2old2play Going Invite Only

doodirock

Shared on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 11:40

So with this switch to V3 coming along (I know its still not here) we have been talking about the ways people get involved with 2o2p, join clans, meet people etc. One of the things we noticed was how hard it is for someone to really get involved with the community and how often that person just leaves after a day or so on the site.

This is mostly do to the fact that new people have the impossible task of breaking into an already insular clan and meeting completely new people that probably don't want some new guy crashing their party. As such one of the only ways to get into the site is through hanging around the main forums or knowing someone already on the site in another clan. We tried for the longest time to figure out ways of bridging this gap but it was pointless without making drastic changes to how clans operate.

Instead we have decided to keep clans just as they are, but instead change the way people hook up with 2o2p. Starting at the launch of V3, 2old2play will go into invite only mode and new members will have to be invited by "good standing" members of 2o2p in order to participate actively in our community. We will also offer motivated new members an oppertunity to sign up via peer review in order to stream line the proccess of getting new people hooked up with the right clans.

As an example, a completely new member could request to join 2o2p by giving us a little background on what games they play, what style of player they are, and what type of clan they're looking for. From there we can use our (already in place) welcome wagon to direct that person to a clan or leader that might be able to help. This will be a very limited amount of people but in the end should produce quality over quantity while helping to grow already exsisting clans with new members directly.

Invites will be given to members based on standing within the community so any new person invited will be automaticly tagged with the person who invited them. This not only helps show off your recruiting powers, but allows a small bit of acountability to filter in when new people are linked with an older memeber. Members will be able to see who invited who and how many invites they have sent out. We will probably limit these invites in someway in order to kill spamming, but it should be fairly open.

Speaking of spam, this was another reason we decided to go invite only. Spam would basically die off completely. The remaining spam accounts that are laying dormant on the site would be caught fast simply because any invites they send out will be tagged to them. From there we can just take out the entire chain in one swoop without trying to figure out who invited who.

As for the content on 2o2p, nothing will change. Permissions as you see them now remain 100% untouched so people who like to browes the site without a membership can still fully do so. The only real difference here is how people sign up with 2o2p and interact with the community. Oddly enough, when I started 2o2p in 2005 this is really how it worked anyway. People got into the site because of word of mouth or playing with us online and I think that's how it should still be even today. If you have any thoughts on the subject please let me know in the comments below. Game on!

doodi

doodirock's blog
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Comments

Submitted by Viking_Supreme on Fri, 08/12/2011 - 16:22

I have registered on the site, but find it frustrating that I cant even look at the forums to establish where I should belong. I know other members from the site, but I wouldn't want them to stake their "reputation" on me, as I don't know if the racing in my case is what I am after. I can't even get past the profile settings as it resets to default after each entry. Someone help please! Viking_Supreme

Submitted by sfw555 on Sat, 07/16/2011 - 19:40

can i get a invite?

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Submitted by CrypticCat on Thu, 09/29/2011 - 03:10

Uhm... Postcount might constitute a member in good standing? You serious, doodi? So some peabrain spamming lolcats in the unrelated thread ten times a day becomes a member in good standing and a solid, clan involved gamer with little BBS-involvement gets to look in from the outside? Anyway, count me out of the recruiting by peer-review. No way I'm gonna stake my rep within 2o2p by bringing in people I have no control over, but can catch the backlash for. I wanna game with people in my age bracket, not dodge bullets because one guy I bring in looks funny at some uptight overlord of the barbie horse adventures clan. Basically, I'm not willing to ruin 5 years of being 2o2p. It means too much to me. Could you define "Good Standing"? It sounds like "Incrowd close to doodi" to me, for some reason. Could you define "Quality"? It sounds to me only 1 game forever gamers fit that bill. That is, peeps who religeously play Halo, Gow or COD BOPS exclusively and as such pwn the high heavens in those games. What about gamers with a broad interest and as such can do well in afore mentioned games but never at the same plateau? I agree with the fact that spammers must be stomped out the root but asking the current group to stake their rep on new and unproven members is taking things a bit far. Should you go forward with this idea I know one thing for sure; there is not enough pop-corn in the world to go with the future drama.

Submitted by Banshee3 on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 16:40

I've been here six years and still don't know any of you old fogeys. I like the "get off my lawn" idea being presented here. Keep out the riff-raff and flush anyone who isn't able to crack a beer, say hello and take the guided tour. There WILL be a guided tour of v3 right? And beer? And cake and balloons?

Submitted by JamesDax on Tue, 09/06/2011 - 11:06

Opps, looks like I came back just in time. I best start being more active. :D

Submitted by bored28 on Tue, 07/26/2011 - 06:54

As a new member that joined this past weekend, I can say that this is a great idea. The recruitment process was a bit unintuitive and convoluted but eventually I started to get in contact with some folks that had similar gaming interests. The "peer review" idea may very well streamline this process by, as doodirock says, holding the hands of the new recruits and pointing them in the direction that they should look. Just the 2 cents of a newb :)

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Submitted by CMA on Fri, 09/30/2011 - 12:09

The V3 is a lie.

Submitted by Spooky on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 11:55

Sounds like a solid plan. Is there any system in place to remove inactive members? If someone doesn't log in for a couple years for example do their accounts get wiped? Just wondering if that would help with future upgrades. The quality over quantity is something we added to our clan from the get go, and I swear by it. I rather have a smaller active clan than a large clan with many members not active.

Submitted by doodirock on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 12:02

We can kill inactive accounts, but I have seen many members take week, month, and even yearly breaks from 2o2p. I wouldn't want to boot them for not being around. However we may do a sweep of all accounts with 1-2 post and no activity within the last 2 years.

Submitted by BELDAR on Mon, 07/18/2011 - 12:00

Can we uninvite people and if they get enough uninvitations we boot them? I'm officially uninviting T3. who's with me?

Submitted by Cerberus4417 on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 12:11

Sounds reasonable. BTW Can we rename v3 to 2old2play+ ?

Submitted by YEM on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 12:11

I like it

Submitted by ATC_1982 on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 12:13

wonder what good standings mean :) .....

Submitted by doodirock on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 12:13

@Cerberus4417 sure, but then we'd just have to change it when google+ opens up.

Submitted by PeepshowJanitor on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 12:13

Brilliant!!!

Submitted by BoodaMcKenzo on Wed, 07/27/2011 - 08:32

As an active member who fights for time to able to connect with clan & site, i think i get what trying to be done and understand why. I myself don't shit, eat, and breathe being on my console (due to time restrictions) but when i do get the time i would like to click online with people who want to shoot the shit and kick a bit of ass. This site provides that and for it i'm grateful! If the objective is to provide that, i'm down. I hope you get to clean up spam & 1 timers! This site should be for the hardcore and the when possible ass kicker. Clans separate the 2 but everbody's welcome. Keep up the good work & good luck balancing the bullshit and different:)

Submitted by Lala Calamari on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 12:16

I don't know if I understand this or not, but it seems like a bad idea to me. You want the main forums to grow, but it seems like you're going to stifle that growth. Maybe I'm just missing something. Or maybe you're happy with the amount of current members. I'm just not sure I like the idea.

Submitted by Abdool on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 12:19

nice!

Submitted by doodirock on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 12:33

@Geekboy I do want the main forums to grow, but I don't mind waiting for that to happen with quality over quantity. Simply put, if a new member wants to join without the invite he has the option with a peer review. That's the type of member we want anyway so it doesn't do much to hurt the active people who look for new communities. If anything it just cleans up the signal-to-noise ratio of sign ups. The thing is, you need to be a certain type of person to join up here. For a lot of people, simply being an older gamer isn't enough. There are still social hurdles to walk through that many people just don't have the time or energy for. Because of this, I'd rather have the option to take a new member by the hand and point them in the right direction then to just sit by and do nothing. As it stands now, we don't have that option with the amount of spam, 1 time accounts, or underage members we get every day. To put it into perspective, we get over 20-40 new registers every day. Of that amount, lets say may 1 is a member who wants to be active within 2o2p. How do we find that person? With all the bullshit accounts around its nearly impossible. On the flip side with a peer review system, we can take that 1 person each day and ask him/her what type of clan or gaming they are into. From there we can point them in the right direction and help to find them a great place to game. On top of all this, invites can be sent out from people within 2o2p to help the process even further. If you have a friend you know loves gaming and want to be involved, you just need their email address. You have a direct link to that person to help them along on 2o2p. In fact we can even set it up to work right through facebook and have the accounts linked on the fly.

Submitted by T3muJin on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 12:36

elitist prick... I know how I'm going to recruit, I'm going into my recent played with list and just spamming "join 2old2play elitist clan, we have level 50 in all Halo games, top levels in MW3, GoW 2, BF2, and Kinect Fit. JOIN NOW!!! or be a n00b 4evAr"

Submitted by jonny12gauge on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 12:57

Good idea! :)

Submitted by VenomRudman on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 13:04

Can we uninvite existing members? Yeah, that's right Dixon, I'm looking at you..... :P

Submitted by POWERROB_3000 on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 13:06

V3 like the cake is a LIE !!!!!! lol But seriously I have been a member here for something like 2 years now I have lost track somwhere along the way, and have been hearing about V3 scince joining so in all regards to that situation its time to shit or get off the pot. As far as the recruit a friend idea goes I am gonna have to side with geekboy on this, I understand that originally this site was operated in this way, but 2o2p has at least 100x the member base as what it had then. And currently it seems to be a handful with the limited staff you employ. switching to some sort of review process ultimately in my opinion will cost you members as I forsee a backlog of processing memberships. Also on that note I have heard many times how you want to break down the wall of elitism currently facing a new member as far as several clans and or members here seem to employ, but stances such as "You need to be a certain type of gamer to join up here, simply being an older gamer is not enough" is a direct contradiction to the very thing you are trying to eleminate. Ultimatley the decision is yours as the allseeing overlord of this site, and no matter what decision is made it will all come togethor and work in the end and 2o2p will go on being the great community that it alaways has been.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 11/11/2011 - 02:24

Submitted by seanfletcher on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 13:18

If we are going to go "invite only" I would suggest we have a group of members with their gamertags posted somewhere on the site. If someone wants to get in they should play with one of these recruiters. I remember a saying that you can tell quite a bit about a person when you play a game with him/her.

Submitted by doodirock on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 13:21

@POWERROB_3000 The statement of "You need to be a certain type of gamer to join up here, simply being an older gamer is not enough" is really taken out of context or you're are completely misunderstanding the meaning. The point is, members who join here usually have to be motivated enough to weed through a lot of bullshit to fit in. We want to take down this barrier and help people find a place to call home. Again, the full quote is "For a lot of people, simply being an older gamer isn't enough. There are still social hurdles to walk through that many people just don't have the time or energy for." This has nothing to do with being elitist and speaks more to a time management issue. As for shitting or getting off the pot, I'll get off when I'm ready to poop.

Submitted by Corcharo on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 13:25

As I understand this, seems like you are adressing two issues at once, spam and helping new and motivated members to fit. Maybe a mandatory introduction post would be just enough for both.

Submitted by buckeye75 on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 13:27

Will I get banned if I invite Ceasar?

Submitted by doodirock on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 13:29

@Corcharo Exactly what I believe Corcharo. In fact, that is really what a peer review is. The added bonus is that members can also invite other members quickly and easily. In reality this isn't to different from how it is now. People who post in the new in town section (which will be the same section as peer review) tend to have an easier time fitting finding new gamers. This method just insures we only get these types of members.

Submitted by doodirock on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 13:33

@buckeye75 As much as I laughed my ass off there, the question is actually a good one. Because invites are tagged to the person who sent it, you have an accountability for who you invite into our home. If they suck we will obviously ban them, but we probably wont let you invite many more members either.

Submitted by Tourni6 on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 13:33

Great stuff guys :) thanks for the time and effort!

Submitted by velvet396 on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 13:50

I'm not sure restricting membership is the best way to address a site with dwindling activity. That said I'm along for the ride and will do my part to invite some quality players to check it out. However I'm an "active" member of the site and have had a hard time finding a new home of like-minded players since the Art of War clan imploded due to Gears2, so I would be surprised to see the invite system fix the "wall of elitism" issue. Certainly a bold step and I hope it works.

Submitted by Automan21k on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 13:56

it might just be my anti-social/social anxiety flaring up, but I like the idea. operate by invite only, build the community with the community we already have and eventually take over the world as the secret society of gamers who's mystique and allure brings fear to the hearts of the non-gamer we would be myth and legend....we could be the Illuminati of the gaming world.

Submitted by Double T on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 13:59

How many current and casual members do we have now that would be considered "active"? I'm just wondering is all. I know the list of noob accounts with zero posts is astronomical, I was just wondering how many we actually have that are active... As a suggestion, couldn't you limit posting activity to the "New peeps" forums until someone has given them an "invite" to join 2o2play. This may eliminate the need for people to actively recruit, and allow for those noob no post accounts to be deleted anyways. Just a thought.

Submitted by RyanFromVegas on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 13:59

Hmmm. Well, Ill go ahead and out myself as someone who has very little time for actually hooking up regularly with a clan. I dont really use this site for that. But, when a specific game comes out that I like and has a co-op feature I do come here to look for partners to play through with...but that doesnt happen with any real regularity...sometime I go quite awhile between games. But I do come on here almost daily and read/post to the forums. My question I guess is am I being shown the door?

Submitted by Double T on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 14:01

doodi, shouldn't get off the pot after you shit? just saying....

Submitted by SarcasmoJones on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 14:09

I had a question about the retention of current members and the criteria used to determine good standing. Some of us don't post or blog on a daily basis and may have no name recognition outside of their respective clan...I doubt that you have even heard of me. I am far more involved on the console side of the clan than the website side of it...I don't think that the level of site participation should necessarily be an impediment for receiving an invitation to V3 and I hope that's being taken into consideration. Will that decision ultimately be left to clan leaders who know the members the best or will standing be based on site participation? Thanks!

Submitted by Phantom_Sol on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 14:26

I like the two issues you are addressing, spam control and a little social guidance. When I signed up, it was out of pure frustration with Timmies. I instantly hit the boards looking for a Halo clan, someone pointed me in the right direction, and I had a "home" within a week. It would be awesome to do this for new members, both for the benefit of the members and the growth of the site. It is kind of intimidating to join a large site and find your own way....like you said, "You need to be a certain type of gamer to join up here." I think this will help. Quality over quantity all the way.

Submitted by Arvind on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 14:46

Wait, wait, in this context how do "all inclusive" and "invite only" work? I keep checking the calendar for confirmation this is a little prank, but I guess it's not. Seriously, wasn't the addition of more moderators and community managers and such supposed to address these issues? Are you thinking that exclusivity will be some kind of marketing tool for future members? Look, I get that you guys do this on a volunteer basis and have real jobs and such. I know from personal experience how much work it can be to maintain a website, police it, produce content and such. But I have to believe that there are plenty of other sites that overcome these same issues without basically locking the gate and making people beg for admission. I know it's a lot different these days than it was in the beginning. When I originally joined I was member # 575 and now we're up to what, over 20K? That can't be easy to manage, and I'm willing to bet, Doodi, that you never expected to be dealing with volume like you deal with today. Kudos for creating a place where so many want to come together. But this move seems to fly in the face of the effort you've made of late to get people back into the public areas. Don't you think this place is cliquish enough as it is without adding an even bigger hurdle for people to overcome to join? This, to me, just seems like it's going to essentially force people to audition for membership to the site in general instead of distributing that job out to the respective clans. Not trying to sound like a dick here, but this move seems to be a step away from what you guys have only recently been trying to do.

Submitted by bunsen27 on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 15:14

Although at face value the idea initially appears a bit ass-backwards it does make sense from the perspective of recruiting active quality members instead of a large quantity of inactive or casual members. No solution is going to be perfect and as much as we all like the ideal being an open community to all; the reality is that we are just too big already. If by this route we can increase the quality of topics/post in the general forums and get rid of the spam and other bullshit this "might" draw some folks from behind the walls of their clan forums and grow the community from within rather than from outside. i say give it an honest shake and re-evaluate in 6-8 months.

Submitted by Shadow on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 15:22

I mostly see this as a huge spam filter, which is fine by me. I don't see Doodi denying many people - but having to actually sign up and talk a little bit first will probably make people be more serious about involvement.

Submitted by moesley on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 16:07

doodi+spam filter FTW!!! i don't think this will actually stop PEOPLE who want to be here on the site, but it'll sure cut down on the fucking spammers. and for that alone it's worth doing.

Submitted by Corcharo on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 16:08

It will probably lead to a clans-only site, which is fine provided the clans are more precisely defined (regarding games played, assiduity required, etc) to encourage application. Even for someone looking for clan, and with the help of the welcome wagon, it can be very confusing to choose from all the clans.

Submitted by MikeTheKnife on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 16:20

I wouldn't have gone through a peer-review process to get into the site. It probably means I am not the type of gamer you guys are trying to recruit, but I wanted to throw in my .02. I'm not terribly active on the site and don't actively seek out new people to play with, but the group I have latched on to is a pretty tight group of guys who I'm glad I got the chance to meet. So thank you 2O2P for that.

Submitted by Lala Calamari on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 16:41

@MiketheKnife I wouldn't have gone through the peer interview process here either. And I'm a very active member on the site. Besides, who has time to do peer interviews? Exactly where are we going to find new people? I game with only 2o2p people .

Submitted by ProvingUnique on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 17:00

seems like alot of moderation? someone's gonna be in charge of letting the newbs in the house?....

Submitted by IAmTheLiquor on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 17:20

I think this is a good idea BUT I agree with Lala and Mike, if there was a review process or I had to get "approval" I would have probably moved on to another site. I am not a patient person and whenever I join a new site or something I want to get in right away to get my feet wet. If I had to dick around I probably would not wait around. But in saying that, it doesn't matter to me that much. As far as being a member here now I like the idea as it will cut down on the spam and keep the member base more active.