Developed through the efforts of thousands of gamers, our community's storied recruiting process has been around for more than a decade. This year, we introduced a new phase to our process that requires our recruits to develop ideas into practice. The first recruit to attempt this challenge is Bikendi Shark (@GregSchneidr). This phase of our recruiting process requires each recruit to announce, develop, and implement an idea of their choosing. Any idea, so long as it's designed to better our online gaming community. This "idea development" challenge demands of our recruits six essential disciplines:
To activate this phase, a recruit must first announce their idea to our community. Below is Bikendi Shark's idea announcement, explained through a 19-point Q&A with Mr. Mystic. How long have you been a part of the IGR community? I have been a citizen of the IGR for about 7-8 months now What made you want to be a part of the IGR community? Respect for the members of the Division IGR. No matter what, when I played against them they would always fight it out to the end, and would never stoop to low tactics. True men of honor, with a respect for the opposition, whom also seek to uphold a positive experience for all. For those traits, I wanted to be a member of the Division IGR, to help further the movement for a positive online gaming experience. What made you want to take the extra step to become a member of the Division IGR? The more I played with members of the Division IGR, the more I realized that this community wasn’t just a clan, they were a family. I had been debating it the more inactive my previous clan became, and once it was official that it had disbanded, it was only natural for me to move to where I felt most at home, with the Division IGR. What games do you play with the clan? I play Battlefield 4, Warframe, Plants verses Zombies: Garden Warfare, and Call of Duty Advanced Warfare. So, what's your idea? Two nights a week (Friday and Saturday) a chat party (on PS4) will be created, and will contain, at any given time, no more than 4 Colors. The other 4 party slots will be for people whom we do not know, and by agreement of the party members, could benefit from some helpful advice and refining of their gaming skills. These parties will carry a special communication level designation (similar to the Alpha coms, Bravo coms, etc.) so that it is known the chat is for tutoring other players only. These training teams will be created for 3-4 hour periods of time, allowing for flexibility of people's schedules, and so that their entire evening is not completely taken up by helping members of the community. Tutors will actively search out players in game. Examples of this are: looking for people who are low ranked, doing poorly, or complaining about their own game play quality; etc. The 4 colors will dedicate an hour or two to help better these players. Help engage them, show them how to position themselves, how to move effectively to use cover while allowing them to engage the enemy, among other tactics. During the course of the party, constructive criticism and compliments are to be given, to better the student's skills and attitude, and give them hope at becoming better, thus resulting in a drive to better their selves. At the end of the instruction, the colors are to education the players about the IGR, to help reinforce the positive gaming ideal, and spread it to more members of the online gaming community. It is desired that the tutors attempt to form new friendships with the players, as this will allow a monitoring of the progression of these players. How did you come up with this idea? Between the ages of 16-19, I instructed young men in Space Exploration and Aviation merit badges, and I greatly enjoyed instructing, and seeing somebody who had no idea of something, understand a new concept, and potentially fuel a passion to pursue a career. What was your thought process when coming up with your idea? I’ve always been told, that if you enjoy doing something, you’ll do it well. I got the idea to do something I enjoy doing, which is teaching, and apply it to benefit the community. Why is this a valid idea? This idea is valid because it is one of the core values of the Division IGR to further prosocial community in the world of online gaming. One aspect of that is to help ensure that others are having an enjoyable time while gaming. Even just a bit of friendly banter can help make somebody’s evening better. How will the IGR community benefit from your idea? I believe the IGR community will benefit through the addition of new members, a growth of overall camaraderie, and a strengthening of existing bonds. Ultimately resulting in the furtherance of our prosocial gaming values. How will the general gaming community benefit? In bettering a player, the gaming community can further develop better players, in addition to having the idea of a positive, rather than a negative, which improves the online gaming experience for all. Besides gaming community who also benefits from this idea? Anyone who wishes for the games industry to thrive and the parents and loved ones of those who play games. Can this be implemented across multiple universes and consoles? Yes! This idea was designed to be able to be implemented over multiple games and consoles, as there is always room for improvement. How long will the idea take to implement? To start the idea, i.e. setting up the roster of tutors and refining the process, it will take approximately three weeks. What is the longevity of the idea? The idea, for practical purposes, has a longevity of a month or two, however, the tutoring evenings I believe should be continued indefinitely. How long before the benefits of your idea are noticeable? A few hours for each individual, but long-term improvement will be noticeable approximately two weeks in, assuming that the players actively seeks to better his or her self. How set on the idea are you? Fairly set on the core of the idea, as I believe it to be a strong idea that will benefit the online gaming community greatly. How open are you to modification of the idea? I am open to modifications of details, such as the days actively used, tutor to player ratio, etc. Do you have anything to say directly to Division IGR leadership on behalf of you idea and why they should consider it? Everybody has to start somewhere with gaming, and if somebody is there to help refine the skills of a player in a game, then said player will only have a more enjoyable gaming experience. Through the use of this idea, the IGR can further its impact on gamers through a wider sphere of influence. Do you think this year's "Idea Development" addition to our recruiting process is important? I do. The Idea Development challenge is important because it tests a recruit on multiple disciplines and establishes whether the recruit has a genuine desire to be a dedicated member of the Division IGR. By having to plan and carry out a community improvement project, much can be learned about a recruit and much can be revealed to the recruit about the Division IGR. |
October 2015
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