Currently the server sends a message to welcome new players. However, players usually don't react to it as many new players join the server and just stay for 1-10 min before leaving forever. My suggestion is for those messages not to be sent unless the player has stayed certain period of time. For example: Server: PLAYER_NAME joined the server X days ago and is online. Please welcome PLAYER_NAME! This message is way more useful and players might be more willing to react to it and contact the new player as the player has shown to be interested in the server.
Regarding only staying for a small amount of time, our PR staff are actively investigating and trying to minimise this as much as they can. They are also researching better and quicker ways for new players to get involved in the community. New players getting noticed by current, active members would probably be one of the best ways of retaining new players as they build relationships with these players giving them the incentive to come back and play some more. In some cases though, our server may not be the new player's 'cup of tea' which is sad to see a lot of the time. Again though, we are researching and attempting to find new ways for us to become more of an appealing server to more people. @spectec might be able to provide more information regarding this since he is leading the PR team to research into these areas.
Apologies for the delayed response. I had some personal responsibilities I had to prioritize. I agree with you. At first glance the automatic welcome seems standard and effective, but thinking back... I actually don't remember my welcome message at all. Other people mentioned they remembered seeing my name when I first joined, but also said they only noticed because my name had less characters than typical. Also, survival players love to acknowledge fresh spawns that have unique or hilarious names. (Many times inappropriately) However, I suspect that an unintended amount of new players typically can't figure out the chat system quick enough respond. It seems like that would defeat the purpose if that's the case. So considering the above... maybe the welcome message gives more value to existing players, and maybe new players have too much to figure out to really make it worthwhile. The next step would be to contrast the results of both welcome message ideas. That means that we need to define the data to compare. I usually do that with first had experience, our logging system, or external research. If the data says an initial message isn't very effective, then we have a reason to try a different approach. At that point I would speak with Tech to do a test run. Anyways, this seems like a solid idea that could help grow the server; which means it's on my list. Even if it's a simple change that only makes a minor improvement. I really appreciate you taking the time and consideration to post this. Thank you.
Easy to test: Disable the welcome message for half of the players based on a measurable but random variable (e.g. whether the number of characters in their name is odd or even). Check if the player retention is significantly different between. Running the statistics is a piece of cake (I can help you if needed). The problem is collecting data as I suspect that requires some tech/quest work so that the welcome message is not sent to all players. You will also need a list of new player names so you can check player retention. To be honest the same thing can be done by testing lobbies and other stuff.
