I shall also cover something else.

The admins are currently working on Ellis Island, which if some of you are not aware, is a completely new system for the newer players. Something like a tutorial before they actually enter the fray of our world.

If the admins are willing to put their time and expertise into creating Ellis Island to assist newer players, why would it be too far-out to also create a mentoring system that is more hard-coded? Sure, there are people that help newer players. However, I feel that if they are assigned a mentor, they are much more likely to speak with him/her. Also, I feel that with this system, a newer player is much more likely to stay. The bond between the mentor and student would undoubtedly grow. Therefore, this new player would gain friends. A newer player is much more likely to stay on MR if he/she has friends that he/she can talk to. I know this from experience, as I am sure most of us do. I, along with many others, have sit in #divinelunacy and seen my share of newer players coming in and asking for help. I feel the mentoring system would be a permanent solution to this.

My suggestion is not only for the benefit of newer players, it is also for the benefit of MR as a whole. The more players we can get, the more likely MR is to grow. Some, including myself, have stated that MR growing was a bad idea. However, now that we have grown, we can not exactly go back, so why not grow more?

The argument for a mentor system are sound in the fact they would be a benefit for the new players.  The question therein liew with the question "but is there a better way?"  Which many here would argue Yes.  As one of these I will reiterate a prior point and elaborate a bit.

1) Every new player gets a chat with at least a couple people looking for quality members. 
Many of these people come at them offering a hand in learning the game.

If said new player chooses to ignore those messages, they are making a mistake (or already know where they are going).  In the guide, and in MM they have someone who tells them "Join a family" It is clear to do so if your making an ounce of effort at figuring the game out. If you are not, screw you and please look to your left so I can see your brain splatter come out.

2) Once that player is in that family it is their responsibility.  It is a poor choice to bring someone on and not see to it they have a trainer, associate or not.  If your in a crew and your forgotten then you need to send a mail to the gyu who hired you and say "help me" or even "Hey shoot me so I can go somewhere else, you suck as a trainer." - honestly any crew that isn't paying attention to a recruit deserves to lose them.

So in fact there already IS a mentor system in place, and the best thing about it is that it is a community oriented one.  There is no need to ask the admins to care for this portion, it is our benefit or loss to do it ourselves.  Good training means good soldiers, poor training means you get to shoot someone so they can go make someone else rich.

It takes two people make a good player. The person offering the help and the playing in need of it. How are we to know they want or need help beyond the initial communication if they do not respond asking? If someone were to mail you over.. And over.. And over offering help that you did not feel you needed, wanted, or asked for would it keep you around? We can only put out that helping hand, we cannot force the person to take it.

This is not a feature that should be oded into the game... This is why we have HelpDesk personnel. This is why there are people that offer help daily only to have their offers ignored.

I have sent that mail out many times as a leader and not as a leader, helped the player, and watched them join another family or put in the good word for them with another family.. Yet still come to me for help.

Helping someone is not recruiting.

Have you ever thought that maybe a leader is TRYING to help the new people so our community grows rather than watch the new people turn into cannon fodder? That maybe there are no ulterior motives?

Give me one reason why this should be coded into the game when there are people willing to do this without it being so? Give me one reason that the HelpDesk personnel cannot field these questions when they have people that ask? There is also that lovely helpful mail all newcomers get when they sign up. What is stopping YOU from putting together a group of people to play mentor to newcomers, you can do it yourself as easily as a coded feature. It's been done in the past after all.

And yes, I already knew about Ellis Island.

I believe I have given more than enough reason as to why I believe this idea should be implemented.

If we did not need something like this, then I would not have come up with the idea and an admin wouldn't have contacted me thinking it was a good idea.

What stops me from doing it myself, is the fact that it has been done before. Obviously, does not and has not worked. We have helpdesk members, however, how many are online often? Not many. If the idea were implemented, it would put the help in the hands of the ones that need it. They would KNOW there is someone that can help them. If I felt the helpdesk was being used to its full potential, I would not see a need for this idea. However, I am approached at least 3 or 4 times daily with new players asking for help. In fact, I just helped a young fella out with the rules of pickpocketing and how to go about doing so.

The sad thing is it is up to the families to educate their members after they have joined. The community needs to put forth effort as well.

So if it has been done before.. Do it again, differently.. It may work. You won't know until you try now will you?

If you are as passionate about this as you say you are then you will have no problem surpassing the challenge of it not being implemented into the code and doing it yourself to prove how needed it really is. Hey, you may meet some new people that will help you help others. It takes but one seed to start a garden does it not?

You know as well as I do, people have attempted to help members for many years.

Some examples of this would be the tutorial, the "surviving your first 48 hours" guide, and helpdesk in general.

With so many attempts to reach out to, help, and motivate the new players, not many have succeeded. Sure, they all help a little. However, reading a tutorial is not going to help them stay on MR. Nor is a new player asking a helpdesk member that they do not know. If they had a mentor figure, they could get to know them. In that time, they would learn and grow as a member of our community. They would gain friends and earn future contacts.

Without organization, it would be like a chicken running around with its head cut off.

So what is stopping YOU from organizing it? What is stopping YOU from forming a group of people willing to help? What is stopping YOU from implementing this? As players we have the power to start new trends, help new players... This being coded is no different than YOU and a group of people willing to help doing the exact same thing.

It takes one seed to start a garden, yes. However, without proper guidance and organization(coding), It would be less garden, more patch of weeds.

You obviously have not read every post I have made on this topic, or you would notice the MAIN idea of this suggestion.

It is not to extend a hand to new players. It is to give a new player guidance. Without something alerting the new member to their mentor figure, they would not learn about them. They would not know that there is a figure designated to help them.

Without this, the whole suggestion is useless. For the idea to work, it needs coded.

How so? Why can YOU not organize a group of people? People organize underground organizations without them being coded into the game. The only difference is that instead of stepping on flowers and squishing them to death you'd be encouraging new blossoms. Think of your group of mentors as bees pollinating the lovely garden of Mafia Returns.

Again. What is stopping YOU from organizing a group of people to go out there and contact the new members offering guidance and education?

Simply this: There are anywhere from 5-30 new members that join Mafia Returns every day. In order to alert every single new player of their mentor, it would take someone being online nearly every second of every day. If someone was to receive their mentor hours after joining, what is the use of it?

Also, this system would only be offered to NEW members. Not every character made. That would waste the mentors' time. Without the use of coding, there would be no way to determine if the character is truly new, or a returning player.

Simply this: There are anywhere from 5-30 new members that join Mafia Returns every day. In order to alert every single new player of their mentor, it would take someone being online nearly every second of every day. If someone was to receive their mentor hours after joining, what is the use of it?

I didn't say you'd be the only person. I said ORGANIZE A GROUP of people. A group of people can be on at different times.

Also, this system would only be offered to NEW members. Not every character made. That would waste the mentors' time. Without the use of coding, there would be no way to determine if the character is truly new, or a returning player.

Sometimes even returning players need help, maybe they didn't learn it the first time. Since when is extending a hand to guide and teach a waste of time... Isn't that contradictory to what you are saying here?

Please ignore my formatting errors.

I said extending a hand to every returning player is a waste of time. If we were to do this without the use of coding, it would take far too much effort to extend a hand to every returning member. Chances are, if a player has had an account before, they plan on staying and they know who to ask and where to look for answers. Therefore, they would not need a mentor.

As for your first question, if this was done without the use of coding, there would need to be a single person that assigns the mentors to people. If not, then multiple mentors may try to help the same person.

So basically you are saying that it is too much work and a waste of time for you to do on your own or for a group of people to get together and form a team to do it? Yet, it's not a waste of time for the coders to implement when there are the Help Desk operators, manuals, and people offering help already.

You are twisting what I say. You are also forcing me to answer your questions in the manner that you wish them answered. Stop attempting to play mind games with me. :)

I am not saying it is too much work or a waste of time. I am saying that it is IMPOSSIBLE without coding. When one creates a work of art, do they change their idea for the fickle public? I think not. The idea I envisioned included coding. It ran quite smoothly. If the admins are not interested in my idea or the public does not wish it so, then it shall not be. I have simply put forth an idea. I do not wish to be questioned as to why I can not do it without coding.

I'm just saying if you are so passionate about it why not just do it? Why not prove that it is needed? Why not put forth the effort to do it on your own? Prove the naysayers wrong and show us that it is as desperately needed as you feel it is. You say it's so important yet when faced with the option of doing it on your own or with a group of people helping you it's not important enough to do.

It is not impossible for a person to head up a group of people to work toward a goal without it being coded into the game.. Underground groups do it all the time. Why can't a group of people determined to help newcomers be they on their first, second, or third accounts do it?

Not everything has to be coded to be successful.

This group of naysayers you mention is a group of two or three people.

The purpose of a suggestion thread is to propose an idea and explain it. Then people are to tell you why they like it or why they do not. Then, perhaps even expand on the idea. It is NOT to question the person as to why they can't bring the idea into the game without coding. As I have stated at least 3 times, I have been contacted by an admin about this idea.

OBVIOUSLY, If that is so, then the admins feel the idea should possibly be coded in. When one makes a suggestion, they do not like to hear people pester them about why they can't do this or why they can't do that. That is just as bad as someone badgering the idea because they do not like it.