I've been up for hours!! Too busy taxi-ing people to work/school etc!! Just off to your madhouse now!!

Hiya, i have been waiting for you to wake up lol, i have read the suggestions here, was just answering the ones in the Madhouse on the subject :-)

Morning! I've just finished reading all the comments and thought I'd try to summarise what the general feeling is? (Help me here, MadMonkey?!)

Most people don't see the need to restrict how many fellowships a person can join. I think it was Dream that gave the good idea that the Bosses should be restricting membership to those who play in the teams. Thats worth considering. Rather than restrict the players, the Bosses should get tougher? Ask players to join a team or leave?

A few features seem to need changing too. People not knowing what fellowships are about.
When I have sent invites there is no option to include a note saying what they are about. I have had to wait until the person asks, and I hope I have replied fully there. But maybe if we had a set message to send with invites? It would help the person invited and save us from typing it all out every time someone asks what its all about!

I think BBW is right about there being too many message boards already. I have 5 or 6 on my favourites board, then try to read the rest through the day. But others dont have as much spare time as me!! And I can't always keep up with them all sometimes! (then again, if I wasn't in as many fellowships I wouldn't have as many boards to read! LOL)

I also like the idea of pawns being allowed to join one fellowship... although if they were allowed to join one then why would they need to buy membership?! They would have use of most of this sites best features, even if they are limited. One tournament, one fellowship and 20 games each. Thats more than enough for some!

How about a kind of 'hit count' to see which members never visit the fellowship? So we know who is active there and who isn't? I've had members that I thought never came to the fellowship at all, and they tell me they've been there every day!! I have no way of knowing who is taking note of whats happening there and who isn't.

It just feels right now like all the fellowships are in a jumble and need sorting out!! It will be interesting to read more comments about this. If we pull together and get our ideas and needs sorted out these fellowships could be even more brilliant than they are now!

thats a pretty tough comment lovelysharon, especially after rereading my comment.
I really don't see how playing for a team can be considered separatism and segregation. If players want to join fellowships just for chat or fun games without the competition then I am sure there will be fellowships just for that!

I too have never played at gold token... It just seemed to me that when i forst joined this site I was playing the same people in all my tournaments so I thought if I joined a few fellowships that would give me different opponents... not that the few I was playing weren't competition enough....

It seems to me dream.. that your idea is more seperatism and segregation rather than fellowship...

I have never played at GoldToken much, so when I joined here, I had no idea what Fellowships are - and not sure how they are different here compaired to other places.

I'm currently in 6 fellowships, but I have not joined any teams yet (I was waiting until the inter-fellowship tournaments started) - And at that time I will probable join at least 1 team in each of the fellowship - maybe to a team who needs a couple more players, or a team that has other players I enjoy playing with.

One things I would NOT like to see is fellowships getting more then 1 message board - There seems to be too many message boards around now... and I feel I need to read a lot of them, or I might miss something. So by having a lot of little message boards will only help in getting things lost..... in my opinion.

I actually expected the fellowships to work like the clubs at Goldtoken do.
I think it is up to each individual fellowship big boss to explain to players when they invite them to join, what the fellowship is about. So far lots of players just receive an invite to several fellowships upon becoming a paid member, and really dont understand what its about. As Harley mentioned, a lot don't even read the fellowship discussion boards.
I personally dont see the point in joining a fellowship unless its to join a team, unless its just a social fellowship, which plays no official tournaments. I guess thats because I am used to the system there where inter club competition is in place.
When inter fellowship tournaments are in place I am sure players will move around a bit until they find a team they are happiest in. I guess quite a few members here have never played this type of set up before so are not quite sure what a fellowship is meant to be.
I dont see the point in limiting the amount of fellowships a player can join, as they can only join 1 team for each game type, its up to them to choose who to play for. I will probably limit membership to my fellowship to players who have signed for teams once inter fellowship tournaments have started.
I would like to see some additional features added to the fellowships, the ability to split off the game types into separate fellowships, or at least to be able to have separate discussion boards at the main fellowship, so if a player was a member of the backgammon team, and no other games, they can just go read what is applicable to them. Also the ability to have more than 1 big boss, and to be able to customise what a manager can do, also to be able to make someone a team captain without making them a manager.
I know a lot of players who would not even play at goldtoken unless the clubs were in place, hopefully the fellowships will create that kind of loyalty at this site, so far it has the potential we just need some refinement of its features.

lovelysharon: thx for clearing a few of those things up, all i will add is that the idea of the team captains is to choose who plays.

I still fail to see a problem with joining a number of fellowships.... right now I am a member of 7 ... more so to get a wider range of competition in the games I love... I don't think joining teams will be very confusing for me.. perhaps for others .. ... I joined teams in only two of them... .. BBW the restriction of joining more than one team in any one game is in place... I joined teams in all my backgammon and variants on the Gammon Geeks ... and the rest of my games for the The Challengers.. what i do see as a future problem .. is restrictions in the number of members playing for a team... recently there was a posting for a fellowships tournament using only 4 team members... what happens when there there is a fellowship with 80 members and 20 want to join that particular team... who chooses who plays??...

I like the idea that I can join as many different fellowships that I can (with no restrictions). Lets say there is a limit of 5, you are in 5 now, and as the site grows, there are new fellowships you want to join - well you would have to quit one fellowship which you like to join the new fellowship.

The limit should be that you can only join 1 team out of all the fellowships for each game type. So for example, in Fellowship #1 - I could join the Backgammon team (but could not join another Backgammon team in any other Fellowship) Someone told me this restriction is already in place, but I have never tested it to see.

As a side suggestion - how about letting un-paid pawns join 1 Fellowship. It would let them know how they work, and might get a few of them to join.

BBW (BIG BAD WOLF)

Dmitri, thank you for your response and its nice to know the first person to reply agrees with us!
However, we're not asking for total loyalty to just one fellowship, we understand (and are in the same position ourselves) that people have friends in other fellowships and enjoy being there, taking part in the discussions etc.
We're just asking for a restriction on the number of fellowships a person can be in, for the long-term benefit of everyone.

I agree. people are in two many fellowships. I am in 4 because I accepted whatever invites I received. But I don't see any reason why I am in 4 fellowships. The game I am mainly interested in is pente, so I should only need to be in one fellowship. As harley alluded to (and Madmonkey), it is impossible to keep up with news and notes of multiple fellowships.

The fellowship I will probably stay in is the one where I am captain of the pente team. I made the decision to be captain of that ap[rtuclar pente team by way of a simple criterion-- it was the first team that asked me.

So, I will probably remove myself from the other fellowships.

This is a joint message between Myself and MadMonkey.

We have been discussing the future of fellowships here and have come to the conclusion that some minor changes may need to be implemented for the fellowships to work properly.

Right now BK members (knights & above) can be in as many fellowships as they wish and we have all taken full advantage of that. We have joined our friends fellowships and created our own as well.

But we can see there being some problems once the tournaments between fellowships begin.

Many of us are in more than one fellowship, and more than one team within different fellowships. Once the tournaments start this could (most likely would) cause confusion & even arguements.

We do not wish to restrict members to just one fellowship, however, we do not see how it could continue to work having members spread very thinly between all the fellowships we have now & those that will be created as the site carries on growing.

We ourselves are in the same position of being members of several fellowships, and we know it is impossible to keep up with each fellowships news, activities... and some don't members even seem to use them once they have joined.

Many of us join just because they are friends who run the fellowships & our friends are members of certain ones.

We feel that some restrictions would be good for everyone before it gets to the Inter-fellowship Tournys etc....

Just a few so far that we have thought of, for example setting a limit to the amount of fellowships one member can join also Big Boses & Managers must play for the fellowship they are in, although they can of course still be members of other fellowships and join in on the discussion boards and internal tournaments of those.

This is totally open for discussion and all ideas are welcome.

Thank you

MadMonkey & Harley

PS. Would the Big Bosses who read this like to copy this message and post it on their fellowship boards? Just to get some feedback on what their members think?

Monkeys Swinging Madhouse has arrived by popular demand LOL - Everyone is welcome to join, just ask.
No matter if you are in other Fellowships like myself as we can still play in house games - give me a shout (limited Membership lol)

MadMonkey ;-)

Anyone need a checkers player? I'm looking to join a fellowship that plays checkers.

No, they're not listed under 'my tournaments' either. That would make it easier if they were!

At first, fellowship tournaments were listed with the other tournaments, simply with a restriction that you can only join if you're from that fellowship. Shortly after they were implemented, they were not listed there anymore. Did you check to see if they're under "My tournaments"?

I agree Eddie, theres nothing to say if these tourneys have started or finished, I keep having to go into them to make sure I started them!! Just a note next to them would suit me!!

when these are done can they be put under the running tourneys like the site tourneys are now...we have a few done and they are sitting with the running ones..i like to have them where it would say finished tourneys when they are complete if ya can...

Come join a happening fellowship..Lots of fun...great members and fellowship tournaments always happening, new games added by demand! Check us out "The Dream Team"

Is that competition I see??? LOL.

Well I just signed up for the Spider Line4 tournament (in your Power House Fellowship), and I have not joined any teams yet

So I guess that answers your question? :-)

Question:
Can anyone in the fellowship sign up for a tournament or must they be on the team? In otherwords, chess. Can any of my members sign up or only those on the chess team?

I have a nice group of members but need more. Those of you who have joined, see if there are any teams you have room to join on. I would like to get Tournaments going, but I need participation from all my members. So please sign up for teams where you can. Also, If you are not a member feel free to send request for membership. I want this to be as active as the Dream team, if not more.LOL Common Guys.....hop to it. Please!!!!!!

Sorry Mr Fencer Sir (grovel grovel!!)! I'll be patient :o))

When it's done, it's done. Please be patient :-)

When are the captains going to be allowed to start the tournaments themselves? Right now they have little to do, and it seems only right the captains get this job! :o)

The Dream Team has most games ...we are most active in the gammon variants, but our members play lots of others too.
We have fellowship tournaments happening all the time, check us out! All Welcome!

Can you outwit, outlast & outplay? Are you a true Survivor?

The main thing is fun! :-)

Send me a msg if you would like to join! :-)

I would like whoever I haven't invited to come join my fellowship--The Challengers--- it is strictly for Halma.Come and be The Best of the Best :)

Come along and have some fun with the Dream Team. Games so far are back, nack and race! All welcome

Hi. I have just started up a fellowship called the Dodo Club. It is mainly dedicated to extinction chess. Everyone welcome.

no critics, players have to be active!

Please wait, everything is in progress :-) I must divide my programming power and time to more than 10 requests from BrainKing users.

One of the teams i joined is playing some test matches (chess and five in line). So something is happening but it is up to the fellowship members

what do you mean eddie?

whats the word on progress with the fellowships? anything happening soon? just curious....

...and are interested in joining an all Canadian fellowship, come and join us at The "Eh" Zone. :)
Strictly for Canadians or those who have lived in Canada. For chat mostly, but we may add games to the club as time goes on. :)

check your messages!

Thanks Goonerg,I'll give it a try, What do I have to do?

Come and join The Mercenaries, I play chees, and hope to get enought for a team! I don't play much because it takes me too long to study, but I do play in team games on GT! Join in and if you like it, stay, you do not have to commit for life!! thx, Goonerg

I have a Brain Rook membership, but I have no desire to start or create a fellowship. However, I would like to join one that has or plans to have a chess team.

Can you outwit, outlast & outplay your fellow oppenent? If so, then sign up now to be included into Survivor! :-)

Nope, I will chat or not, depending on my oppenent. I am easy that way! If you wanna play me before you join, just send me an invite (anyting except anti games).

hey...sounds like a fun team...your not like other players who refuse to speak to their playing parners right????

Okeydokey.

or for us just to be able to have an extra one for whatever one the fellowship feels it wants not neccassilly one for every game but to be able to create others would be cool...also in future to be able to create polls for our little fellowships also?

MikulasSimon has just suggested to create extra discussion boards for each supported game of a fellowship instead of one db for the whole fellowship. Do you think it is a good idea? The implementation is very easy, I can do it for the next update.

If you are friendly and want to play games, then come join in! Any ability, lets have fun!

noodleland is here....from the weird mind of the one eddie spaghetti...not sure how this will end up here but ill give it a go...wanna join up with a group of weird ones? try to have some fun?..welome to noodleland then,,,,