I'm not a 'roleplayer' by how the roleplayers on this server define roleplaying (if you've ever seen them berating people on 50 chat, the roleplayers on this server - or at least the vocal ones - are a lot more intolerant of roleplayers than the non roleplayers). But it is a character I play, and sometimes I won't do a quest because it doesn't seem in character, or I'll do something in a bit of a different way. I've been pen and paper roleplaying since the early eighties so I'm quite used to number crunching one minute, playing a character the next.
Game theory and design interest me as well. And this is probably more where the objection comes in. There are two sides at war within this mmo (there has not been a patch up in Ember Isle, there is a joined area where enemies have seen common sense, and 4 areas where being the wrong race could get you killed. There are lots of problems that occur when enemies start organising things together, rewards are balanced for some activities in the expectation that there will be fighting. You can say that people must play to the best of their ability in PVP, but if you regard this as one guild, people will make mistakes, it clogs decision making - they may attack the non guild players, rather than taking out a key guild opposition faction player (like a healer). They may not interfere in world PVP if it's a guild member on the opposite faction, where they may normally. I was contemplating the Defiant faction leader takedown, I wanted to do it, but was wondering why it was on the guild web page, and there was no discussion of PVP screeners. I know if the Defiants wanted to take my leader down, I'd want to defend regardless of who the guild is.
My philosophy is to treat all Guardians the same, regardless of guild. I know that some in the guild don't have that philosophy, I've had a non-guilded alt abused by a guild member, and I've seen people kicked from the guild for abusing someone in a group, then reinvited by someone else an hour later because "it was OK it wasn't a guild member". I assumed (hoped?) it was dealt with later on, but the fact remains their are many people who are part of the guild who hold people to higher standards when dealing with guild mambers. With Guardians, if they are near an artifact/node/quest item killing something, I'll help them kill it and see whether they wand the node. With Defiant, I'm liable to just grab it. I don't want to have to check guild affiliation (indeed, I am unlikely to read it before I act). If there is a Defiant flagged I don't want part of my decision making process to be "are they in my guild", and I definitely don't want to abandon my leader to Defiants if they happen to wear the right tag. Sure I might help a Defiant in a Rift or a group invasion, but that benefits me, and again, I won't be looking at tags.
There was no Defiant guild when I first joined, I have no interest in contributing to it even though I am glad it exists. Having the Guardian guild contribute to the Defiant one is like turning guild repairs on for raiders - sure there are raiders in the guild, people wish them well, they'd love repairs paid for. But with so many not going down that path of activity it would be unfair to benefit a few out of the pockets of everyone.
Anyway, I've rambled on enough. The decision isn't mine to make, and I'm not trying to change anyone's mind, just let loose my thought processes. Stating it's one guild, Guardian and Defiant, crosses a line that I'm not comfortable with and so has an adverse effect on my game play. I don't want to worry about Guardians, Defiants and Gaiscioch Defiants. So I've moved on, and I wish everyone the best.
