if you want to invite me to party, ASK ME first.

Anyone who declines an invite because I "have to ask first", gets instantly ignored. Your being a pompous **** and I dont have time to deal with uppity idiots in the little bit of time I actually get to play.

When you invite someone to a group or a guild, have the decency to send a tell first. Don't you want to know what or who you are inviting to where? One of the most annoying things you can have happen is to be running along and for no good reason get a guild or group invite window pop up in your face. I can't emphasize this enough, "SEND A TELL FIRST!" What good does it do a person to join a blind group invite only to have to leave it because they don't want to go where you are going

I love surprises, but surprise guild invites or group invites from people I've never met always get rejected. Don't be that guy.

Don’t pester people with team invitations. If you want to invite someone, do the polite thing and send them a private message with the /tell command. This allows you to see if they would like to join your team. If they are not interested, or they are doing something else, wish them luck. Sometimes, they wish you luck back. If you invite first, you may end up getting ignored.

Before inviting someone to a group, talk to them. One of the biggest pet peeves people have in MMORPGs is the blind invite. When applied to real life, how do you think a stranger would react if you pulled up beside them in your car and demanded they get in? My guess is the cops would be called and havoc would ensue.

Generally, the MMO community considers it polite to talk to someone first before you invite him to a group, try to duel, invite him to a guild, or otherwise initiate an action that will interrupt his play with a little pop-up message on his screen.

Gah!!! <snip>

Gah!!!

We're saying that sending a /tell before a group invite is the accepted etiquette in the mmorpg universe. It has been this way for ages. I think what is happening is that we're getting a huge influx of new players who understandably do not know these rules of etiquette.

And you know what? Its okay that you don't know the rules of etiquette. How are you supposed to know until someone tells you? That said, when someone does tell you, it would be polite of you to listen and not get hostile or defensive.

Think we're making stuff up? FIne. How's this for substance?

MMORPG Etiquette guide from Ten Ton Hammer:



MMORPG Etiquette guide from Massively.com:



MMORPG Etiquette guide from ChrisPirillo.com:



MMORPG Etiquette guide from Ezinearticles.com:



MMORPG Etiquette guide from Jedilama.com:



Is that enough ? Have I made my point? Guys, I'm really sincerely sorry if some of you are taking this personally. I know no one is intending to be rude. But we're not a bunch of drama queens making stuff up. What we are asking for has been an accepted part of MMORPG culture for literally years now.

If you disagree with it, fine. If you want to challenge its relevancy in today's mmo culture, that's fine. Please do so...POLITELY. But please stop acting like we're pulling this out of thin air.

We're not.

A bunch of great links snipped

Gosh...just decline it. No need to criticize people for trying to start a group in an MMO.

I'm not criticizing people. I have however been enlightened and educated by how close-minded people can be when faced with the opinions of those with whom they disagree. I have been insulted many times on this thread, usually by people who don't bother to read the discussion that followed my OP.

This is what the forums are for. I have no problem with those who challenge what I have posted. I just wish they could do without the insults.

And it goes deeper than 'just declining' the invite. It's a matter of respecting those around you and understanding that some people don't think the same as you. I do, in fact, decline any blind invites I receive. I think people are capable of making their intentions known beforehand. They simply don't want to. The parroted phrase I keep seeing, "The invite IS me asking you." doesn't fly with me...as it doesn't fly with A LOT of people. I'm fine with that. I also am perfectly free to never group with that person.

What makes me laugh is how all the people who have posted hostile replies seem to think that this thread is pointless. It hasn't died yet, so ok whatever. xD