CannonFodderATX Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 I don't know if this is the right place for this and I am sorry if it is not. What does it take to run a guild? I recently helped start one with 3 other people with the idea we can have a small guild that is close knit and plays well together. Soon the guildmaster started changing things and promoted someone one above all starting members because he was guildmaster and could do as he saw fit. There is some truth to that but it's not what any of us wanted when we agreed to make the guild. So a couple of us are thinking about leaving and trying again but I was wondering if someone could give me a brief run down of what it takes, if anything special, to actually be the guildmaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel_of_Cain Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 I don't know if this is the right place for this and I am sorry if it is not. What does it take to run a guild? I recently helped start one with 3 other people with the idea we can have a small guild that is close knit and plays well together. Soon the guildmaster started changing things and promoted someone one above all starting members because he was guildmaster and could do as he saw fit. There is some truth to that but it's not what any of us wanted when we agreed to make the guild. So a couple of us are thinking about leaving and trying again but I was wondering if someone could give me a brief run down of what it takes, if anything special, to actually be the guildmaster. As a GM, if any GM does something and their only response is "I am the GM and i can do what i want". Leave the guild. it sounds like your GM is just "drunk on Power". to be a GM, here is basics to look at: To actually be the GM, you just need to be at the registrar when you start it. but after, here are some tips Members, ranks and privileges: you need to figure out what ranks you want certain members and what privileges you want to give each rank. some members will complain if you promote someone above them, especially if they have been in the guild longer. be sure to explain to them why you did it. (i.e. inactivity on thier part, rude behavior, etc) Guildbank: you need to figure out how you want to manage the resources of the bank and who has access to them and how much they can withdraw. the banks do have an activity log so you can look at who deposits and who withdraws, which is awesome. Raid and other event planning. you need to figure out a schedule on when, how, and who is doing raids and pre-mades. be sure to keep track of who participates and give all members equal chance to participate. Recruiting: if you want your guild to grow you need to figure out a recruitment plan and requirements to join the guild. normally, one of the officers takes this responsiblity, because the GM is busy with other things. make all members feel comfortable being in the guild. And you need to find ways to ensure all members are active and all members do not feel like they are being left out. This is the hardest and most tedious thing for a GM of a new small guild to do and requires help from the senior officers, but it is worth it in the long run. they're other things a GM does, but you get a feel for those as time passes by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynomen Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Other than what Angel said, the trick to running a good guild is the members. You find people who want the same things you do and work together to make things happen. Other than the default guildmaster, everyone who is in my guild long enough will get the same abilities as any "leader". This allows them to bring in new people and represent our guild when others are off. The "leaders" in my guild tend to be on more than others and really know the game well. If you RP, you might consider a council with defined positions, but that is a whole different beast. lol It can be tricky but it works. Use a voting system to work out changes. Majority wins which makes it easier. Just be up front with members. :wea_03: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChairForceOne Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 I don't know if this is the right place for this and I am sorry if it is not. What does it take to run a guild? I recently helped start one with 3 other people with the idea we can have a small guild that is close knit and plays well together. Soon the guildmaster started changing things and promoted someone one above all starting members because he was guildmaster and could do as he saw fit. There is some truth to that but it's not what any of us wanted when we agreed to make the guild. So a couple of us are thinking about leaving and trying again but I was wondering if someone could give me a brief run down of what it takes, if anything special, to actually be the guildmaster. Howdy, im a guild master myself, have been in several MMO's over the years! Running a successful guild requires a bit of planning and a lot of work. But it's really rewarding once you get up on your feet. 1. Dedication - Making a strong guild doesn't happen over night.. You're going to have a lot of work ahead of you and you have to be willing to cut down your play time to enhance the play time of others initially. 2. Good Structure. - -Choose your officers carefully. - Do not pick them based on your relationship with them. promote players who you see as patient, helpful, friendly, and mature. Many GM's will promote their best friends and girl friends etc etc and they turn out to be rotton officers. - Avoid making people officers that ask for it. 3. Communication - - Let people know your expectation - Let people know what they can expect from you or your guild. - hold a guild meeting where EVERYONE can contribute. Let them vent, make suggestions, or just give some input. Let people know where your guild stands in its policies and goals. Do this often, at least once a month. - Talk to new members. make sure you personally chat with each new member in your guild. Then, do a follow up with them the next week. Ask them how they are doing, ask them what they like, dont like, etc etc. -initiate conversation with people, invite them into your vent/mumble or your guild forums. Do this VERY frequently. Get people talking to each other. It makes the game much more enjoyable when you all become friends instead of just guild mates. 4. Hold people accountable! - Once you have COMMUNICATED your expectations to all guild members it is important to CONSISTENTLY apply your decisions to those expectations. What i mean by this, is if you have someone that didnt show up for a ops group after accepting an invite and you have a policy to sit them out the next week. Do it! do not bend the rules for anyone. Not your worst enemy, not some average joe, not your girl friend, your wife, nothing. Consistently hold people accountable. 5. Get rid of bad apples. work to address problems, but if problems keep happening with one member, don't be afraid to ask them to leave.don't risk losing good players because you're afraid to get rid of a bad one. - People that are constantly starting verbal arguements - People who constantly no-show or show up late. - People who show little or sub par effort in guild activities where others depend on their performance. - People who are constantly "victims" Yes, thats right. Sometimes someone gets into a guild that is constantly offended and harassed. do not be afraid to suggest that this may not be the right guild for them. 6. Be realistic! Don't expect to have 100 members next week, building a solid guild takes time and you have to build it right or it falls apart later. also don't expect to be the very best at PvP, PvE, or anything when you start. Team work doesnt happen over night. It takes a lot of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAMABLANCA Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 An iron fist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karkais Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Computer, internet connection and dedication. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tickdoff-Tank Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 If any guild would allow me to join them, then their standards are far to low to keep me happy. So I never seem to find a guild. Much better for everyone that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scorpienne Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Howdy, im a guild master myself, have been in several MMO's over the years! Running a successful guild requires a bit of planning and a lot of work. But it's really rewarding once you get up on your feet. Listen to this person. I'm a GL of a guild, and was prepared to sit down and take the time to write out a lot of advice, and s/he beat me to it. It's good advice. The keys are organization and communication. Paige Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sivenom Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 As an officer, raid leader, guild master from here and WoW, I have to say one of the most under-appreciated things when running a guild is the method of communication..... As a leader you need to make sure you are available the most you can, and if something happens you need to be aware. Exchanging emails with your officers, getting a vent channel, havinga website, hell even having a guild twitter if you want but make sure that people know they can rely on you by some way other than "Oh GM logs on ever Wednesday at 5 to raid, I can talk to him during the 5 minutes of downtime for a break about the entire week's events." If you decide only to do it through in-game contact (no vent, no TS, no exchange of emails, etc) then be sure you are active, let your members know they can approach you any time, and be sure they feel comfortable by dropping you a mail/tell if anything arises. And remember, service with a smile, but you aren't there to make friends with everyone. You're there to make a community that gamers can go and expect to be held up to the standards they expect. so be fair, but firm. But don't let yourself be walked over or tricked. and ALWAYS restrict guild bank access on the tab with all the real good stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordofdamornin Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 You need patience. Lots, and lots of patience. You might not believe me, but even with the best people, you might be surprised how often you feel like you are babysitting. And paying to do it, I might add. Others before me have said a number of good things, so I won't repeat those. Riôt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lheim Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 You know, it's an odd thing to suggest being as a resource for a different MMO.. But check out wow.joystiq.com - particularly the drama mama's and Officer's Quarters columns they do there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moowart Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 You need patience. Lots, and lots of patience. You might not believe me, but even with the best people, you might be surprised how often you feel like you are babysitting. And paying to do it, I might add. Others before me have said a number of good things, so I won't repeat those. Riôt ^^THIS^^ also if you are noticing people heading towards endgame you will slowly need to figure out the endgame stuff like loots and stuff ... One other thing.. believe in your guild and what you think it can do head in that direction.. believe also that you are capable... tall poppies tend to get questioned alot and sometimes peeps try and take over (seen this alot) dont let this happen. If you have an idea about how you think your guild should be then you should have some faith in that .. flexibility (but not too much that you are overun) also works wonders Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcusShadow Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 Lots of good stuff in here. Especially from that Guild Leader with his/her guidelines. Here are some things from my experience that I haven't seen mentioned yet. 1. As one person before me said, make yourself available to ALL members. Visibility and Accessibility for a Guild Leader cannot be understated. One of the best Guild Leaders I ever worked with was as good and respected as he was because he was willing to help anyone in the guild with anything if it was within his power to do so. 2. On the other hand, don't forget to carve time out for yourself. You can't help your guild mates if their characters are better than yours. This also goes for crafting. Often times the best way you can help your guild is to be a crafting machine so make sure you make some time for that. 3. The cornerstone of leading a guild is TRUST. Surround yourself with people you trust. This is quite subjective and very difficult to get right. But it's vitally important to successfully running a guild, in my opinion. The Guild's Council or your "Inner Circle," as I like to call them, is really your guild's foundation. If everyone within that circle can be trusted and trusts each other and, most importantly, trusts you, then you'll have a strong foundation. Don't get me wrong, bad things can still happen, but a strong, trustworthy "Inner Circle" can help lessen the impact of those things and can help the guild overcome and get past them. 4. Take Trust To The Next Step. What I mean by that is foster trust within the rest of the guild. Do what you can to get the guild members to trust you. If they trust you as the Guild Leader, it'll bring the entire guild that much closer. And it may bring to light any dissention among the ranks. One the more effective ways of fostering that trust with your guild mates is #5. 5. Group Outside Your Inner Circle. This may seem like a no-brainer, but it's vitally important. Make sure you REGULARLY group outisde your inner circle. I've been in a guild where the Officers regularly grouped with each other at the exclusion of the rest of the guild. Believe you me, that's the easiest and fastest way to cause dissent in the ranks. There's nothing worse for morale and trust than making your non-officers feel less important than your officers. 6. Balls Of Steel. Be prepared to make the hard choices. As the old saying goes, sometimes the right choice isn't the easy choice. As sad and as hard as this may be, the Guild Leader, more than anyone else in the guild, MUST be willing to make those hard, difficult choices. Often times the inability or unwillingness to make those choices is seen as weakness by the guild members and if that happens, trust begins to wane and the guild begins to crumble. I've seen it happen. 7. Delegation vs Doing It Yourself. Don't be afraid to delegate (it's what your officers or inner circle or council is there for), but also don't be afraid to get your own hands dirty. This is a balance that all Guild Leaders strive to achieve and mantain, but few get it right. This goes back to my first point about Availbility and Visibility. Showing the guild that you're not afraid to get your hands dirty and do stuff yourself boosts your visibility to the guild. It also makes your more approachable and, therefore, begins to foster that trust I spoke of. But at the same time, you are only human and are only one person. You can't do everything yourself. No guild member should expect you to do everything yourself. And you should not expect to be able to do everything yourself. Like any good CEO of a company, make someone else do the stuff you can't or don't have time for. Remember that trust thing I mentioned earlier? This is where it will pay off in spades. But delegation goes beyond trust. You also have to make sure you have the right person for the job. I believe someone else mentioned this in an earlier post, but it bears mentioning again here. You may be best friends with someone and they may be completely trustworthy, but if they completely suck at the "job" you're considering them for, don't ask them to do the "job." And this goes back to my previous point, #6. Having balls of steel. If the right choice for the guild is to not ask your trustworthy friend to do something, then don't. If they are truly your friend, they'll understand. 8. Sacrifice. As Guild Leader, you will have to be prepared to make sacrifices. Often times, hard sacrifices. The biggest sacrifice, of course, will be your time. And I'm not just talking in-game time. And I'm not just talking time away from other stuff. Oh no. I'm talking sacrificing your playing time. To effectively run a guild, you will have to have regular meetings with your council or inner circle. These meetings can and will be long and potentially arduous. And they will, most certainly, cut into your playing time. In addition, you'll have to take time from your playing time to take care of "administrative duties" as they arise (mediating disputes, investigating claims, stuff like that). One of the "hard sacrifices" you may have to make as a Guild Leader is the sacricice of friendship. Hopefully it won't come to that, but I have seen friendships crumble over a guild. And that is when you have to ask yourself if you're willing to make that sacrifice for the good of the guild, And, hey, there's no shame in stepping down for the sake of a friend. There is no shame in telling yourself that you don't want to do it anymore. But I'll tell you what. Friendship is as much a reward for being a great Guild Leader as it is a sacrifice. And friendship is only one of many rewards awaiting you at the end of the journey. Just remember that a great Guild Leader never walks the path alone. And if he is, then he's doing it wrong. I'll end with addressing the reason you're (the OP) striking out for a second shot at running a guild, that being that one of your original crew went "power hungry" on you. Remember the Guild Leader I mentioned way at the top of this post? The thing that made him the best Guild Leader I've ever had the pleasure of running with is this: He never put himself above the Guild, but he never forgot that he was the Guild Leader. If you take anything away from this post, I'd like it to be that statement. Think on it. To me, that one statement summarizes what it means to be a great Guild Leader. I hope, at least, one thing I've put in this post helps you. Good Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebastrickshot Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 (edited) I would like to know how to run a pvp rp and fp guild that started a day ago where should I start to fix things up at like the ranking structure and stuff like that is stressful already have threats of people leaving it.Plus there is a person who claims to have had a 1200 person guild in a different game and he only tells me problems not solutions but he's the only one the dc members really think can keep us afloat I think he's trying to steal my guild what should I do. Edited February 4, 2013 by ebastrickshot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptRavenous Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 You need basic advice. Put aside some of the complicated advice you've seen here, it will only confuse you. In order to lead any group of people, you need to remember only one thing: "You can only lead them where they want to go." Anything else you do is just making sure they stay together as a group (guild) on the way to where they want to go together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellafuria Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 I don't know if this is the right place for this and I am sorry if it is not. What does it take to run a guild? I recently helped start one with 3 other people with the idea we can have a small guild that is close knit and plays well together. Soon the guildmaster started changing things and promoted someone one above all starting members because he was guildmaster and could do as he saw fit. There is some truth to that but it's not what any of us wanted when we agreed to make the guild. So a couple of us are thinking about leaving and trying again but I was wondering if someone could give me a brief run down of what it takes, if anything special, to actually be the guildmaster. this is coming from a GM and you should leave a guild and get 5000 credits to make your own so you can be a fair GM here are some tips from me: be fair, have 1-2 guild meets a week, rank ppl according to their lvl and chapter, and never curse at guild members. Sincerly, asajventress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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