Breakfast Topic: The stealth /gquit and other lost art forms
by Eric Vice 
Jan 11th 2008 at 8:00AM
If a guild mate logs in at an hour when most of the guild is sleeping (or simply nobody is around) and /gquits, is it a stealth /gquit?Amanna over at Adventures in Azeroth (who I have to wonder might be the first appliance-spec druid judging by the name) asks this question after having done this exact thing. Many times over the past couple of years I have been tempted to do this myself. There is always such a recoil when you leave a guild, even if you try to take the high road and make it as drama-free as possible. No matter how many people there may be that irritate you in any given guild, there are always two or three -- or twelve -- that really like you and don't want you to go. Thus, your planned drama-free departure is suddenly less drama-free.
How can you get out of a guild and make a clean break? Have you ever performed the stealth /gquit personally? Was it successful?
(And yes, I watched Mr. Deeds the other day, and it was foremost in my mind when I created the accompanying picture. Does it show?)
Filed under: Guilds, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Typhoon Andrew Jan 11th 2008 4:57PM
Yep, I've done this - but only with alts. Generally my main characters stay where they are, and the odd times everyone who I respected and talked to regularly knew what was happening.
And thats my 2c hint: Communicate well, be open, don't be a tool/selfish, and most people you talk to won't be too bothered. Or at the very least the ones worth talking to won't be bothered.
A /gquit with a mule should be a non-issue, who really cares what guild your potion creator is a member of, as long as you didn't just steal from the Guild Bank.
Leave the drama for the movies.
Safety Dancer Jan 11th 2008 8:44AM
I always like to leave my mark when I do the old /gquit. I'll throw in a "You guys really do just suck at all the games you play", "It's not you guys...its me", or a simple "sorry guys, but I must move on." If I enjoyed the guild, I will give my explanation politely and see myself out, but if I hate the guild I'll use one of the many lines I like to use.
Safety Dancer Jan 11th 2008 8:45AM
I always like to leave my mark when I do the old /gquit. I'll throw in a "You guys really do just suck at all the games you play", "It's not you guys...its me", or a simple "sorry guys, but I must move on." If I enjoyed the guild, I will give my explanation politely and see myself out, but if I hate the guild I'll use one of the many lines I like to use.
Phil Jan 11th 2008 8:53AM
I've only /gquit when it was a guild I signed up for in order to get the free gold they were offering (what can I say, I'm low level). But it was definitely a stealth /gquit.
Deb Jan 11th 2008 4:31PM
I have /gquit one guild when no one was on and then mailed the GM my explanation as to why. This seemed to work out well because the few friends I had made still feel comfortable enough to still join me in quests, etc.
Zumwalah Jan 11th 2008 8:53AM
do the latenight gquit.. then immediatly change your name.. this is what a mage in my guild did. not that he had too, he just wanted to ensure it would be drama free. and now none of us even know his name to talk to him.. which is unfortuante.. but that aside, he did it.
Jasperwind Jan 11th 2008 8:55AM
I've done that at least 4 times in the last several months. Getting a lot of random guild invites in the city. As soon as I join, some level 10's beg me for a lot of gold and/or to run them through some zone in the other continent (and get mad if I don't). So I just /gquit when all of the 3-4 members are asleep. Needless to say, I stopped accepting group or guild invites unless the person actually has a conversation with me first.
Deb Jan 14th 2008 8:47AM
I have /gquit one guild when no one was on and then mailed the GM my explanation as to why. This seemed to work out well because the few friends I had made still feel comfortable enough to still join me in quests, etc.
Lenny Jan 11th 2008 8:56AM
I was stealth /gkicked one morning and was accused of /gquiting since there was no record of what happened and noone was online but the person who kicked me.
This lead to quite the restructure of the officers and a whole lot of conflicted people since noone knew who to believe and who was lying about it. Even talked to a GM to see if they could tell me what happened and they could not.
I've never been tempted to /gquit because I have so many friends in the guild. Everyone that has /gquit has done it when noone is on because we are such a close group that they would probably get flooded with tells. Stealthing seems like the most painless way when you need to part company....
bumpkins Jan 11th 2008 9:17AM
I performed a successful stealth /gquit just three days ago. Okay, so it was one of my alts in the same guild that my main is in, but still it was stealthy and it worked. I got in a pretty heated argument with a couple of my guildmates and wasn't sure if the rest of my guildmates would have my back or not. I figured I might need some playtime where no one knows I'm on (none of my guildies really knew my low-level alt), so I logged on at a time when no one really plays and quickly /gquit. Turns out that most of my guildies had my back and thus my /gquit wasn't really necessary, but I think I'll leave my alt guild-free for the time being, because you just never know.
bumpkins Jan 11th 2008 9:17AM
I performed a successful stealth /gquit just three days ago. Okay, so it was one of my alts in the same guild that my main is in, but still it was stealthy and it worked. I got in a pretty heated argument with a couple of my guildmates and wasn't sure if the rest of my guildmates would have my back or not. I figured I might need some playtime where no one knows I'm on (none of my guildies really knew my low-level alt), so I logged on at a time when no one really plays and quickly /gquit. Turns out that most of my guildies had my back and thus my /gquit wasn't really necessary, but I think I'll leave my alt guild-free for the time being, because you just never know.
bumpkins Jan 11th 2008 9:18AM
I performed a successful stealth /gquit just three days ago. Okay, so it was one of my alts in the same guild that my main is in, but still it was stealthy and it worked. I got in a pretty heated argument with a couple of my guildmates and wasn't sure if the rest of my guildmates would have my back or not. I figured I might need some playtime where no one knows I'm on (none of my guildies really knew my low-level alt), so I logged on at a time when no one really plays and quickly /gquit. Turns out that most of my guildies had my back and thus my /gquit wasn't really necessary, but I think I'll leave my alt guild-free for the time being, because you just never know.
Ryan Jan 11th 2008 9:23AM
Seems more of a stealth double-posting thread than a stealth /gquit thread ;).
If I ever /gquit, I don't think I really worry about the timing. I've only done it a couple times, though. Once quite recently (from the most uptight guild I've ever encountered).
Begonia Jan 11th 2008 9:28AM
My old Guildmaster stealth /gquit to join a more successful raiding guild (we were really struggling in Karazhan). He logged on, promoted his alt to guildmaster, then /gquit. Well, we of course found out about it, and had no choice but to leave as well if we wanted to raid since he was our only tank for Kara.
kunukia Jan 11th 2008 10:49AM
You cannot promote an alt to GM. You have to promote another person, who is currently online. That is probably what he did, then logged on his alt, and the temporary GM promoted his alt.
Begonia Jan 11th 2008 11:05AM
@kunukia
That's what happened; I was just simplifying the story. A friend from the guild he was joining helped him out (the friend had a low level alt in our guild).
Joe Klinkhoff Jan 11th 2008 9:40AM
I just do not understand the drama involved with /gquit. There are no prizes for biggest guild. Most guilds seems to be very dynamic in terms of size. If you have friends you really like in your guild, then they are on your friends list and you will continue to play with them whenever. Its not like a gang and they are required to go all PvP on you whenever they see you. . . its a game, guilds are very informal, people should enjoy the wow and flutter that /gquits and /ginvites offer.
Juliah Jan 13th 2008 11:19AM
Not all guilds are informal. Some involve people who have been playing together since the game began, some involve real life friends, some involve relationships ... it can get close and complicated, and a /gquit can be seen as a rejection or as being disloyal, depending on the kind of guild it is. If an officer who has been with the guild since the beginning leaves in a tiff, there's going to be drama because a person that the rest of the guild depended on to be there is suddenly gone.
It just really depends on the group dynamic of the guild. Your mileage may vary, as the saying goes, but there are apparently enough close guilds out there that the term "guild drama" has evolved. :)
Pucelle Jan 11th 2008 9:39AM
Log on when no one's around, gquit, profit.
The first time I ever left a guild was actually early Xmas Day - I had logged on to do the Winter's Veil stuff and ended up getting a nice purple world drop in Silithus while farming, and excitedly linked it to my guild to ask how much they thought it was worth. The guildmaster whispered me and told me off for linking it, as some people were still saving for their epics and I probably made them feel really bad. For getting a world drop. And asking how much it might fetch.
I quit while opening my presents in IF. Don't need guild, got presents!
Dave Jan 11th 2008 12:40PM
WTF you'd make people FEEL BAD when you get a lucky world drop epic?
Yeah, I'd bail on that guild in a hurry. That sounds like a GM that's going to just go nuts when the first drops in whatever you run don't go his way and he'll start kicking people and whatever else has to happen.
If someone gets an epic or a valuable rare or anything in any guild I've ever been in, it's a quick "wow, that's awesome!" and/or a "can I buy that from you for a decent but less than AH price?". I can't even imagine being in a guild where someone else's good luck is a cause for rebuke.