Voon » To Stay or To Go? Guild Hopping in MMOs

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To Stay or To Go? Guild Hopping in MMOs

February 17th, 2009

If you’ve played any MMO at any time, you are then familiar with guilds or clans, and what they have to offer the average player. Social contact, more options for grouping with friends, support or help for problems or tough quests. Drama. Cliques. A sense of maybe not quite belonging, yet a fear of leaving.

In all my years of playing, I think guilds have always provided me with the greatest challenges. Why? Well, because of the multiple people in one place that you don’t really know but you have to be nice to anyway. Especially if they hold a higher guild rank than you! Being ranked a “pleeb” (Yes, I was once ranked “pleeb lol”!), and getting into a heated debate with someone ranked “Who’s yer daddy now!” will never end well for you. Seriously.

So when is the right time to leave a guild, or should you stay? What if you have to go through 7 guilds to find the right one, and get labeled as a “guild hopper” as a result? Does that have a negative impact on you in terms of reliability and loyalty? As a previous guild leader, I say that it might. Although, for me, when recruiting someone I went on their personality and play style rather than their perceived loyalty to a guild. No matter what, unless you were a party to the situation that caused someone to leave their previous guild, you’ll never really know what happened, right?

I subscribe to the school of thought that if it is no longer fun, then it’s not worth doing. There’s a reason I’m in this line of work, y’know! But seriously, you pay to play the game (whether it be through a monthly subscription or time invested, or both), so you should look forward to logging in and hanging out with others. If you find that “yer Daddy” is too much to work to deal with, then take your “Pleeb” butt somewhere else and maybe you’ll discover new people and new fun to have in your MMO!