Guild real life meet-up etiquette

It's one month till our big guild meetup and we have quite a few new guildies coming, who haven't participated in a guild party/meet-up before.


Having had quite a few guild meet ups over the years, we feel a bit more comfortable meeting up with people you have only ever chatted to online.  So what are some of the concerns people have when meeting up with guildies?

1. What do you call people?
For me, I prefer to call people by their online name.  This is because I can't remember what their real name is anyway.  I think if in guild you call each other by your real names then obviously that would carry on into real life.  Some people find it uncomfortable and think well, now this is real and face to face, shouldn't we drop the pretend names and use your real ones?  I have to admit, that if I am with a bunch of guildies, I feel much more comfortable and actually respond more readily when they say my online name.  It is a bit like your child calling you by your first name or by title Mrs So-and-so.  It just sounds funny coming out of their mouth, and you feel like they should call you "mummy" instead.

That also goes for introductions.  How do you introduce yourself?  If I said "Hi, I'm Vanessa*" people would probably look at me strangely, and try to match the voice to the character, and I would have to say "It's Navimie."  So it's much easier to introduce myself as Navi to guildies.

*name changed

2. That person does NOT look like how I imagined them to look....
Now it's never polite to ask someone's age, but it's also not polite to look at someone and blurt out "Wow, you are about 50kg heavier than what I imagined you to be!"  I often have the perception that people look like their online character - and this is very rarely the case.  Though it can be surprising how closely some people do resemble characters... Ghistal (who no longer plays) looks just like a dwarf, red beard and stout figure and all.  A dwarf character that is, not a midget.

3.  People may have different personalities online to what they are like in real life
WoW gives you the opportunity to be something you are not.  You can be powerful, well built, amazingly dressed, sexy.  Someone who is amazingly outgoing in game may be very shy and retiring in real life.  The converse though, is rarely true.  Also, a lot of computer gamers are very shy people generally and may have difficulty knowing what to say in social situations.  I remember one time I was meeting up with Enna and Gley, and I said, "What happens if we all sit around and we're too shy to say anything?"  Enna said something hilarious in reply, "That's ok, we can all get on our computers and then talk to each other that way."
So don't go bowling over your guildies in your enthusiasm to greet them.  And don't be offended if they are a bit reticient to start.  When I met Roshii in real life, he frowned for the whole day.  I teased him about it and he said he was nervous!  But I am used to meeting guildies so I wasn't offended or upset by it, but it was funny, considering how good friends we are in game.

4.  OMG everyone is talking about WoW, can we talk about something else?


It's like getting a bunch of soccer players together, and they're gonna talk about soccer.  Especially if they don't know anything else about you, they're going to stick to what they know you know - World of Warcraft.  So unless you want to be the conversation starter and talk about yourself for a bit to give people something to latch onto, it's a pretty safe bet to stick to talking about WoW related things.  It may seem a bit nerdy, but hey, we're all gamers!  But if you REALLY want to steer the topic to something else, think about what everyone else is interested in and start asking about that and hopefully people will join in.


5. I'm so nervous what do I say?
Relax!  Everyone likes you online, or you wouldn't be here right?  So just hang around, listen to some conversations, and join in when you can.  Talking about WoW (see above) is always a safe bet.  You can always come up to someone you know well in game and talk to them about something you know they like - you can go and ask Fue about his Ebay business, or talk to Navi about her kids and family, or Epidemais about his cooking adventures.  Even if you're shy just sitting around listening means someone will probably come up to you and try talking to you anyway - well in our guild, that's how it is anyhow!


Well, I'm looking forward to the party on the 11th of March.  I hope the weather is good!  Previous guild meetups have always been fun, and you get to see the faces behind the toons.  And we can tell our parents and partners who don't understand how online friends can become real friends - see, I met them in real life, they do exist!

Comments

  1. I wish I was coming :( Unfortunately just bad timing.

    I'll be down in July/August. Have to go watch my annual NRL game.

    -Hwired

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  2. Lol at the TPLD rant:P

    Falln

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  3. @Hwired - We'll be organising something when you come Hwired :) Maybe just a dinner or something with the Sydney bunch.
    @Falln - now don't be too hard on Roshii, I actually had to write his script for that, he didn't want to say that... I just had to find something to rant about...

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  4. Just a heads up, I so dont look like Belinia :P

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  5. Big muscley green orc with a mohawk...

    Lol we will see

    Voe (;

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  6. @Belinia - no but apparently Blood thinks you sound like Belinia... (cute little blood elf female) ha ha
    @Voe - hahaha

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  7. Well it won't be much of a surprise with me, as most guildies would have seen my Chrissy Cheer pic on the guild forum, but I can't wait to put faces to the voices from vent. Also, I see myself telling people lots of "war stories" being one of the elder frosties, so I'll have plenty to discuss.
    I hope those who are getting a little nervous about our guild meet read this post and it helps them enjoy themselves on the day. I know I'm going to have a blast.

    Ayelena

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  8. How fun! I imagine you guys will have alcohol available? If so, many of these concerns won't be an issue anymore haha! Tip for #2: Maybe you should all send each other a pic of yourselves IRL the day of the meet-up. Can't hurt and it might alleviate some of the apprehension.

    Sweet, sweet Navie... so understanding and accepting that everybody has different levels of social comfort. I hope you guys have a blast!

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  9. Perhaps we should all wear "Hi My Name is" Stickers and then list all of our alts names so we're not confused

    So someone like Tacky or Faithy would need the whole side of their shirt to list them all.

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  10. @Ayelena - I'll still be waiting for people to open their mouths before I say something
    @Lilpeanut - LOL about the alcohol! We might have a few drinks but hopefully nobody is going to get totally smashed or they won't remember the event! And aww thanks :P
    @Mabaho - I think I could sort out most of the introductions :) I think I know what almost everyone looks like. Hmmm, I think I actually DO know what everyone looks like.

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  11. If you are going to meet up anyway, the post a RL pic of you to guild forums or other similar place - That way, not only will everyone have some idea what people look like, but the awkward didn't-look-like-I-imagined can be partly overcome before the event. Unless you are guarenteed to be at the meet first, then other OCD people will want to know that they wont have to ask random complete strangers whether they are ... Unless you wear something totally identifiable such as WoW Shirts. I mean might as well wear something that both identifies you and people will 'get', right? ... I wore my Alliance shirt all yesterday, going out to a couple of different places, and not a soul noticed that it was a WoW shirt! *sigh*

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    1. oops, that was meant to have an "insert WoW name" after the complete strangers whether they are ... but got stripped.

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    2. @Saunder - hey! Thanks for visiting Saunder - I am honoured! We actually do have a RL pics forum on our guild site, which has pics of most of us on it. And I was thinking, lucky nobody tried to gank you with that Alli shirt on :P but I guess you weren't flagged PVP :)

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    3. I often lurk, but I felt that I had something useful to add to this one :D ... As to the shirt, Bah, maybe they just realised the absolute and unquestioned superiority of the Alliance? bwahaha.

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  12. Aww I'm so excited for you! Maybe you guys can make signs or nametags so you know each other when you meet up. I'm definitely the quiet awkward type at first, so people are often surprised when I suddenly get comfortable and start talking a LOT :>

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    1. @redcow - :) your enthusiasm is making me more excited! Most of those going have met before so it's not too bad, but if it was the first time for most of us then I think name tags is a great idea. Gosh, if your blog is classified as quiet and awkward... I hate to think what you think loud is!

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  13. Thankfully a lot of our guildies have known each other for quite some time and have met on several occasions over the 6.5 years the guild has been running :)

    For all the new people, you're welcome to talk to me about cooking adventures, travel adventures.. if you get me drunk enough maybe even romance adventures! ;)

    I'm excited there's going to be a few new people there!

    @Hwired, we'll definitely do something for you when you come :)

    - Epidemais

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I hope these comments work! Not sure why people can't comment lately, it makes me sad :(