Actual GMs should be important in Albion

Just to throw in my two cents.. cause why not. Actual GMs should be members of the work staff, people that are getting paid to do what they are doing and thus should not have a need to join any particular guild. A staff member that wanted to play the game should definitely be free to do so on their own time on a character that does not get the same tools and abilities to earn more Albion Online Gold, nor the title (as GM does carry with it certain expectations due to it's use in basically any other MMO).

Since we don't have that, I largely agree with what Pest has said. That is not to undermine the work that anyone has put it. It is more about having the customer relations portion of a work community remaining publicly neutral. This way they don't passively (or actively) factor into decisions players make regarding guilds and economy. As Pest stated, to newer players a GM recruiting is a lot more likely to attract people (both quality and randoms) than any other random person, regardless of how well that other random person may be known on the server. The title is what people will see. That means that a lot of the time the guild with the GM actively participating will get first dibs. Of course it means some people may target that guild with malicious intent as well, but I would place money on the former happening far more often.

If the GMs are simply moderators for in game chat, perhaps it would be best to remove the tag from their name for their main character (have it on an alt they can use for those purposes). That doesn't take away the trust the developers have placed in them, doesn't take away their Albion Online Items, doesn't take away their title on the forums, and they can still gain the trust of players as a fellow player like the rest of us. Likewise, then the folks that want to maybe become a criminal, or attack caravans or whatever later on, won't be abusing the inherent trust that can come with the GM title. Their trust (or betrayal of trust) with other players can be earned on their own merit, instead of being implied with a title in game.

It should also be of note that none of the above is actively the fault of the GMs themselves. They can't really control how other people interpret the title, nor can they control whether people weigh that title in their decisions.

Edit to add: I also think there might be a bit of a disconnect because I don't feel a GM title should be a reward for anything. It should simply be something added to a character with additional tools used to help players. The rewards would be the trust earned with the developers, access to things like the round table, and the privilege of getting extra responsibility/recognition for deeds done. A reward should not be something like a title that directly influences how other players will react to that person's character in the actual game. Therefore, by asking to change the title to an alt character on which the volunteer work is done, I don't feel as if any reward is being taken away as other rewards still stand. That is speaking as someone who has previously moderated on the best albion online silver store, so it is said knowing the amount of garbage that is thrown your way as a moderator regardless of what you do. I recognize other opinions may differ, which is why I said there seems to be a bit of a disconnect.