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Of Guilds and Guild Leaders

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Bailos
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:27 am Post subject: Of Guilds and Guild Leaders Reply with quote

“Of Guilds and Guild Leaders” Volume 1

Pomp and Circumstance

Freedom is a wonderful opportunity. The freedom to associate with those of whom you share similar play styles, live near each other in real life or people you may have met casually on a forum. Freedom to grab some friends, log in as your legendary, Holy Knight of Valor and charge headlong into a deep dungeon…the freedom to join in on a mission to a Champion Spawn to retrieve elusive Power Scrolls…but who runs these things? Those folks are your guild leaders; those who have taken up the mantle of responsibility to organize things for you to do as well as manage you as both an organization and as people. It is a task fit for the few and certainly not one to be taken lightly. Countless people have their shot at guild leadership, whether as a Guild Master or serving as an officer, but only a small percentage have the natural leadership abilities and know-how to run successful, long term guilds.

The guide I have presented to you in the following posts is an attempt at help; an effort to bring the common man somewhat up to par with those natural born leaders who seem to handle organizations with the utmost ease through the test of time.

My Disclaimer: I am but one man who hardly considers him self an expert. What I can offer you all however are my unbiased, [hopefully] largely accurate observations of countless leaders in the online gaming community over the last seven years. I will share both success stories and miserable failures with you in hopes that instead of rushing headlong into guild creation, you will take the careful time to consider your path and whether or not guild leadership truly is cut out for you.
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Bailos
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:27 am Post subject: Reply with quote

“Of Guilds and Guild Leaders” Volume 2

A Primer on Guild Creation

Everything starts with a dream, an idea and ambition. I know it really sounds simple and bland and downright cliché but it is totally true. There is no more surefire way to GM a destined failure than to simply create a guild, or say ‘I want to lead a guild’ and then just jump out of the gate and decide as you go.

There is a short formula of steps that you should keep in mind when wanting to craft your own guild. I will start broad, and narrow them down.
1) Get an idea
2) Come up with a mission statement and direction
3) Get an idea of your resources
4) Plan a structure to suit #2 and #3
5) Gather the Human Resources

Number One; Getting an Idea.
“Wouldn’t it be really cool if there was a hardcore group of barbarians around?” Something as simply put as that statement can be the launching point for an empire. You should never underestimate the value of your own ideas, especially the random ones. When you are ready to enter the ‘brainstorming’ phase keep paper with you at your computer and jot down some of the random, fantasy-based thoughts that run through that mill. No need for coherent, planned out notes, just scribble down fragments and abstract ideas. You will be able to look back on them later and arrange the pieces in your head and you may have more success thinking out ideas if you keep less structure to them and allow your mind to wander.

It is going to be important that you stick with ideas you are interested in. It is perfectly acceptable to cross out your ideas if you decide you are no longer fond of them. As a guild master, if you do not believe in what you are doing, it will be very apparent to those following you and everyone will lose interest sooner than later, and you will have completely wasted your time. So now that we have a bunch of ideas on paper and we have weeded some out…

Next we need to come up with some general concepts. Group some of your thoughts together by how similar they are. Start to condense things down and simplify them. Assuming this went well, for our purposes in this paper, we will keep with the idea of a barbarian’s guild and just leave it as that for now.

Number Two; a mission statement and direction.
So you have examined that messy piece of paper with the random thoughts and we have selected something along the lines of “a barbarian’s guild”. That’s fantastic! You officially have your first major concept! Not time to rest though…miles to go before we sleep, as one poet once said.

Having our foundation in place it is time to develop it and expand on our idea. Now it’s time for some critical thinking and I know just the way to get to that state of mind. Take a fresh piece of paper and write your brief guild concept in the middle. Start quizzing yourself about the guild and write down the questions on the piece of paper surrounding the main idea. “Where did we originate from?” “Why are we here now?” “What will we do now that we are here?” “Where do I see our first plan of action?” “Where will our base of operations be?” - Things and questions of that nature. Once we have our slew of questions ready we can go ahead and start trying to answer them. You can take a separate notebook or piece of paper and begin to answer the critical questions or you can think them through in your head, it really is just personal preference. What we are doing is starting to give depth and definition to your metaphorical blank canvas of a guild.

So let me take a minute and answer a couple of our theoretical question based on a Barbarian’s Guild…

Q: Why are we here now?
A: Our barbarian king was betrayed by his younger brother and exiled.

Q: Where are we located?
A: The snowy mountains of North Malas; they remind our leader of his home.

Q: What will be our overall goal?
A: To build a nation so that we may take revenge on those who have dishonored our king.

Now that we have some more definition to our guild and a tiny bit of back story in development we will move on. Don’t worry, we will come back to polish this section later.

Continued…
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Bailos
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:28 am Post subject: Reply with quote

“Of Guilds and Guild Leaders” Volume 3

A Primer, continued.

Number Three; evaluating resources.

Here comes our first subjective task and one of the more crucial. It is time to evaluate community and player resources.

If we want to create our guild of barbarians, it is obviously vital that we have people willing or wanting to indeed play barbarians. It is necessary to do a little fact finding, some behind the scenes work, to decide whether or not this is something people can stomach. It is not pivotal that people say “O.M.G. I want this!” It certainly helps, but as long as it doesn’t sound like your ideas are getting resistance people can learn to love what you are doing and grow into it. You will need to handle hardships –plenty- of times as a GM so you mine as well develop that skin now and learned to get over it if others do not fall head over heels for your plans.

So let us say, for the sake of our guide, that a moderately sized, active role playing community has only one or two active barbarian characters but several that could slide into the mold or would be willing to create a character…overall modest interest.

Our next point deserves an entire post all to itself so let’s move on.
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Bailos
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:28 am Post subject: Reply with quote

“Of Guilds and Guild Leaders” Volume 4

A Primer continued.

Number Four; Planning a Structure.

This is one point that the overwhelming majority of your guild will not care about but it can make or break you as an effective leader very easily. It is of the utmost importance that you develop at guild structure that makes sense, allows for advancement and is a fair evaluation of people’s hard work and efforts.

So how do we break down such a potentially massive thing as structure? Let’s start simple…How many people can we realistically anticipate? I’ve provided you with an example following this sentence. First we take into account the “moderate” size of our community where each serious guild averages 8-10 active, unique individuals. Secondly we must decide how big we think this guild can grow to be. How dedicated do I want to be? Third we assume we can at least match that and we will be optimistic and say we can muster 12 active people, just for argument’s sake.

Now it is time for Bailos’ handy organizational guidelines!

In my experience, no matter how good a leader you are, one person can absolutely not handle managing more than 16 different people or your attempts to lead become nothing more battles of attrition. It simply becomes an exercise in futility and the people below you will have to assume, after long enough, that you just don’t care and cannot give the guild your attention. It may not be correct, but that’s what it will likely look like.

Using my real life experience as well as my gaming experience, I can safely say the magic number is FOUR. ‘Four what?’ you might be asking…four people. One man or woman is able to handle four other people with 100% efficiency, 100% of the time, providing he doesn’t have too much in the way of other duties. The list goes on down, in groups of four. Each additional person gives you a loss in productivity. Using some fancy wraith-math, I have the follow number scheme for you.

>4 people Over Efficient, wasted efficiency
=4 people 100% efficiency
5 people 96.0% efficiency
6 people 87.0% efficiency
7 people 80.0% efficiency
8 people ~70.0% efficiency
12 people ~25.0% efficiency
16 people <10.0% efficiency, a.k.a. fruitless management

It is therefore vital, having looked at some numbers, that a GM surround themselves with people he/she can trust and would be willing to delegate responsibility to if you ever hope to grow beyond eight members or so. Following below is a breakdown of duties to the guild structure.
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Bailos
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:28 am Post subject: Reply with quote

“Of Guilds and Guild Leaders” volume 5, part 2

Notes on Guild Structure

Guild structure is such a hugely important facet of your live as a GM that it deserves yet another post, dedicated to giving you some tips on how to run the best possible organization. This one will give you some tips on rules that you can set up to avoid self destruction.

As I have seen plenty of times, guilds that fight within themselves ultimately fail. There is no skirting around it. In 75% + of these cases, the infighting occurs not because of overly aggressive people or “bad eggs” but because the structure encouraged these mishaps. Time for an example…

During November/December/January of 2004-2005, the Order of the Ebon Skull was experiencing bulging membership. The guild peaked at this time with nearly 16 fully active members and a guild roster of about 40 total members. The way the Order was set up, duties were divided based on character play style. Due to the nature of the guild and its structure, members were encouraged to use zealot like vigor in their duties to the point where, although it was just role play, they would turn their “duties” on each other. In and of its self, this is a harmless activity which can potentially do no more damage than provide some excellent interaction; unfortunately the odds of that happening are…sickly to say the least.

What did happen is people were hurt as people by actions taken in game and took role play elements personally. Considering these people saw each other on a regular basis as guild mates, these wounds they had dealt each other started to fester. It didn’t take long before, although “justified” by role play reasons, people started to look for avenues of revenge on their guild mates. Many layers of the guild structure broke down, including management, as there was also a failure to take the proper corrective actions and hand out discipline.

To make a long story short, this series of events started a long chain of ever worsening drama and while the guild hung around for another entire year, well…the damage was done and there was never a recover. The guild no longer exists and that chapter of its history is a major contributing reason.

So what can you do to correct or prevent this? To put it simply, you must provide the best environment possible for your guild members to work together to target outside forces. If you fail to do this, they will without a doubt eventually turn inward looking for action. If you allow guild members to turn inward, any structural and personality flaws already present will be amplified several times. “A house divided against itself cannot stand” is the historic cliché that comes to mind. Targeting outside forces allows people to rally together for a common goal; a chance to rally behind their leader and build that bonding.

Let us not neglect developing intra-guild bonds. It is wrong to assume that I mean for you to never make use of activities for just your own guild members. Carrying out activities designed for only people in your group is a must if you ever hope to be a serious, long standing organization. Just be certain to invite everyone of course. You’re only inviting resentment otherwise.

So to summarize…setup a structure that does not give any duties “against” other guild members. Assign duties that promote each other and also make sure that as a guild, your efforts can be focused on an external target or enemy and not yourselves.
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Bailos
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:29 am Post subject: Reply with quote

“Of Guilds and Guild Leaders” volume 5

A Primer continued

Breakdown of guild roles;

GM – Your strategic thinker. Should be responsible for keeping the entire guild in the direction it was designed. Decides what goals the guild needs to get to and what general approach the guild should be taking to achieve it. In terms of people, he/she is directly responsible for guild discipline, trust me when I say people do not like to be punished by others that they do not look to as a leader. Scope of control includes everyone, but they typically deal with only close advisors and those of rank.

Close Advisors – Responsible for checking the GM’s power and making sure he/she doesn’t do anything stupid. These people are most likely friends of the GM on some level and should therefore be on good enough terms to speak their mind with one another and be able to freely discuss guild plans. Close advisors are your tactical thinkers. They take the strategic goals passed down from the GM and figure out how to apply them more practically. Each advisor can be responsible for a group of 2-4 “officers” beneath them and maintain 100% efficiency in addition to their other duties.

Top officers – Your go to people. The self motivated folks who show up for all your events, keep their head on their shoulders, don’t do stupid things to embarrass the guild and are generally good and respected people. While these folks may not directly influence guild goals, they should be trusted enough to influence policy and act as liaisons between lower newbie guild members, and the top tier management. Generally report to closer advisors and GMs. Usually responsible for a “pod” of four people directly beneath them, but can handle more if you’d like. Their duties outside of the people below them are typically limited.

The Middle men; the meat of the sandwich. These people generally keep things moving strong. They will be your largest player base and most consistently active. Casual gamers not hardcore enough to make the leap to top management, but plenty capable of adding to the guild experience. Their primary goal as a middle man is to take orders. They will report to top officers and let them know of guild issues, complaints and expectations so the top officers can then pass them on to management. No one reports to them but they do have a duty to help out less experienced or unknowledgeable guild mates which is usually based on maturity and length of service.

Newbie guild mates. These people are new, they know it and it shows. This is the rank your problem children will stay at and your guild-hoppers will be mired in. A newbie rank with solid minimum time is CRUCIAL to preventing bad seeds from getting in. If you simply allow every in as full members, it WILL come back to bite you in the butt, squarely, one day or another. A good amount of time is usually two-four weeks. Two-four weeks as a newbie rank to decide if they will fit in the organization and if they are worth the effort. Two-four weeks to prove they shouldn’t be thrown away. They have no duties except to show up frequently, take orders and learn. Encourage them to ask questions. I should also add that it is really mean to make people undergo some big quest to leave the newbie stone. Give them their reward for sticking with you this long and promote them to full member. Let them decide on their own if they want to seek advancement by undertaking additional duties and tasks, don’t force it on them.

So going by those basic structural guidelines we have allowed for a ton of members, while still maintaining 100% efficiency where it counts. Using my model, here’s how the structure would break down under “maximum” conditions. Running tally follows

GM (1)
4 Advisors (5)
4 officers for each advisor, total of 16 (21)
6-8 middlemen/newbies reporting to each officer, range of 45-53 (66-74)

So as you can see, we could maintain optimum flow for about 70 people if you stick with a balances structure.
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Bailos
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:29 am Post subject: Reply with quote

“Of Guilds and Guild Leader” volume 6

Gathering Human Resources

Number Five; getting personnel.
You can have the most streamlined, effective structure in the universe, but if you fill your guild with monkeys and jackasses it will never get off the ground. There are two, legitimate options you can evaluate when you are ready to open your doors and start getting members. One step takes longer, the other while faster, seems less intelligent.

(Option One or the Top Down method) Your first task is to approach a few close friends who hopefully don’t have much of a guild affiliation. Approach them with what you have, and hopefully they will be interested and you can talk them into helping you. Use this circle of people you trust to put them into an “unofficial” ring of advisors. Why did I say unofficial? Well, while these people are your friends we have to think realistically if we want to succeed and we just do not know if they are capable leaders. Why would you want to put someone unfit in a position of leadership? If they happen to be capable on their own of leadership or if they prove themselves well to you then you are more than welcomed to bring them into an official position of power. I can safely tell you that no one with their head screwed on right will be happy to see you strong arm your close friends into authority when they have no right to be there. We have a word for that sort of behavior by a leader, and it is called nepotism…and yes, it’s frowned on.

So now that we have our ring of unofficial advisors, we can open up general access and go out to recruit.

(Option Two of the ‘Bottoms Up!’ method) In this style of management the GM still needs to keep a formal support network by talking to a few friends and discussing things with them. The difference here is that you don’t ask these people to help you in an official capacity and you merely ask them for advice; sort of like calling your parent in real life and asking them what you should do…you don’t want them to do it for you, but you respect their opinions none the less. Having counseled with your friends, you can then open up the gates and begin recruiting from the ground up, appointing people that seem to have inherent leadership ability to lead those “pods” I mentioned earlier. No need to go ahead and assign officers…people need to earn their ranks and the guild will stay small enough for you to manage on your own for awhile. Remember that efficiency chart?
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Bailos
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:29 am Post subject: Reply with quote

“Of Guild and Guild Leaders” volume 7

Recruiting

Like the title says, in this post I will hopefully give you some very broad tips on how to start a moderately effective recruiting drive and keep you away from some tragic errors.

Step One: Where are the people at? You need to know where you want to target, where the people will be to target. You may have the best deal in town but if no one sees you advertising then no one can possibly join. This requires some knowledge on your own and a friend network. Start posting messages about recruiting across populated forums, starting leaving books in game, start making some in game announcements during down time.

Step Two: Be creative in your advertising. People will not notice bland things littered about. They need to see your text, see a unique approach. None of that “Guild recruiting, PM me for details” stuff posted on the forums. Be bold. Tell them everything they need to know to understand what you are and what it is you want to do and what sort of experience you plan to provide them. If they have any additional questions, and hopefully they will, be ready to answer them.

Step Three: Let them see you and your members care. Don’t be afraid to let them know what you do and who you do it with. People love to see enthusiasm, they really do. If you are excited about what you are trying to do it is completely infectious and everyone else around you, both in your guild and out, can be inspired by this.

Step Four: Have the common sense to design a rite of initiation. It’s somewhat insulting after all that fanfare to just say “ok I’ll join” then the other person simply sends you the guild invite, exchanges ICQ #s with you, and then that’s it until the next time. Invite your recruits to a formal ceremony to acknowledge their joining. Give them a chance to feel like it’s their moment for awhile. As another helpful hint, please make sure you can come close to maximizing attendance for this event, do whatever it takes to make that happen and it can go a long ways.

Step Five: Check up on the recruits. Don’t just let them fall into the system. Be certain that the people you recruit stay happy early and are not forgotten about. If you allow people to slip through the cracks directly because they feel ignored and out of the group, you will never succeed. You don’t need to tuck them in and read them a story every night, but periodic evaluations and chats with them about how they are doing as guild members and people can go miles.
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Bailos
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:30 am Post subject: Reply with quote

“Of Guilds and Guild Leaders”

Closing Notes

“Ok Bailos, you’ve said a lot and covered dozens of key points, but why did you leave out so many details?”

That’s a fantastic question. To answer it frankly, there are simply too many different variables that become unique to each guild for me to blanket them all. The more broad my concepts are the better chance I have of making sure my advice can apply to you. As it is written, the concepts I have for you apply to every alignment and every class in our fantasy setting. I could certainly write advanced guides geared more specifically to different alignments and themes but I do not look forward to carpel tunnel syndrome so I have left it as what you have read.

Another point I would like to add to this; what I have written for you is only a short guide to aid you in “getting off the ground” with your guild. The most difficult and intense part of guild management is actually starting the darn thing. If you can get yourself a good, solid recruiting foundation you are setting yourself up for nothing short of success. Having a well laid foundation will ensure that you can keep kicking for many months.

Please remember that not everyone is a guild leader. There really are some people that have no clue how to manage others and should never be allowed to try and lead a group. The trouble is everyone loves to feel important and they all want their shot but we need to temper ourselves with a bit of humility and recognize when we are in over our heads. Power in the hands of the unfit is a terrible waste of opportunity and time.

So having said that, should you be scared about being a GM? Heavens no! Look forward to the chance to make your mark, if Guild Leadership is right for you. You don’t need to “do things right” to be successful, you just need to avoid doing them wrong.

Finally, there is no substitute for the natural ability to lead and good old fashioned creativity but that doesn’t mean everyone is shutout. Things will not come easily for many of us and we probably will not see the success we had hoped for. Best advice I can give is for you to keep a thick skin, keep your chin up and recognize that things may not go along very fast for awhile and that you may need a few days…weeks…months to come up with really good ideas. It’s ok to take that time. Rome was not built in a day…I would know, I was there.
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Bailos
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:30 am Post subject: Reply with quote

I’d like to thank all of you that made it through this entire post in its many volumes…my primer on guild creation. As I stated in my introduction, I am but one man who happens to have been around for awhile. I hardly consider myself a leading expert on the subject I have covered but I do hope that the rest of the community and those outside it can benefit from my experiences in at least a small way. Uncertainty and doubt can cripple even the strongest and best suited candidates and I hope I have erased some of that today. Good luck with your new guild.
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