Anti-social, loner, hermit and recluse are all words that are
stereotypically placed on gamers. I myself have been on the receiving
end of a few of these jibes. I usually just smile and shake my head,
unconcerned, because quite frankly the people who say these things have
no idea just how social the world of the gamer truly has become.



Back in the day, before the eventual explosion of the
internet, in the same time that people had to walk uphill both ways to
school I imagine, console games reigned supreme. Many of these games
were single player, and if multiplayer was available you actually had
to bring a friend or two to your house to be able to play together.
Gamers were indeed somewhat reclusive and bound to stay indoors away
from the general populace.  This seems to be where the
stereotypes listed above took root.



As the internet took the world by storm  and a new era of
multiplayer games took the stage, players found themselves able to
interact with other players like never before. These games allowed
gamers to play with players from all over the globe without ever
leaving the comfort of their own homes and in typical human style
players banded together for mutual benefit, giving rise to the guilds
we know so well today.



Most World of Warcraft players are part of a guild. Some choose to go
it alone, braving the wilds of Azeroth with no companions by their
side. But the grand majority of WoW players find themselves in guilds,
or at the very least wishing they were in one. There are guilds of all
types out there, small, large, casual, and hardcore. No matter what
type of player you are, more than likely you can find a guild to suit
your fancy.



Being part of a guild is perhaps even pushed to some extent by
Blizzard. Players who are part of a guild not only enjoy the
socialization, but also many other practical benefits such as
opportunities for groups, access to trade skill masters, guild funds,
and completing difficult challenges. The Guild Advancement system will
further increase the benefits offered to guilds once it is released
with Cataclysm.



With being a part of a guild being almost the norm, and an appealing
one at that, it seems it should be a small matter to set out and create
your own. This could not be further from reality. 
It’s true that if you have at least a small core following of
friends, starting a guild can seem easy, but choosing to strike out on
your own is an entirely different matter indeed.



I know the difficulties of forging a new guild from seemingly nothing
from personal experience. Deciding to create a guild specifically for
my banking endeavors I quickly headed to the closest guild master and
happily purchased a guild charter. All had gone well so far, I even had
the perfect guild name in mind, but little did I know my trails were
just starting.



Before a guild can be created 9 players with different accounts must
sign the guild charter. Nine didn’t seem like such a big
number so it was with high hopes I began asking in general chat for
signatures. Twenty minutes later I was more than a little discouraged
to find that I had not managed to obtain a single signature. In
desperation I then began to offer 2 gold per signature. I got more
responses, and ended up with 5 signatures pretty quickly, only to have
at least three leave before I got the rest of the signatures needed.
Crap.

This scenario played out numerous times over the course of the next few
days. Finally after coercing my friends to create alts to get the
charter filled I created my guild but was definitely left with
a bad taste in my mouth. I actually had it easy, as I can only
imagine what difficulties I would have faced if I had wanted to recruit
real members for the guild. I mean who wants to join a brand new guild
with a member total of one? Not a very effective recruiting message.



Players are drawn to established guilds. Just as people crave
socialization we also crave a feeling of stability. Even a guild with a
few core members will fare better than a guild started by only one. I
don’t blame people for feeling this way, I doubt I would join
a guild that didn‘t at least have a little history. And
while  I have been part of the creation process of a few
guilds, I’ve always had a few friends along for the ride, but
even then recruiting players and making the guild successful was a
rocky road full of twists and turns.



Eventually with much work a few members may be recruited, and with time
the guild could even turn out to be successful, but I fear most new
guilds without a core player base are doomed to failure. Here lies the
conflict that I see:, players want or sometimes even need to be in
guilds to accomplish their goals, yet creating a guild of your own is
one of the most difficult feats in the game. Move over Lich King,
creating a guild is taking your place.



There seems to be nothing that can be done to make the process of
creating your own guild easier. The number of signatures needed on the
charter could be lowered, but in the end the success of the guild
depends on the guild’s ability to draw in other players, an
unpredictable science at best. Sadly enough “LFM new guild
with two members” has little appeal, leaving the odds stacked
against guild entrepreneurs.



Would you start your own guild without the support of friends or would
you take a chance on a new guild with very few members? Share your
thoughts and opinions with us on our forums!