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Let’s be honest, recruitment for any game is a complete pain in the ass. To make things worse, the people in charge of recruitment generally aren’t the best at identifying the characteristics that make a good recruit. As a result, your initially small group of like-minded players gets flooded with conflicting personalities and skill levels, creating drama, discontent, and turnover. Fortunately, there are 5 key traits you can look for within your applicants to see whether they will be an asset or just another waste of your time.
1. Experience in Role and Game
If someone just started playing your game in the newest expansion or recently main-switched from a DPS role to a Tank, chances are they aren’t going to be up to your performance expectations. Mechanics in encounters often repeat themselves, allowing a long-time PVE’er to more easily learn new fights, while veteran a PVP’er is more adept in the intricacies of whooping ass. Furthermore, you want to ensure that the person is going to be knowledgeable about their role so they can contribute to your guild, rather than constantly holding you back.
2. Comes Alone
- Players that come alone form relationships with the rest of the guild, reducing potential cliques and enhancing guild camaraderie.
- A single person leaving is not catastrophic. With groups, you lose multiple players which is much more detrimental.
- More raid/group versatility. Groups often do not like to be split up, even if it is the best for raid make-up.
Of course, there are a few exceptions to the rule; some groups are more than willing to be broken up, are very social, and perhaps play non-vital roles that won’t leave you scrambling if something goes wrong. However, you should almost always stay away from couples and friends that have been playing together since the start of the game.
3. Attracted to Goals/Ideals, not Loot
While loot is an important part of any MMO, it should not be the central reason people are applying to your guild. Unfortunately, if you are not the top guild on your server, there is a strong chance players will use you as a stepping stone just to get to that top guild. When conducting an interview with the applicant, ask if they have read the guild’s mission statement and why they were attracted to you–aside from progression.
4. Personality Matches Guild Environment
Personality clashes can cause an endless amount of drama and be detrimental to a healthy guild environment. Get a solid idea of who the applicant is as a person, not just a character. Does their sense of humor match that of the others? Are they social or an introvert? Angry and loud or laid back and calm? Establish an initiate or trial period for new recruits so that before you commit them to your roster you have a chance to see how they interact with others.
5. Controls His/Her Schedule and Obligations
Parents, significant others and employment are all factors that drastically affect the schedule of a player. With the exception of a friends-and-family guild, you want to stay away from children and teenagers, husbands with intolerant wives, and individuals with dynamic and demanding jobs. Reliability is key, so confirm that the recruit is able to make your schedule and that they won’t be going to college, shipped to Iraq, or yanked off the computer unexpectedly.
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That last one is just mean Krieg.
Haha, sorry! It was in my mind since you got shipped out recently. But, to be fair it is a legitimate concern when someone is recruiting!
I disagree with “comes alone” – It seems to be a growing trend of having more and more “group” applications of quality players who like to stick together. We accepted a holy paladin and mage, a shadow priest and rogue, and a disc priest and ret paladin who have all been incredible.
The main thing about “group applications” is that you absolutely must be prepared to remove all of them if you need to remove one of them.
Also worth noting is a growing trend of judging a player by achievement points. Achievement points, while seemingly ridiculous, do show an intense dedication to developing a single character. Someone with more than 8,000 achievement points clearly has been playing the game a lot, sought out raiding achievements, and done some difficult things in WoW. While someone with less than 3,500 achievement points is likely to be a fresh 80. I don’t think it’s ever something that can hurt you, but it definitely helps to those who have it.
well you have to look at raiding achievement points…
someone who has 50 mount achievement only means they can grind mounts, doesnt mean they can play the game…
Note worthy things are like Immortal, server first kill titles/achievements (Death’s Demise, Celestial Defender), Kingslayer, Frostbrood mounts…
as for the group thing… i see it both ways. but if you do take in a group, be prepared that they might leave as a group like blacksen said.
Lootwhores should just be shot. PERIOD. If an applicant suggests a hint of hesitation when it comes to being sat down for some boss fights or not being allowed to roll for loot before trial period is over, send the applicant towards opposite direction. Recruitment officers will save a lot on pain medications that way.
I am COMPLETELY against joint applications. It’s just a dead-giveaway that at least one of the people applying is a chink in a most-likely weaker link. Like mentioned above, if one has any desire to leave the rest is most likely going to follow suit. From my experience (I’ve seen about four group-apps like this before), they brought more drama than the only ‘good’ player in the group was worth and my previous guilds lost more capable raiders from the mass exodus.
I am guilty of rule number 5. I cohabit with a guy who does not play videogames so I get a LOT of boyfriend aggro. I often joke fixing this problem by having a “pre-raid schmex buff” (need I really elaborate?). My guild is quite understanding about this but it’s the reliability factor, not just the attendance factor, that my guild looks at most of the time. Yes, attendance is a definite must and absence is frowned upon. But then again people can be physically there (toon-wise) but not there when it comes to strats, I’d honestly prefer the latter to step out than sit in someone who knows their class and pulls their weight.
Based on the circumstances, I think there should be a minor exception to rule numero uno. If they switched specs because his/her previous guild needed a (insert role), then you know the applicant is a team player. Also an applicant who just recently changed specs/class will most likely have a better understanding of the game. The change of perspective can make an applicant seem like a stronger player in some cases.
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