Brainstorm: Integration Strategy

Cabinet
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A significant amount of our existing integration infrastructure focuses on presenting information rather than calls to action. We present new players with a wide range of information on our community, but we aren’t presenting convincing reasons why they should get involved.

In my campaign for Minister of Engagement, I argued we need to focus on specific pathways to engagement. Essentially, we need to think about where new players might first learn about our community, where those resources should direct them, and how we hope to direct them to our community.

However, I also want to hear from all of you — so let’s brainstorm!

There’s a few key questions that I’ll start off this discussion with:

  • What ‘sales pitch’ should we make to new players?
    • Do we need a consistent message?
    • Should we have multiple?
    • Do different messages work better at different stages along a pathway to engagement?
  • How can we convey our messaging without overloading new players?
  • What platforms or channels of communication should we use along a pathway?
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So I wanted to bring a few things up here.

First is about actual engagement. This is ministry is literally named the Ministry of Engagement but still faces probably the most actual engagement problems. For instance, the Minister of Engagement posted this thread two days ago and staffers or “passer-byers” are yet to respond. And yes, people for sure have a personal life. And I 100% respect that! Prioritize those real-life issues! In fact, I was/have been dealing with some big irl issues that have affected my ability to stay active on NS for the past week, or even month, come to say. But I’m back for a bit. That’s why I want to propose some of the following ideas about a “sales pitch/actual engagement” to hopefully stir up some commentary here, or well, engagement.

If you’re not interested in participating in the ministry, you’re free to leave! No one will be offended!
I want to laud Pronoun’s efforts, or should I say, their first order of business as Minister, which was launching a Discord poll to see who was actually interested in staying in/working in the ministry. That should be each minister’s first step. But…what’s next?

This might be a little radical but launching something like the Office of Assembly Affairs for the ministry.
Honestly, I’m not sure about what I think of this. It’s an idea I’ve kicked around in my mind for a while (even back when I was the Minister of Culture) about having some sort of thing where people announce a leave-of-absence just for the note of the Ministry leadership team. If they’re working on a project of some sorts, it can also be helpful to know there. And if you don’t know what the Office of Assembly Affairs is, it is simply just a place where Legislators request a leave of absence or a change to put in the official record sheet.

Advertise the forums and our regional Discord server in the welcome telegram, and in other main documents.
We already do this. But we can launch more advertisement. Maybe have it be front-and-center on the WFE. Or in the welcome telegram. Something like that.

*The dispatch system.
Yeah. Not much can be said here mainly because I am in a rush right now. Besides, there is some work around that concept.

These are more of ideas for how to “simplify the region” when a new player joins. Main thing is we don’t have to be some complex.

I want to see what others think about this stuff :slight_smile:

Oh and please don’t take this as heated or like a official plan – bc it’s not, more just for debate :two_hearts:

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The Wiki could do with some more work, many Wiki pages still have out-of-date and incorrect information. We could try and reassemble the Wiki Team? The previous MoE decided to dissolve it during their short time in office.

Please all let me know your thoughts.

Thanks!

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I’d be supportive of that.

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Perhaps reviving a mentorship program that we had years ago under the MoRA. Each new forum player is assigned a mentor -that has demonstrated that they know what NS is and how to play.

Rather than posting a bunch of guides (which we should still do because some people don’t like to ask for help and would rather read through the whole encyclopedia first) we would make sure that we make one thing very clear to new players: Always be asking questions!

Simple questions like “what does the assembly do” or “who is [belschaft] and what are they to me”. When I first came to TSP I was lucky to have Kris take the time to answer all sorts of regional history questions that helped me flesh out my understanding of the region more than any guide ever did.

Elaborating more on that, I think it’s important to establish a “history of nationstates and TSP” rather than a guide. Much of the game relies upon context on past events than actually understanding the mechanics.

I can elaborate more if needed, but that’s my initial thought.

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Good ideas so far from everyone! I’ll chime in here with a few quick thoughts.

With the time realistically left in this term, a dedicated space for leaves of absence wouldn’t be used all that much. If anyone is busy though, I think you’re right that it’s definitely a good idea to let me and your fellow ministry members know! Discourse makes it super easy to track forum activity among ministry members as well, so I’ll keep an eye on that, and I’ll try to stay updated of everyone’s availability that way as well.

Unfortunately for this, I was elected on a platform of shifting focus away from things like the wiki, but I’d love to see it grow as well. Perhaps (like the cards project) it could become an independent project? I think one of the fantastic things about having a wiki is that anybody can edit it, and opening it up to anyone who’s interested, without feeling like they have to join a dedicated writing team, might encourage more people to contribute.

I recall previous Chairs of the Assembly trying something similar. I wonder if we could also encourage other government officials to embrace their roles as mentors (including myself :stuck_out_tongue:). If someone joins our ministry, for example, I’d want to be available to them as a mentor who can answer their questions, and I think we could definitely do more to encourage newcomers to ask more questions of their leaders in our integration materials.

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I actually created one of those threads when we moved to the new forums. No use so far!

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Courtesy of @im_a_waffle1 on Discord:

I think MoE should work on identifying players who have the potential to be very active in the government, and working with them one-on-one, answering questions they have and in the end trying to get them active in the Assembly.

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Sorry for being late. Our esteemed and developing roleplay environment is one of the best topics to exploit for our sales pitch. We should bring that further up!

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I want to echo what Besern said. A lot of new players who find NationStates are interested in roleplaying and running a nation. And yes, there definitely are a select few who aren’t interested in roleplay, but many are. Advertising Pacifica, Aurora, and A1-0 I think would be a good idea.

I know Pronoun ran for Minister on a campaign of not really doing anything to the wiki, but many new players might think it is a cool place to upload articles about their nation. Especially for me in the past few days, I’ve been uploading some pages to the wiki about one of my roleplay nations, Cadíz. And that’s been enjoyable.

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I definitely agree about roleplay — I mentioned our (off-site) roleplay community in my draft for a new welcome dispatch. If you have any thoughts about revising that, please do share!

As for the wiki, I’m not sure it’s something necessarily worth promoting as a ‘standalone’ thing. I’m not as active on the wiki nowadays but I personally got into writing articles because I first got into roleplay; without something to write articles about, I’m not sure new players would be all that interested in the wiki. I certainly do hope that we can get more new players interested in roleplay (or gameplay) and if they then want to write articles, they can use the wiki.

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