2dimes wrote:Some brand new users are fine just jumping into general population here. Most are not.
If they can figure everything out it won't hurt having their first games with helpful players.
I don't care if new recruits join my games and never come back to finish them but it seems to bother some folks.
Maybe it only needs to be first two or three games but bot games are not helping everyone that joins. If the first few games were with players that wanted to help explain things while they play why do you hope that idea is just me trolling?
Because that's already what we do! Everyone who signs up is already offered a guide game (I think 3 guide games, actually, but I'm not 100% sure) with a "helpful player" (guide) on Classic or other simple maps, and with no points involved. Pretty much everything you suggested is what we already do!
Most guide games do fill within minutes. Most of the new sign-ups don't even take their first turn. In addition to guide games, there's bot games, and there's a specially-designed tutorial bot called CoachBot who gives helpful noobie advice. Most new sign-ups don't take their first turn there either.
Anybody who posts in the forums with questions will usually get an answer in 24 hours or less, and anybody who posts in chat will get an answer too, although there it's more of a mixed bag -- there's some nice people in chat and some not-so-nice. Still, anyone who really needs information will get it.
With the guide games and other measures, I think we've pushed up the conversion rate on new sign-ups from something like 2% to something like 3%. Still, that means 97% of new sign-ups won't finish their first game, and something like 90% won't even take their first turn. Pretty much everything you can think of has been tried. Bottom line is most people who are looking for a new game are looking for something a little fancier than what this site can provide.
