Suggestion: Add recruiting info to the FAQ

[Kandarin]

As I've brought up before here, the frequent use of RMB ads in feeder regions poses a number of issues. Feeder region's don't like it since it intrudes on their regional space. More importantly from an equal standpoint, RMB ads are very ineffective, gathering only scanty results when they get results at all. Furthermore, new players see RMB ads and think that they are most effective method of recruiting, not realizing that effective recruiting relies on telegrams. The last time I brought this up I suggested a very drastic solution (just banning RMB ads) which ran into a number of issues. Instead, may I suggest a somewhat less drastic action: Add "How do I get people to join my region?" and an explanation of telegram recruiting to the FAQ. It's a Frequently Asked Question if ever there was one, and new players that found regions are legion and nigh-impossible to reach by player regions. A lot of people try starting a region only to get frustrated, so some official guidance pointing them toward the more effective method would be very helpful.

[Naivetry]

I think of all the poor souls posting recruitment threads in Gameplay, too... most of which never garner a single reply. This would be very useful for such players.

[[violet]]

Add "How do I get people to join my region?" and an explanation of telegram recruiting

Whip me up said explanation and I'll see what I can do.

[Animal House Recruiter]

Bluto's Recruiter FAQ

What is a recruiter?

A recruiter is any nation that encourages nations to move to their region. According to the rules, they can send one recruiting telegram (TG) to any nation in these regions: The Pacific, The North Pacific, The East Pacific, The South Pacific, The West Pacific, The Rejected Realms, Lazarus, and Official Warzones. You can also post one recruiting advertisement message encouraging nations to move every 24 hours on their Regional Message Board (RMB). There can only be one recruiting message from your region on an RMB at a time, no matter how old it is or which nation posted it. A region can have more than one recruiter nation, but the recruitment rules apply to the region, not to each recruiter nation.

I posted a recruiting message on an RMB and they made fun of me or were mean to me. Why?

There are several reasons that may have encouraged nations to ridicule to your RMB recruiting post.
1.RMB post recruiting is annoying to natives who like having their nations in those regions. They prefer to use their RMB for purposes other than your desire to advertise. If you use this method of advertising, get used to being called an adspammer. You'll need a thick skin and a sense of humor.
2.Your RMB post may have violated the region's rules for recruiters. Read the World Factbook Entry (WFE) at the top of every region page before you post and follow any local rules in that region. Not following local rules is disrespectful.
3.Your RMB post may have failed to communicate in a clever, respectful, and intelligent manner.
4.It was my bad. You had the bad luck of posting when I was lurking there and I used your post to parody adspam. Sorry. I can't help myself. If you TG me that you were offended, I will add you to the list of people I have promised not to tease.

5.You displayed poor knowledge of NationStates to experienced players. Read this:
One Stop Rules Shop before you go recruiting.

How can I make my RMB recruiting messages better?

Don't:
use ASCII art and characters
type in ALL CAPS
post all bold or with excessive exclamation marks
make spelling and grammatical errors
insult the reader or the region
post a message longer than about 10 lines on an average screen

Do:
post a link to your region
explain why it's a cool place to be
change what you post from day to day – if you're doing boring copy and paste over and over again, you're advertising that your region is boring
practice getting all this right first by posting it on your own region's RMB or in a region that allows it, like Test Lab1

I post RMB ads every day and no one moves to my region. Why?

Because you're using the easiest and least effective method of recruiting. I work very hard at RMB recruiting and I snag a new nation maybe every 250 posts = low return on investment of time and energy. Many recruiters I know simply have stopped RMB recruiting completely because it was an exercise in futility.

What is more effective than RMB post recruiting?

Sending brand new nations one nice recruiting TG the day they were founded. Invite them personally to visit your region and stay if they like it. It's hard work but it's how many new players find out about regions they move to. The Dos and Don'ts of better RMB recruiting apply to TGs as well. You get only one shot at making a good impression.

What makes a region attractive so that players want to move their nation there?

Recruiter truth in advertising. Don't oversell and fail to deliver.

Build a region that is interesting. Then they will come. Don't try to make your region be all things to all people. Learn about the game first and build your region around a theme or central activities. Raid or Defend or do neither, Role Play or keep it real, build an active offsite forum or have no forum (because no offsite forum is better than a lame one almost one no one enjoys), encourage debating game issues or RL issues or not, develop a regional government, and focus on elements of the the game itself like the World Assembly are all things different regions do to make being there enjoyable.

Most importantly, build relationships between players in the region so they look forward to logging in. Don't be pushy: ask players what they want to do. Don't try to herd them into doing something they aren't interested in. Discourage bullying. Help the n00bs.

Tour successful regions and find out what makes them successful.

[[violet]]

That's excellent but I was hoping for something short enough to drop into the FAQ.

[Animal House Recruiter]

That's excellent but I was hoping for something short enough to drop into the FAQ.

Jeeze. It's almost like you have to deal with book editors.


Take two - back to me.

What is a recruiter?

A recruiter is any nation that encourages nations to move to their region. According to the rules, they can send one recruiting telegram (TG) to any nation in these regions: The Pacific, The North Pacific, The East Pacific, The South Pacific, The West Pacific, The Rejected Realms, Lazarus, and Official Warzones. A region can have more than one recruiter nation, but recruitment rules apply to the region, not to each recruiter nation. Read this:
One Stop Rules Shop before you go recruiting.

I posted a recruiting message on an RMB and they made fun of me or were mean to me. Why?

There are several reasons that may have encouraged nations to ridicule to your RMB recruiting post. RMB post recruiting is annoying to some natives who like having their nations in those regions. Get used to being called an adspammer. You'll need a thick skin and a sense of humor. Your RMB post may have violated the region's rules for recruiters. Read the World Factbook Entry (WFE) at the top of every region page before you post and follow any local rules in that region. Your RMB post may have failed to communicate in a clever, respectful, and intelligent manner.

How can I make my RMB recruiting messages better?

These are suggestions, not game rules.
Don't:
use ASCII art and characters
type in ALL CAPS
post all bold or with excessive exclamation marks
make spelling and grammatical errors
insult the reader or the region
post a message longer than about 10 lines on an average screen

Do:
post a link to your region
explain why it's a cool place to be
change what you post from day to day – if you're doing boring copy and paste over and over again, you're advertising that your region is boring
practice getting all this right first by posting your ad on your own region's RMB

I post RMB ads every day and no one moves to my region. Why?

Because you're using the easiest but historically least effective method of recruiting.

What is more effective than RMB post recruiting?

Sending brand new nations one nice recruiting TG the day they were founded is more effective. Invite them personally to visit your region and stay if they like it.

What makes a region attractive so that players want to move their nation there?

Recruiter truth in advertising. Don't oversell and fail to deliver. Build a region that is interesting first. Discourage bullying. Help the n00bs. Tour successful regions and find out what makes them successful. Adapt, adopt, and improve.

[Kandarin]

I just created my own region! How do I get more nations to come to my region?

Most nations have already chosen a region to live in, so you'll want to find brand-new nations that haven't picked a region yet and convince them to come to yours. You can find new nations in the regions that your nation could have first appeared in - that is, The Pacific, The East Pacific, The West Pacific, The North Pacific, and The South Pacific. Go to the list of nations in one of these regions (The number of nations in the region is a link to the list) and sort it by "Length of Residency". The last pages on your list will be the very newest nations - bright-eyed young polities looking to find a place in the world. Send telegrams to plenty of these nations telling them about the perks of coming to your region, and you'll have no shortage of new neighbors in no time!

If you want to keep a steady flow of new arrivals to your region, you should repeat this recruiting process from time to time. You can also try to recruit older nations from Pacific regions, or try recruiting revived or ejected nations from Lazarus and The Rejected Realms, but most of those nations have already made up their mind as to where to go and so will be less receptive to the call of your region than brand-new nations. There are a few recruiting rules to keep in mind, too - to stay within the rules, please only send each nation one telegram, and only recruit nations in the regions named here.

A couple of things to note about the reasoning behind this:

*I didn't mention the Warzones because although recruiting there is allowed, it's entirely useless.

*I listed Lazarus and the RR seperately because years 'n' years of experience with the RR and the dynamics of all this tells me that they really are much worse places to recruit than the Pacifics, for essentially the reasons I gave - whether it's because they're mostly ejected raider/defender puppets or because they're mostly revived oldbies wanting to reform old connections, most nations in those regions really aren't interested in striking out for a brand new region. I wouldn't want to leave people frustrated because they did their first recruiting run in Lazarus thinking it'd get them the same results as doing it in the South Pacific or something.

[Animal House Recruiter]

... no shortage of neighbors in no time.

I wish it were so. Recruiting is a grind. Rising above the RMB clutter is neigh impossible - but I like tilting at windmills anyway.

The recruit-o-gram method has become more aggressive. I birthed a puppet recently and it had 4 recruit-o-grams within moments. I dunno how this stuff works, but the speed at which the nation was bombarded by TGs suggests scripts, not players. I suggested a personalized invite because even a clever script writer can't comment on a motto or flag. You rise above that clutter by caring about the player.

While I do agree that warzones are a recruiter waste of time - I don't think Laz and TRR are. Experienced players still look to change their stripes and environment now and then.

[Euroslavia]

I just created my own region! How do I get more nations to come to my region?

Most nations have already chosen a region to live in, so you'll want to find brand-new nations that haven't picked a region yet and convince them to come to yours. You can find new nations in the regions that your nation could have first appeared in - that is, The Pacific, The East Pacific, The West Pacific, The North Pacific, and The South Pacific. Go to the list of nations in one of these regions (The number of nations in the region is a link to the list) and sort it by "Length of Residency". The last pages on your list will be the very newest nations - bright-eyed young polities looking to find a place in the world. Send telegrams to plenty of these nations telling them about the perks of coming to your region, and you'll have no shortage of new neighbors in no time!

If you want to keep a steady flow of new arrivals to your region, you should repeat this recruiting process from time to time. You can also try to recruit older nations from Pacific regions, or try recruiting revived or ejected nations from Lazarus and The Rejected Realms, but most of those nations have already made up their mind as to where to go and so will be less receptive to the call of your region than brand-new nations. There are a few recruiting rules to keep in mind, too - to stay within the rules, please only send each nation one telegram, and only recruit nations in the regions named here.

A couple of things to note about the reasoning behind this:

*I didn't mention the Warzones because although recruiting there is allowed, it's entirely useless.

*I listed Lazarus and the RR seperately because years 'n' years of experience with the RR and the dynamics of all this tells me that they really are much worse places to recruit than the Pacifics, for essentially the reasons I gave - whether it's because they're mostly ejected raider/defender puppets or because they're mostly revived oldbies wanting to reform old connections, most nations in those regions really aren't interested in striking out for a brand new region. I wouldn't want to leave people frustrated because they did their first recruiting run in Lazarus thinking it'd get them the same results as doing it in the South Pacific or something.

Emphasis mine.

Personal opinion as a player, but whether that's true or not (Definitely not saying you're wrong, you've got a lot more experience than I do with that sort of thing), I don't think such an opinion should be put in the FAQ, and we should simply toss RR and Lazarus up with the other recruitable regions. Obviously explaining that both of those aren't feeder regions for new nations, but keeping them in the same category.

Plenty of things can be frustrating in this game (trying to get enough approvals to get your proposal in queue, trying to become the WA delegate, answering issues in a manner that completely satisfies what you want in a nation, etc), but we don't want to discourage players from trying anyways, especially concerning the recruiting through RR and Lazarus, because it's perfectly legal.