Heh, here are my own thoughts, for what they are worth:
1. I think this is a hell of a good idea, which we will probably implement very soon, especially since it needs minimum code work.
2. I agree that Seekers are kicked out of the newbie zones too quickly, so I've already changed that. They now get to keep access until level 40.
(On a side note, let me explain why I put in the earlier level check before. We tend to base a lot of our actions on our own experiences, and so did I. When I first played a Mud as a total newbie I was scared stiff, because it seemed every time I ventured out of Midgard, I got jumped and killed by some goblin. Consequently Newbie chool became the only place where I'd feel safe, and I spent more time killing the mobs in the three cages of stock Mudschool than I'd like to admit. Every time I got into problems in the outside world, I'd return to the cage room. It made me feel more confident, but in retrospect it was really bad for my development. As a consequence I didn't do much exploring, and didn't learn to become a better player, until some imm noticed what I did and kicked me out of mudschool forcibly and permanently).
One more thing: The original level restriction was to stop older players from harrassing newbies or killing off the mobs for them. With the wide variety of zones we now have, I don't think any older players would choose to hunt in the newbie zones. Also at the time we had a bit too many players who saw it as their invocation to act like assholes, and who really liked to harrass newbies. But with the current restrictions against PK, that shouldn't be a really big problem either.
3. I don't agree that newbies never should be kicked out of Seekers. In fact I think they should still be automatically kicked out at first remort, just like now, because everyone should be forced to make an active choice about what Clan they want to be in. However, they should be able to choose to immediately return to Seekers, if that is what they want. In fact every player in the Mud should be allowed - and even encouraged - to apply to Seekers with an alt. Even the rule against multiclanning that some Clans have should make an exception for alts in Seekers.
The only rule against multiclanning concerns CL. You really shouldn't be a leader - or even a co-leader - of Seekers while at the same time running another Clan. That doesn't mean you cannot help as a member, in fact ctell and grouping allows every member to help. The goal is to create a chatter over ctell, that shows the Mud off as being active - (perhaps even a bit more active than it really is) - and make the newbies feel noticed and at home, which in turn hopefully would make them stay longer. And since getting more players is the key to a lot of things, I'd like to think that every player in the mud would work towards that goal.
On that note I was even thinking that having new players create with gossip toggled on instead of off, might be a good idea, to make them feel part of the community faster. Only seeing what's going on over gossip lately, I sort of rethunk that. You guys should really keep personal grudges off the global channels. :-P
5. Leading Seekers would need social skills, some true unselfishness, an active interest in helping players and preferably a lot of time to be on line. Since I don't think anyone could have that much time, Seekers should probably have two equal leaders, and those two should ideally spend the main part of their on-line time at different times of day, meaning they should be from different time zones. (Still, with several active players having alts in Seekers, this would become less of a problem. Seeing a newbie creating, while none of the leaders on line, would hopefully make them log their Seekers alt on).
And since the time we can spend on a mud invariably varies with things in RL, it's important to resign as Seekers leader when you no longer have that time. (This is important for any Clan, but most of all for Seekers).
6. I see only one big problem with the Seekers change, and that is that it would drain the other Clans of members even further, because most likely some would choose to remain in the safe haven of Seekers for a very long time. It would almost certainly kill Dragons, since like I already stated, training is their main purpose and robbing them of that, what would be left? Also it would drain at least one Clan - probably two - of an active leader, and with the current low pbase that might be a problem too.
Still I'd be adamant about the rule that no player can run both Seekers and another Clan even with an alt. For one thing the potential interest conflict is just too great, and for another being leader of Seeker requires full dedication.
