Poaching v. Proselytizing

Day 1,498, 22:07 • Published in USA USA • by Gnilraps

Department of Getting Over It
Day 1,498 of the New World
27 December 2011

Poaching.







It's wrong, right?

Actually, probably not. Or, well, maybe it is.

But not every recruiter is a poacher.



Anyone who spends any amount of time attempting to build a party or a militia in this game will sooner or later be accused of poaching. I've been accused of it 3 times in the last month. But what was I doing, exactly, and was it wrong?

However you may feel about the Federalist Party and the Easy Company Militia is fine with me. But I happen to think that both are the finest examples of their kind in this game. The point of this article is not to convince you of that, though, I merely point it out as context. Whenever I am talking to anyone in this game about Party Politics or Militia activity, I am going to inevitably tend to boast about what makes the Feds and EZC so awesome in my eyes. I'd expect nothing less from you either.

But just because I am talking to a member of your party about my party, and just because I am inviting your party member to join my party, this does not mean that I am "poaching". The better term for what I am doing is proselytizing.

Poaching is something that is done in the middle of the night with black face paint and infrared glasses. Poaching is what takes place when the thing being poached is either the property of someone else or a protected species of some kind. It is histrionics to refer to open conversation in a public IRC room between one person and another who are debating the pros and cons of membership in a particular party or militia as "poaching".


An actual poacher

So for crying out loud shut up about poaching.

People have every right to speak to members of your Military Unit or members of your Political Party, telling them what makes their Party or MU so great. If your MU is so great, your members won't need to listen.

Proselytizing is a fairly benign practice that takes into account a person's passionately held beliefs about something and their subsequent desire to want to share their joy. I'm Proud/Horny to be a Federalist Party Member. You would be too. I just know it. And I'd love to give you my reasons. If I have to do that in a PM or on IRC then why shouldn't I?


"You seem like you'd be very happy in the Blue Party. Care to join?"



So I'd like to suggest a set of boundaries in terms of etiquette.

To that end I propose the following guidelines about "eRepublik Poaching":

It is in bad taste to send mass PM's targeted to an entire Party (or portion of a Party) for the sole purpose of recruiting those people into your party.
Mass Messaging for recruits, while efficient and legal, is just in poor taste. I really don't think people ought to get as worked up about it as they do unless the Mass PM is full of lies or distortions. But at the end of the day if you really want to recruit my people into your group, you should probably get to know them first. Save your Mass PM campaign for organizing that next huge PTO you've been plotting instead.

It is in very bad taste to speak ill of a person's current party in hopes of swaying them into yours.
A well-placed lie may be effective, but it's outrageously disrespectful of the person you are lying to and the person you are lying about. If it's gonna take lies to win a proselyte, you ought to reconsider your own membership in that group. Even if your smack talk is truthful though, why not just limit your presentation to your strong points and let your potential proselyte fill you in on what he doesn't like about his current group. You probably don't know as much about his group as he does anyway.

It is in bad taste to cry "poaching" when someone from another Party or MU has simply taken the time to personally invite your member into their group.
It makes you sound small. And if your people are happy you don't have much to worry about anyway. And also, when is the last time YOU talked to that member about their involvement in your group? People who cry "poaching" are probably the same ones who are losing touch with their membership base - or never really were in touch with them to begin with. Stop complaining about poaching and work on some retention. For Pete's sake.

It is not in bad taste to speak with members of any other group about why you think life in your group is so great.
This is, after all, still a social strategy game. People by all rights should believe their group is deserving of your membership. And when you find someone who plays the game well, why wouldn't you want to bring him into your fold? Your group is great, great people should belong there, right?

It is not in bad taste to invite a member of another group into your group.
You need to shut up if they turn you down though. Or at least postpone your second request until another time. It is in bad taste to badger someone. But if all you are doing is spreading the good word about life in your party or MU, I really don't see what the big deal with that is. Nobody owns anybody in this game.



All I am hoping for is a little less whining.


You may now return to your regularly scheduled clicking