Newbie recruiting

[ichigono]

I think that 'recruiting' is fine, as long as it doesn't include the actual invite until the noob actually gets some information on the guild. Chatting up a noob about the benefits of joining your guild, in my opinion, would be the best way to go.

Of course, that puts responsibility on the shoulders of the inviters to give said information, as well as on the invitees, in asking questions.

I've seen games where guild invites came out of the blue like that, and I actually refused. It wasn't until I actually talked to a member that I wound up joining.

So, you ask, what was my vote? I voted 'no'. The option is there to be used, it's just up to folks to use it wisely, that's all.

Thank you, and God bless

[rheda]

Well, I hope it was page 3


But seriously; Bies, you and I both know it is perfectly posible to have a full and fun game experience without guilding. If you don wanna join, just say "no". I did, repeatedly, to several different guilds, and when I did say yes, it was because you guys had already become my (Ffion's) friends (apologies at this point to all the people in other guilds who have also become Ffi's friends). But I agree your point to some extent - newbies should be encouraged to get to know the ppl in a guild before joining - HOW to encourage them to do this is a harder on. But I don't believe they should be prevented from joining by changing game rules. Like someine said earlier that's restricting a player's freedom of choice, however mis-, un- or partially-informed that choice might be. I don't regret Kovacs joining the SCoG straight off the boat, but I did want to try and play another way too - hence Ffionnys. And another 3 alts should I want them - 5 chances to get it right. Or: 5 completelt different alts should you so chose!

Yes, i think most if not all of us agree in what you say, ffionnys, and after all everyone has to make his own personal choice. Some time ago, i planned to create a guild with Igur (my brother, who actually left Ryzom), with a ritual recruitment an so on. Unfortunately, guild wars are today a matter of numbers, in the way i see it, so a guild with 5 members who get along well won't have many chances to enter the wars for outposts by themselves, no matter how high lvl they are, while a 15 mid-high level guild made of bulk-recruited members, will still have many more chances there.

Yep, as you said, i don't (now, seeing what has been exposed here) think disallowing newbies to join guilds is the solution, but still the utopia would be a world were guilds were a little more restrictive, were joining a guild would be a reward for great effort instead of a way to quick lvling, were factions and/or ideas were what really identified a guild. But precisely that is what you cannot enforce players to do.

[aardnebb]

.. with a ritual recruitment an so on. Unfortunately, guild wars are today a matter of numbers, in the way i see it, so a guild with 5 members who get along well won't have many chances to enter the wars for outposts by themselves, no matter how high lvl they are,

Not totally true, though it is a major factor. The Samsara do not bulk recruit, and we have some quite long entrance tests (our Boot Camp). We tend to find though that it weeds out the 7 day trialers that dont relog, random people just looking for "free stuff" and that kinda thing. We end up with a fairly dedicated crew of fun people

[warfire1]

When choosing a guild I think it's important to think about their recruitment policy to get an idea of how good a guild they are (as someone said earlier in the thread).

If a guild will walk up to a lvl 20 player and offer them membership they should immediately refuse on the grounds that, (to paraphase Groucho Marx)

“I refuse to join any guild that would have me as a member... without testing me first”


-
Peter/Cadiathiel

[iwojimmy]

.... on the other hand ...


there were guilds formed specifically to help new players, I dont know if they are still active, or if they have outgrown their original purpose, but a guild of players below level 150 (just picking a number at random ) has some points in its favour. When most of the guild is hunting bosses in PR and a couple of members are still struggling to get past the gingos near Yrk, it doesnt really build a solid community.

[ichigono]

.... on the other hand ...


there were guilds formed specifically to help new players, I dont know if they are still active, or if they have outgrown their original purpose, but a guild of players below level 150 (just picking a number at random ) has some points in its favour. When most of the guild is hunting bosses in PR and a couple of members are still struggling to get past the gingos near Yrk, it doesnt really build a solid community.

I have to agree here; it doesn't help build a community very well when you have a few noobs and a ton of high level characters. Sure, the noobs can ask for advice more easily, but in my opinion you don't really get to know people until you play with them a while. While I voted 'no', I do think it's the responsibility of the guilds to have a decent recruiting policy in place; some folks actually enjoy helping others, while some prefer to grind out the levels and such.

I'm actually thinking of trying to start a guild myself, one based on helping folks and philosophical discussions, where all races would be welcome, the prime prerequisite is that the person be able to think and ask questions that we can't immediately get answers to, as well as have fun... I don't know how well that would go over, but it might make for some intriguing RP