Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Does your guild's social reputation matter?
by Deb Montague 
Sep 4th 2010 at 8:00AM
If you've been on the internet in any capacity for a few years, you are familiar with the Penny Arcade theory (NSFW language). I've just come through a couple weeks of this with my guild. It resulted in one person's being kicked and another leaving. Briefly, the kicked person tried to sell tracking the Time-Lost Proto Drake for 5k gold. A person on the server paid 2,500g up front and was led on a wild goose chase, after which the ex-guild member phased, hearthed and put the "pigeon" on ignore. When an officer and I confronted the perpetrator, the lies grew ever more convoluted. I kicked him and repaid, from guild funds, the money stolen. The person who quit behaved in a manner that wasn't appropriate. I called him out on it.
These incidents have me thinking: Does it matter how you behave in a fake world? Realistically, I'm probably never going to meet 95 percent of the people on my server. In our guild Code of Conduct, I state right at the beginning, "We do not tolerate malicious, hurtful behavior or speech in guild chat, party chat, WoW chat or on Vent. This is grounds for dismissal. Honor and respect each other and other guilds. When you join this guild, you represent us wherever you go. Respect others as you expect to be respected. Your integrity and actions directly reflect onto this guild. Inappropriate conduct with other guild members and the Llane community at large is not permitted and is grounds for dismissal."
I am adamant about this. I feel that if you want to be treated with respect, taken seriously, invited to raids and not called out on the server forum, you must respect others. I've worked very hard to create a guild that is respected. When people think about us, they know we're here for the fun of the game. We don't take ourselves seriously, and we treat you fairly and with respect. Am I way off base here? Again, does it matter? How do you think your server views you and your guild? Do you care?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 7 of 7)
shocklock Sep 5th 2010 8:55AM
I almost forgot "GET OFF MY LAWN"
Bobfish Sep 5th 2010 6:22AM
Yes it matters, because it may be a fake world but your still dealing with real people. In reality we have systems of laws and codes of conduct to maintain a society so that those who work within that and treat others with respect are left to pursue their life goals, (thats the theory anyway, but at least there's a legal route if someone steps out of line).
People make that system work not the confines of it's reality, it's the same online in my opinion. My server used to have a blacklist of people who pulled stuff like this on the forums. It was a massive deterrent, one guy who was a very good tank pretty much couldn't get in any progress guild because of he's asshat ways. Unfortunately that list isn't maintained anymore and it's far more archaic now, just like what would happen in RL.
To the article writer the right people will care and I think you did the right thing there. Bads will always slip through the net at times but you showed great depth of moral character there and I think it sends the right message to the rest of your server about the nature of your guild.
Don't doubt yourself you did the right thing :)
Xantenise Sep 5th 2010 7:39AM
Reputation definitely matters. If guilds stop caring about how their members act, the entire server goes down the drain and even if the guilds don't give a stuff about their reputation, the other servers certainly will if it spreads.
My server has a pretty good reputation where RP is concerned, but were well-known for Goldshire's shenanigans. This was not helped when Blizz announced they would be personally policing Goldshire. (Yeah, you can probably guess what realm I'm from.) That was, frankly, embarrassing as heck that people have gotten so bad over there to warrant that and I'm *Horde*.
WolfC Sep 5th 2010 1:37PM
Yes....it matters. Plain and simple. People who think it doesn't are probably new or will be quick to leave the game in a few months. L
Saelle Sep 5th 2010 2:58PM
Reputation definitely matters but it is a constant struggle and in the end it may not be worth the effort.
My guild has been around for almost 5 years and the initial goal was to find smart, mature people that wanted to tackle high end content. During Burning Crusade the guild had great success and had server firsts on just about every boss. During Vanilla we saw the top guild's reputation trashed as they constantly posted about their prowess so we decided on a different tactic and forbid our members to post anything about the guild on the forums or in trade. We constantly reminded members that their actions were a reflection on us all and if they did something detrimental to the reputation of the guild they would be kicked. Over time it was a bit sad to realize that even though we said little the trolls still posted comments about us. We were defended by a majority of the server but the constant badgering made us wonder if our efforts were worth it.
When we hit Sunwell many of our veteran core players left the game and we found it hard to find replacements with the same level of maturity/skill. This made being an officer an even more thankless job as we morphed into guild parents. The constant reminders of how to act sucked most of the fun out of the game for our officers so during the transition to WotLK most of our long time officers (including me) stepped down. The new officers were a lot more lax in defending our reputation and slowly the guild became a collection of trade trolls. Fast forward to the present and we are definitely the most hated guild on the server. It is so bad that despite being a founding member, I am probably going to be switching servers in the next few months to get away. Since that is also the view of the core group holding the guild together I expect the guild to disband soon afterwards. It's a sad end to what used to be a fun guild but I expect isn't an uncommon occurance in WoW.
In time all things change but a good reputation is hard to keep and a bad reputation is almost impossible to lose. In hindsight I wish we'd tried harder to weed out the idiots but what's done is done. In the end this is just a game and I guess if you are spending all your time playing parent I guess I would ask if you are having fun. Life is too short to worry too much about the idiots.
Terrë Sep 5th 2010 8:53PM
My guild's rep on our large server is very important to me. Our rules are very clear and anyone joining is required to read and state that they understand them before joining. If anyone is seen trolling in trade chat, cheating, ninjaing or generally being an idiot they are taken to task - anything from a quiet chat about manners and expected guild behaviour all the way to an instant gkick, depending on the circumstances. We're the oldest guild on the server (the server opened at BC's launch) and whilst we're not the best progression-wise, i know that most established guilds on the server would reccomend us for social/casual raiding and i'm proud of that.
Just because WOW is a game and one is anonymous, it doesn't mean one should act like a wazzock.
Vinna Sep 5th 2010 10:26PM
I think it matters, I know I usually remember the guild name of someone that I come across who's been a jerk, more than I remember the toons name.
on a side note, I don't get the guilds who name themselves things like "we are ninjas" or something else that suggests something bad. I mean really, if you invite a player from a guild called "we are ninjas" to a pug and then they ninja something, are you really that shocked? then those players in guilds with names like that act surprised when you say no to inviting them based on their guild name.
James.birch2 Sep 5th 2010 11:35PM
This topic Has bored me, apparently I didn't get the point across,'why even have these codes and ethics, people like me are goin to get over on u eventually,'i've been kicked fir being a douche bag over 6 times from my guild, just to be re accepted again under amdifferent name, I've been nice enuff this time around for long enuff to get unrestricted bank access and I'm gonna ninja it's all on Monday before raid resets? Why u ask? Because if your dumb enuff to give someone that power, at least expect them to use it.'will I get banned? Of course, but it won't
Be on my main account cause u gotta be smarter then the average bear, account transfers R great when u wanna be a griefer, go screw everyone when u get the chance because in the end we all rot together
Smoe Sep 6th 2010 12:37AM
I like how the uprated posts are mostly ones that berate others for having the minority point of view. It shows that ethics is up to the community to decide -- not that berating a person for being different is ethical or anything.
Now, I do believe that reputation is a good thing for players and guilds, but my take on reputation is a little different than the majority of the community. Reputation, to me, is more of a style. It doesn't matter if the guild itself is seen as ethical if it has a certain style. For example, a guild could be full of trade trolls which has a negative connotation, but people will still seek to join it if they too wish to troll trade with other likeminded individuals. The only truely bad reputations for a guild would be about their skill levels and maybe (not always) their ethicality on loot distribution (some people want a guild that works only for the guild). Just be warned that a guild full of female cleansing products will attract even more female cleansing products.
I personally believe that the time we spend together in game is real even if our avatars aren't and that people should thus be treated with respect, however, you will still find me trolling trade and continuing to be ignored by half of the server for huge macros depicting starcraft pylons and voidwalkers. I don't hide behind anonymity as I only ever play one (pimped out) character and my guild's reputation is on the lower end as many of them are elietist jerks. We are still seen as one of the guilds that can put out the numbers and are as laid back as any durring raids so people respect us (even the only one (to my knowledge) who has ever trash talked my guild sent in an application).
Recap: I see fit to treat the people I play with right. My guild has a negative reputation. It hasn't shown any signs of mattering.
Now I believe it's time for me to fade to black.
Soween Sep 6th 2010 5:57AM
Guild Relations with Respect to the people that play absolutely matters. My guild resides on Wildhammer and I am lucky to be its Guild Leader. Our guildlines are clearly stated that we Treat everyone with the utmost respect and take the Game as just that. A way to socialize, have fun and work on game related challenges. I see it as this. I don't know you anymore than the guy at the local coffee house, but I am not going to go to them and call them a noob and down grade their gender, race, spiritual beliefs or political perspectives so why should I behave in that way simply because you are behind a computer.
Yes our Toons reside in a fantasy world where we do incredible feats of strength, wit and magic but there is a Real breathing person behind that character which should always be acknowledged with respect. For those that use the excuse 'this is just a game, you take it way to serious' are people who are the excuse hiding behind your comps to justify berating others in a way you would not do to your neighbor.
The sad truth of the matter is just how many people treat others so horribly makes me ponder how many rotten apples fill our real life world.
Thanks for holding to your morals, values, integrity and honor. We need more of you than the trade chat trash.
Soween