To complement NatalieMSKlyne’s suggestion on [offline invitations](< base_url >/index.php?/topic/21420-a-real-message-system/), I propose a system that allows individual players to request a corporation invite. By selecting a corporation via any of the corporation leaderboards, a player would be given the option to send a request which would be visible to officers of said corporation.
The notice could take any form from a mailed message to an additional list under the corp tab.
Assuming offline invitations worked, the latter option would also allow officers to accept/decline a request from that page.
All we really need is a way to message players we have not seen online in that session. Seriously, that’s the problem. You saw someone yesterday, forgot to add them as a friend, and today you can’t message them at all. It doesn’t eliminate spam or potential abuse, it hinders teamwork. Since you can’t befriend them or follow them you may never find them again.
Have there be specific fields/dropdowns in the message form, to provide a corp with more information about you at a glance. These could include:
A dropdown for your timezone
Times you are usually online
Preferred ship roles [Allow up to 3, with the first the most preferred]
Preferred Tiers [up to 3, with the first the most preferred]
Preferred Focus [Pvp, Pve, Progression (i.e. someone focused mainly on leveling up ships/rep), etc]
Yes/No if they can voice chat
Up to 3 open fields that corps can customize with their own questions, such as “what will you bring to the corp” “What is your favorite dessert” “Do you RP” These questions will automatically show when a person clicks to open an ‘application’ to your corp.
One open field for additional comments the player wants to add
When sent, a corp can sort through each invitation, save or delete them, or make a ‘decision’ right on the invitation. What they would see maybe would be:
The information above that was entered
A link or an ‘at-a-glance’ of that player’s profile stats