I've hung around Mate Centers before (no I wasn't interested, just observing) and honestly the way they work is just not right. People judge the characters before the actual player, you are pretty much having the choice to be mates with those "good looking characters" and yet know nothing about them. The actual person in charge of the mate center is pretty unorganized, choosing random people each time to step into the middle so you always get that "when is it my turn?!!", "can i go in the middle now?" and so on.
I'm not against the Mate Centers, I know some people appreciate having them in Bonfire and I respect that. I'm just going to say that I think talking and roleplaying together is a better way to go, you know more about the person and if they really would make a better mate then the random people you find in Mate Centers.
I don't think the "MATE CENTER IS OPEN COME GET A MATE HERE!!!!!!!!!!" every few minutes is necessary, I mean, come on? A large circle in the middle of Bonfire? It's sure to catch some attention, no need to advertise every few minutes. I mean sure you have spam, adverts and possibly other Mate Centers to compete with but I'm sure people get the idea.