Guild Discussion 1-Guild Leadership +Goals

[Irxallis]

# Can anyone you feel lead a guild?
No, definitely not. I have led a ~40~50 people guild for ~7 months on another server with mostly active members and I am well aware that I am not a good leader for a guild. Or maybe: everybody can lead a guild, but it is extremely hard to keep an alive and prospering guild which is able to survive for a long time and be successful.

# What kind of people should be leaders for a guild?
The high command of the guild (not necessarily one person) needs to have 3 areas covered:
- management: needs to change titles, taxes, select officers, resolve conflicts, invite and expel etc.
- public relations: needs to be known and interact with other guilds and players.
- vision: what is the guild about? What is the goal of the guild? What is to be done to get closer to vision. Ensure all the officers follow the vision and those who do not must be demoted even if those are leader's best friends.

If the high command has those areas covered and is quite accessible in case of emergency and there are enough people on the server which would accept the vision as their own I think the guild will survive and prosper.

# Does a guild need a goal it strives for to be successful, please give examples of why or why not if possible.

Yes. If the guild does not have any goal, why join it? Even a goal of 'group of people having fun together' is acceptable - as long as the vision does not change.

I would say WoE guilds are more stable, because they have at least part of the vision ingrained into their very description: to succeed in the War of Emperium.
Non-WoE guilds have to think of a reason why they should exist at all, but after this happens they have it easier to keep players: most non-WoE players want to play with people they know and like.

Example you asked for:

The guild I created long time ago on another server was a guild built around partying and it was very successful. It sucked lots of non-WoE guilds and quickly became one of the larger ones, with high activity, alive forums and overall atmosphere of trust, gear passing, events and various level parties.

The vision became the pitfall of that guild however, as with nearing transcendence most of the officers (and some members) wanted the guild to turn to WoE and others decided that WoE did not interest them, following the original vision (which was the guild they joined). This rift splitted the guild violently creating incredible internal drama and in the end two guilds were formed with people feeling very hurt and betrayed over this stuff for a long time.

If I had clarified the goal, I might have lost ~20% of members but the guild would stay intact. That is why keeping the vision pure and making sure all the officers follow the same vision is one of the most important steps in having an alive and successful guild in my opinion.

# What does hearing the words "WoE guild" mean to you?
A guild which participates or intends to participate in WoE. This type of guild usually drives the economy of the server with particular items (starsand, karvo). Members usually have PvP gear.

# What does hearing the words "social guild" mean to you?
A guild which is mostly focused on the social side of a server - meeting people and chatting. Members do things which are out of the scope of RO as a game (werewolf, for example) more often. On HeRO it seems 'social guild' means 'non-WoE guild with major focus on social component of the RO'.

If you asked me what does hearing "non-WoE guild" mean to me, my answer would be very different though ;-).

# Do you feel that a person needs a guild to find success and fun within the game?
Absolutely not. If a person is not very interested in social part of a game and treats HeRO mostly as multiplayer PvE game guilds are useless. I would even say a guild might be a nuisance if they require anything out of their members and the goal of the guild does not align with the goals of the member.
Of course guilds can be very useful to meet like-minded people and to start RO journey - but they are by no means required to have fun.

If your goal is WoE you absolutely require a guild (I hope this is obvious).

To be honest guild as a tool is useful because of:
- guildchat (promotes social interaction and coordination between members)
- allows WoE

Everything else (forum, helping each other etc) is not a part of a guild as a device, it is the people playing RO. Those do not require a guild. That's why I say guild is not required - most of the benefits of having a guild do not come from a guild, technically, but from the actions of people.

# Does a guild in your opinion "end" if the leader(s) is/are not active anymore, or is it possible to find someone else to "pass the torch to" so they say?
If the high command is composed of more than one person, additional person simply needs to be added to the high command (get interns until you find a proper one). A very important thing - whole high command has to have the same vision or the guild will either split or die.