Much to the dismay of my members I’ve been reworking the Iniquity guild site again. I get the itch to be a web developer every now and then which means changes must be made. Our site was still branded as Sodality but we’ve been trading under Iniquity again for a while. It was time to get to it! How does that relate to this article? I was putting together the rules and join us page and realized what we used to use just doesn’t fit the reality of our guild. I’ve also noticed a few problems in our recruiting and I think all of this stems from the fact that we’re too inclusive!
I am left wondering if players expect certain hoops when joining a guild these days. You will always have the guilds that spam channels and invite anyone who responds but I’m talking about organizations of quality (yes, I just said that if you spam general for members your guild isn’t quality (yes, I mean it)). Guilds of quality usually have hoops. We don’t have hoops and Iniquity doesn’t advertise much these days. We do all our advertising in action. These actions usually revolve around impressing someone in a pug or through our activities on forums, Epic Slant and other blogs. How many of you would never have heard of my guild if not for the fact you read Epic Slant or listen to A View from the Top? Players like you get to know us in those locations and when we mention we’re in an MMORPG someone might say, “Hey can I play with you guys?”
For us the answer is always yes. We no longer recruit based on classes, levels, or experience. We don’t have an application or a history form. We recruit personalities. If you’re a pretty cool person and enjoy the same type of things we do you’re in. We’ll figure that other stuff out later. Another key area where we differ is that we don’t treat new members like new members. They’re just members and I think that puts some people off. We immediately approach these players as friends. We’ll share our atrocious humor, old war stories, and teasing as if we’ve known you for years. Some people fall in with that immediately and others are put off I think.
I’ve also found that new members who don’t jump in and participate don’t last very long. Either you’re in, talking, joking, grouping or you’re just off doing your own thing. Eventually that leads to the player leaving for a better fit. We’re okay with it but I wonder if we haven’t lost some people by being our loud, obnoxious selves. We can be a bit much to take but we’re as loyal as it comes!
That leads me to ask some questions to everyone who is inclined to comment. Do you have hard set expectations when you join a guild? Do you feel the organization is less serious if you don’t have hoops to go through? Does it put you off if they are immediately friendly towards you? Your answers might change our rules!
In the event you’re curious about how we recruit or some other best practices you really should check out my book, The Guild Leader’s Companion!
All characters are © 2007 - 2012
I think this question depends a lot on what you’re looking for. Personally, I spend about 85% of my time off doing my own thing, and that hasn’t stopped me from remaining in guilds for years on end, even when most of the players are off raiding and I’m not, as long as I like the /g banter. I’m certainly not opposed on principle to filling out an application or whatever, but I feel like the greater the application requirements, the more likely it is that the day to day expectations of the membership are going to be higher than what I’m prepared to support. Someone who is looking for a guild where you never need to add a PUG for the last spot in your group might need a more involved process to ensure that their new guildmates are on the same page.
Also, Iniquity-Telara is almost certainly too inclusive, because you folks let me in. I’m a WoW tourist, for crying out loud, and you thought that I was some sort of respectable EQ1 vet or something!
You pulled the wool over our eyes! We’re glad to have you around though.