• You've discovered RedGuides 📕 an EverQuest multi-boxing community 🛡️🧙🗡️. We want you to play several EQ characters at once, come join us and say hello! 👋
  • IS THIS SITE UGLY? Change the look. To dismiss this notice, click the X --->

How to Build A Better Guild (1 Viewer)

M

Merrymen

What is the average life span of a typical guild? Two months? Six months? A year?

One thing I notice with every MMORPG I play is that guilds come and go faster than players do. Guild leaders get sick and tired of running a “dead end” group of people, give up playing, or just go join another guild as a member. Goal oriented guilds eventually die off mostly due to inactivity after the “goal” was accomplished, or lack of fun. Some guilds break off dramatically in a hail of fire and slanderous remarks.

I personally have always wanted to start a guild, but looking at the track records of other ones, what does it take to make a guild last a year or two? What kind of people does it take, what kind of members, leaders, associates?
 
I started mine in 2000 in EQ1. I had 5 newbies to start out with (myself included). Six years later, I had 300. These days, I'm too busy for guild leading, but the guild is now it's own entity. I don't try to control it much. I could write down what I know about guild recruiting and networking.

I needed something to put up for Monday. I'll write out my own "guild building recipe" if anyone is interested in reading it.
 
The guild I am in has been around since 2000 as well. Part of a syndicate that has it's hands in SWG, EQ, WoW, Planetside and many others.
 
All the long-lasting guilds I've been in have had a core group of RL friends, including, I believe, Alihja's guild, although I was not in that particular core group, joining much later. I am currently in guilds that have been around for 7 years, 5 years, and three that have been around two years or so, including a small one that I lead. Yes, I have a lot of active alts. And all these guilds have a network of RL friends that the guild's foundation rests upon. Other people come and go, sometimes by the hundreds, but the core group is what makes the guild last, at least the ones I have been in. I honestly don't know how to make a guild full of strangers and pick-up people last.
 
Agreed --

Longterm guilds rely on real life connections to keep going. Most of those 2+ year veteran guilds have some sort of core that knows eachother. Even those will die off. A good guild will not sag when people leave to go play other games, and will be waiting for that player when they come back.

I myself have never been in a guild for longer than a few months. They *always* die off or merge or split or whatever. I sort of gave up on it. That, and so many guilds demand you play a certain amount of time to be able to compete in rolls for uber gear.
 
Everytime I though a guild would work, they end up falling apart by some guild drama. I'm mostly a guild hopper now.
 
I've only run small guilds of friends. Basically, my guilds up to this point have been nothing more than an easy way for my friends and I to find each other online and easily socialize and run 5 mans.
But, now I find myself lacking any sort of quality gear and 40 days of play time. My problem is finding a guild I like and can deal with. I have a hard time dealing with retards and arrogance. So, all the "big guilds" I've joined I've soon quite within a week 'cause I couldn't stand the social atmosphere. I can't stand all the sex talk, all the shit talking and the general lack of maturity. Granted, I'm by far not a pillar of unbroken maturity and I can be quite the childish jackass. But...there is a difference that I have a hard time explaining. So, yes, I'm interested to see what's in a good guild.
 
Heh, why don't we just start one?

Besides the fact we probably play 5 different games across 1000 different servers...
 
Merrymen said:
One thing I notice with every MMORPG I play is that guilds come and go faster than players do.
Click to expand...

I think the biggest problem guilds face is understanding their members & what their interest in the guild is. Alihja touched on this pretty well. Guilds that focus on PvE-progression will loose interest when their either stop delivering boss-kills or when members get frustrated with repeated wipes/repairs/consumables. Guilds that focus on PvE-farming will loose interest when either members get all the items they desire from the instances that are on farm (i.e., guild-hop time) or when the guild starts to stuggle with the instances it is suppose to have on farm (often due to loss of personel from the latter). Guilds that focus on PvP lack a ultimate goal to encourage participation amongst its members...unless its purpose is progression-oriented, e.g. like the WoW PvP-ladder system, in which case members will probably loose interest as soon as they hit their desired rank.

Merrymen said:
I personally have always wanted to start a guild, but looking at the track records of other ones, what does it take to make a guild last a year or two? What kind of people does it take, what kind of members, leaders, associates?
Click to expand...

It takes a clear purpose, members who are willing to uphold that purpose (& enjoy doing so), & the ability to function autonomously without any singular individual for at least a few days (otherwise your guild may die as soon as you go on vacation!).

But what the hey; go for it. It's not like you have anything to loose. ;)
 
Alihja said:
I started mine in 2000 in EQ1. I had 5 newbies to start out with (myself included). Six years later, I had 300. These days, I'm too busy for guild leading, but the guild is now it's own entity. I don't try to control it much. I could write down what I know about guild recruiting and networking.
Click to expand...
I just typed in rutabaga-paradox.org... did you give up the domain on that, Snuggs?
 
the problems with guilds is when the original leadership gets burnt out they don't want to relinquish power and end up dragging their guild down rather than have other people keep it going.
 
Has anyone else noticed a difference between guilds on PvP servers and those on PvE servers?

I originally started on PvE with a bunch of old EQ guildmates. Post 60 some moved on to raiding guilds or started playing less. Eventually four of us re-rolled on a PvP server.

We all really enjoy the PvP server a lot more - the constant element of danger is exciting and seems to bond people more, but guilds seem so fly-by-night. We've been in 5 or so guilds from 1-60, all due to disbandings or mergers.

What is that all about? I'd love to be in a close-knot guild on a pvp server, but haven't found that bit of magic yet.
 
Delila said:
What is that all about? I'd love to be in a close-knot guild on a pvp server, but haven't found that bit of magic yet.
Click to expand...

I know exactly what you're talking about, I was part of one when I was playing EQ and it was all kinds of fun. Unfortunately shit happened and it turned our guild of 12 close knit people into a guild of 6 really close knit people - and after about a year we all went our separate ways. I'm sure if another really good game comes around we'll all get back together, it's really the only motivation I have for playing another MMOG as a matter of fact.
 
I don't need no stink'in guild.

Guilds are mostly a waste of time and are not worth the guild drama to run. So just like IRL, I do everything on my own... screw the lot of you!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
How to Build A Better Guild
Next unread thread 🦁

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top