"Ethics" or is it right...?

i, the GM of Flames of the Phoenix, have been confronted with something i am quite disturbed about....

we have around 20 active members and are working on building up the guild to be able to venture into 25 mans and see something new besides kara.... with constantly raiding kara and heroics we were able to build up a fairly strong raiding team and constantly more members are aquiring the gear lvl required for 25 mans...

but lately we have been confronted with several members leaving us for another guild.. this has allways been the same guild and it was usually working the same way...

one of our members was invited to join a 25 man raid of theirs (usually gruul or SSC) and was then talked into leaving us for joining them.... or officers/members of their guild were actively whispering our members (last time last night, when they got to our shammy class leader, have SS for proof) and offering them to join their guild....

we are a rather small ish guild and are fighting against the usual problems like lacking healers and tanks allready... we are constantly working on ourselfs and on guilds progress to be able to one day go to a 25 man.....

and i know, that in the end, its the members choice if he wants to leave us or not....

but

is it right to go buy out other, smaller guilds...? is it right to go bait players of smaller guilds with the perspective of going to 25 mans (exactly knowing their own guild isnt capable of)...? is it right, when we confronted their GM about and asked it to stop, he claimes "i get who i want from where i want.. thats what smaller guilds are for.." ?

i just wondered your ppls thoughts about it...

(i am not whineing neither shameing the other guild.. all i want to know is if i am the only who realy thinkgs that aint right)

I think it is a tough question to answer, but it is certainly a good topic for a debate :-)

What is important to remember is that no-one is forced to do anything that they don't want to do… it is peoples own choice whether or not to leave a small guild in order to join a larger one.

For some people, the camaraderie and accomplishments of a guild is of less importance than the prospect of improving their gear, and those people will not hesitate to join another guild if they know they will get a good opportunity for getting those shiny epics. To those people the answer would be that it is quite alright to poach members from smaller guilds.

For other people, the camaraderie and accomplishments of a guild is the most important aspect of the game, and to them it means more than anything to play together with friends and to achieve their goals together and to share the rewards. To them the epics are a secondary thing, and as such their answer would be that it is very wrong to poach members from smaller guilds.

I guess it is all in the eye of the beholder :-)