Why Guilds Fall Apart

[Vharen]

I'd have to add my tuppence here:

Guilds that come out pre-game release. Yes, I know, I've actually started one, but one great piece of advice I got from a guildleader was as follows:

Expect a third of your guild to never show up; either they decided they didn't like the game, or they picked another guild and didn't have the guts to fess up, or any number of reasons.

Expect a third of your members to leave within a month. Again, any number of reasons; not liking the game, new guild, they turn out to be people you don't actually want, so you remove them.

Now, you're left with a third of your original guild. At this point most guilds panic and the whole thing implodes with much Drama and Woe. However, if you can keep your head and gather up that third into a tightknit group, making sure they've got plenty to do ('bread and circuses' as it used to be called), then that core group will be the guild that never leaves. But most guild leaders for whatever reason never seem to make it to that point, which is a shame.

Nicely done!

[scopique]

One point that I'd like to throw in to this excellent article are the game mechanics themselves. In many guilds -- even the "casual" ones -- there ends up being a stratification of players throughout the guild. When content is keyed to certain level tiers, this can prevent a lot of the members from actually PLAYING together, especially if some play more then others. The people in the guild who player longer and more often are usually the ones who form the tight knit community, which can leave new members or those who don't play as much feeling left behind, regardless of the mission statement of the guild.

The guild leadership, then, has the responsibility to ensure that their "flock" is taken care of. Some guild leaders don't want to bother with this part of the structure; they want to play at THEIR pace, yet they want to have the title and the cache of being a guild leader. However, it's up to the leadership as a whole to do whatever it is that they have to do to (within the bounds of sanity and reason) to ensure that their organization is as good as healthy as it can be, and not just as healthy as THEY think it is. Rolling lowbie alts, doing the lowbie content AGAIN, making an effort to know or at least meet all members at all ranks is time intensive, takes away from personal advancement, etc., but you'd be AMAZED at how the attention makes these new members feel. They will be more loyal to the group, and the guidance that they receive will help them to advance faster so that they can join the elders that much faster.

[Kjallstrom]

Are there any MMOs out there that have dynamically scaling content? That is, you can go kill the dragon with a group of 20s or a group of 60s, and in either case the encounter will be level-appropriate difficulty and have level-appropriate loot. Maybe have it so everyone in the group gets temporarily leveled down/up to the median level of the group?

This would solve the content plateau problem. If you look at WoW, the difference in gear between a player who just hit the level cap, and one who has been raiding/PvPing with skill at the cap for over a year, is huge. Probably at least the equivalent of 5 levels difference, if not more.

[LordFuront]

Actually, make sure a member is loyal before ever making them a officer or you may find your guild empty because he thinks its funny to kick all your members.

[KaimerasPain]

Originally Posted by Drunkenfairy

Really great article, and I agree on most points. These are definitely the guild killers I’ve seen.

1. Lack of Leadership - GM burns out, wears out, quits unexpectedly, and there isn't anyone to fill the void. Yes, the officers should be doing a lot of the daily maintenance and able to make decisions, but your GM is your figurehead, your rallying point. This person sets the tone and morale level for the guild.

2. Differing goals - If there is no guild communication, if no one uses the guild forums, if there are no semi-regular meetings to help the guild communicate and discuss goals it doesn't take long to fracture.

3. Drama queens - Fastest guild killer. Most people play to have fun. No one wants to listen to a complainer or whiner when they are trying to relax and have a good time.

Being a Guild Master or an Officer can be a very rewarding, and a very stress-inducing thing. You have to remember that it’s not your job to make people enjoy playing the game. It’s your job to provide a Social Environment that hopefully your members enjoy and that matches with a majority of the guilds gaming goals. From personal experience, learning to not take everyone’s happiness or displeasure personally is one of the hardest things about being an officer.

WoW, I couldnt agree more! I find that Drama is definitely a MAJOR killer in guilds. I currently have a guild alliance that combines the leadership of two guilds in a round table voting structure. It seems that it will work well for the moment, but we are keeping an eye on new recruits with the drama factor, so we can nip it as soon as it becomes and issue. We are also definitely focusing on making sure we have the same goals, or how we can "balance" things out between the alliance. We currently have 4 leaders managing close to 55 in-game players and are working on consolidating our members on one site through GamerDNA.

It amazes me to see how many ppl feel that running or just creating a guild will bring them people. On GamerDNA there are approx. 560 PWI players, and to those players, there are a ton of Guild posts. Even on the main PWI site, the listing of guilds is mind boggling. Many of these are either failed guilds that havent come off the list, or 1 person that started something they couldnt get off the ground. It most definitely takes the right combination of people in the leadership roles to put together a good guild that will not fall apart. All in all, its not any different than putting together a team in a work environment. If you put together a group of misfits, the project fails; if you put together people that are good in their roles, and know how to communicate, with some form of good leadership keeping the wheels turning, chances are you will succeed.

Just my two cents!

Kaimera-

[Richie]

Just want to take the time to say thanks for the great article