I am posting this in discussion, not suggs because I think the idea needs flushing out/ vetting first.
The basic:
Establish a list of players who are recognized to be polite, helpful, etc to new players.. at least when in a mentor capacity. Farming rules would not apply to people in this program as long as they follow the rules.
Mentors could be rated "basic" or "intermediate". Basic woudl be basically anyone with experience on a map to help the person learn the rules, etc, but not so much on strategy. The upper level person would have some demonstrated proficiency in a map and could give more than just absolute basic information. One key difference between this and the SOC is that people could give varied advice, as long as its not truly bad or wrong information. I initially, there would be only 1-2 levels. Later further refinements might be warranted, but it needs to be pretty simple to work well. Also, its unlikely there are enough truly good players on every map who have the time to mentor everyone who might wish. So, sticking with basics is probably good.
Mentors would be allowed to invite others to play games, even those much, much lower in rank. They would not agree to lose, they would be allowed to win. However, they would explain what they are doing. How that would work needs some thought. For example, I often play new people on AOR2 (well, used to anyway..). I don't mind helping, but explaining that gee, you have to get your resource pairs to win... I tend to make that comment AFTER I have already gotten mine. I am not nasty or smug about it unless the other person is just totally whining... and then I am not nasty but I think a tad bit of being smug is sometimes justified. I mean... READ THE DARNED LEGEND! On the other hand, if someone, up front, asks specifically "hey, I read that these bonuses compound, what does that mean". etc.
The thing is, letting someone stew a tad, letting them figure things out IS part of helping someone to learn. (as any teacher will note), but there is a fine line. That line is why this is here and not in suggs.
Anyway, new players or people who just are new to particular games would be allowed to ask for help with particular maps. I would even say a specific set of maps might be suggested as alternative starting maps for people who don't want to go through the SOC.
(as in do SOC.. or if you want to try some of the variety maps, here is a link to our mentor program....)
The "vetting" would be by committee. Complaints would be forwarded. The committe would just exclude or include particular people from the mentor program, though if there were serious violations, they would be also forwarded to the C & A group for possible added punishment.
Additional possibilities...
Each mentor would be limited to a set number of games (1-2 at first). To "sweeten" it, these games might not be limited by the 4 game limit. (but only 1 per mentor )
"mentees" might be limited as well.. maybe 1 per freemium and 2 per premium player or some such. (again, details to sort out).
Rating mentors by ability on maps or overall (very generally) I can help a newbie, for example (and have) on just about any map, but I would not feel competent going further, except on the AOR2 map.
OK, that's a start.. thoughts? Modifications? Alternative plans?
