Applying to Multiple Guilds

Matt over at World of Matticus just blogged about the question of whether or not applying to multiple guilds is a sin. His opinion is clearly that it's not an issue at all, I happen to disagree.

When my guild is recruiting we're usually not just looking for just any pair of hands but for somebody that will fit into our guild well. Our application questionnaire therefore asks a few free-form questions that allow us to weed out people that we don't think will fit in. If we find out that somebody filled out our questionnaire in a way that's trying to please us but applied to another guild, trying to fit into their set of rules instead, we get suspicious. Most likely that person lied to us in the application just to make it sound good, which would be an immediate no-no.

Another time where multiple applications are very bad is when someone applies to our guild but when asked to join says that she's still waiting for a response from another guild before making the decision. Aside from the fact that it hurts our pride to be second pickings it also means that the person is likely to leave the guild again once they get an offer that suits them better. Guild hoppers are a plague that needs to be eliminated, so that's a no too.

There are also occasions where multiple applications are fine, however. We recently had an application from a warrior that used to main tank for one of the top guilds of our server. When they broke apart he applied to us - but freely told us that he would be applying to the server's number one guild as well. He was a hardcore player and clearly looking for a more hardcore approach than we run, but seemed at peace with the possibility of playing with us in case that gig didn't work out.

Honesty and reasoning go a long way when applying to multiple guilds. If you can explain it well and are upfront about it, my guild will almost never make a fuss. If you on the other hand hide your multiple applications and aim to just get in the best guild possible then you're pretty much out of luck if we find out.

My advice would be not to do multiple applications if you can avoid it - but if you do, be honest about it.