So after some musing, I felt this would help people. No, I'm not telling you guys what to do, and yes these are my opinions, but they're formed from experience.
So you decided to start a guild up, great! Now, how are you going to KEEP IT GOING? A guild is very much like owning a home. There's a saying in that industry: homeownership isn't a sprint, it's a marathon.
Well that same saying can be applied to a guild. You need to do certain things, have certain types of members to make your guild last. Preemptive measures to blockade drama.
So for this first installment as a demonstration of what I know, we will look at guild governments.
We have a few different types of governments, and sometimes a guild won't fit into any one single government. Let's take a look at the current types:
Dicatorship:
What the leader says, goes. If you disagree, you're kicked out. The least effective government in my opinion, and guilds led this way will often stay small, as members have no choice but to leave if they disagree.
Democracy:
The leader is elected, and higher members have more say than lesser members at times, or garner more support. This is a fairly effective government, but it invites a lot of drama. You can often see members having a lot to say because they feel they're important. And if you don't do what they say, they might garner more support, or worse, leave! Oh noes! Like I said, effective government but very, very dramatic.
Parlimentary:
This would involve a key figure with a council. The key figure has an overriding vote for some things, but not all. The council is the main body of power. In my opinion, this would be the most effective government. You have drama, yes, but it's mostly confined to a small area, the council. If members want a say, they can propose things, the council discusses, then it's yea or nay. Although sometimes good suggestions will get ignored or take a long time to implement with this method, the drama cutdown may very well be worth it.
So we looked at the government types. Any new player starting a guilxd will think "oh, let me just go ahead and im9lement x government in my guild, and I'm all set!"
No. Not true. A true guild leader will have his guild evolve over time. Any starting guild will most likely start as a dicatorship. It's only after time you choose the path of democracy, or parlimentary governing.
Often, it takes the removal of the leader to progress! So if this happens to you, sorry. But you can take pride your guild is growing. What you started is becoming better, stronger.
Now, what else do you need? In this particular game, knowlege is power. So where does knowlege come from? PLAYERS! Most especially, players that demonstrate they know what they're doing. They don't have to be tourney winners, those will come along by themselves, or evolve into winners.
But beware! Sometimes.a few poorly choosen players can destroy a guild just as easily as create it. The types you generally want to stay away from are:
Self important narcissists. These guys can be aholes to other people, smug in their superiority, and talk down to people. A guild can survive having a couple of these people in their membership, but you're inviting drama and woe.
Drama queens/lackeys. Everything they do is important. If they disagree with someone, they do it over multiple channels, loudly and clearly. This can sometimes spread over main forums too, embarassing the guild and its members. This can cut down on your intake of new members.
Trolls. Both a boon and not. Depending on the type of troll, you can find they boost morale through jokes, downtalking other guilds, shenigans. But on the other side, they can totally demolish a guild if they are the type that enjoys feeding off of negativity. If you want a troll in your guild, be sure he's the joking type. The put downer type will only hurt morale.
So now you have the three types I find the most troublesome, what do you do if you have one of them inside your guild? You can't just kick them. But don't despair! Very often, any one of those types will evolve on their own to fulfill a role. If they don't, then you need to give them the boot.
Now, the types you do want in your guild:
The professional. They don't speak often, but when they do their words are gold. These people are the ones who will bring other players up to the level of tourney winners.
The negotiator. These can be drama queens on their own, but they benefit the guild by smoothing ruffled feathers between other members, either directly or indirectly. However, be careful! Sometimes they can feel self important and make blunders of their own. When that happens, the blunder can be quite costly in terms of morale and members!
The bystanders. No guild would be complete without the common man. These are where you find your debates, your tourney winners, your outstanding members.
Now, let's say you have all of the above ready to go. What do you do now? COMMUNICATE!
Communication is an all important thing for any guild. Sure, forums help, but the best medium is live chat. Fortunately, we have an irc channel for shadow era.
And if you don't know how to build your own channel, I will happily create one for you and show you how to work it. (Speaking from experience, I've created 7 channels as of date.)
Without the chat experience, your guild won't be able to do live testing and sharing, golden discussions, humor, and so on. But be sure to assign ops to trusted members, as sometimes even the most casual member can get out of hand!
Now good luck, and go forth to create the ULTIMATE GUILD!
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