the game from both the advertizing standpoint, and the early game-play incentives.

We badly need an infusion of new players so we can open up some more districts and cities. This idea along with the tutorial, looks like a great step in that direction. Well done.

as far as this goes I like it. One thing i would think about with the random shooting bit is that maybe after a job or 2 they can earn protection from so and so. not in the family but shows they are working towards a spot. Now it can be something more official like in the sponsor slot but just say protected by..  or can be something we do as a community and have them profile it. Like you said you dont want someone earning you a tidy wedge to go off and get clipped for the fun of it. 

But over all i really like this idea it eliminates the mass mailing and random inviting that happens when a nOob comes online. makes one have to earn it to be in a family.