by Karen Hertzberg on Dec 02, 2005
What Makes A Good Guild Work?
by Aunraye
Recently noted guild limitations that may be required by Vanguard have
caused quite a stir among the fans. Gamers on the forums have debated
about the pros and cons of what size works best and what kind of guild
is the most helpful. The way I see it, this is something that is part
personal choice and part logistics. Certainly at some point a guild becomes
so large that it's not being run truly by one person, nor do the players
truly know each other or work together often. There is also a point where
a guild is too small. Two people playing together are not going to run
a very efficient guild alone.
However, I think the two people most likely have a much better grasp
on what a guild is truly about or should be about than the 1000-person
guild. A guild should be about shared plans, goals, and desires. The players
should work together and be comfortable doing so. On many levels a guild
is like a family. As players explore the MMO world they will make friends
and enemies. They will encounter many different people. Their guild should
be their safety net, the people they turn to when in trouble or lonely.
I have played solo and with my guildmates, and that sense of camaraderie
made my time so much more enjoyable. I do have some bias as I was a good
friend with some people outside of the game first, and they were the ones
who taught me to play. I also had the security of a guild right from the
start. Yet I have played characters that are not in my guild. The experiences
I have had were very different.
love my guild. I love the people in my guild. I have never met a group
of more fun and loving people to share my experience with. Despite all
that, something that stands out to me more than anything was the first
time I tried to play my bard, who did not have my guild tag as I hadn't
listed her as an alt there. A stranger approached me as I was trying to,
on one of those days when my practice with mastery of controls is not
cooperating, get information from an NPC in my guild. Out of nowhere,
a very kind man approached me and offered a trade that I closed at first,
thinking he'd thought I was talking to him and apologized. He offered
again, explaining he knew that but wanted me to have this. I accepted,
only to discover he'd given me a large sum of money. I was amazed and
thanked him profusely. I have never been as touched by someone's kindness
in an MMO, which may seem silly but it's true. I was frustratedly fighting
out my day as a bard, trying to get some basic things, still very very
new to the entire MMO world, and this stranger gave me a gift that would
make my days ahead much easier.
Once, under my non-guilded character in the tutorial, I was approached
by someone looking for a group. We worked together several times, though
random groups are common enough from what I've seen in the EQ tutorials.
It seems people in all this debate have forgotten what guilds mean, and
many guilds, perhaps in other games that are no longer cutting edge, are
struggling to keep their members together. A guild is a family, a group
of friends that gather together to play together.
This is complicated even more in my case by being on the east coast.
I never realized that it was an abnormality to do such. Most of the people
I met in MMOs seemed to be in the Pacific time zone. This meant that the
peak time for their play was time for me to go to bed! This was especially
true in the summer when I had to be at work at 5:45 AM. This is a problem
many guild leaders have faced when trying to get their members together.
How do you meet at a time that's good for all the time zones you contain?
It's a difficult challenge, but one that, with some work and compromise,
guilds have overcome. I know the one I belong to managed to do so!
we remember the reasons we founded or joined our guilds in the first place,
I think the limitations that may be in the works for Vanguard (i.e. limiting
the number of members of a Vanguard guild) will seem much less important.
I trust the developers to use their wonderful judgment in deciding on
the guild size. They won't make a guild incapable of serving its purpose
in helping its members, but they may challenge guilds to work together
and be more of the families they often claim or try to be. A guild is
a binding of commitment, desire, and friendship. Developers are trying
to remind us all that guilds should not be all about getting more than
the other person is able to get. Smaller guilds based around the principles
that I have found so important in my experiences with my guild and in
my interactions with players outside it will be more competitive in a
world that prevents a mega guild from possessing 50% of the players.
In my opinion, we all need to sit back, relax, and trust in the developers--they
have yet to lead us astray on our quest to find the next great game in
Vanguard. These devs have created a world that already intrigues and calls
to us, a world that demands cooperation and alliances. We need to take
that spirit of community, of immersing ourselves in our characters and
thinking of what they would do. The blueprint for building our communities
may very well be go hand in hand with our trust of the team at Sigil.
I, for one, have faith that those things I have loved in my time in MMOs,
short as it may be, will be very present and important to my future in
Vanguard.
Editor's Note: Screenshot 2 is courtesy of Aunraye,
all rights reserved. Screenshot 3 is courtesy of Raya, all rights reserved.
Used with permission.