Outreach? What do you think?

More PvP PUGs?

Organizing item giveaways to newbies?

Letting non-Christians join SoE if they wish, without joining ToJ, so they can hang out with us easily and we could thus be a more available Christian witness? (Tek has already disapproved one instance of this but I think it would be a good way to achieve the goals mentioned.) They should still follow the same rules of conduct, however.

Anyway, just ideas...
 
I believe that this would be a very, very tough platform for outeach. In fact, gaming in general isn't the best place in the world to try and reach those that don't know Christ. Most people are playing a game to get away from reality for the time being.

I guess what I'm getting at is that I would personally be extremely upset if I was a non-Christian and I was being witnessed to while I was trying to play a game. I would be much more responsive in my everyday life than I would when I was trying to not be "me" in the first place by role-playing a character in-game.

There really are no good ways to put forth the gospel other than standing in town and shouting it for all to here. Item give aways tied with a little but of info on why we are a group of Christian games might work, but I'm willing to be that solicitation is against ToS (though I haven't fully read GW's ToS yet... oops). We may be out of luck trying to do anything in this medium. It's even hard to "live by example" because we're playing a game. Having a fellowship of Christian gamers is in no way exercising exclusivity, but it definitely is a good thing to help keep us grounded when we are becoming a character that an be immoral or "evil" at times.

Just my scattered .02 cents, for what it's worth.
 
I think one of the things that really appealed to me about SoE was that it was a "safe harbor" of good Christian players within the masses of Guild Wars; at least one other member expressed the same sentiments after being rudely spammed by some guy. Pulling in non-Christians, while very well-intentioned (seeing others come to Christ is always a good thing), might not be best for the guild, especially given that we have other ways (i.e. the friends list) to connect with other players.

And as Slice noted, evangelism over an online RPG is always a dicey affair, because ultimately people are probably more like to take it like e-mail spam than interpersonal conversation. I wish it were not so, but I would probably feel uncomfortable about being evangelized in a "fantasy" world.

That being said, I have thought of a few ways the guild could "be a light" in... small things to let others know that there are selfless players in the world:

1) Offering up our characters for "assistance" to others free of charge at major towns; maybe helping them complete a hard quest (i.e. Althea's Ashes, Villany of Galrath) or even a simple one (i.e. Across the Wall in the pre-searing era). In fact, I bet a lot of newbies would benefit from a partner in the pre-searing era.

One great example of this were two guys I met last night who were running to Draknor's Forge. They advertised a free run and refused to even consider donations until they had arrived at the forge. They had been 5 for 5 that night but got bogged down about a third of the way there. Instead of quitting, they invited us all back to Beacon's Perch to try again. On the way they were both more than open in explaining to me how they did the run, and what kinds of skills were effective at it. They said they did it because they did not like the scamming that went on, and I am certain that everyone in the group felt a little better about the world for having hung with these two guys.

Although I doubt we have too many pro forge runners in our guild, helping people through hard segments and asking nothing in return would be a nice thing to do.

2) Offering up rare/unique/powerful weapons we find in the field - especially ones our character doesn't use - to our allies.

3) Warriors can really make the day of healers and casters by coming to their aid when they are under attack. A lot of warriors (myself included, sometimes) charge into battle just as opponents are charging past them and into the backline. Calling a target that is harassing a monk or caster will earn a lot of appreciation. Warriors who ask for energy counts on healers can also make their day.

Just a few thoughts.

---
Nestor Elias (Mo/W 20)
Panos Adrastos (W/E 18)
Theron Faustus (Me/R 13)
 
Outstanding ideas! Particularly the one about free runs and quests help for lower level characters. Had my wife and I not been playing together when we started, we would have been completely lost in finding someone to regularly get through the pre-searing quests with. And now that we just arrived in post-searing, we again would be in need of experienced help. Both our own guild players and other players would benefit from this kind of help. And when asked why we were running someone somewhere or helping for free we could always say, "Because that's what Jesus would do and I live my life as best I can to emulate Him." Something simple like that might not be too looked down upon, especially since they are getting free assistance.
 
Hanging out with people in online games can have an effect on them. Although I don't get to know very many outside of our guild in this game yet, I have in past games gotten to know people, become friends, and then share what means the most to me :) Have actually helped at least one guy come back to Jesus, and as he put it -he didn't stand a chance with both his mom and I praying for him, hee hee.

I should spend more time helping others ingame, as that is the best way to get to know others. Thinking about setting aside one night a week as my "helper" night... and that would be for all, not just our guild. If we each did that, we may or may not get some recognition. It is a big world and we are a decent sized guild, so there may be some who would notice our group, in a positive light ;)
 
Remember that playing a MMO, by its nature, lends itself to spending a fair deal of time chatting and posting on and reading forums. Not all activity takes place in-game and thus not all activity surrounding a game is governed by the developer's Terms of Service.

For example, if someone whispers you in-game for your guild's web site, you can send them to the ToJ site. Once they check out the site and, ideally, the forums also, they'll realize that we are Christians and likely spread the word in their own circles.

It takes time for a guild to develop a reputation in an MMO. Be patient, be kind to others, and put the URL for the guild site out there when appropriate, and you'll come to be known as "that Christian clan that helps people."

EDIT: And if you post on other Guild Wars forums, be sure to include a link to the ToJ GW chapter site in your signature. Posting a recruiting call may meet with hostility, but far fewer people will flame you for putting your guild's site URL in your signature.
 
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we have alot of members who seem to just want to play by themselves, its understandable, but i like to work with fellow christians.

lately ive about had it with the language in some groups, ive even dropped out of a fow group because of someone

as to the item giveaway, i have a tendacy ti build up a item pool, then sell it off or give it away, so usually i have a few good items lying around unused in one of my 4 chars
 
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