There is a growing problem on our server, and maybe it's on yours, too. It's folks who don't keep their heads down and their mouths shut.
See, being a part of a guild should be a little like a job. You apply, get signed on, then have to go through a process before the rest of the group feels you can be a part of their team. The guild app process is no different.
We used to have initiate ranks, a trial period, and such when we invited new members. Without that, we just give folks time to prove themselves to us that they can do what is expected of them. We take comments from other raiders and perhaps even members of former guilds.
The problem is, more and more people are coming into guilds (not just ours) thinking they are the shit and know exactly what is going on.
What ever happened to just staying quiet? *que old man voice* Back in my day... impressing your new guild meant following instructions, listening to the raid leader, keeping your nose out of other's people's business. How are you expecting to see if the guild works for you if you keep badgering them about how they run their guild? If you don't like it, either choose to put up with it or gtfo.
Also, impressing your new guild does not always mean being the highest on whatever meter. You can be number one on dps, and the guild still can put you on ignore/mute. That's not a good sign.
Seems that my server is going through a huge rash of this: "I don't like this, let's gquit and form our own guild of asshats like us!". Another officer and I constantly check our bookmarked guilds, only to find out that they disbanded or server moved. Guilds splinter and die. It's amazing that we have prospered despite being a merger guild. Going on two years now (I need to start planing our anniversary party, come to think of it) while most don't make it past 6 months or less.
All of this is killing our server, in a way. I used to be able to sit in Org, scope the other druids, give them props on a piece of gear or congratulate them on a boss kill. Now, the main "celebrities" on the server are loudmouths in trade chat. Folks who stir up shit for attention.
Call me old school, but I miss the quiet.
3 comments:
I find that the ones who can't keep their mouths shut and just coast through the trial period are the ones we weren't sure about letting into the guild in the first place due to age/attitude.
I don't care that you weren't the one who discovered what "worgen" spells backward... you don't need to repeat it in gchat.
So true!
BTW, I added you to my blog list. Welcome! I love your blog and wonder how I missed it.
I dislike trial periods. They seem to invite trouble. We've opted to refuse to recruit any player that had a serious personality clash with the rest of the guild, but Vortex has the luxury of needing a smaller roster of players than would be needed for 25-mans (or the vanilla 40-mans). Anyone who's invited as a raider is a full member... they just have to get through the recruitment gauntlet before that invite comes.
Some we've invited as a temporary casual, usually players who server-transferred to get to us, before their recruitment is determined... but those are players we've already interviewed and feel comfortable that they won't be jerks in gchat. If they are, that's a swift boot and a "no thanks" on their application!
However, having splinter guilds form and fall around "dissident" players is nothing new. Drama drives wedges into guilds with personality conflicts or differences of opinion in what the guild should focus on or how things should be handled. It's happened since the beginning of the game :) Even careful recruitment can't prevent it. As long as you have a stable core of like-minded players, though, a guild will ride through it all and stay on its feet.
Post a Comment