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blind invites
themilton
Member Posts: 353
I have very limited MMORPG experience. Mainly CoX, with a few other trials, so my first quesetion comes from a lack of experience: Do all MMORPGs allow blind team invites?
Secondly, do you accept blind invites? Are they an effective recruiting tool?
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The less you expect, the more you'll be surprised. Hopefully, pleasantly so.
Comments
I never accept blind guild invites if that's what you're referring to. I usually don't accept blind group invites either. This all depends on the game though, getting a blind invite in Vanguard is something totally different than getting one in say WoW.
If you're in an established guild or once you have a solid friends list, most people will just ignore random invites, be it for a guild or for a group.
They're effective to make a casual guild, sure, but they're not effective to make a good high-end guild. You will want to know who you are inviting. Of course, you can go too far in that too and start demanding a vent interview etc, which it totally over the top for me and the other side of the spectrum.
They all have them and it must be a growing tendency for people to accept them because it's not often someone sends me a tell first nowadays. That used to be the norm.
No I don't accept them, it actually chaps me, how do I know what quests you are on and why you need help? Would it kill you to talk to me first? If I need help I send a tell, it's called courtesy. Also when I have accepted blind invites 9 out of 10 times the group is not organized and wipes at every opportunity or the one player I'm duoing with can't communicate or just doesn't.
Say no to blind invites.
(,,,)=^__^=(,,,)
I never EVER accept blind guild invites - and I dont see why anyone would even consider accepting one.
Blind group invites I sometimes accept, and just ask the people in the group what they are up to, and if its a quest I need then I'll usually go along
I,the same as Waterlily on all points.
Never accept a blind guild invite. These guilds are usually filled with the worst kinds of players MMOs have as they are usually the players that were passed up by more selective guilds. I've accepted a few in the past and I've always been sorry for doing so. You end up in a guild that has a everyone-for-themselves type of mentality and those types usually don't last long as they have no sense of guild loyalty. Guilds have to work together to achieve certain goals in most MMOs and a guild were the members hardly talk to each other just can't achieve those goals. I also won't join a guild that doesn't take the time to ask me what type of player I am before joining. They are almost as bad as the drive-by-invite guilds.
Edit: As for drive-by-party-invites it depends on where I am and what I'm doing. If the area I'm in has only one common goal for players to achieve I'll usually accept as the player inviting is usually on the same page I am. As for accepting them out in the general world of a game I usually decline unless the inviting player asks me first and states what he wants to accomplish by the partying.
Bren
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I see blind invites also in forums, especially before a game even launches. In my mind it's just pure laziness. People don't want to take to time to party with other players ingame anymore, to get to know other people first and evaluate their personalities and behavior. I guess they figure they can just kick someone from the guild if they decide they don't like them.
Any guild that offers blind invites is pure weakness and should be avoided.
The flip side extreme is just as bad though. Some guilds hold interviews and have people submit applications which is a joke. That type of extreme qualifying detracts from the purpose of gaming.
A blind guild invite is a very bad sign about the guild. Still, guild invites are often by their very nature semi-blind, as you necessarily don't know that much about the person you invite. At least chatting for a few minutes to talk about the point of the guild, the player's playing style, and the like is a huge improvement over a blind guild invite, though.
A blind group invite is very different, so I'll usually reject it for different reasons. The problem with a blind group invite is that the group will only rarely be doing whatever I'm interested in doing at the time. Occasionally I'll accept the invite just to mess with the group if they're being obnoxious. I'll typically accept group invites after I've said something in the chat about wanting to group for some particular purpose, but those aren't really blind invites.
I never accept blind guild invites. It seems to me a sign that the guild is bad since the leader/officer needs to be basically begging for people to join the guild. Although it does seem to be an effective recruiting tool since some guilds practicing blind invites seem to become quite crowded quickly.
This is something that really gets to me in MMOs these days. Used to be that people socialized a lot more, and when you ended up grouping with the same people for a few days in a row or sometimes even just once, they'd invite you to their guild.
Now, these games are so much less social that often, you need to deal with blind invites, just to get to know anyone. The social mechanics have changed so much since the early days of EQ and DAOC.
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
I almost never accept blind invites. I figure if the leader of a group is too lazy or stupid to write a sentence or two asking for help that is probably a group I want to avoid.
I say almost never because the only exception for me is in WAR. The way it is set up it seems almost natural to invite someone if they are running up to a PQ or a RVR area you are participating in.
A lot of games have a big enough playerbase that you never accidentally group with the same person a few days in a row. You usually don't even group with the same person twice, ever, with a small subset of the guild you're in as the main exception.
A lot of games have a big enough playerbase that you never accidentally group with the same person a few days in a row. You usually don't even group with the same person twice, ever, with a small subset of the guild you're in as the main exception.
I think that has more to do with how content is designed these days, not how big the game is. As an example, I remember low level dungeons in EQ, that I went back to at the same time every day, hanging out in for a week or so, before outlevelling them. So, I saw the same people who were there, during the same time I was playing, around the same level.
It just doesn't work that way, anymore. Content is just a drive-by stepping stone, so you're not going to see the same people in the same place for more than the single day you happen to cross paths. Even in a game like AOC, which is currently less populated than EQ or DAOC was, back then.
I know there are reasons for things evolving the way they have, but seems to me, there needs to be evolving ways for people to socialize, to go with all that, so that people don't feel the need to blind invite, blind accept, etc, just to connect with each other. I think that side of MMOs is getting left behind, because lots of people, players and devs alike, don't want to even admit that it's an issue, or that it's important.
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
I was originally thinking about PUGs, but now that you mention it, I have gotten some blind SG/guild invites, too. Which I think are pretty ridiculous - why in the world would you want someone in your guild that you hadn't gotten to know. I'll admit to doing some zone-wide recruiting broadcasts, but I always chat with a recruit before actually sending the invite.
A lot of games have a big enough playerbase that you never accidentally group with the same person a few days in a row. You usually don't even group with the same person twice, ever, with a small subset of the guild you're in as the main exception.
I think that has more to do with how content is designed these days, not how big the game is. As an example, I remember low level dungeons in EQ, that I went back to at the same time every day, hanging out in for a week or so, before outlevelling them. So, I saw the same people who were there, during the same time I was playing, around the same level.
It just doesn't work that way, anymore. Content is just a drive-by stepping stone, so you're not going to see the same people in the same place for more than the single day you happen to cross paths. Even in a game like AOC, which is currently less populated than EQ or DAOC was, back then.
I know there are reasons for things evolving the way they have, but seems to me, there needs to be evolving ways for people to socialize, to go with all that, so that people don't feel the need to blind invite, blind accept, etc, just to connect with each other. I think that side of MMOs is getting left behind, because lots of people, players and devs alike, don't want to even admit that it's an issue, or that it's important.
Good point, Vhaln. There are players that I'll see in the tutorial or do a sewer run with that I never see again. Well, pretty much all of them. It would be nice see them around more.
Do other games have global chat channels? Where you can chat with people that aren't in your guild but it's not open to just anyone walking by?
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The less you expect, the more you'll be surprised. Hopefully, pleasantly so.
I don't accept any guild invites from strangers at all, but then, I'm either already in a guild or I don't want a guild for that character. As for blind group invites, I prefer using the auto-decline if available. If not, I still prefer just the invite box and no private tells at all. If I want a group in that area I'll accept and if I don't, I just have to click decline and there doesn't have to be any discussion or excuses involved. I don't mind a /tell, either, if someone is simply asking for help with one quest or something. Those I'll usually accept and quit the group after we finish.
As I indicated, personally I prefer having auto-decline and since I do use it in every game that offeres it, I prefer they use the in-game invite option so I don't even know they were there.
I hate ninja invites to either groups or guilds. Why? because if they don't have the courtesy to get to know me or me them, most times its a group I wouldn't want to be with in the first place. And another reason, I hate being in the middle of reading a quest or fighting a mob and have an invite pop up, decline, up pops the invite again ( I guess they figure I made a mistake the first time), decline and then sometimes has happened up pops an invite yet again!
I make use of auto reject invites for this reason, to many pugs or guilds where asshats rule the day unfortunately. To many people take advantage of the impunity of being said asshat, this is the last thing I care to deal with during game time. Once I do get to know someone or have RL friends in game I'll do anything for them or the guild.
I have accepted a few if I wasn't busy at the time, but there hasn't been enough good things come from it to continue to do so.