Recruitment Strategies

[Arev]

Alright, here are some ideas for a new recruitment strategy:

1. Honesty
We have to be honest not only with ourselves, but also with new recruits. First, we have to admit that this summer RID was delivered a crippling blow. I'm not talking about my departure, but the Memorial Day drama that drove members away. Farik's antics didn't help the situation either. We have, at best, a dozen active members. That must be close to an all-time low. We have to also be honest with new members. We can spew all the propaganda we want, but if they join and realize that one day, during peak hours, we may only have a five or six members on, they may become discouraged and leave. Of course, we shouldn't be any less restrictive in our recruitment.

2. New Face
One benefit with having so many people leave Fort Keen is that I was given an opportunity to change the layout. The same is true with RID. With so many people leaving, RPers and non-RPers, we can now rebuild many facets from the ground up. For example, we include a requirement for RID members to have residency in RID cities, we expect RID participation in PA events, etc.

3. Recruitment Threads
Soon (tm), I'll be drafting a RID recruitment thread for SSG, and I will modify it and repost it on the Starsider forum.

4. New Applications
Along with the recruitment thread drafts, I am toying up new application thread ideas. I would prefer a uniform applications between the two forums, mostly to avoid issues when an RPer joins from this forum without knowing much about his character.

I'm sure I'll think of more.

[Osar]

I agree with what you say, but how do we advertise other than the city messeges about our guild? When we had the players before this summer, word of mouth was all we needed. Now with so few what would you recommend we do? I don't mean to discredit what you are saying, I just would like to have an idea, cause there is those like me who are not RP'ers who would prefer a pvp or pve guild. Just a thought, cause in my past guilds recruitment advertising was done when we did Heroics, PVP, Instances (Musty and Kashyyyk), and Imperial/Rebel Theme Parks(Mixed guild).

[Lexx Yovel]

Good write up.

I definitely agree that we should be honest with members. Really, like you say, it is in our interest, because once we recruit the member, they could easily end up dissapointed.

I think a good way to start is to rework the RID information mail we have in-game.

Also, the application we have is currently the same across both boards, with the exception of the RP information segment on the SSG forum. There are a few concerns though with making them both *exactly* identical, by adding the RP info segment to the application we have one these forums:

1.) People who apply here may potentially get discouraged, thinking we are only an RP guild. Like Osar said, we don't want to bar non-RP'ers, so long as they know and accept that it will be a part of RID. Obviously, this was a challenge in the past, where there was a distinct divide between the RP'ers and non-RP'ers. I think we can still have both, but learn from past mistakes to allow both to co-exist.

2.) RP'ers may end up posting their application here, when it may be more beneficial to do so on the SSG Empire forum. As it stands, I can add the notice on the application on these forums, which will redirect RP'ers to the slightly modified application we have on the SSG forums.

With that said though, if any major alterations are made to either one of the applications, I agree we should work to make both applications match one another as best we can.

Also, let us know when the advertisement post is made, I'd like to see it

And on your last point, I do agree with mandating citizenship in either Fort Oasis or Fort Keen. I would not like any one of the cities to be alienated. Of course, RP'ers would probably be more interested in a place like Fort Keen, unless we also decided to do some activities in Fort Oasis (which would be neat too). Also, many people may not be happy with a simple small Tatooine home, given that's most of what Fort Oasis can accomodate for the time being.

Anyways, all good points from the both of you. Though online activity may be lower than before, we've been through worst, and in a certain way, this is a beneficial experience. It will allow us to expand this guild with our past mistakes in mind. We can implement new ideas, and recruit accordingly so that we can make RID the great guild it was always meant to be.

[Osar]

I know this is an old sore to talk about, but adding another city would help and here's how:

1. Each city can hold citizens that in particular to their style of play (but don't restrict it to only this):
a. Fort Keen for mainly RP'ers
b. Fort Oasis for PVE players
c. Fort _____ for PVP'ers
2. Having 3 cities on 3 different planets would also give players a good choice on where they would like to live if they have a preferance.
3. If more than 1 on city on a particular planet then it would help with the faction alignment of the planet.

If we add this to the SSG forums it might help there as well. I don't mean to make waves or ruffle feathers, but I would like to see RID grow again.

[Arev]

I agree with what you say, but how do we advertise other than the city messeges about our guild? When we had the players before this summer, word of mouth was all we needed. Now with so few what would you recommend we do?

Recruitment threads and events. You know what's great about invasions is they are prime recruitment grounds. Open invitation RP events have been great for bolstering recruitment as well. As long as potential recruits assume RID is active, then they have a chance of joining. Even a small chance is something.

It also helps to recruit outgoing individuals, especially those with connections. Rhiana alone brought in two or three, Victure brought in two, etc.

If we add this to the SSG forums it might help there as well. I don't mean to make waves or ruffle feathers, but I would like to see RID grow again.

We barely have the numbers to support two cities. I say "barely" because Fort Keen is at 49 citizens and Ruh is planning on moving Soon (tm) to help restart his own PA, CCXX, on Bastion, Lok. I'm also not keen on segregating members based on play style, the exception making Fort Keen the 'RP city', because RP needs to be centralized to make it effective. So, for now, let's set the 'Third Fort' discussion aside until we get more stable numbers.

[Arev]

There are a few concerns though with making them both *exactly* identical, by adding the RP info segment to the application we have one these forums:

1.) People who apply here may potentially get discouraged, thinking we are only an RP guild. Like Osar said, we don't want to bar non-RP'ers, so long as they know and accept that it will be a part of RID. Obviously, this was a challenge in the past, where there was a distinct divide between the RP'ers and non-RP'ers. I think we can still have both, but learn from past mistakes to allow both to co-exist.

2.) RP'ers may end up posting their application here, when it may be more beneficial to do so on the SSG Empire forum. As it stands, I can add the notice on the application on these forums, which will redirect RP'ers to the slightly modified application we have on the SSG forums.

With that said though, if any major alterations are made to either one of the applications, I agree we should work to make both applications match one another as best we can.

Very true. Perhaps a simple link, "If you would like to Roleplay in RID, please submit your application here".

And on your last point, I do agree with mandating citizenship in either Fort Oasis or Fort Keen. I would not like any one of the cities to be alienated. Of course, RP'ers would probably be more interested in a place like Fort Keen, unless we also decided to do some activities in Fort Oasis (which would be neat too). Also, many people may not be happy with a simple small Tatooine home, given that's most of what Fort Oasis can accomodate for the time being.

I have a Tatooine City Hall hanging around. No idea what I'm going to do with it. XD

[Lexx Yovel]

Yeah, the prospects for a third city are always on the table, but for now Fort Oasis and Fort Keen should be stabalized.

With that said though, we always have the power to establish a third city elsewhere, it's just a matter of getting enough RID members to support it -- which unfortunately would not be possible, even with a largely active memberbase. It would need to be suplemented with other Imperial guilds to be self-sufficient.

Anyways, I'll help to clean up the SSG RID forum, and lift the hold on new applications there once we establish a good direction.

I do think it's highly imparative to bring in new (yet qualified) recruits as quickly as we can. We need to establish a core group of active members -- and it'll naturally grow from there.

There are nights where all things considering, a decent number of members are online -- me, Osar, P'nub, Chiquita, Uri'ika, Crazygun, etc -- yet it's fickle, because other nights there may be only a small portion of those online. So we really do have to bring in a core group as soon as we can, preferably as soon as we agree on clearly defined plan for RID.

Defining a plan for RID is very important, and it's something we can meet up to discuss this Friday. All elements should be covered... RP, GCW, PvP, space, heroics, social events, forum activity, inter-guild relationships. We need to agree early on what our guild is realistically capable of in each of these categories, and what will make our active members, and future members happy.

[Osar]

Ok, as for my suggestion(for a 3rd city), that's all it was. As for the rest of it, I agree with Lexx and talk about the rest of it at the meeting. If possible one of us (if me I will, but won't be much good at it) needs to take notes on what we agree on. This way we can post and go back and look at it and say, Ok we are heading in the direction we want, or say, We need to adjust fire and get back on track.