Apps, Factions, and HOOPS

[Gippy]

Yes. It is amazing when faction PCs give you tasks that they can't complete themselves! 12, you were a victim.

[scrappayeti]

Personally I don't like the idea that a successful application means you can automatically get into the faction. A successful application means you imagined a character awesome enough to get into one, great, but that doesn't short cut the process of the actual RP.

I have had the opposite, which is considerably more annoying (accepted IC rejected OOC - such a difficult thing to RP).

I think that you should app for a faction because it is clear your character is heading that direction due to IG events and meetings, not just because it would be something nice in the future.

If your character is determined to get into a faction without friends, why not bend the rules? Sure they asked you to go ogre clubbing naked to prove your worth, but might it not be easier to simply blackmail them? How about staging a mugging, then fake rescuing them at the last moment?

The characters story arc involves the recruitment process, and it should be as fun and complex as the actual experience as a member of the faction.

[Mannykins]

I find it difficult to consistently come up with new and interesting ways for people to prove themselves, some people have just helped with tasks throughout the day and I've learnt enough about them to be satisfied, others I've been suspicious of and it takes me a while to trust them and others are hard to find and process.

On several occasions  I have been informed by DMs that regarding the Stygians, just because he has been approved it doesn't mean I should usher him off to the initiation test.

[Paha]

I'm saying something here that I want to see from applicants.

You, sirs, are selfish as it is. You need to earn the place, like any other work or spot in organization. Don't throw the full weight on others.

You can keep pushing and throwing your earned honorifics and achievements to the PC's of the faction and be active on your own. You might get a task, but you know what? The work in pursuing this task is just as easy way to get in as succeeding swiftly - Bring information, report, make effort in some way, or other, be active.

I ran around certain PC's feets for two days almost non-stop, helping him and being with him in bringing people in. Good way to show what I can do, what my character is like and what he can achieve.

It's your own bullhead style if you go on the task and spend ten days on without reporting anything or letting the boss know the hard situation. I reported all that kind troubles, and I noted the situation and in the end we were at it together, not just me alone.

[Talir]

When I was playing DM faction PCs, I had a very easy way to determine a recommendation. I had a chat with the character, see how he did in a spar (which was pretty much just to do it, not with much weight put into the result there) and find a task that somehow was related to what he had spoken of earlier. Find that extra part of the concept where the strength lay, not in mechanical strength but concept wise. If he was an investigator, either have him relate upon the process he used to investigate or task him with an on-going investigation to see how he did during a short time. In the Armada, it was to successfully fulfill a contract on another's behalf and have the giver tell me of the performance. In the latter months I spent in the Watch, I took the applicant out into the streets to hear what the citizens had to say about him and watched his performance on the streets.

I wanted to find that special thing, special flavor of the character that makes him unique and have him show me this through a task.

You don't need all the PCs recommendation to get in. It is preferable that you have spoken, even just briefly, to the various PCs within the faction so that they at least have an opinion about you. Even without the backing of the majority, you still have a chance of being recruited if one of the higher ups requests it. If you cannot reach the players in-game, make a letter on the forums.

The recruitment process of getting recommendations is not something I'd like to see change. It gives everyone a chance to get to know your character prior to his induction and you to get to know them. Generally, you should approach the faction PCs before writing the application and once you get the result of this, you should have managed to get one or two recommendations, making it just a few more days to get in. Any longer than that and I strongly urge you to try to reach the faction PCs again. If you are facing an almost impossible or insane recommendation test, feel free to approach the NPCs with it (sparely). While promotion is the big factor within some organisations, the various demotions are vast and numerous to sufficiently show the disfavor of not getting new blood into the faction.

If the faction PCs' characters don't like your character, it is perfectly fine for them not to recommend you. So watch how you show yourself. Regardless, there should always be a task to gain their recommendation.

In this process, take some time to learn each other's character and what makes him/her different from Fighter #2681 and try to offer a task suited for this to show both his trustworthiness of words and who that character is.

[RIPnogarD]

There is always the option of not jumping through hoops. If the Watch PC you talk to says "Go to lower and kill a man called Montezzi and you're in" say, "You go kill him" and walk away. (been there done that.)

As far as apps, if you want in bad enough keep re-submitting 99 times untill you're finally playing the PC the way somebody else want's him played, or say to hell with it and go another direction with your PC and play him the way you want to.

[Halfbrood]

Preach it, RIPnogarD.

Still dislike hoop jumping.

[Twelve]

I agree with Paha Poika here that the applicant should be as active as possible in joining the faction.  Lets face it, they (current faction PCs) have something you want, not the other way around.  
 

- Bring information, report, make effort in some way, or other, be active.

This however is extremely difficult when the effort put forth is not a mutual sharing of the load.  A PC giving a "hoop" to jump through, must try equally as hard to be accessable to the PC recruit in question, or frustration will set in.
 
Taking an honest look at the situation I referenced earlier I see things that could have been done on both sides to make it work.
 
 For instance on my side of things:

• Never once used the forums as a means to communicate.  That is a fail on my part.  I only went with trying to link up IG.
• Gave up.  Maybe 10 days was a bit short.  Other factors can have an impact on this as well.

Faction side improvments:

• A quest that was doable for a 4 - 5th level PC.  Not a capture the bad guys and bring them too us thing, since we can't.  Now, I understand the RP that was desired at this.  Gathering a group, doing patrols, helping citizens - all part of it, but the end result was extreme difficult.
• Availability.  After IC given up on the task, and with every intention to report failure (after being mugged once and beaten another time), getting a hold of the "Hoop Giver" was impossible.  IG Tells, Sending Systems and sitting at the Citadel all met with failure.  (Again, perhaps forum use would have helped minimize this).

So, that's my honest assessment that both sides could do to make the situation more enjoyable for both faction PCs and potential recruits.

[ForsakenSunlight]

Lets face it, they (current faction PCs) have something you want, not the other way around.

While some factions members view it this way that is not the way it is meant to be. As one of the dms said, the Factions "Should" be as eager to increase numbers, therefore power, and status as they should personal goals.
 
Alot of pcs just get in and ignore recruiting, it happens. I rarely see Palid Masks or Stygians making recruitment sendings anymore, for example. When I know for a fact at least 2-3 of them are online almost all day long.
 
Again, it is the way it is. Yes avaliability would be good, but in reality the only way that changes is to recruit more people. The sons are a good example. They originally had no one, and everyone had to app (and did), then they had a handful but it was a active handful, now they are more or less empty again.
 
Just remeber if your in a guild, the more people you have, the more attention your guild gets. Or so it has been in the past.

[derfo]

people still pretending that everyone wants hoops to not exist at all

lol