The ganking guild is moving along quite nicely, with several people hitting 80 in the last week or so. With the dickhead factor being low and the general skill factor being high, it’s making for a nice overall playing experience. Which is not good for blog posts ranting about the epic failness of the players that you meet in game. You may have noticed the lack of ranting posts. Well, this is the reason. Nobody likes a rantless ranter.
But there is a little situation that I am finding difficult to work my way around. On a realm that is as deserted as Magtharidon, players with maxed professions are few and far between. I happen to be one of those sought after players, as I have both Enchanting and Jewelcrafting maxed out. So when the rare player writes in chat that they are looking for an enchanter/JC, it’s usually me who throws them a whisper. I don’t charge much for my services – usually around 20g for an enchant or cut. And people seem happy to pay it. But when it comes to my guildies I am in a slightly tricky position.
I’m going to come clean right now – in WoW, I am not a goblin. I’m not a social either. I just do my own thing. I always have gold as I don’t spend it much, and the game experience for me is not based around gold. It took me 4 years of play to max enchanting on my main as I just did it as it came. And I’m more than happy to just throw enchants and cuts around for friends and guildies.
But I am in a guild full of goblins, with the GM being the biggest goblin of all, Gevlon. And my guildies have been using my services, which I am happy to provide. A few of them have offered to pay something and I have waved them off. A few of them have paid me something or slipped me extra mats as a form of payment, which I am happy to accept. But I’m not forcing them to. The only time when I will insist on a reasonable payment is when I am sure that the item being made is not for themselves, but is probably going to end up on the Auction House.
This is how I do things. The problem is that I am in a guild which originated from a blog where the way I do things is not encouraged. How does a non-goblin like me survive in an ethos where it is every man for himself? I’m not being taken advantage of because they are utilising my services following my own rules. And Gevlons girlfriend, (who is very nice by the way), has done a few transmutes for me free of charge. All of this would be fine except that Gevlon has stated that he wants people in the guild to learn how to survive on their own two feet, which is one reason why there isn’t a guild bank. So what should I do? Should I just keep doing my own thing or should I rip them off for every gold piece that I can get? I would prefer to just do my own thing, but I hope that I am not undermining the fundamentals on which the guild was built.
May 3, 2010 at 12:35 pm
hey man, yeah i think you are totally right to charge them if their using your services is to make money.
if i were in your shoes, id probably find myself being a little more close knit with a handfull of people within the guild, and if they provide services to you for free id do the same.
i think just do as they do, if they charge you (or if you think they would in your shoes), then charge them.
keep up the good work with your blog too, i love reading š
May 3, 2010 at 1:48 pm
Unless you have 10 accounts, it is impossible to do anything “on your own two feet”. People need each other, some admit this and some do not. If you charge 5g and someone else charges you 5g, is that any more independent than if neither of you charged the other? I’m not suggesting that you should live in a happy times world of sharing, but if you can assume reciprocity within certain limits or other mutual benefit, then it’s a waste of time to fill in those currency boxes.
May 3, 2010 at 6:43 pm
Sorry but you are damaging the principals upon which the guild is built. Your guild members will take whatever you wish to give free (giving is social behaviour note i didn’t use the other term).
However by not charging u undermine other guild members who wish to charge and recoup the costs + profit from their profession. Who will want to buy enchants with a social guild member doing it for free. Who will level enchanting 450 if they can’t make money?
Note I believe you transfered into Mag with a level 80 character and probably haven’t really felt the pain of how bad the trade on this server is. By discouraging trade is this manner harms everyone. As goblins your guild members probably don’t care about others but they will care about people giving free enchants away when they could make some profit selling enchants.
GL with the project. If your guild had anything to do with the horde losing Wintergasp yesterday someone was in chat asking what happened as though the world had ended it was.. amusing :). It Happens(but not very much)!
May 3, 2010 at 7:13 pm
See, that’s a very good point that you make and is why I am uneasy about giving these away. You have clarified my thinking for me, so I thank you for that.
Oh and today we won WG 3 times in a row. I would love to hear the horde chat now.
May 4, 2010 at 1:34 am
Oh please, you’re giving your TIME away for free to gove Gevlon bragging rights. The guild’s very basis is social.
Gevlon has long stated that the TIME you spend farming is not free, and is the Goblin’s greatest expense. You have donated SO much of yours for ZERO charge. To Gevlon. To give him warm feelings in his tummy. “I proved a point no-one cares about.”
Unless Gevlon is paying you for being in the guild in some way, this entire project is a social one.
May 4, 2010 at 7:17 am
Not at all. I was getting very bored with WoW for various reasons. Gevlons Undergeared project let me experience levelling through the horde zones which I had never done before, and this current project has got me into PvP for the first time, which I am enjoying very much. You couldn’t be more mistaken if you think that I’m in this project just to suck it up to Gevlon. I’m getting a lot out of it.
May 3, 2010 at 11:16 pm
“…I am not a goblin. Iām not a social either. I just do my own thing.”
“This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.”
I appreciate the points that Bobbins made, but as they’re not beholden to you, neither are you beholden to them.
May 4, 2010 at 7:19 am
I am so torn on this one.
May 4, 2010 at 6:47 am
I’ll write a post about it tomorrow.
May 4, 2010 at 7:18 am
Looking forward to it.
May 6, 2010 at 9:52 am
The reason I give my enchanting services free to guildies is because, well, partially because I’m a social and thus I like them and want to help but also because there’s an explicit expectation of payment in kind. I give you free enchants, you give me free transmutes, that kind of thing. But if I wasn’t getting that … hmm … I don’t know?
May 6, 2010 at 11:24 am
Yeah, you expect a two way street, but if that’s not what they would do and they make you pay then I suppose you have to suck it up as you made not explicit agreement – I give this to you then you give that to me, sort of thing. Of course it means the next time that you’ll be charging them an arm, a leg and an eyeball for the same service …