Town Mentor

Introduction
The Town mentor position is appointed by the town Mayor and helps guide not only new players, but experienced players. This position is critical to the success of a town as they guide not only players towards what they should do in the future, but can affect the profit margin of various fields and workshops with their recommendations. It is highly recommended that this position be held by someone who is active.

Reports
There are 3 main reports that a mentor can view:


 * 1) Citizen/By Level Report - This shows where the citizens are towards leveling as well as other critical information to help make the decision towards the mentor recommendations.
 * 2) Field, Workshop and Way Summary Report - This report breaks down how many Fields, Workshops and Ways there are in the town breaking it down between Active, Paused, and Dead as well. This can help mentors adjust their recommendations as necessary.
 * 3) Birthday Report - This report lets you know the upcoming birthdays for this month and the next. This can be used to give birthday gifts and to raise awareness about it for others to give gifts as well.

You are also able to select 'Get BBCode' for the BBCode to make it easier to put in the forums.

Recommendations
When a player goes to level, they are given recommendations that are chosen by the Mentor. It is a good practice for Mentors to review this from time to time as player population leaves towns or new players join the town. A balanced town between different Fields and Workshops help players keep a better profit margin. If a field/workshop has no players using them, it is highly recommended for a mentor to actively find players who may be interested in changing to fulfill the need. Some mentors in the past have used mass mail or even filled the empty slots until a player can be convinced to switch their field/workshop.

Letters
A good mentor will be writing a lot of letters to their residents. There are three different ways that mentors communicate via letter to their citizens: The Mentor Letter System, Mass Mail, and Individually.

1) Mentor Letter System

There is a mentor letter system that helps to organize some of the basic letters and reduce the workload of mentors. The Mentor Letter System will prompt the mentor when a player is ready for a new letter. Before the mentor sends the form letter out, the mentor will have an option to adjust the letter to a player's specific needs.

2) Mass Mail

A great mentor will write letters above and beyond the basic ones in the system. The mentor can send letters to every resident (no matter where they are located) via mass mail. Mentors can use mass mail for various purposes such as informing citizens of things the town needs as well as encouragement of residents to take action. The mentor could even suggest specific citizens that need SP to level up.

Mass Mail requires the use of communication points. If communication points run out, the mentor should ask the town mayor to post a job for more points.

3) Individual

The final way that mentors can communicate with players is individually. When mentors receive letters from players asking for advice, mentors should respond. Sometimes mentors may not know the answer to the question. In this case, the mentor should still respond and suggest someone else that may know the answer or even contact former mentors, the mayor, or the community team. There are many willing to help if you ask.

One of the biggest complaints about players leaving the game is that the mentor did not reply or help them with their questions. This is a chance for players to really shine and help their fellow players.

Town Events
Often Town Mentors can or will organize different events whether it be in the forums or encourage people to win in Mini-games. This can be as simple as a mass mail to let everyone know to pull for their town or something more complicated like a forum game with an RP to match. There are a lot of possibilities. If you are unsure of what to do, please feel free to contact our community team for ideas or suggestions.

Once a town event has been decided upon, the mentor can add a town event that will show in all of the resident's town calendar. A great method of communication that can help bring your town closer.

Final Thoughts
As a mentor, there is a lot of potential for interaction as well as helping groom the future of your town. In my history, I can tell you that I've seen many mentors rise up to the challenge and helped introduce many players to the game. There may be times where it can be frustrating, but the rewards can outweigh them.

Our newest players often look towards our mentors as guides. The best ones end up getting praised not only to their mayors, but often to the Community Team. Players who have left the game have reported mentors as a reason for them to leave either by not fulfilling their promises or not responding. If you aren't sure about an answer, please don't hesitate to ask someone and let the player know that you are looking into it. After all, we were all once a new player.