ph34r m3 :P

[Windra]

This \'selective\' recruiting seems a good idear but a little flawed to me.
The best guild on the previous mmorpg i played(of which i was and still am a member) in the period of one week has fallen into a state of disrepear due to their selective member standards.
They like you followed the darkpath which worked for a while, but eventualy their power over evrything else led them to become a neutral guild.
Selective recruitment is ok when evrything is working fine, but as soon as something changes and tilts the balance of members, its sets a chain of...\'reaction\' to tired to think of a more relative word..and the whole basis of the guild breaks and leaves a mess of a once powerful guild.

[Princess Aelya]

not to brag, but they must have been pretty poor leaders to allow their guilds to become that way. didnt they realise they needed to make changes when their guild started to fail? Rest assured if the need should arise I will make changes to keep my guild going.

[Windra]

Their guilds downfall happened almost overnight,by then it was too late,once a persons mind is made up that they must leave the only guild they have ever been in, in their year long time on the server, its pretty hard to change it. They are recovering, but it will never be the same again.No guild can go on forever, and their time was very long, they saw every other guild fall due to the coruption of power, very few guilds will survive and they were one of the very few, but even their guild had to change sumtime.
itw as actualy the changes to keep the guild going which caused the entire thing, bcoz of selective recruitment the old members didnt like it when lots of new ppl replaced those that ahd left.

[Draklar]

so you\'re saying that since it happened to one guild, it\'ll happen to all selective recruitment guilds?

[Zephyrus]

I think the problem with selective recruitment is that the guild becomes stangnent, frozen in time. Without new members there are no new ideas, no new points of view. And so, eventually people become bored, activity grinds to a halt and you end up with an inactive guild.

Which is why you chose The Mercenary Guild right Windra   ? There is plenty of new blood, and the guild is always adapting and changing according to its members suggestions and discussions   . And because there are always new members, there is always new ideas.

Having said all of that, there is still advantages to selective recruitment;

1. People view the guild as an elite, because members are handpicked.

2. People seem to like the idea being let into a closed off elite. If they have to be \"selected\" it makes them feel special, chosen.

3. You get a much better idea of who you are letting into your guild.


In The Mercenary Guild\'s case the \"closed off elite\" is the highest ranks; requiring a great deal of loyalty and commitment to acquire. And the \"knowing who you are letting in\" thing doesnt apply so much; as mercenaries we have very little to hide. And only the very highest ranks; the ones who are \"selected\" or \"chosen\", will know of any secrets we do have.

[seperot]

I aggree with windra point (and Zephyrus big extra)

the way OI has it may be a way forward where any member can nominate a new member into the guild (if thats wrong correct me)

[Kiern]

Almost sep, any Council member (not just any member) can nominate a new member, then it goes for majority over the rest of the council...that will probably change once we get bigger though, we\'ll see.

[AendarCallenlasse]

Zeph:  Just because we don\'t allow everyone in doesn\'t mean things don\'t happen.  New ideas still happen.  And at this point in PS there really is nothing you can do except talk on forums or IRC.

But Selective Membership works for us.  We allow only those worthy.  Why should we allow some guy who knows nothing about PS, isn\'t evil, and will probably leave in a week to join?  

[Draklar]

Originally posted by Zephyrus
I think the problem with selective recruitment is that the guild becomes stangnent, frozen in time. Without new members there are no new ideas, no new points of view.

ehhh it doesn\'t have to be that way...

Sep: do you even know what is DE\'s way?

[Zephyrus]

Originally posted by AendarCallenlasse
Zeph:  Just because we don\'t allow everyone in doesn\'t mean things don\'t happen.  New ideas still happen.  And at this point in PS there really is nothing you can do except talk on forums or IRC.

But Selective Membership works for us.  We allow only those worthy.  Why should we allow some guy who knows nothing about PS, isn\'t evil, and will probably leave in a week to join?  

I guess I am not saying new ideas wont still happen. They are just more likely to be brought about with a new point of view, which a new member inevitably brings. But Drakler is right; it doesn?t have to be that way. I guess I am just being biased; I personally find guild life most interesting when there is an influx of new members, when the guild is constantly changing and evolving. It usually leads to new discussions and debates.

[AendarCallenlasse]

Well one thing that tends to happen when there are only a few selected members is friendship and loyalty are much deeper.  You know you can trust people when they are actually recruited into a guild rather than anyone being allowed in.

[Draklar]

Well everything depends on guild
constantly changing and evolving is good for chaotic one, but lawful is rather about stability.
And strongly about loyality, so like Aendar said.

[Zephyrus]

I guess this may be true, but our guild forums are a very friendly place; we have discussions about empanadas and everything  

But seriously I think in the case of The Mercenary Guild those who stay long enough and show loyalty will reach higher ranks, be more trusted and will make friends with their brothers.

If a guild is being selective, then I imagine friendship may in fact grow slower; selectiveness may breed a fairly snobby attitude, which causes distrust and arrogance. Again this is not necessarily what will happen, just a maybe.

[Draklar]

well snobby...
only to those that aren\'t members, no?
inside everything should work just fine.
it\'s like elven community: snobby to lesser beings, but friendly to other elves

[Zephyrus]

I am not sure... I just have this feeling in a selective community, oldbies will resent the newbies. Mostly because the point of being selective is distrust of strangers, distrust is a mild form of paranoia. And so I think even the \"selected\" newbies will be distrusted for a long while. But feel free to prove me wrong.

I am going to bed now anyway (school tomorrow  ;( ).