Been there, done that. And no, guilds don't work for me. For a period of time when guilds didn't work for me, I ran my own guilds. But after getting burned by the inevitable drama, your main tank leaving for another guild that was *one* step ahead of you, and different cliques causing issues within the guild, I'm no longer interested in spending my time and organizational skills to run guilds anymore either. So guilds, be it other people's guild or my own, I'm simply not interested in them anymore these days.
Guilds work in games where players are dependent on one another and teamwork is important. In games that easily solo'ed (like most modern mmorpgs) then all the guild is used for is a chat room. There's no sense of camaraderie because, well, why bother.
Guilds are just another victim of the solo centric trend.
A few of the other posters bring up a good point. The guild is not there to entertain you or to be your welfare fund. I seen a lot of this when I used to recruit for my corp in Eve. The guild exists for mutual benefit which means you also have to contribute for it to work.
There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own. -- Herman Melville
Been there, done that. And no, guilds don't work for me. For a period of time when guilds didn't work for me, I ran my own guilds. But after getting burned by the inevitable drama, your main tank leaving for another guild that was *one* step ahead of you, and different cliques causing issues within the guild, I'm no longer interested in spending my time and organizational skills to run guilds anymore either. So guilds, be it other people's guild or my own, I'm simply not interested in them anymore these days.
I've had similar problems and I suggest as a guild leader to make members feel like they are all equal in the social status of a guild.
I find that once a new member joins they often feel left out because people who have been in a guild longer take up the conversation or don't include new members, so I make others feel like they are included as much as I can if I'm leading a guild, and usually the other members follow suit.
It's not like they mean to do it they just don't realize often times what they are doing.
Guilds have little to no meaning these days, sorry to say, but this is sad,
for me, the best guild era is pre 2008
i still remember when 1st generation of MMO were introduced, Guilds were so special, it's more than just a community
it's like totally a proud thing to be a part of it.
My 1st MMO guild ever was in Ragnarok Online back in 2002, when i first join a guild, i was so happy to be part of it
and i would login every day just to see what's going on in the Guild, and we started with 7 people, and we grew to 36 over the years, and with the 36 members we have, we really know each other, we talk real stuffs, and we knew each and everyone in real life, we even had gathering way before WoW was introduced ( because alot of people say Guild gathering was invented by WoW)
but i tell you, its NOT
now, i dont even know what i am doing in a guild anymore, it's like so bland, new members coming in to the guild, and we just say" WELCOME!, WELCOME! bla2"
then we move on, oh yes, it's pretty much like this in every guild in most MMO,
i still believe that out there, there are still guilds that does the old school thing, and i hope they will keep existing for many years to come
It can be very hard finding the right guild for individual tastes. You may just simply not be a sociable person OP, thus they do little for you. I admit I've struggled with guilds, although that's mostly my own lousy social skills hindering me. I've left many guilds out of feeling like I didn't mesh in for whatever reason, usually because I just didn't know how to connect with people. It can also be frustrating when there's no comradeship and nobody makes an effort to talk or group together, or when people only bother to be social when certain members are on, usually the guild leader. But, what can you do. You want a fun guild you keep looking until you mesh with the right one and you make more of an effort to be someone people want to group with.
This will always be an issue, until developers find a way to give players rewards for helping guild members finish quests they themselves might have already done.
Like it or not, a lot of people hate to repeat content, its not that they didnt enjoy it the first time, its more that they dont see any reward at the end of the road, we need systems where a guild member can tick some box that says, Hay this player is a guild member and he is helping me finish this quest, and he should get rewarded for his work.
Rewards can be many things, points of honor with their guild, extra coin, some token that shows their helpfull, anything really, but as long as something is up for grabs, people will help out lower level players more.
Hay this player is a guild member and he is helping me finish this quest, and he should get rewarded for his work.
It can be argued that this entitlement addiction ("I won't do anything unless there's something in it for me.") is one of the largest negatives in MMOs (and players) today.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Hay this player is a guild member and he is helping me finish this quest, and he should get rewarded for his work.
It can be argued that this entitlement addiction ("I won't do anything unless there's something in it for me.") is one of the largest negatives in MMOs (and players) today.
Too true. It seems rarer to find people who simply group up for the pleasure of someone's company, simply to help out pr forge friendships. It's sad really. That's what made communities like EQ1 back in the day so amazing.
Oh I fully agree, but then thats the way the developers have made their games, by making almost all current mmo's about gear advancment and nothing else, 99% of players I would argue worry about weather their time is being wasted, and wondering what they should be doing to advance their gear.
Take wow, for example, people sit a city and farm the LFG tool because its advancing their gear, takes them out of the world, and limits the time they have to be good guild members.
I have seen guilds that try and fight this trend, but in the end they get steam rolled. so I do not blame the players in full, I blame the games for making gear progression the sole most important and game defining act of moderm mmo's.
The days of exploration, of farming , and crafting, and doing guild things like building stuff, or defending guild base's is gone sadly, the reason to be in a guild is becoming less and less important as games evolve, although I still have high hopes for archeage.
Oh I fully agree, but then thats the way the developers have made their games, by making almost all current mmo's about gear advancment and nothing else, 99% of players I would argue worry about weather their time is being wasted, and wondering what they should be doing to advance their gear.
Well, in this case I'd be putting the blame on the GM for not being selective enough, not the developers. That's pretty much exactly the attitude that you do not want in a guild.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Gear is just the replacement for leveling in most games. MMos use to be about getting levels for strength, now gear has found its way as being the 'replacement' for that. Its not a bad thing at all really, it gives a sense of accomplishment. The problem is that its become THE ultimate point of things. Back in old school wow, gear was just a side benefit as you tried to progress... progression was ultimately what everyone wanted since it meant getting into new content. Now, a lot of it is about gear since lets face it, you progress and you just end up taking on the same bosses over and over again. Theres no real sense of accomplishment much anymore for completing things. Most people would rather bow out then try something difficult, because most of the time, the difficult thing is just a 'hard mode' as wow tends to do which just makes encounters stale, no matter if you add new things to it.
Theres just no sense of adventure when your stuck in the same place forever, not having a chance to even get better for a 'harder' instance. Back in vanilla, there was nothing more satisfying then taking on a new instance that hadn't been explored, it really made it feel like progressing was worth wild, because you could see things you never experienced before in game. It gave bragging rights. Lets face it, "I beat hard mode *name here*" doesn't feel like much of an accomplishment at all. I don't even get why people feel like an epic in that game is like something to feel proud about. Back in vanilla I felt so happy to have an epic. After that, it just felt... so lack luster.
Comments
Been there, done that. And no, guilds don't work for me. For a period of time when guilds didn't work for me, I ran my own guilds. But after getting burned by the inevitable drama, your main tank leaving for another guild that was *one* step ahead of you, and different cliques causing issues within the guild, I'm no longer interested in spending my time and organizational skills to run guilds anymore either. So guilds, be it other people's guild or my own, I'm simply not interested in them anymore these days.
EQ1-AC1-DAOC-FFXI-L2-EQ2-WoW-DDO-GW-LoTR-VG-WAR-GW2-ESO
Guilds work in games where players are dependent on one another and teamwork is important. In games that easily solo'ed (like most modern mmorpgs) then all the guild is used for is a chat room. There's no sense of camaraderie because, well, why bother.
Guilds are just another victim of the solo centric trend.
A few of the other posters bring up a good point. The guild is not there to entertain you or to be your welfare fund. I seen a lot of this when I used to recruit for my corp in Eve. The guild exists for mutual benefit which means you also have to contribute for it to work.
There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own.
-- Herman Melville
I've had similar problems and I suggest as a guild leader to make members feel like they are all equal in the social status of a guild.
I find that once a new member joins they often feel left out because people who have been in a guild longer take up the conversation or don't include new members, so I make others feel like they are included as much as I can if I'm leading a guild, and usually the other members follow suit.
It's not like they mean to do it they just don't realize often times what they are doing.
Smile
Guilds have little to no meaning these days, sorry to say, but this is sad,
for me, the best guild era is pre 2008
i still remember when 1st generation of MMO were introduced, Guilds were so special, it's more than just a community
it's like totally a proud thing to be a part of it.
My 1st MMO guild ever was in Ragnarok Online back in 2002, when i first join a guild, i was so happy to be part of it
and i would login every day just to see what's going on in the Guild, and we started with 7 people, and we grew to 36 over the years, and with the 36 members we have, we really know each other, we talk real stuffs, and we knew each and everyone in real life, we even had gathering way before WoW was introduced ( because alot of people say Guild gathering was invented by WoW)
but i tell you, its NOT
now, i dont even know what i am doing in a guild anymore, it's like so bland, new members coming in to the guild, and we just say" WELCOME!, WELCOME! bla2"
then we move on, oh yes, it's pretty much like this in every guild in most MMO,
i still believe that out there, there are still guilds that does the old school thing, and i hope they will keep existing for many years to come
So What Now?
It can be very hard finding the right guild for individual tastes. You may just simply not be a sociable person OP, thus they do little for you. I admit I've struggled with guilds, although that's mostly my own lousy social skills hindering me. I've left many guilds out of feeling like I didn't mesh in for whatever reason, usually because I just didn't know how to connect with people. It can also be frustrating when there's no comradeship and nobody makes an effort to talk or group together, or when people only bother to be social when certain members are on, usually the guild leader. But, what can you do. You want a fun guild you keep looking until you mesh with the right one and you make more of an effort to be someone people want to group with.
This will always be an issue, until developers find a way to give players rewards for helping guild members finish quests they themselves might have already done.
Like it or not, a lot of people hate to repeat content, its not that they didnt enjoy it the first time, its more that they dont see any reward at the end of the road, we need systems where a guild member can tick some box that says, Hay this player is a guild member and he is helping me finish this quest, and he should get rewarded for his work.
Rewards can be many things, points of honor with their guild, extra coin, some token that shows their helpfull, anything really, but as long as something is up for grabs, people will help out lower level players more.
It can be argued that this entitlement addiction ("I won't do anything unless there's something in it for me.") is one of the largest negatives in MMOs (and players) today.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Too true. It seems rarer to find people who simply group up for the pleasure of someone's company, simply to help out pr forge friendships. It's sad really. That's what made communities like EQ1 back in the day so amazing.
Oh I fully agree, but then thats the way the developers have made their games, by making almost all current mmo's about gear advancment and nothing else, 99% of players I would argue worry about weather their time is being wasted, and wondering what they should be doing to advance their gear.
Take wow, for example, people sit a city and farm the LFG tool because its advancing their gear, takes them out of the world, and limits the time they have to be good guild members.
I have seen guilds that try and fight this trend, but in the end they get steam rolled. so I do not blame the players in full, I blame the games for making gear progression the sole most important and game defining act of moderm mmo's.
The days of exploration, of farming , and crafting, and doing guild things like building stuff, or defending guild base's is gone sadly, the reason to be in a guild is becoming less and less important as games evolve, although I still have high hopes for archeage.
Well, in this case I'd be putting the blame on the GM for not being selective enough, not the developers. That's pretty much exactly the attitude that you do not want in a guild.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Gear is just the replacement for leveling in most games. MMos use to be about getting levels for strength, now gear has found its way as being the 'replacement' for that. Its not a bad thing at all really, it gives a sense of accomplishment. The problem is that its become THE ultimate point of things. Back in old school wow, gear was just a side benefit as you tried to progress... progression was ultimately what everyone wanted since it meant getting into new content. Now, a lot of it is about gear since lets face it, you progress and you just end up taking on the same bosses over and over again. Theres no real sense of accomplishment much anymore for completing things. Most people would rather bow out then try something difficult, because most of the time, the difficult thing is just a 'hard mode' as wow tends to do which just makes encounters stale, no matter if you add new things to it.
Theres just no sense of adventure when your stuck in the same place forever, not having a chance to even get better for a 'harder' instance. Back in vanilla, there was nothing more satisfying then taking on a new instance that hadn't been explored, it really made it feel like progressing was worth wild, because you could see things you never experienced before in game. It gave bragging rights. Lets face it, "I beat hard mode *name here*" doesn't feel like much of an accomplishment at all. I don't even get why people feel like an epic in that game is like something to feel proud about. Back in vanilla I felt so happy to have an epic. After that, it just felt... so lack luster.