So yea, I really wouldn't know in detail since I haven't been here in a while, but it looks like we haven't gotten any new members into the SB in a while. So, I was thinking we should go hunting for some like Slicer and I used to.

*runs off to the Reg board to look for new candidates.*

Also, if we get enough new people that are interested, I could use some help in doing an introductory quest.

If you guys know of any good candidates, post them up in here.

Pffft. As Reg Mod and a Clan Leader, sniping newbies is my prerogative.

Though, if I see any with the potential to join the SB family, I'll send 'em your way.

Hey hey hey now, sonie. Back in the day, it was both Slicer and my job to go hunting for new members. So don't get all fancy on me with your high-tech special mod what-cha-ma-call-it powers and your fancy clan leader helmet-of-authority. :P

lol! I remember joining t3h Kiwi clan...

However, an intro quest would kind of be awkward, considering that Kiwi is planning the biggest most awesome badass (hopefully) TotC quest evar.

lol Town of the Cards...I remember that. I only stayed in it for two posts. :P

Well I had sent a PM to Kiwi about letting some new players who were interested possibly join us on the quest, but if it's gonna be a ToTC quest, then no. lol

There are a few things that need to be clarified here. First, although anyone is welcome to suggest new players who could join the clan and anyone may apply to join, it's no longer effective to scour the registrations for potential members. An overwhelming segment of new players are poorly motivated. Few complete their registrations at all and even fewer do anything after getting through. Worse, the ones that do go on their first quest often fail (receive what they feel are poor rewards) and simply quit. The rate of new registrations is low enough that watching the registrations would only yield a new member periodically. Also, a lot of the registrations that do make it through now are not new members. They are second characters or people restarting their accounts from scratch.

Viewing all the registrations that had posts in the last 60 days, 4 were second characters, 1 was someone restarting, 4 were new characters that passed, 7 stalled and failed, and 1 passed but turned out to be someone who had previously harassed site members and got banned (again). That's 17 characters. Out of the new characters, 3 never completed their first quest (only 1 actually started it). The last new player hasn't completed his/her first quest, but seems just as likely to drop. That means there are no new members to tap into from the last two months.

Second characters may not be worth going after either. A lot of them are active site members who have their own priorities with their main characters. We haven't had the second character rule for long enough to see the consequences, but so far, I see those second characters getting less attention and priority than the principle accounts. The problem being that when those players join quests, they usually stall out and fail. I also feel that players who engage in this are more likely to burn out if they keep up sizable activity with both characters.

So all in all, this isn't as simple as picking and choosing people from the registrations anymore. There are a few things that we can do, though. I'm already working on some of them. I may contact people about trying other options, but I can't post about them right now.

Second, the pending quest is not an enormous quest (enormous would be comparable with TotC). Although we could have some new members along, I think the party is large enough as-is. Instead, any new players should be taken on a separate intro quest. I can plan the story for this quest, but someone else would have to run it.

I hope this clarifies the doubts abound. ^_^

Finally, someone agrees with me on this. >__>

I was telling people that things have looked slightly inactive on Divvy, but everyone's like, "Nope, things are going great!"

Yea, well things are going great for it's CURRENT members that have been here for over a year or so. However we're not getting anyone new that is really staying around. I hopefully can see if I can keep this on possible prospect here that I sent a message to.

I'm aware of the distinction and had checked the statistics available in the ACP some time ago. Although some groups which receive specific incentives to continue playing have seen stable activity, and some players have shifted to other activities so that certain niches are seeing more activity, overall activity has dropped. Several players have left for varying reasons, be they school or personal matters or having problems with staff issues. Physical presence is also not equivalent to activity. There are players that hang around but only post in OOC areas. Second characters artificially inflate our perception of activity, but numerically, they barely contribute to it and their quests tend to flop because the original players are busy in other quests. This is similar to the problem of having people involved in multiple concurrent quests, except that players can disassociate themselves from the secondary accounts, meaning they have less reason to feel any obligations to post. Note that this doesn't mean that I detest second characters, it merely denotes that they do distort our perspective. I've occasionally considered having one, but I'd rather focus on what matters.

In general, activity has been on a roller coaster ride. It began to decline sharply during a particular period. Following that, it tripled in one day and remained steady for some time. Two months after, it began a steady decline that accelerated for a moment. Site activity has increased among existing members in a very recent trend, but there are no new members, and I expect that site activity levels will fall critically if things remain as they are. The reduction in new members is a natural trend. It would be hard to influence it. As for the eventual decline in existing members, we have few options on how to change that.

I suggest not worrying about it. We don't have the powers to change things, so it's best to deal with what business we can influence.

I've definitely been saying that for over a year since before that last server crash, which I still think is the main reason membership and activity took a suicide dive.

Well anyway looking at all of this, I'd say that the best bet is trying to scoop up any active members without clan affiliation. How many people there are in that category I have no idea, but there should be a few players with potential around that would join. And to test out how active or how committed they are, we could just organize that recruitment quest I think Kiwi was speaking of. Whoever wants to run it can be in charge cuz' all the SBs are experienced enough to be able to run a large quest.

Also, I do want to refer my little bro to join (La:Sadie's if you want to look any of his writings up), I just have to get him through his first quest when he comes back to NY.

Hope I made a lick of sense in anything I just said.