Guild join spam?

[Ridduk]

/facepalm Ridduk

[footpatrol2]

Moving forward with this. What are the specific limitations?

Am I only to use the LFG channel? I want to do whats appropriate. Do we have specific rules against guild spam recruiting? Apparently we do... I know from experience that If I spam guild invite I will get many more players to join the guild then if I just used the LFG channel.

Some players are annoyed. Some players are very grateful. I know a lot of those players that have been spam recruited will not continue to play. But there are some gem players in there.

If I make a list of people that said No, am I still able to spam recruit or is this forbidden?

Thank you.

I also PM'd magicthigh's this.

@magicthigh's Amazing name btw.

I would like to ask you if this is appropriate.

Something I did in the past on live as a premade organizer is I'd send tells out to people on specific classes that I wanted to be part of my premades. Here is a example of a transaction I would partake in if i was looking for shamans.

/who
find the shaman's of the appropriate tier then spam ask each shaman.

/tell (example shaman) hey you would like to be part of a sc/roam group?

Their response

"No sorry i'm about to log off, thanks for asking thou. I appreciate it."

Or

"Yes, I'm tired of following the zerg around."

Extremely rarely would I ever get a negative response and If so I'd straight not ask them again.

Is this not appropriate?

Usually people respond very positively if I am asking them if they want to be part of a premade group. I would also use the LFG channel in addition to spam tells. I usually found that the spam tells were more responsive then just using the LFG channel. Generally people don't pay attention to the LFG channel and if you give them a /tell they are more likely to fall out of their zerg trance. Meaning there were players wanting to be part of the pre-made that didn't pay attention to the LFG channel and I helped them become part of it.

I don't want to fall out of line of proper etiquette. Am I allowed to do this?

[Ridduk]

[Genisaurus]

Moving forward with this. What are the specific limitations?

Am I only to use the LFG channel? I want to do whats appropriate. Do we have specific rules against guild spam recruiting? Apparently we do... I know from experience that If I spam guild invite I will get many more players to join the guild then if I just used the LFG channel.

This is okay. You are allowed to use /5 LFG to broadcast general guild recruitment messages, or warband advertisements. While spamming elsewhere might be more effective, it's obnoxious to everyone else not interested in joining, and distracts from other conversations. For many people, this strategy creates more negativity toward your guild than it brings in recruits.

Something I did in the past on live as a premade organizer is I'd send tells out to people on specific classes that I wanted to be part of my premades. Here is a example of a transaction I would partake in if i was looking for shamans...

This is also okay. However, it would not be okay to continue messaging someone after they have explicitly asked you to stop talking to them. It would also not be okay to send someone multiple guild/party/warband invites after they have intentionally declined one, and it's generally considered rude (though not expressly forbidden) to invite someone without asking/talking to them first.

Because we do not yet seem to have /ignore lists working, if someone asks that you do not /invite or /tell them in the future, the onus is on you to respect that request.

When in doubt, assume they don't want to play with you, and follow Wheaton's Rule.

[footpatrol2]

Thank you for your response.

When setting up my premades I generally send /tell's out before just inviting people so I ask first. I don't spam invites for that. Usually over time I have repeat players that want to partake in those premades.

So I assume its ok then to send /tell's out to players daily for a premade and to not ask players that continually decline my invitation.

I'm sorry. I thought I was doing something good and players would want to be part of it. Usually players are very enthusiastic to join.

I understand the guild spam annoyance.

So I play a healer. Sometimes people will send a invite to me to try and help heal their warband in a ORvR situation without them asking me first. Should I report them to discourage this type of behavior? I generally ask before sending a invite to my groups. Getting unwarranted invites to help heal in ORvR happens quite a bit to me.

[Mael]

As an ex Guild Leader in a few other mmo's, I can well appreciate recruitment, its place in the mmo world, and also the need for it. I've had to do it myself a lot in the past, so I do have some sympathies.

However, there are ways of doing it correctly in various mmo's that will stand you in good stead for the future.

1. Obviously there are normally general forums with all games/servers that have a section where you can place a recruitment thread, listing your aims/goals/requirements and advertising yourself in a positive light.
2. There is normally at least one game text channel in a game where you can post out an advert in game every so often (taking care not to trigger spam mechanics).
3. You can stand in capital cities "/shouting" or whatever to people who wander past. Auction houses are a favourite for this.
4. Sometimes there are 3rd party fansites you can post threads on pointing to your guild site, etc etc.

Most people already know all this, and have seen it before in WoW, GW2, SwToR, Eve, Aion, etc etc etc.

However, spamming blank guild invites without any other words to players online who just happen to be unguilded is NOT a good way to get quality long lasting recruits. It is a good way to get a reputation (not necessarily great), and also damage your long term goals for a fruitful guild that retains a core membership over time.

What type of impression do you personally get from people who happen to see you in-game and then spam trade request you without saying anything or any communications? It's annoying, right? Would you trade with someone who just happens to trade request you randomly out of the blue? Probably not.

I do wish your guild all the best and many successes for the future on the server. Hopefully I'll see you guys warbanding in RvR and kicking butt. I do think you might want to rethink your strategy for growing your band though, and I hope that some of the pointers above help out

[footpatrol2]

Thanks Mael.

Again truly sorry for your inconvenience.

I'm really just a premade organizer and inexperienced at being a guild leader. I've only focused on setting up premades/leading premades in the past and focused on players and not guild tags. I thought I could carry over my techniques in setting up pre-mades to guild recruitment but guess that is an unwise way of accomplishing my goal. I don't spam invites for my premades I ask first. Watch how the new player interacts with the group. Suggest constructive criticism to his playstyle. Explain things if needed. I'll continue to play with them until they leave. If he can't handle constructive criticism he won't get asked back and he probably wouldn't want to come back either.

I think I may have also become numb to gaming etiquette due to the years of gaming in a mmo environment. I don't care about players constantly trying to trade with me or asking me to join a guild. Because I know that is the environment in mmo's and I kinda expect it. i have become numb to it. But I can see how in a un-paying environment that is run by players how this is unacceptable behavior.

I kinda wish i got a warning first.

[Azarael]

You did get a warning.

You were warned multiple times by the player in question to stop sending him guild invites, and you continued to do so. In the rules, it is written that you are forbidden to harass other players, and the MOTD tells you to read those rules in game.

Staff should only warn if the conduct in question is not listed in the ingame rules and if common sense would not indicate that the conduct is unacceptable. Additionally, a warning does not have to come from a member of staff to be valid. All that matters is that you were given a chance to stop the misconduct - either through player or GM warning or through that conduct being listed in the ingame rules, which you are told to read before playing.

[Luth]

Spoiler:

[footpatrol2]

Yea as you can suspect... I didn't read that stuff as i'm sure most players don't.

... Doesn't mean I'm right... I'm 100% wrong.

... Whee for being human and learning from your mistakes...