Assuming that the first GW2 player exodus has occurred and players have departed due to pandas, disappointment, boredom, ennui, et al, AND -
Assuming that the majority of us have founded guilds based on the premise that real relationships are important and we foster them through a casual, mature environment AND -
Assuming that many of us have rosters larger than our actual player concurrency but still hold guild upgrades, a bank of unspent influence and a core of great people that we enjoy playing with -
Then what the hell do we do in lieu of remaining 1,000 smaller guilds of compatible players? None of us wish to give up on what we created with our friends, but cross-guilding doesn’t seem to be a solution. Nor is there a true alliance mechanism that provides some sort of benefit to member guilds.
I want a guild that is larger than what I have, but I cannot quite get to a critical mass of players to keep things rolling along. I may soon, however, have to acknowledge that my own erratic schedule is leaving a leadership vacuum and it’s not fair to the members of my guild.
How are you facing this? Please share your thoughts and refrain from outright recruitment posts. I’d love to explore solutions for getting around the microguild syndrome.
You’ve just got to be patient.
Me and my IRL friends formed a guild that didn’t really go anywhere for ages. We kept at it, kept to our ideals of quality over quantity and while we’re still not big by any means we’ve grown to a solid 25 people with about 7/8 on TS every night.
If you feel you’re leading a leadership hole, do you have anyone you trust that could also fill a similar role while you’re not there? If you don’t want to promote them to your rank (for obvious reasons) you could create a rank below yours “Right hand man” or something with all the same privileges and let them run things in the times you’re not there?
The good thing with our leadership structure is there’s 4 of us (and while one doesn’t play much at the moment cause he’s a dev for black mesa) the other three of us pretty much cover most periods of the day, so we’re always able to arrange something or other.
Keep fighting for it. Our guild is finally doing great and we have recruits coming our way without having to spam in game and forum posting every week. Like the poster above we believe in quality over quantity and even assume our guilds are very similar, but seeing we both are not after the real big numbers we can happily exist next to eachother (we also play on Desolation). I find a lot of new players are still coming into this game. Even if only 1 player out of the 3 you recruited stays and plays on a regular basis you are growing. And once word of mouth starts to roll, they bring in their family members and friends and your guild is happily expanding to the size you are comfortable with.
A few things that worked for us:
1. Create guild events early on. Even a simple guild meet up for screenshots and a game of keg brawl can help a lot.
2. Explain to your members where you want to go with your guild. I openly told them how many members I was aiming for and working towards. This helps players to stay when they see the guild has a future and they can help build it.
3. For small guilds you really want people to represent you. A player not representing reflects very negatively on a guild in this situation.
4. Recruit here on the forums. I find it very efficient to reply to a post of someone looking for a guild that seems to fit in really well. Here also be open about what you have to offer now and what you want to offer soon. More people than the OP read your post and you can even recruit a few more that way (once had 3 people applying after responding to one OP). Also here you can recruit players from another server. I also find that forum posters and browser stay with you longer. They put in the effort and want to play the game longer than people responding to your ingame recruitment message.
5. Kick inactive players. A big roster with noone logging looks worse than a small roster of who a lot are active.
I don’t believe in the mass exodus. Sure we lost quite a few members, but we did manage to grow. Some people will become bored with the game and stop playing. To me it looked like mainly those we recruited in game and who levelled a character to 80 first to find nothing else to do at level 80 and then try out a few alts stopped playing. As said, a lot of new players are still coming into the game as well.
(edited by Esya.3427)
See this post as well….
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/guilds/guilds/Are-Servers-Saturated-w-Guilds/first#post380575
I’m experiencing almost all the same things Turpenstein.
We’re fairly niche, so we didn’t expect or want to become big, but we do need more members. I also don’t recruit via map chat so it’s 80% forums or virtually running into players in-game.
The forums aren’t working like they used to for us (at least in part due to Mega Myth’s guild saturation link), so I’m looking to recruit more in-game without /m. Yesterday I upped rank for certain members who had interest in recruiting – not as a responsibility, but on the chance they run into a good fit. Still, so many players already have guild tags.. I don’t have a lot of faith in this. We’ll see.
But yeah, I feel we’re getting tighter and have invested a lot of influence now (a lot for us, that is). I don’t see us merging. We’re trying the patience route :]
Glad you posted this. You should really read this post.
Merging and having an open mind to change your own ideas and mix them with another persons ideas might be the way to do, as humans we are driven to adapt and even at times work with others to survive and grow.
[IMG]http://i48.tinypic.com/15f6i3q.png[/IMG]
[media=youtube]IfnUERhyhiY[/media]
[U][B]About CGU[/B][/U] :
CGU (Crimson Guards United) Gaming has been established since 2003. Our goal has been aimed towards uniting friends and expanding our game play on multiple gaming platforms.
[B][U]Ways To Contact Us[/U][/B] :
Website : www.cgunited.net
Ventrilo : IP – cgunited.maxfrag.net Port – 3883
E-mail : cgunitedgaming@gmail.com
Also Try : YouTube, FaceBook, Twitter, Steam
[U][B]What CGU offers[/B][/U] :
- A Ventrilo Server
- The opportunity to network with a wide range of diverse gamer’s
- In-game Events
- A well organized group of leaders to help strengthen your abilities as a member and a gamer
[U][B]What do we ask from you[/B][/U] :
- Be active for our weekly meetings
- 15+ years of age
- Please have a headset/mic to communicate with (exceptions may be made)
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions
[U][B]How to apply [/B][/U]:
Come on our Ventrilo server and speak with a admin with the title G.C. (Global Council)
Ventrilo : IP – cgunited.maxfrag.net Port – 3883
I’ve also added this suggestion with the intent of adding some benefits and incentive to merging guilds. If anyone likes the idea perhaps you can fuel the fire some.
OP, I’m not sure my situation is any where near yours but I’ll go ahead and chime in for some possible perspective. This is only my opinion. I back those in this thread that want to keep their small guilds alive.
As to my background, I’ve been the leader of my guild since 2008. We have “officially” played in games which feature a heavy RvR or OWPVP component as that is our focus. My guild remains quite small.
Don’t settle for less than the type of guild you want to create. Merging is a bad idea unless the guild you merge with truly is made of members you’d want in your own guild. Otherwise you will end up with a situation where some are not happy, and if you try to please everybody you will only stress yourself out (and quite probably others). You may also find that tailoring your guild to make everyone happy dilutes the focus, purpose, and goals of your guild. Don’t just be another guild; be something special.
There are so many guilds out there with no focus or common ground among their members. That is not necessarily a bad thing (for most people, obviously) but if you have an idea of where you want your guild to go then define for yourself and your current members what exactly it is you want, and what types of people you want to attract. Identify all the things you agree on as a guild and build around that. Then highlight these attributes in your recruiting. Your guild will not be for everybody, but those that are looking for exactly what you have will eventually find you, and you will fill your guild with the “right” members.
If you do consider a merge, then define your guild first, then meet with potential guild leaders and compare notes. Interview them about all of the things that are important to you as a guild.
I happen to be OCD about clearing out the roster of the less-than-dedicated, so my guild remains quite small. After four years, our core is still around and we’ve picked up a few dedicated members along the way. We have a close bond and we are all on the same page about what we want out of our guild.
To answer the last question: How are you facing this?
It’s pretty straight forward for us. We can certainly WvW with only a few people if we have to and have fun doing it, though we usually field about 4-8 (sometimes more). We communicate with other guilds in WvW if we want to join in their efforts, or just fit in where we think best based on what others are doing. If we have to run a dungeon, we fill it with pugs. We are WvW focused, so that doesn’t bother us too much.
Anyway, not saying my way is right, just giving one possible perspective. Good luck.
I agree with a lot of what Helspyre above said. I’d like to add a few more things.
I’m not particularly concerned about the fact that my guild is a small one. Not now.
The game is still relatively new, and players are going to drop off in the next month. There will be the people who got it when it came out, were excited and then got bored once they leveled their main and alts to 80 or close to. Then, there’s going to be the casual gamers who have just picked it up recently, they’re going to play for a month and decide it is not for them. So players are going to drop off and guilds are going to disband. It’s bound to happen. It happens every time with a new MMO. I’m not concerned, because I know that the members I have in my guild are here for the long haul. We’ll still be here once the others break up.
As a Guild Leader, what I’m looking ahead at is Christmas. Our guild is more of the 30+ age range, members with families. A lot of these kinds of gamers are not going to be getting in game until then. If you’re paid bi-weekly, you only have 5 paycheques until Christmas, which isn’t a lot for families. A lot of the older gamers will be receiving the game as gifts, and that’s when guilds aiming for an older membership will see an influx in their ranks. Guilds with younger memberships will see an influx of new players too.
So, do I think there are way too many guilds which makes it harder for guilds to grow? Yes, I do, but I think they’ll peter out. Give it five months or so. In that time, the people who don’t want to play it will leave, more guilds will disband and everything will level out. Right now it’s just excitement.
(edited by MimiMerlot.8145)
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