Requiem's Removal

[Tbone]

Today we had to remove Requiem from the guild. I thought this deserved its own thread to emphasize the reason he was removed.

It was discovered that Requiem was multi-guilding - he was in another guild besides ours. One of our Masters saw him in a Warzone under the name "Fiction" with the "Requiem" legacy and in the guild Odyssey.

I friended Fiction and saw he was online and that Requiem was in TS, so I went to talk to him and asked him if he was in game. He said he wasn't - that he was working on a paper. So I asked him AGAIN if he had been in game at all, and he said no. Then I asked him if his legacy name was "Requiem". He said yes. After I asked him that question, "Fiction" logged out of the game. I then asked him if he knew who Fiction was. He said "yes, that is my alt." So I asked him again "But you aren't in game?" "No". "And you haven't been in game?" "No T, I told you, I've been working on a paper. I'm just in TS to chat with people". I replied "Ok, because you know you can friend people in the game without them knowing and see if they're online, so I know you were in Voidstar and just logged off."

There was a long silence...

"Yeah, well so, what of it?"

So then I confronted him about being in another guild and lying to me. He got very defensive, saying why should he not be allowed to play with his friends. Then he said he only guilded last night to do a raid with them so that their guild would get credit. I ended the conversation there and went to go talk to the other staff that was online.

I like to think I'm the kind of person that gives people the benefit of the doubt and gives them a chance to explain. Unfortunately, Requiem did not handle the situation very well. He knew he wasn't allowed to be in more than one guild. We made that clear to him when he started talking about gaming with Tidus, a gamer who has a live stream that Requiem follows. When confronted with the information, he lied, denied, and then took the defensive. The guild that he joined is a guild that is actively trying to poach our members (unfortunately Oomm and Prodigy have been trying to recruit members away).

When I went to talk to the other Masters, I was informed that Requiem was seen on "Fiction" earlier in the day yesterday in PvP warzones, which contradicted his "I only tagged up that night to do a raid" story. At that point I had heard enough and promptly removed him from the guild. I wanted to go back and talk to him before I did, but he had already left TS.

After I removed him, he did come back on TS and we pulled him into private to give him a chance to give his version. Unfortunately he did nothing to help his situation, continuing to get defensive and say that Requiem was always in FA and that's all that should matter. His other defense was that he "only lied that one time".

I feel bad, because I know that Requiem was a very active member who participated a lot of events. I know that he grated on a lot of people's nerves, but he also took a lot of shit back. Behind the scenes we were really trying to work with Requiem to improve his TS etiquette, and I think some of the "look, I've been getting complaints" conversations pushed him away.

Regardless, he secretly joined a competing guild comprised of a few ex-FA who are actively trying to recruit more FA and then lied about it in an attempt to cover it up. That's a deal breaker for us, and I thought I would provide this as a cautionary tale. We don't mind you gaming with people outside of the guild from time to time. It's a good opportunity to represent FA to the rest of the community. Joining another guild is crossing a line, however, regardless of the reason. Keeping it a secret and lying about it will get you booted as fast as my computer can get it done.

[Faiden]

I'll admit I was a bit upset when I saw that he was removed. I knew him before coming into FA so I guess it just feels strange that he isn't in the guild anymore. He was given a lot of shit, even from me, can't say he didn't bring most of it on himself unfortunately. However in the past I have been in a similar situation, when life just sucks and you'll talk to anyone who will listen. So I sympathize with him. He did break the rules though and lied about it, so I also sympathize with the leaderships decision to kick him. I promise you all this though, I hold absolutely no negative feelings towards the leadership or any member. I love being in FA and I've become friends with a lot of you and this will have no effect on that.

Anyways, I've gotta go gain some RL levels for a bit. See you all soon!!!

[Fuse]

Sad way to part ways, but if you lie, you're gone.

Thanks for the explanation, T...it's appreciated.

[Erathaol]

Sorry to see it end this way, but you certainly did right by removing him.

I had no idea Odyssey was actively poaching our members; that doesn't sit well with me.

[Tbone]

I had no idea Odyssey was actively poaching our members; that doesn't sit well with me.

I just found out about that today as well. Apparently they need more Commandos and have been approaching a few of our Commandos about it.

[Longboard]

He is young and could get on a nerve or two but is a nice kid and has some growing up to do. I don't envy leadership for having to make the tough decision but the rule is clear and everyone knows it plus lying is inexcusable. Better to tell the truth and take the lumps. I wish him the best of luck in game and RL.

As for Odyssey, if they are poaching our members, they need to stop. They can have Prodigy and her minion (Oomn) but leave the rest of FA alone. On a side note, both of them removed me from their friends list within the last 24 hours.....very convenient!

[Broin]

Yeah I would say that if he would've fessed up to begin with T would've given him a second, or third chance.  That's just the way he is on things.  Me on the other hand probably not.  That's the good thing about the boss.  Likes to see the best and good side of everyone and give them the benefit of the doubt.  But the lying thing was a no fly zone.  

Longboard is right he's a young kid and did a dumb thing.  Best thing for him to do now is take it as a life lesson and move on.  Pretty unfortunate but the thing is sometimes when you screw up there aint' no going back.

[xFingersx]

Pretty sad on the one hand, but on the other I'm sure guild morale will be slightly raised with his removal...

[ExternalError]

I for one wasnt one of his biggest fans but alas it is sad when an angel falls, just remeber the lesson this teaches be truthful or fall to the darkside

[Zipperqueen]

That whole situation sucks, but I have to agree with the boss - Requiem was not truthful, and that didn't help things.  I would have done the same thing Tbone if I was the leader of a guild with the same sorts of policies in place.

[likwidtek]

So just to be clear, in no way shape or form was he removed because he liked playing with friends outside the guild.  Heck we all probably have friends outside the guild.  In fact, making friends outside the guild is a perfect way to help us build strong alliances and gain a great reputation on the server.  But to roll an alt and put it in another guild, hide it and then lie about it when confronted... yeah... Something really icky is happening there.  

It's made very clear during the interview that we frown on multi-guilding.  If you feel that you need to be in multiple guilds, that probably just means that FA isn't the right choice for you and we lack something that you want or need.  And that's ok!  Different strokes.

In any case, I'm sad to see him go but it is what it is.  :/

Regarding Odyssey:  So, Oomm and Prodigy are friends of mine in real life here in Arizona.  We aren't super close but I like them.  They're really awesome people.  They are insanely hardcore into MMOs and were crazy into World of Warcraft for the longest time.  They were in this really really hardcore raiding guild in WoW but they left to come play SWTOR.  Anyway, they joined us but as soon as their guild decided to move over to WoW they decided to join back up with them.  Understandable considering how long they played together before.

Anywho, they left on OK terms in my opinion.  So, I still talk to them in game all the time and Oomm approached me with "So, we're recruiting commandos you know".  I called him out on it half joking half serious with a, "Dude, you don't poach people from other guilds man!!"  He responded with a "Not poaching, just informing" but insisted he was just kidding.  So whatever, didn't think about it.  But then all the sudden Requiem has a commando, and before he hit 50 with it him and I were talking in TS and he said "Yeah, I'm not sure about bringing Fiction (the name of his commando) into the guild or not.  I say something to the effect of "Why wouldn't you, that's retarded..."  But then I just figure either he has too many alts in the guild already or he's just being weird like normal so I don't think twice about it.  

Anyway, fast forward to yesterday and all this goes down.  Afterwards, I text Oomm and they say that they are friends with requiem but that he asked to join the guild and that they didn't poach him.  He knew that they were looking for commandos so he rolled one to help them out and then joined up with that commando.  They both apologized and specifically said they meant no disrespect towards FA at all.  Requiem asked to join and they let him, they didn't think twice about it.  They get how it looks bad now but they weren't thinking guild politics or anything from what I can tell.

Anywho, just thought I'd try and clear as much up as possible.

[Manic Velocity]

we all probably have friends outside the guild.

YEAH JUST RUB IT IN, THANKS!

[likwidtek]

[Tbone]

Anyway, fast forward to yesterday and all this goes down.  Afterwards, I text Oomm and they say that they are friends with requiem but that he asked to join the guild and that they didn't poach him.  He knew that they were looking for commandos so he rolled one to help them out and then joined up with that commando.  They both apologized and specifically said they meant no disrespect towards FA at all.  Requiem asked to join and they let him, they didn't think twice about it.  They get how it looks bad now but they weren't thinking guild politics or anything from what I can tell.

That's a much different version than Requiem was giving us. It just solidifies my decision that even until the very end, he was lying through his teeth about how he joined that guild.

[likwidtek]

I specifically brought up the whole "they needed me to guild up for the screenshot" thing and they both said that that was not the case at all.  He wanted to join so they let him.  

So yeah, anyway, moving on!