Nuance of guild sniffing

[Fujikoma]

I can't help guild-sniffing, it just, happens in my mind. Of course, my PC has to act completely surprised when his lover, Derpina, manifests, before buying some special soap from a shady elf to wash himself with, only to have it rot off anyway (because it was BAD soap).

[seidhr]

As someone on the indie staff, I can assure you that plenty of people without access to workshops, etc -- submit mastercrafts, yes!

[Incognito]

I would urge Staff to please give their view on this issue.

Guild-sniffing is generally bad.  However, some roles may well require certain things to be done, and one area in which this is most noteworthy is in the area of custom designs and crafting.  (Almost all other roles in-game can be filled by almost any kind of PC, regardless of guild.  A soldier can be a merchant.  A rinth rat member of The Guild can be a magicker with subguild house servant.  Etc.)

In general, if you are looking for someone to help out with widget crafting, you hire a widget crafter--you don't hire the guy that doesn't know anything about making widgets.  Interviewing and saying "well I'm looking for someone that can make widgets--have you ever made any widgets and can you help us out here?" is reasonable.  You DO need a widget crafter.  Saying "I need a merchant or maybe a master_widgetmaker, are you one of those?" is not.  That is fairly blatant guild-sniffing, it seems pretty OOC, and it is not cool.  You aren't even trying if you are doing this.  Take a few steps back and treat it like you would a real-life hiring situation.  You want someone that can do the job, yes, but you aren't checking off a guild list.

If you need a custom widget design done later on and you've already hired a guy for making widgets, asking him to do that is reasonable.  "Hey, I need a custom widget design--I'm looking for so and so or such and such."  If he didn't pick a guild or subguild that gives him mastercrafting for widget making, then that sucks for him and for you.  He can't get your custom stuff done because he's not that good (and the player made that decision when choosing guild/subguild for the PC).  At that point, he can say something to the effect that he isn't really a creative sort of guy, he just follows directions.  "If you'll show me how to make it, I can make it, but I'm not really sure about this sort of thing, you know?"  That's fine.

Thank you - this was exactly the clarification/direction that was required!

[Morrolan]

This comes from real life. Do you know where the word "masterwork" comes from? A masterwork was the very last thing an apprentice would make at the end of their apprenticeship. A single, unique piece that represented that the student had learned everything that could be taught. No longer an apprentice, but a master. A master crafter, if you will.

In many RL guilds, it was journeymen who could submit a master craft after a minimum of three years in the status. It's pretty much the "dissertation" of a profession: a unique and meaningful contribution to an area of study.

One possibility is to apply the same RL test within the clans. [So, you wanna be a master crafter? Here's what you'll need to build.] Whether the crafter really makes  it, or bribes another crafter to get it done, is another matter altogether.

[Kismetic]

After the introduction of the Mastercrafting concept - asking someone if they can "master craft" something in a certain crafting skill, or, if they have "mastered" a certain crafting skill - borders on the intrusive.

When I played a GMH leader, I looked for "talented designers" and felt no shame about doing so.  Funny enough, more than a few never panned out (weren't master crafting anything), and though that was fine with me and I kept them around on the payroll, it was a little fun to keep up the pressure on them.

I think it's about how you word things.  Asking if someone can "design new products" or "mastercraft something", those two things come off as very different to me.