Spiral Knights - Guild Success: Suggestions?

Guild Success: Suggestions?

3 replies [Last post]

Tue, 03/26/2013 - 04:41

Mookie-Cookie

Hey all,

I figured I'd throw this here and see what people. Anyhow, my own guild Avalon Guardians, is in no way "struggling", but inactiveness of.. well, everyone.. is a real killer. So! I was wondering if people had some general tips and tricks to succeeding with guild management.

The sort of areas I'm thinking are significant are:

- Recruitment / Where to go, and what to ask of new members.

- Management / Dealing with inactive members, and/or disliked members.

- Funding / Every guild has it's fees, but what member is, truly, willing to actually donate their hard-earned cash? How do you get them to part with it?

- Social / An active guild is one thing. A social guild is another. How do you meet a compromise? What do you impose on your members?

- Naming / Is the name of a guild THAT significant? Of course, a name like "im a noob" might not appeal, but what DOES appeal?

- Rules and consequences / Sure, you can go undisciplined; but is actually a good idea? Or should you impose rules that members might find "overwhelming".

- The Guild Hall / Should it be pretty? Should it be functional? A bit of both?

So! What do you all of you say you expect from a successful guild, and what should be done to make a successful guild?

Cheers.

Tue, 03/26/2013 - 06:38

Mayaura

Guild Master of Lionheart

Having a website or good wiki site is indispensable for good organization.

Inactive - We generally remove any players who have been inactive for more than 1 week per rank. so for example, Veterans can be absent for up to 3 weeks.

Discipline - A first violation will receive a warning. Continued violations or serious violations will result in a demotion in rank, or if your rank is Recruit, removal from the guild.

The social tone comes by example from the Guild Master and officers, I'd say, as does funding.

A well-equipped Guild Hall with some thoughtful decorating certainly helps with fun and recruitment.

Tue, 03/26/2013 - 06:43

Bopp

since no one else has responded...

I don't have great answers, but since no one else has responded, I'll try to help.

Recruitment: This varies from guild to guild. Some desirable guilds can afford to have application processes, that control the quality of recruits. But most guilds have to take what they can get. Join random groups in the Clockworks, and invite people who seem nice/skilled and who don't have guilds. Stand in front of the Auction House and invite people who don't have guilds. If you have a friend who's looking for a new guild, then invite them. What you don't do is: Invite people who have guilds already, and who have shown no indication that they want to leave their guilds. That just makes you look bad.

Management: This is easy, now that we can see how long people have been offline. Declare a policy, such as "anyone who is offline for more than X weeks will be removed", and make sure that all new recruits know the policy. Then, occasionally go through your membership list and remove people.

Funding: Basically, you need to establish consensus among your members, for whether you're all going to pay a lot and have a nice guild hall, or pay a little and have a minimal guild hall. This is now a key aspect of the culture of guilds, that varies from guild to guild. You can try required payments and other rules, but be aware that they are off-putting to casual players.

Socializing: You can't impose this on your players. In my experience, you need just one or two "social butterflies", to talk on guild chat and establish a warm mood in the guild. But there will always be members who don't want to socialize much.

Name: I don't know whether it matters or not. I find most guild names quite dumb. A few are witty.

Rules: This is a casual game. If you establish a bunch of rules, then you will discourage a lot of potential members, who just want to have fun. So try to keep the rules to a minimum. Think of it this way: For what offenses would you kick someone out of the guild? State those publicly, as your rules, and don't have any other rules.

Guild Hall: See "Funding" above. This is part of the culture of your guild. Guilds vary.

Finally, keep in mind that many players stop playing Spiral Knights after a few months. So, even if your guild is strong now, it may not be strong in six months. Keep a stable of officers who can maintain a slow but steady trickle of recruiting. If your guild is weak, the consider merging with another weak guild. But view merging as a temporary fix. The merged guild is strong, but only for a few months, until it becomes weak again.

Tue, 03/26/2013 - 14:54

Eltia

Cooperstown, ND

Recruitment / Where to go, and what to ask of new members. Words of mouth, let guildies invite friends are best approach from experience.
Management / Dealing with inactive members, and/or disliked members. Members who are AWOL (Away WithOut Leave) will get auto kick after inactive for 30 calendar days. "Dislike" members, by who? The GM and Officer, or by everyone else? Generally speaking, avoid kicking people out of temper or differences. Setup the rules, communicate them clearly and give people leeway to learn the ropes. Then when someone still break the rules, you have a basis to prosecute them.
Funding / Every guild has it's fees, but what member is, truly, willing to actually donate their hard-earned cash? How do you get them to part with it? If you have a circle of dedicated members, you won't be asking this question (they will donate without asking). However, most guilds probably don't have the luxury, so the best practice I found is not to ask for membership fees but encourage people to donate. Let's face it, if joining a guild is becoming a financial burden, people will leave and you won't have a guild to collect fees for. If you corner them, they will lie to you or take a break when the membership fees is due.
Social / An active guild is one thing. A social guild is another. How do you meet a compromise? What do you impose on your members? Our guild has two modes: active and hiatus mode. During hiatus mode (which is in effect during down season like March), people are free to take a break, join another guild, etc, because the guild's management will be inactive. This usually happens when there are lack of contents and people are moving away from SK. During active mode, people will show up more often and the only restriction we impose is if you are AWOL for 30 calendar days or more, you will get auto kick.
Naming / Is the name of a guild THAT significant? Of course, a name like "im a noob" might not appeal, but what DOES appeal? "We expect places and products to be less attractive than in marketing brochures,
but we never forgive humans for being worse than their first impressions." Meditate on this and a new world awaits you.
Rules and consequences / Sure, you can go undisciplined; but is actually a good idea? Or should you impose rules that members might find "overwhelming". Have some basic rules in place but don't go too formal about it. We tell people to follow the SK Community Standards and that generally covers lots of ground.
The Guild Hall / Should it be pretty? Should it be functional? A bit of both? GH should reflect your guild's character. Are you a modest guild, or a guild with a huge ego to show off, to tell everyone on the server to "join me join me!"?

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Guild Success: Suggestions?