I was going to make a post without quoting anyone, with my own personal experiences on the subject of mass-recruiting, however...
Tribe B is a massrecruiter. The word massrecruiter defines no quality, only quantity. So if you have 100 members, you are a massrecruiter. It is as simple as that, don't try to make it more difficult then it is. I'm not saying tribe A is better then B, because you could maybe call tribe A weak tribe for 'a bad merge?'(don't know if it was a good or bad merge, I wasn't here), or probably find another point to bitch about, but point stays, if you have 100 members you're a massrecruiter. The word on itself has no negative meaning at all, the only negative about massrecruiters, is the way that some/most players look at them because they do not like the playing style(probably because it is a style very often used by newbs/noobs).
This is completely and utterly wrong.
"Massrecruiting" has from the very first world I played been defined as both the invitation and recruitment of a large amount of players, without any attempt made to determine their personalities or abilities. It is the acceptance of almost every player if not every player who applies to the tribe. It is recruitment in order to have more members and more points, as opposed to recruitment in order to have a better tribe. Now, I'm not saying I know anything about Punch! or ZOMBIE here, but purely based upon the way Bloodhood defines the recruiting process of Tribe B, they cannot be considered to Massrecruit, as they evidently decline players, and spend a lot of time and energy determining whether they are the type of players they want in the tribe. This act of screening in itself contradicts the very definition of mass recruitment.
Secondly, saying "The word massrecruiter defines no quality, only quantity" is also wrong. One might in the process of massrecruiting come across some exceptional potential, and even some good players. It is recruitment with an
emphasis on quantity, but not necessarily without quality.
Finally, Mass recruitment in itself isn't a bad thing. How you deal with these recruits is what defines the wisdom of the approach.
Consider two tribes again, Tribe A and Tribe B. Both have decided that they cannot wait for good players to find them, and thus have decided to sweep their respective areas, inviting everyone who shows at least average activity.
Tribe A, having done this, then proceeds to do nothing about these new recruits. The leaders post guides, and tell the players to have at, answering questions as they come up, if they can answer them. Some players go inactive, others don't grow, but they leave them in the tribe until they barb out, or they need more space for new members, in which case the most inactive players are kicked. This, I might add, is the general setup of the Traditional "Massrecruiting" Tribe.
So what about Tribe B?
Tribe B takes the same approach to recruiting; inviting everything that moves in their areas. However, their tribal structure is slightly different. As well as the general leadership of the tribe, they have a slightly separate body, which deals directly with the new recruits. As new users are invited, these "Trainers", let's call them, deal directly with the new recruits, Directing them to the guides, asking whether there are questions, explaining the more intricate parts of the game (you just lost it). They sift through these recruits, and report on their potential and personality within the tribe to an overall coordinator. It is at this point that the organisation of Tribe B differs from Tribe A. If a player goes inactive at the start (no sitter set, no valid excuse) they are kicked from the tribe as soon as they go yellow. If a player does not partake on the forums, or doesn't ask/answer questions (as there is always a chance that you will recruit ok players that know roughly how to play, but the aim is to create a cohesive tribe that all communicate: there is no place for solo acts), then he or she is given a week, at which point they are kicked. If a player shows promise, however, if not necessarily immediate ability, they are accepted into the next level of the tribe, and if needed, given a specific mentor to answer their questions and help them out.
Weekly objectives would be posted. As each clump entered the tribe, they would be made into a group, and that group would be set a challenge. Grow X amount this week. Get this amount of troops. Farm this amount in a day (this is a controversial one, but probably necessary, personally I would make the target low, though) Send a sub-second (for example, timing can get better) fake-train at this leader's village. Backtime your mentor's scouts with a fake (scouts so that no damage is done to the village, and a fake wouldn't survive) etc. etc. If a user fails these tasks three times in a row, they are kicked.
Recruitment continues in this manner: Mass-recruiting entire areas, then kicking out the chaff as soon as it becomes apparent. In this manner, the tribe shouldn't choke (every now and then, tough decisions will have to be made in order to maintain a decent amount of farms, but it shouldn't be a problem too often), and this indiscriminate trawling is likely to throw up a lot of new, potentially great players, and has a much lower rate of False Negatives than an external screening process. The downside is that it would take a lot of planning and constant organisation, but if run well it would make an extremely interesting teaching tribe, and also be a fantastic way of increasing the general level of ability of usersin TW. It could even be adapted to a less extreme purpose, accepting any player who asks for an invite, and saying that you will do so on your tribal profile.
This shows that Massrecruiting isn't always a bad thing, it's just a matter of adapting it so that you don't end up with a tribe full of crap players. Moral of the Story? Think about what it is you're nay-saying before you run around slamming it on the forums. And that goes for pretty much everyone who has posted here, to some level or another.
Oh and as a Final comment: if you wish to comment on this post, please make the effort to read it. I realise that it is long, and that there are people who don't like reading long posts. But if there is one thing I cannot stand, it is users who read half a paragraph and then assume they understand what was said in the rest.
DO NOT DO THIS. If you do, I will hang you out to dry for doing so. If you are not bothered reading it, then don't post about it.
