Creating Your Own Guild

[Sven Osymthe]

"If you are just trying to have a bunch of basic people for numbers, it doesnt work."

I disagree my guild is almost entierly basic 60 members and and at least 4 on at a time. Not all basic members log on once and then never log on again I have lvl 12-14 members maxed out on lvl for all weapons (lvl 7 for basic) that can take on anything and live. They als do a good job as officers so stop insulting basic members.

The post said "for numbers". That means, don't go out there recruiting tons of basic members just because you want your guild to be larger. Not all of them go inactive, and some even upgrade to unlimited. That still doesn't change the fact that they are people too, and shouldn't be used just to up the total number of members in your guild. Recruiting a lot of members to play the game with is one thing, recruiting members just to up your total is completely different.

The quality of the member (basic or unlimited) is always better than the quantity.

[JM Ohara]

Here's something I learned as just a member. For a guild to really work well all members should ideally be at least semi harmonious, if even if not always agreeing about things. Let's face it, we are all different, we won't always agree on everything. It's ok to disagree at times. But out and out unintentional or worse, deliberate dissension can break any guild, no matter the size. Members have to be able to get along. If they don't, your guild is just not gonna make it.

From an officer standpoint, while I haven't been an officer in a large guild very long at all, I have picked up a few important things. Being an officer isn't about the title, or the supposed power. It's about helping your guild work as a cohesive whole. It's about helping your fellow guildmates, and supporting your GM. It's not a power role. It's a supporting role. It's not being Batman. It's not even being Robin. It's being Alfred, back at home, making sure Batman and Robin have everything they need.

On your officers. They should be people you trust to run things while you are not there. People who will do the right thing. People who will tell you when something isn't right, and work to make it better. Don't constantly undermind or overrule them. They are your right hand men and women. Respect them, or you could end up with a very big problem. Know that sometimes they will come to you with things that you need to handle as GM, and you need to be willing to make the lousy call.

Being a GM isn't really about power. It's not about getting to be the boss. If you take the I'm your GM I'm the boss track, you will drive people away after a while. A good GM listens not only to their officers, but to their members in general. They are willing to take suggestions, and to make changes if someone comes up with a really good one. I've seen this in action. You know you've got a good GM when he pays attention to what all of his guild members say. Just making arbitrary rules to suit you isn't a great way to build a guild.

A solid guild isn't built on a million rules. I think We Are The Night has like 4. You have to be an adult, you have to ask to tp, you have to be willing to help and be helped, and you have to follow D rules. See, I'm just a GM, that's all. I tell my new guildmates, I am not your mother. I will not tell you what you can and can't do. I will not tell you what you can and cannot say in chat (hence being adults only). I am not here to hold your hand. I'm here have fun, and to help others have fun as well.

One last thing. Being a GM is, as some have said, a massive time commitment. Sure, there are times RL takes over all of us. That's the way it should be. Pirates is just a game. RL should come first. If you aren't in RL complications, you need to put in the time to be on. And not just hop on go AFK, or go off on your own little projects. An absentee GM is no GM at all. If you make a guild you need to be willing to see it through.

And that's my 2 (ok maybe 8 or 10) pieces of 8 for the day.

[thedixielilly]

I'm guild master of Skully's Xbones. When we started the guild, we said you did not have to ask to teleport to someone, but did so at your own risk.

Well recently as soon as some of the officers logged on, we were bombarded with people teleporting to us. Even in the middle of officer's meetings they would teleport after being told we would be in a meeting.

The officers and I finally implemented the asking for permission to teleport rule. Some of the younger players tell us we are being mean.

We are finding we are spending all our time reviving people because they have teleported to us and are much lower level.

I would love to hear what other guild masters have in place and how they deal with this.


Skully

[William ORoberts]

Originally Posted by thedixielilly

I'm guild master of Skully's Xbones. When we started the guild, we said you did not have to ask to teleport to someone, but did so at your own risk.

Well recently as soon as some of the officers logged on, we were bombarded with people teleporting to us. Even in the middle of officer's meetings they would teleport after being told we would be in a meeting.

The officers and I finally implemented the asking for permission to teleport rule. Some of the younger players tell us we are being mean.

We are finding we are spending all our time reviving people because they have teleported to us and are much lower level.

I would love to hear what other guild masters have in place and how they deal with this.


Skully

This happens to East India Republic all the time, although we also have an ask before you teleport rule. Whenever someone does not ask and they have been told before, what I do is in guild chat, say "BOB PLEASE ASKBEFORE TELEPORTING" this will usually stop them from doing it. And if you have a bunch of people teleporting, but only one person asks, I usually say in guild chat "why yes, Joe, you may tp, thank you for asking!" That will usually make them listen.

Next is, if they do tp, I usually just ask them nicely to leave. That usually works and if not, I usually let them stay. If we are fighting enemies too high for them, most likely we have a bunch of lower levels with us too, so with teamwork, they don't get knocked out too often. When they do get knocked out, I revive them, and hint that they shouldn't be there. The next time they KO, i do the same, but the third time I will just tell them that this place may be too high level for them, and I can't revive them anymore. It usually doesn't resort to that in my guild, because when one lower level is fighting with us, usually we have quite a few, so they revive eqchother before I get a chance.

Now about problem teleporters. I have two people in the guild that have some sort of problem with the teleport rule. The first one is obvious, a person who just won't ask before he teleports. I ask him time and time again using the methods I listed in the first paragraph, but he never ever stops not asking before he teleports. I have considered kicking him from the guild, but i don't want to have to do that for such a wee little crime. Whic brings me to my next problem teleporter. This one, just questions the ask before you teleport rule in general. He thinks it is stupid, why would you have to ask before you teleport? He has obviously never been a guildmaster of a larger guild before. Anybody ha e suggestions as o what to tel him, why it is important to ask before you teleport?

Those there are my experiences and suggestions for the ask before you teleport rule. I can wait to hear from other guildmasters about this.

[JM Ohara]

Originally Posted by William ORoberts

Now about problem teleporters. I have two people in the guild that have some sort of problem with the teleport rule. The first one is obvious, a person who just won't ask before he teleports. I ask him time and time again using the methods I listed in the first paragraph, but he never ever stops not asking before he teleports. I have considered kicking him from the guild, but i don't want to have to do that for such a wee little crime. Whic brings me to my next problem teleporter. This one, just questions the ask before you teleport rule in general. He thinks it is stupid, why would you have to ask before you teleport? He has obviously never been a guildmaster of a larger guild before. Anybody ha e suggestions as o what to tel him, why it is important to ask before you teleport?

I have yet to encounter a serious problem tper as GM. I have seen one or two just random tpers in general as an officer. Almost every time a simple whispered "please ask to tp" does wonders. For your particular random tper who won't ask but has been reminded, there are really just 2 solutions. You can let him stay in guild and put up with the random tps. Or you can boot him. Personally, I would boot the person. Random tping isn't really a little thing. For a high level pirate it doesn't create the possible ko'd situation. But it is in a way an invasion of privacy. You don't know what the person you are tping to is up to. As you said they could be in officer meetings. They could be with out of guild friends. The could just be somewhere they want to be alone. I take random tps very seriously. If I had a repeat offender despite my guild rule against it, I wouldn't hesitate to show them the door.

As for the person who questions the tp rule, that one is a little iffier. I would say that as GM you need to have a serious (private) discussion with this person. Explain your stance on the tp rule. Let them know that it is just plain polite to ask before suddenly appearing. If it is someone who was there before the ask to tp rule was implemented, ask them how they would have felt having someone random tp into an important meeting. Gently remind them that you are in fact GM, and you and your officers all agreed to this rule. I doubt you can change the person's feelings on this. But they need to know that they cannot be allowed to constantly debate guild rules. This can lead to problems with other members. If this person of yours has such a huge problem with a rule instituted with good reason, ask them if they think they are in the right guild for them. With this person as well, were they in my guild I would have pretty much exactly that chat with them, warning them gently that I will not put up with open protest of guild rules. I would tell them that the next time they start going on against a guild rule they are gone. It's just not good for any guild to have members who believe they know better than the officers and the GM making broad statements that could create an argument. If this person of yours insists on being a consistent disruption then you have to ask yourself if they are really a worthwhile guild member.

Both of those instances are what I meant earlier about having to make the hard choices. Sometimes you have to let an otherwise decent player go because they can't follow guild rules. It doesn't matter how nice the person is otherwise, it's just not a good idea to allow anyone to circumvent your guilds rules. Sometimes you have to remove one guild member for the sake of the guild as a whole. It's not easy, but sometimes it just has to be done.

[thedixielilly]

I really appreciate all the input on this subject. This is exactly what the officers and I had discussed and are doing. However, since the implementation of the rule, many lower level members that had normally just teleported to higher levels had started using the whisper to ask permission. It gotten so bad with two of my officers that they couldn't revive the person they were helping for answering whispers.

So as a result the officers and I had to add to the teleporting rule that whispering for permission would be ignored. We had to do that for asking for help as well.

Everyone needs help at one time or another so there is no shame in asking for it. This guild's basic purpose is to be a helping guild for all members and other pirates.


I would really like more input on problems other guilds have had and how they dealt with them.


Skully

[William ORoberts]

Originally Posted by thedixielilly

I really appreciate all the input on this subject. This is exactly what the officers and I had discussed and are doing. However, since the implementation of the rule, many lower level members that had normally just teleported to higher levels had started using the whisper to ask permission. It gotten so bad with two of my officers that they couldn't revive the person they were helping for answering whispers.

So as a result the officers and I had to add to the teleporting rule that whispering for permission would be ignored. We had to do that for asking for help as well.

Everyone needs help at one time or another so there is no shame in asking for it. This guild's basic purpose is to be a helping guild for all members and other pirates.


I would really like more input on problems other guilds have had and how they dealt with them.


Skully

I do find it annoying when a bunch of people whispers to me. However, I do have an effective method of dealing with it. As long as their in the guild, I ll answer in guild chat, first stating who I'm talking to, then the response. If a friend that's not in the guild whipers to me, yes i whisper back to them, but not man of my friends come on anymore. So unless it seems rude to you, do what I do, and simply answer in guild chat, unless it is a sensitive subject.

William