Newcomer Initiative for 2014, ideas and suggestions.

Hi All,

Some of you probably remember me as hosting the 2013 Newcomer Initiative whereby I gave out to newcomers starter packs valued at 25 PED each to get them started out in enjoying the game before their first deposit.

It came to a sad end due to RL financial problems.

Those problems are now resolved and I come back to game refreshed and renewed, even though I have had a small health issue in the time I have been away to do with my heart. No bother though, it just leaves me with less energy than normal these days.

That being said, I was thinking of starting a newcomer initiative for 2014 and wanted to get some ideas on it.

Now I don't have a world of finance at my disposal and I do want to enjoy the game as well, not just be a person just handing out all my funds to newcomers to get them started and me left having little fun at the end of the day.

Also due to a small heart condition, I have less energy than I did before, so I am not wanting to make this work intensive on my part.

Now it is impossible to help out all newcomers, but I will do my part.

Here are my thoughts:

I will deposit 600usd/month, use 200usd/month on chipping in some skills, play with 400usd/month on gaming.

For every global I get, I will donate 10% of it to a pool.

Every 3 months, I will pay out the pool in the form of newcomer starter kits valued at 25 ped to newcomers.

I will mainly hunt regen mobs, so it is quite easy to obtain those size globals after my last few days experience playing the game. Mainly ambu, trox, molisks, feffoids, etc etc as I progress, the mobs will get bigger (Mission mobs)

I am thinking of starting these periods:

January-March, Payout in April
April-June, Payout in July
July-September, Payout in October
October-Decemeber, Payout in Jan 2015

So in a nutshell, I will payout the month after the end of each quarter.

Entropia Life Tracker shall be used to track my progress each hunt.

I expect to raise enough each quarter to supply upto 100 newcomer starter kits, though even 50 is a good start.

Thoughts and feelings ?

Strash came up with some good ideas earlier in PM, I will do my best to incorporate some of these ideas.

One of the ones that struck me was asking people to pass on the gesture, by helping out 1 newcomer down the track. I may come up with a grand prize each 3 months for those who have reported helping out another with a starter kit down the track after their own starter kit prior.

Cheers,
Viper

Sounds great and would give new players a lift to get them going. What are planning to put in the kit ?

Hi Moondog,

Probably like before, it will be at least TT items to keep things easy.

Let us say a TT rifle, TT heal Kit and some ammo ~13 ped ammo, 12 ped for the rifle & heal kit.

Same as what I offered before - https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/...comer-Starter-Pack-Initiative-FEB-to-DEC-2013

It wouldn't be plausable to use dropped items as it becomes a managerial nightmare if you have 100 odd kits to give out in a short period of time.

Cheers,
Viper

Good work, as usual.

Shard-Angel said:

Good work, as usual.

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Thanks Shard.

Ok so I have done some reading about the new loot changes and it looks like loot is becoming more fair and balanced as time goes on, with better average returns and smaller payouts rather than the old days of crazy nut casino payouts.

For this purpose, I may end up changing it to a 10% contribution of every global I get.

If I do this, then I will cap it at a total of 2500 PED, in effect being 100 newcomer kits every 3 months.

How does this sound ?

I personally think this would go further to reaching the 100 kit goal, going with 10% on each global produced.

Cheers,
Viper

fred5283 said:

Wow, where were you when I started playing in April this year?!?

Anyways, kudos to you sir! Very nice gesture indeed. The only comment I have is how do you choose who gets the starter kits? I would rather you give it to a player that will continue to play/has been playing for a bit versus someone that will take it and quit in a few weeks...I don't have an idea ATM how to weed those types of newcomers out, so all I have is the comment.

I'm guessing you won't be profitable either in doing this?!?

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Hi Fred,

Thanks!

I will use the same seven rules as last time, out of 180 kits given out previously this year, I still see 20+ log in regularly/casually. Some are full time players now too taken up crafting, hunting and mining.

The rules will be as before:

There are a set of tasks one must complete before claiming their newcomer starter pack,
these are as follows:

1.Registering with this forum - Planet Calypso Forum (PCF)
2.Posting a proper introduction to say hello and a little about yourself including your full ingame name
3.Posting a request to join a society ingame if you have not already joined one.
4.Posting a request for a mentor if you do not already have one.
5.Post both your society name and mentor name once you have found them in this thread.
6.Adding myself as a friend ingame so we can chat - Shadowsniper Viper Viperstrike
7.Finally - You must acquire the teleporter in game known as "Neas Place".

Please Note: Your forum sign in name is different from your Entropia game login details, do not make these the same.

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The above should weed out much of those who quit before putting in some effort.

And no there is no profit in doing this, just costs associated Upto 2,500 PED every 3 months.
But you know the system is dynamic, you never know what you might loot one day for just playing.

Cheers,
Viper

Viperstrike said:

Hi Moondog,

Probably like before, it will be at least TT items to keep things easy.

Let us say a TT rifle, TT heal Kit and some ammo ~13 ped ammo, 12 ped for the rifle & heal kit.

Same as what I offered before - https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/...comer-Starter-Pack-Initiative-FEB-to-DEC-2013

It wouldn't be plausable to use dropped items as it becomes a managerial nightmare if you have 100 odd kits to give out in a short period of time.

Cheers,
Viper

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Hi,

I like the sound of this and your generosity in offering it. When I started playing I was very lucky in that I had a number of established RL players as friends. I started with no money but was given a gun, ammo and armour by one friend. Another gave me an axe and a tagger gun. Another gave me (UL) fap. I was very lucky in that i just walked straight into the game and started hunting. I think the whole sweating straight away would have had me bored with the game very quickly and I may have given up. Being able to hunt from the outset got me hooked and I now realise that for example Punies can be hunted naked so initially there is no need for an armour set

+rep to the OP for a great idea and generosity, best of luck to you. Incidentally do you have a way of identyfing players who may stay rather than those just after a few freebies ?

Welcome back Viper...

... and pleased to hear you are functional again...

Please just take it easy with the heart!

moondog said:

+rep to the OP for a great idea and generosity, best of luck to you. Incidentally do you have a way of identyfing players who may stay rather than those just after a few freebies ?

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Thanks Moondog,

No unfortunately I am not a mind reader so won't know who will take to Entropia like a fish to water and who will bake in its immensity. I wish I had a dowsing rod to tell, it would be fun You got me thinking though, I do not want to create a freeloader attitude with this offering.

Cly said:

... and pleased to hear you are functional again...

Please just take it easy with the heart!

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Hey Cly good to see your still about

Yes, I will take it easy, no choice but to now.

Cheers,
Viper

Hi Viperstrike

Assuming you added everyone you gave free stuff on your FL , how manny newcommers did you made happy and how manny of them are still "green" on your list ?

Im just curious

good initiative
cheers

Fiona Simmons said:

Hi Viperstrike

Assuming you added everyone you gave free stuff on your FL , how manny newcommers did you made happy and how manny of them are still "green" on your list ?

Im just curious

good initiative
cheers

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Hi Fiona,

I have counted 22 out of 180 odd, so about 10% let us say for now are still green after 6 months.
I have only been back since mid last week, so there maybe a few I may have missed that are more casual.

Also keep in mind in my time off, about a dozen people removed me from their FL, no idea if they still play today. My guess is they do since they removed me from inactivity.

Cheers,
Viper

Welcome back and stay healthy!

Hi Fred,

I have tried some of these in the past but that have not been successful as it defeated the purpose of try before you buy, in the context of once you get past the gateway which doesn't return you enough to consider making your first PED purchase.

fred5283 said:

Decent set of rules! Some ideas, maybe consider adding:

- Must obtain profession level [number] in any profession

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The starter kit will help in achieving this, usually I ask people to do a quest of hunting punies and to get up to finishing the kill 500/500 quest.

fred5283 said:

- Must obtain [insert here] achievement

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This can work on the simple quests, something I will consider. However I do not want to make this task too labour intensive for me to track who has done what, a few things is ok, lots of things is difficult.

fred5283 said:

- Must obtain [insert far away] TP (like Cayuze or something far away for a newbie, I remembered it sucked)

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A lot of people would put this in the too hard basket. Nea's is hard enough as you need to ask someone for a lift there. This connects the new player with others and gives them their first flight experience.

fred5283 said:

- Must register on entropedia

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Not sure this would be useful to start out with, but yes, probably making them aware of Entropedia would help. In the initial rules they need to sign up here with PCF and post a few things - Intro, LF Society & LF Mentor if they have not done so already.

fred5283 said:

Hope your heart gets well.

I'll add you in-game as well.

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Thanks bud, it will, just need to take it easy for a while. It is a small tear that needs to heal on the inner chamber. I opted out of an operation to see if it will heal naturally over the next 3 - 6 months, the specialist said it should and most likely will.

Cheers,
Viper

skeezer said:

Welcome back and stay healthy!

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Thanks Skeezer Good to see you mate!

A new home - newcomers corner

Hi Newcomers,

Feel free to leave feedback here too, your input is valuable as well as to what you think would work/help

Hi,

Now that servers are down, I might do a little bump for more input

Any newcomer wish to comment, or current participant alike.

Looking to improve upon the last system. Some good ideas so far.

Cheers,
Viper

I am a noob who has benefited tremendously from those who cared enough to share with me so far. I appreciate the spirit on display here, and hope to be able to help foster it.

I have received MUCH help from kind, generous people who have reached out to me in my noobness these past two months.

So, Viper if I can be of any assistance to your program, let me know. I have been flat out given a gugnir by my mentor, so I am capable of making tp runs for other noobs any and every time I have fuel. Which is almost always now.

Time to pay it forward.....let me know if you see a need I can help fill. I also have several Rubios and Azuros I would happily donate to your "kits".

As I understand it, both of those weapons are great for skilling up to that first HK 110 if they are free. Paying for them makes their "eco" erode quickly, but as long as they dont cost they seem ok.

So, let me know....they are looted of course and might be too difficult to manage, but if you dont want to throw them into a starter kit i will find someone that can use them

Let me know

Later! And thankyou for your kindness and generosity Viper.

Stormdancer said:

I am a noob who has benefited tremendously from those who cared enough to share with me so far. I appreciate the spirit on display here, and hope to be able to help foster it.

I have received MUCH help from kind, generous people who have reached out to me in my noobness these past two months.

So, Viper if I can be of any assistance to your program, let me know. I have been flat out given a gugnir by my mentor, so I am capable of making tp runs for other noobs any and every time I have fuel. Which is almost always now.

Time to pay it forward.....let me know if you see a need I can help fill. I also have several Rubios and Azuros I would happily donate to your "kits".

As I understand it, both of those weapons are great for skilling up to that first HK 110 if they are free. Paying for them makes their "eco" erode quickly, but as long as they dont cost they seem ok.

So, let me know....they are looted of course and might be too difficult to manage, but if you dont want to throw them into a starter kit i will find someone that can use them

Let me know

Later! And thankyou for your kindness and generosity Viper.

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Hey Stormdancer,

That is a very kind offer you make, please add me to FL and we will see what eventuates when it starts in early 2014.

I will be looking for trusted people to help out here and there with things. Not sure what at this stage, but if it is like last time, it gets very busy around the time of giving out kits to people.

I like your spirit, kudos to you.

Cheers,
Viper

Chipping in, chipping out, chipping in, chipping out.... You're a great asset to the esi-market

Welcome back! Personally i still think the fap is a waste of peds for newcomers

Harmony, how do you suggest a noob skill up to their first Herb Box? If not a tt fap what works better?

Harmony. said:

Chipping in, chipping out, chipping in, chipping out.... You're a great asset to the esi-market

Welcome back! Personally i still think the fap is a waste of peds for newcomers

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LOL you bet, think I wasted about 10k usd this year doing that so far, chipping in and out.

But oh well, its only money, can't take it with you to the other side.

Don't get me wrong I respect money but I deposit what I can afford to lose.

On the heal box, I was thinking about the herb box, but not sure if it is lvl 0.

The newcomer will need some form of healing device since I am not providing armor.

The VIVO T1 is convenient as it is a TT item.

100 kits in a week or so is a lot of work tbh, it may take up more time, depending how I go about it.

Cheers,
Viper

Stormdancer said:

Harmony, how do you suggest a noob skill up to their first Herb Box? If not a tt fap what works better?

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I'm not saying the fap is bad. It's just that when you have 25 peds to start with, i would personally use it all on ammo, the puny mobs you start with don't require you to use a fap, and you get a fap from the starting mission that will last a while. Then if people like the game and have enough peds through luck/depositing/sweating/hard work then they can buy the fap themselves.

Harmony. said:

I'm not saying the fap is bad. It's just that when you have 25 peds to start with, i would personally use it all on ammo, the puny mobs you start with don't require you to use a fap, and you get a fap from the starting mission that will last a while. Then if people like the game and have enough peds through luck/depositing/sweating/hard work then they can buy the fap themselves.

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You know that is a thought I had at one point to decrease workload.

Instead of buying all this stuff from the TT to give to a person;
I just hand them 25 ped and ask them to spend it wisely.

It is no different to giving them gear and them then going to the TT and getting 25 ped back to buy what they wish with it.

A lot of newcomers know what to get, and some have even a better idea than I on what to use at their level.

idk, sounds crazy just giving out 25 PED, but really is all the work necessary in getting each person a starter kit ?

Maybe just taking down names on the FL, then ticking them off once 25 ped is given to them will be easier.

I wonder.

Viper

Harmony I get your point now. And you may well be right for this noobest of stages in game development. But, for those that choose to stay, skilling up to an Herb Box is an important (and fairly quick) first step. But, I agree that more ammo and no fap might be the right route initially.

Viper the Herb Box isn't eco until Level 1 Paramedic...so its probably not the best choice for a noob kit fap. And it might be a tad expensive at 6 ped each in any case.

I think either plan is just great...more ammo and no fap or add the fap and the ones that stick around progress in leveling up Paramedic that much faster.


Just a choice of which benefit you want to provide. Ammo is good...fap is good...just in slightly different ways.

Viper I prefer the idea of a kit...but certainly understand that reducing the work load may be more important. But, with a kit they get specific skill up opportunities we can design into the kit.....I recall as a rank noob I had NO clue what I needed.

So someone making those first choices for me while I learnt was a good thing. I had a good mentor very early, but many I see since do not.

So, what is more important? Ammo to skill up rifle skills and work toward the HK or skilling paramedic to work up to an Herb Box?

The more I think on it, the more it seems the ammo might be the better choice. I suspect with ammo the "fun factor" of slaughtering punys is higher than being able to fap yourself healthy. At that earliest stage, it seems more noobs might stick around if they get more fun early, have time to learn a bit of the incredible complexity we have to negotiate here, find a mentor, etc.

Just my rambling thinking as it flys by......

We need more of such positive initiatives. No matter how many there are, we need more.

pm me, i will give you 100ped to use how ever you want as long as it goes to newcommers.

Even though Im still a struggling noob myself, I am moved by your gesture and will add you to discuss how I will contribute to this cause.

Nimrod

Great way of making people happy.

I'm impressed of scale of it...but if you see only 10% still online, you do not consider it as a waste?

Besides the main question is why do you want to do that? Just curious.

madstorm said:

Great way of making people happy.

I'm impressed of scale of it...but if you see only 10% still online, you do not consider it as a waste?

Besides the main question is why do you want to do that? Just curious.

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Would you rather make people sad?

lol...for some, making others happy is a worthwhile goal on its own . But, it also might help grow and retain players which is good for us all with a growing economy...so an element of "enlightened self-interest" is involved too.