If you have played MMO’s for a while and joined Guilds in those games than you know every well the life cycle of many guilds. Birth, growth, drama, and death. Players leave to join other guilds for a multitude of reasons or they just go to play another game. Many of these guild failures are caused by the same mistakes every time. So in order to help our MMO community here are our Top 5 mistakes guild leaders make:
I AM ANGRY!
1. Cliques
Sorry were having to much fun to include you...
This is a constant killer and quickly alienates and polarizes your guild into factions which when drama happens makes it into an all out civil war. Guild leadership have many responsibilities and when they play sometimes they just want to kick it with their group. Often times that includes the other guild officers or people that have been friends for a long time. Playing favorites with these people only worsens the feeling that your followers feel when they see you all day in a vent channel with just your “special group”
2. Recruiting
Many guild leaders do not know proper guild member number management. Even the ones that do, it is a hard balance to find the right amount of people to have in a guild and how to keep those numbers. Losing members is natural. People leave the game, or stop playing. So you have to have applications and invites going out to maintain a certain number of members. However that in itself is tricky. If you have too few, than its hard to raid and/or the guild feels empty and inactive. Too many and now members feel they are voice less and get frustrated when they have to sit out raids. As a guild leader you have to feel out your guild numbers and find the happy balance.
3. Burn Out
No matter how awesome the guild leader no one can do it alone. Too many times I have seen great guilds go into chaos when the over stressed guild leader finally calls it quits due to life obligations. As a leader you will find that urge to just do it yourself, because you know that it will get done right. However, this is soon overwhelm you. What you need are good guild officers. Ones that can give proper care and attention to all the details of running an Uber Guild. However, these guild officers can also be a pit fall. See number 4…
4. Officer Confusion
Power Trip? No.
Look at all the major and successful guilds, big and small, and you will see a well organized group of leadership built into the guild structure. Look at the disbanding guild and you will see the opposite. As a guild leader be VERY careful who you pick as a guild officer. Some people do not know how to handle being in leadership and authority. I am not talking about inexperience, I am talking about power trips. No one does it intentionally but boy does it happen and its ugly. What every they do, they do in the name of the guild and members will run away, often taking people with them. Some times its not the guild officers fault but organization and officer duties that are the problem. If there is not a proper hierarchy in place and each officer role is not definitive this can cause much friction and drama in a guild. All of a sudden the loot officer is telling you where to stand, and the guild events manager is objecting to the command saying that its best to stand over there. Soon there is a torrent of confusion, anger, and turmoil.
5. Guild Events
Race for Guild Unity!
There should always be something going on during the week. People join a guild to commune with other people closely whilst playing the game. Of course this includes raids, but also quest nights, or if your up to it, full blown festivities and games. Even making sure chat is hopping is a good and healthy thing to have in a guild. When you start hemorrhaging members look here first. Is there stuff going on, or are you members getting bored? Raiding is important but make sure you keep things exiting. Players will get tempted to leave by anything if things get stale. Make sure you get everyone involved, leaving people out defeats the purpose of guild events. Also don’t get stuck with only the high end stuff, or only the quests of your level. Make sure you meet all of your guilds needs.
There are 5 simple pitfalls, and solutions to those pitfalls. Even though these are simple I hope that these will be on the forefront of your minds as you take part in your guilds, and that these will in some way help guilds be better communities for each other.
Related posts:
