Archived from groups: alt.games.everquest (More info?)
And I'll be honest, I almost enjoyed it even though the guy never did a
thing wrong while in the guild. Names have all been fictionalized but it's a
true story.
We recently had a level 42 Templar apply. Some of our most trusted members
grouped with him one night in Varsoons and they all recommended him to me as
a solid player. I told them what I always tell people in that situation:
have him post an introductory message to our site so we can start to get to
know him and get him started on his app. The Monk who wanted to sponsor him
said "He doesn't want to post, he just wants to talk to someone".
Me: "Um, there's a reason for the process we have in place, a post is a good
way for people in the guild who haven't grouped with him to get to know
something about him"
Sponsor: "He's not big on words"
Me: "Doesn't have to be, there's a very simple template already in place, he
can cut and paste, can't he"?
Sponsor: "But he's a great player, we shouldn't screw this one up over a
process issue. And man, we always need healers".
Me: "I'll talk to him"
Ok, maybe that was my first mistake, violating our own policy to make an
exception when I knew damned well why we had a process in the first place.
But one of the five principles of leadership that I've always adhered to is
"Challenging the Process". So I did. We invited the guy into the guild as a
special recruit and started getting him into guild groups in our event
schedule.
One night in guildchat this guy says "Hey Red, I remember you from beta when
you were running around getting people flagged for Firemyst". I chuckled and
asked "What was your name in beta"? His response: "I played an Elf mage
named Wiggo".
Hmm, I stopped on that immediately. I remember an elf named Wiggo, but not
from beta, but because it was on my ignore list in retail. I only have three
names on that list, all three there because of one incident that I vividly
recalled.
Me: "Did you play Wiggo in release"?
Recruit: "No, just in beta"
Me: "I'm sure I've run into an Elf named Wiggo in release"
Pause.
Recruit: "Someone else must have rolled that, maybe that's why the name
wasn't available to me in release."
I pondered the likelihood of that coincidence.
Me: "Do you know two players named Camai and Grenak"?
Long pause.
Recruit: (still in guildchat): "Aye, I used to hang with those guys. Hey
man, I'm sorry, Red, I'm sorry about that night".
Me: "Let's take this offline".
It turns out that one night while camping Crusaders in Stormhold for a
guildmate's AQ3, I was with a guild group camping the Crusader room waiting
on pops. We needed a few more and this was back when Crusader pops were
badly broken in SH, so they were at a real premium. There was even a backup
group sitting outside the room waiting for us to be done with our camp.
After sitting in this spot killing PHs for a while, in runs a group of three
players: Wiggo, Camai and Grenak. They were running around in circles
jumping like madmen, not saying a thing, not asking if we were camping the
room. One of us mentioned that we were in fact waiting on Crusaders, and one
of the guys outside the room piped in "And we're up after them". No
response.
A crusader pops. Wiggo attacks it and takes the spawn. Incredulous, we stand
there in silence while these guys run out of the room and disappear. Our
group is pissed and the guys outside the room are even more so, and I
suggest that we spread out a little to make sure that we're covering good
ground and keep our guard up to avoid this again.
A few minutes later, Wiggo and crew return. As you can guess, another pop,
another kill steal. Wiggo says "Ok, we have the two we needed, we're leaving
now" and starts running out. My wife is having a fit and our MT is losing
his cool while the guys out in the hall are threatening to kill. I say
something like "I'll remember you, Wiggo" and enter all three names in my
ignore list and try hard to maintain some control in a very tense situation.
At that point the unfortunate Wiggo stops, turns around to face me, and
laughs in our faces. And then runs off.
And now here he is, app'ing to my guild lol. He starts sending me a series
of insufferable, imploring tells.
"Red, ur not mad at me r u"
"Red, plz dont be mad at me it was n accident"
"Plz, we realllly needed that spawn, plz, it will never happen again i
promise. plz dont be mad"
This sudden reversion to childspeak was quite a different image than the one
portrayed in guildchat and I realized then why he didn't want to post: the
guy was seriously communications challenged. What a front he'd been putting
up in guildchat! Talk about a split personality.
I told the guy I would discuss with the officer team and get back to him.
Not much to discuss, but we did, and the next day I de-guilded the guy.
Later that night I heard from a guildmate that the guy had been seen giving
away his stuff and leaving the game in disgust because it was "impossible
getting things done at a high level without groups and without a guild".
This guildmate asked why I had deguilded someone over a single KS incident,
without giving him a chance. I was only asked by this one person, no one
else felt the need to inquire, but his inquiry was genuine and respectful,
so I obliged with a response that laid out how his guild had standards that
made his membership actually mean something.
Was it a one-off? Who knows? Perhaps if the guy had been less reluctant to
post about himself and his game history, or hadn't lied to me about his
character, or hadn't gone out of his way to stop and laugh at us, maybe I'd
have been more inclined to give him a chance to redeem himself. But that
kind of behavior isn't acceptable for anyone wearing our guild tag, not even
once, and after he lied to me so blatantly and the sudden dramatic change of
personality, how could I ever trust him? But in the end, as I said to the
guildmate who inquired, just ask yourself why a level 42 *healer* is still
guild-less and has to leave the game because he can't find a guild and it
all adds up.
--
Redbeard
<Veritas>
Dwarven Mystic and Alchemist
Loyal Citizen of the Antonia Bayle
Current resident of the Willow Wood, City of Qeynos
http://veritas.everquest2guilds.com
Descendant of the Elder Winterfury Thunderwolf
<Resolution, Retired>
Barbarian Prophet of The Tribunal
Retired Citizen of Firiona Vie
And I'll be honest, I almost enjoyed it even though the guy never did a
thing wrong while in the guild. Names have all been fictionalized but it's a
true story.
We recently had a level 42 Templar apply. Some of our most trusted members
grouped with him one night in Varsoons and they all recommended him to me as
a solid player. I told them what I always tell people in that situation:
have him post an introductory message to our site so we can start to get to
know him and get him started on his app. The Monk who wanted to sponsor him
said "He doesn't want to post, he just wants to talk to someone".
Me: "Um, there's a reason for the process we have in place, a post is a good
way for people in the guild who haven't grouped with him to get to know
something about him"
Sponsor: "He's not big on words"
Me: "Doesn't have to be, there's a very simple template already in place, he
can cut and paste, can't he"?
Sponsor: "But he's a great player, we shouldn't screw this one up over a
process issue. And man, we always need healers".
Me: "I'll talk to him"
Ok, maybe that was my first mistake, violating our own policy to make an
exception when I knew damned well why we had a process in the first place.
But one of the five principles of leadership that I've always adhered to is
"Challenging the Process". So I did. We invited the guy into the guild as a
special recruit and started getting him into guild groups in our event
schedule.
One night in guildchat this guy says "Hey Red, I remember you from beta when
you were running around getting people flagged for Firemyst". I chuckled and
asked "What was your name in beta"? His response: "I played an Elf mage
named Wiggo".
Hmm, I stopped on that immediately. I remember an elf named Wiggo, but not
from beta, but because it was on my ignore list in retail. I only have three
names on that list, all three there because of one incident that I vividly
recalled.
Me: "Did you play Wiggo in release"?
Recruit: "No, just in beta"
Me: "I'm sure I've run into an Elf named Wiggo in release"
Pause.
Recruit: "Someone else must have rolled that, maybe that's why the name
wasn't available to me in release."
I pondered the likelihood of that coincidence.
Me: "Do you know two players named Camai and Grenak"?
Long pause.
Recruit: (still in guildchat): "Aye, I used to hang with those guys. Hey
man, I'm sorry, Red, I'm sorry about that night".
Me: "Let's take this offline".
It turns out that one night while camping Crusaders in Stormhold for a
guildmate's AQ3, I was with a guild group camping the Crusader room waiting
on pops. We needed a few more and this was back when Crusader pops were
badly broken in SH, so they were at a real premium. There was even a backup
group sitting outside the room waiting for us to be done with our camp.
After sitting in this spot killing PHs for a while, in runs a group of three
players: Wiggo, Camai and Grenak. They were running around in circles
jumping like madmen, not saying a thing, not asking if we were camping the
room. One of us mentioned that we were in fact waiting on Crusaders, and one
of the guys outside the room piped in "And we're up after them". No
response.
A crusader pops. Wiggo attacks it and takes the spawn. Incredulous, we stand
there in silence while these guys run out of the room and disappear. Our
group is pissed and the guys outside the room are even more so, and I
suggest that we spread out a little to make sure that we're covering good
ground and keep our guard up to avoid this again.
A few minutes later, Wiggo and crew return. As you can guess, another pop,
another kill steal. Wiggo says "Ok, we have the two we needed, we're leaving
now" and starts running out. My wife is having a fit and our MT is losing
his cool while the guys out in the hall are threatening to kill. I say
something like "I'll remember you, Wiggo" and enter all three names in my
ignore list and try hard to maintain some control in a very tense situation.
At that point the unfortunate Wiggo stops, turns around to face me, and
laughs in our faces. And then runs off.
And now here he is, app'ing to my guild lol. He starts sending me a series
of insufferable, imploring tells.
"Red, ur not mad at me r u"
"Red, plz dont be mad at me it was n accident"
"Plz, we realllly needed that spawn, plz, it will never happen again i
promise. plz dont be mad"
This sudden reversion to childspeak was quite a different image than the one
portrayed in guildchat and I realized then why he didn't want to post: the
guy was seriously communications challenged. What a front he'd been putting
up in guildchat! Talk about a split personality.
I told the guy I would discuss with the officer team and get back to him.
Not much to discuss, but we did, and the next day I de-guilded the guy.
Later that night I heard from a guildmate that the guy had been seen giving
away his stuff and leaving the game in disgust because it was "impossible
getting things done at a high level without groups and without a guild".
This guildmate asked why I had deguilded someone over a single KS incident,
without giving him a chance. I was only asked by this one person, no one
else felt the need to inquire, but his inquiry was genuine and respectful,
so I obliged with a response that laid out how his guild had standards that
made his membership actually mean something.
Was it a one-off? Who knows? Perhaps if the guy had been less reluctant to
post about himself and his game history, or hadn't lied to me about his
character, or hadn't gone out of his way to stop and laugh at us, maybe I'd
have been more inclined to give him a chance to redeem himself. But that
kind of behavior isn't acceptable for anyone wearing our guild tag, not even
once, and after he lied to me so blatantly and the sudden dramatic change of
personality, how could I ever trust him? But in the end, as I said to the
guildmate who inquired, just ask yourself why a level 42 *healer* is still
guild-less and has to leave the game because he can't find a guild and it
all adds up.
--
Redbeard
<Veritas>
Dwarven Mystic and Alchemist
Loyal Citizen of the Antonia Bayle
Current resident of the Willow Wood, City of Qeynos
http://veritas.everquest2guilds.com
Descendant of the Elder Winterfury Thunderwolf
<Resolution, Retired>
Barbarian Prophet of The Tribunal
Retired Citizen of Firiona Vie
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