(06-08-2014, 10:09 PM)Kellach Woods Wrote: That's why I put the caveat that my main experience with applications was from another game, and I should have mentioned that they also wanted a raiding group at the time. It wasn't strictly RP.
I dunno, as much as it's for time saving and things, it just feels weird to me. Most of the times it feels like I actually am applying for a job and much like others have mentioned in a thread, when it becomes a job, it stops being fun.
Well, most roleplayers out there join guilds like mine to spend a good portion of their day RPing with us, in a framework where they feel like they fit in. To quote one of our newer guildies, "I am so happy I found you guys!" - That is the kind of reaction I'm after when I take someone into the group, and the application system makes me able to work with very little risk because I can turn away those who will never fit into our group (This is judged by a set of standards and requirements we have for our guild, not meeting them doesn't mean someone is a bad RP'er, but they wouldn't fit in with us). I can see how you can feel like it's like a job application, and I would tend to agree with you that it sort of is, but much more relaxed - At least, I don't think any of us intend to put so much stress on people and we strive to never let anyone wait for 2 days before they get an answer. Usually the answer falls within 12 hours, for us.Â
And again I'll say, you shouldn't discourage yourself from trying to join an FC so easily, there are a lot more aspects of MMORPGs that are downright job-like, for example having to reach your caps every week and use your daily roulette charges etc.Â
My previous reply can be applied to a lot of games, I wasn't speaking FFXIV specifically. I was speaking RP specifically though, as raiding is quite something else (and VERY job like, because they don't just judge you on your personality they also check every ounce of your gear & stats, and often require you to raid x amount of hours per day, several times per week)
and I don't really think you can compare the two.Â
As our dearest wizard said, it is a looot of hassle when a character simply disappears after a few months of RP, especially if they took the time to get themselves into important parts of plots and so on. Especially when something turns dramatic, you as a GM can sit and have to deal with a situation where you have to negotiate with a person who more than likely hates your guts, and that you are/have removed from the guild, about their role in these storylines and how they would get their character out of them, and even tolerate more RP for the sake of not breaking the immersion.
Those situations can easily end up taking 6-12-75 hrs of peoples time just for conflict solving, on both parts which is extremely unfortunate because aint nobody got time for that.Â
So as a GM, it's very natural that you want to prevent those things from happening, and the best place to start is to make sure you let the right people in from the get-go.
