Today i’m going to talk about my experience in the Maplestory guild world. I’ve been in a good number of guilds and noticed a few things that hold true for just about all of them.

Guilds are a lot different now after Big Bang. They can level up, have skills that increase attack, speed, exp, etc. I’m a fan of this for sure, it rewards guild loyalty which is great. But it seems to have created a side effect that I am definitely not a fan of. I’m of course talking about the hatred for guild hopping. First let’s get one thing straight:

What really is guild hopping?

Guild hopping is something that seems to have a very ambiguous definition. THis is the definition that I go by;

Guild hopping is willfully joining a guild with no intent on staying for any length of time, no matter what.

From what I have gathered over the last few months, this is the definition of guild hopping according to other people:

Guild hopping is leaving a guild for any reason whatsoever.

First don’t get me wrong. I am not a fan of guild hoppers. In my opinion guild hopping is quite rude. You’re basically using the guild without giving anything back. The only problem is most people confuse guild hopping with someone who’s just trying to find the right guild.

It seems that once you join a guild, the leader expects you to stay forever, no matter what. But what if you don’t like the guild? What if you don’t get along with certain members? Or the alliance? Well too bad because if you leave the guild, you are a guild hopper, and everyone knows that guild hoppers are the worst thing to happen to Maple ever, for all eternity. This begs the question, How can you be expected to find the guild that fits you and what you want out of a guild in your first try?

There should be nothing wrong with joining a guild, giving it your best shot, and just deciding that it’s not what you’re looking for. Leaving a guild in that situation should not get you the dreaded “Guild Hopper” title. Unfortunately it seems to be the case.

Let me just get one thing straight here;

There is nothing wrong with joining a guild, giving it a few weeks, and leaving because it’s not the guild you want to be in.

Most guild leaders will have you believe otherwise.

Before joining my current guild, I did a lot of searching to find the one for me. As such, I was given the horrible label of “Guild Hopper.” People would see me and make comments on how “Oh you’re in a new guild, how cute.” Well yes I am, because the other guild didn’t fit what I had in my head as the perfect guild for me.

If I had been leaving guilds after being in for a matter of hours then yes, I would be a guild hopper, but staying for a week or more should have some bearing on how people judge you.

By now you may be wondering, “But Doug, guilds have been around forever, and all this ‘guild hopping’ nonsense has just started to surface.” Yes you are correct, and I believe I know the culprit behind all this.

The real reason why guild hopping is so frowned upon nowadays is simple:

GP

Guilds now a days are so obsessed with their GP and levelling up. On the flip side prospective guild members are too obsessed with guild level. The problem with using GP as a guide to good and bad guilds is simple. GP does not promote anything except staying online. I have been in my current guild for 2 weeks, and am already rank 7 simply because I never log off. That’s not to say I’m not active, I do host and participate in runs, help out, etc. The only problem is a lot of people don’t, they just leave their computer on and Voila!, they are top ten rank in the guild.

Now I’m not saying a GP system is bad. Before Big Bang we had GP. You earned it not by afking at your desk, but by earning it through GPQ, my personal favourite PQ. It still didn’t mean much, but it was earned through teamwork, and helped build lots of friendships and guild trust.

Another problem with GP is that it is unrecoverable. No longer can you kick someone for fun and add em back. (We called those “Love taps”). Another problem with that is when we were recruiting for alliance, we would send a jr to the other guild to join it, and scout it out before we added them to alliance. But not anymore because heaven forbid we lose that precious GP.

I’m starting to get a little off track so I’m going to wrap this up. Feel free to leave a comment on how many guilds YOU’VE been in. My total is 7, with the final one being RedShift, which I now consider my home. And again, if you want me to comment or write an entry on anything, inbox me or comment here, and I”ll see what i can do. Thanks for reading!