I’m in a decent size guild, close-knit for the most part. I’m a bit of an outsider, since I’m not able to be on as often as the rest, but when I am there, I am willing to help out.
I didn’t look for this guild specifically though, in fact I happened to run with them in an Ulduar run, and had a lot of fun. They were impressed, or at least greatly satisfied with my abilities, and offered an invite after the raid. I was fortunate to run into these good folks, and happen to see a couple familiar faces.
Who's Recruiting?
However, if you aren’t so lucky, and are looking for a good guild, what options do you have? Well, there are a few options currently available. Also to note, I am not a guild or guild recruitment specialist by any means, these are just observations on my part.
- First up, you can hit the Recruitment Forums (Alliance – Horde)on the official WoW sight, and look for your realm. Here guilds will post openings and links to their sites. As well as provides ways to contact them.
Pros – Guilds can link directly to their guild website, and the folks looking for a guild can see all realms and factions.
Cons – Guilds must constantly monitor and update these via the forums.
- Next you can spam Trade Chat with “LF Guild, such and such and such and such”.
Pros – Quick and easy, a simple copy and paste can keep the message going for hours.
Cons – Not everyone is going to listen. Some folks actually block Trade Chat, because of some of the junk it gets filled with; plus it can get kind of annoying to hear somebody yelling that they’re looking for a guild ever few seconds/minutes.
- Lastly, you can do the research yourself online, checking guild websites, googling guilds and seeing what’s out there.
Pros – There is tons of information out there, lots of guilds with open policies, and others with open spots.
Cons – There is tons of misinformation out there, lots of people trying to steal your info, or send you spam, and with WoW being so large now, I’m sure it’s become a very juicy target. As for guilds, they again must monitor this for changes, and maintain a forum/site to make it visible to the outside world.
My concept would remove some of the need and misinformation with these forms of communication. Rather than posting and scanning the recruitment channel or recruitment forums, players could instead view “Job Openings” for the server’s guilds. This could be worked from both sides.
1. Guilds and their Recruitment Officers can “post job openings” onto the recruitment board that would be viewable by other players. Think of it as an Auction House type interface, but instead of listing items and whether you can buy them, it’ll be openings and whether you can apply to them.
I’ve listed some of the options for the applications below some being required others optional:
- Description of Application
- Class
- Race
- Role
- Experience (comment section)
- Reason for Applying (comment section)
- Other Information (comment section)
2. Unguilded players could then browse the board to find an opening that fits their needs, and apply, in turn sending their application to the guild they chose, and of course you could put in multiple applications.
I do see some issues arising from this in the form of inappropriate material being posted; however Blizzard could control this by providing options for the applications, basically building the applications for the recruiters who could then post them. This would prevent spammers and asshats from posting whatever they wanted as much as they wanted. It could also provide a little bit of information on the guild itself, possibly a new screen providing guild achievements/levels with the new systems coming in Cataclysm.
On the subject of spammers, there would still be the option to report the application, allowing Blizzard to catch them and remove them before any damage can really be done. Currently there is a little bit of leeway in what is seen by other players, an example being the Raid Browser. You are able to put whatever note in there that you want, and anybody using the Raid Browser can see it, so a “comments” section of the application could be used in this way.
Anyway, once unguilded players “apply” to a guild, the application is sent directly to whomever the guild deems as the recruitment officer, in an in-game message, whether it be one person or several. This way they don’t have to leave the game to see new applicants. This letter then could be passed to other folks, but only within the guild. Upon reaching a decision, the original application could then be pulled up again, and approved or denied, in turn sending an invite to the person applying. As the positions are filled, the job postings could be removed, or even archived, allowing for new ones to take their place.
This would work great for those just trying to find a guild to hang out in, or one to raid in.
Now, that was the case for those who are unguilded; however, the system could be used by those who feel like moving from one guild to another. These individuals could browse just as unguilded players would, but if they were accepted, the system would have to notify them that they are forfeiting their current position in their guild before being automatically added to the new one.
As I said, I am not much of an expert on guild mechanics, guild politics, nor guild recruitment. However, I feel that a system like this could be very helpful for those new to the game, and wanting to get in with some folks with similar tastes.
What do you think about an In-Game Guild Board? Would it be beneficial, or to much of a hassle?
Illumination 