As I spent more time on the sim, observe, and even sneak around on alts ... I will express my thoughts openly here for the community, both the players and leaders, to discuss.

Businesses, at least the official ones, have been outfitted with the ability to send in-world group invites to registered players. The purpose of businesses is to allow players to match their characters with topical interests, build a sense of community (starting from a small family of employees), and give day-to-day purpose and opportunity to role-play.

Fist impressions are everything.

Recommended things to do when new characters join a business:

• Leads and managers should monitor their roster and IM new players who have recently joined
• Share ideas and tips on how to role-play with customers; are there upcoming events or specials that would spice things up?
• Are there uniforms, name tags, or anything you can share to make it feel inclusive?
• Go the extra mile of finding opportunities to include them in non-business related scenes

Recommended things NOT to do:

• "Who are you?" ... remember, the system is DESIGNED to allow players to automatically be invited and given a job. Figure out a way to make it work in our fictional world ... maybe NPC managers are a thing that acknowledge how characters end up with jobs through the system. There's nothing more of a turn off for new players than to be met with "experienced" players who force an awkward exchange.
• Being mean or rude in the first scene you have with the new employee. I don't care how much of an asshole your character is supposed to be, but you would never have been put in a management role if that's the kind of experience you would have.

Thankfully, I we don't have any of these extremes going on... but the concept of new players having to interview is one I did want to challenge. I think interviews have a place for more responsibility, but if this has to be done for whatever reason, it should be conducted in a way that shouldn't feel awkward or like a new player did something wrong to even join in the first place.

Managers and leaders come and go ... that's how it has always been in every community I've run and observed. These invite systems are designed to allow players to keep moving forward without that dependency of a leader ... the leaders' role is to keep the momentum of business-related stories going, plan events, and really find opportunities to bring players together and create more RP opportunities.

The commitment I will make today is that the inviter system, including the new reinviter system I am putting up in the new welcome lobby, will be as reliable as I can design them to be. I have literally spent the last few nights really thinking through what that new user experience is like and making sure the systems we have in place are as friction-less and provide guidance.

Last thing I will say is I am incredibly proud of how far this community as come - i've observed some amazing role-play and events and know that all the new builds, systems, HUD, and eventually this website, will be to keep making CD the best place to be.

What were some of the positive experiences you had when joining a job in Hathian? Let's share some ideas.