Auto-Designated Guild Leader: A Warning

OK - I want to warn all of you Guild Leaders out there. Log in to your accounts BEFORE 30 days is up otherwise you'll lose your leadership.

In fact, they say 30 days, but I would say it's more like 21. The irony in my case is that the leadership has been allocated to somebody who hasn't logged on in over 30 days!!!

Read more here: http://www.v1sor.com/ - especially about the battle that I am having with NCSoft and their inability to reverse what is an extremely bad decision by their system.

Annoyed...

Dural Ravenstar
Guild Leader Nefarius Doom [nD] (or at least I was...)

Have known about this for quite some time. As far as I'm concerned I wouldn't want a leader who was AFK for a month. Not sure how they allocate the new leader, but it sure doesn't make sense to give it to someone else who doesn't log on.

Yeah, most guilds expect their leader to be on every day, let alone taking several month long breaks. Maybe leading a guild isn't for you if your not going to play actively.

I have heard about cases like this. I guess this system is in place so that the guild has an active leader. Unfortunately, when the guild leader hasn't been active, the position goes to the most senior officer, so activity has nothing to do with why that other person received the leadership role.
This may or may not be possible in your situation, but I would suggest having a real good officer friend that you can trust to be active and handle your guild well if you have to take a long leave of absence. That way you can give him/her the leader spot while you're gone. Other than that, I hope someone else can give a good suggestion as to how to handle this situation when RL takes you away from the game.

Unfortunately, the system seems to be somewhat - random.

I have an Assistant Guild Leader who *should* have been promoted, when in fact it was someone who hasn't been "seen" by the Guild for over a year...

My daily job means that I can't play as much as I'd like - I guess that is a crime. I can see what some people mean by not being a Guild Leader, but my Guild isn't one of these GvG PvP types - we're just a bunch of people who got to know each other online. More like a social network if you like.

Problem is, this network has a few communication kinks...ho hum.

Anyway - I challenge you to find ANYWHERE on the GuildWars webpages information pertaining to this "feature". It's not mentioned - but it does happen.

DR

It's a pretty awesome system I think since 1 month usually means you aren't fit to lead a guild. If you are going away for a long term you can pass the guild leadership onto a trusted officer. Also, this is documented on the website - I know, I have researched it when I messed up on the rooster once.

First off - this isn't a flame, ok?

1. I wasn't away for a month.
2. I would imagine that there are lots of similar Guilds to ours - does that make all of those "leaders" unfit too?
3. I don't see my manager at work for months on end. Does that mean that he shouldn't be my manager?

DR

http://uk.support.plaync.com/cgi-bin...& p_topview=1
Well it's two months and that was in effect when I messed up.

Well, let's look at the reasons for this:
If someone is away for a long time they really should just hand over leadership to someone trusted who logs in every now and then. Most guilds do die when the leader is absent.

Also, in the case of messups like mine you end up having a pretty big problem when you have an inactive leader. If the leader just quits playing the game without handing over leadership you end up with a guild with (possibly) active members with a guild hall with purchased services, but no way of actually taking control of it so you can manage members, promote people and so on.

I'm guessing your manager at work has someone who can exercise his administrative tasks when he is away. In terms, handing over the leadership.

But of course, if this was less two months of inactivity there's something odd going on.

edit: oh and the person who gets leadership handed over is the guy who has been in the guild the longest and has the highest rank. The inactive member was an officer? Anyhow, it will soon sort itself out again.

First off - thanks for finding that link. That is actually very helpful!

I've noted a lot of stuff on my site - so I won't repeat it here. Suffice to say that the leadership should have gone to somebody who has been assigned that task, and it hasn't. In fact, it's entirely random.

Oh - and it's always been a lot less than 30 days. Or 60, for that matter.

Anyhow - this isn't really a discussion regarding the rights and wrongs of Guild Leadership (or lack of), but more of a "Watch out - you might be next" thread.

I'm starting to wish I hadn't spent all that money on the collectors editions now since my dealings with "Customer Support".

DR

What if you are having personal problems in real life like say unemployment or health problems like being the hospital.That doesn't mean some make some unfit to lead a guild and there could be other reasons say marriage.There are some who lose their internet connection for awhile if money is tight and iit is the least important utility.

Steal an idea from D&D online:

Mutiny button system.

The leader sets a second in command.

If the leader doesnt log in within 30 days, the mutiny button lights up for the second in command.

The second in command is now leader.

Being "fit to run a guild" isn't something that's set permanently like your skin color. It changes with your life. Obviously, to "be fit" to be the leader of a group of people in an online game, then you need to be online right? You're just wasting your breath if you try to justify why you aren't. If you can't afford your internet connection and cancel it, you're not fit to run an internet guild until you get the internet connection back.

"Fidel Castro didn't temporarily transfer leadership to his brother, since he's still fit to lead the country. He's just completely bedridden, that's all."

What if they refuse to give it back to you once you get back online or even kick you out of the Guild altogether.

Very hypothetical, and I would say it depends on your guild and their loyalty. I would be willing to say that with my guild if I were to leave and start a new guild most of them would follow. But such would not be necessary as all my officers are trusted and I'm sure they would be more than willing to re-instate me as leader.

Good grief!

For fear of repeating myself (and I know I am)...
Something that I must get across is this. This is more of a social network kind of thing rather than a "I lead, you follow" type of affair, so with all due respect, being fit to "lead a Guild" is neither here nor there.

If we were a Guild with a large group of people, who GvG PvP on a (semi) regular basis, then so be it - I wouldn't have an issue with that at all. But because of the structure of the Guild itself, and the fact that I pretty much set it up - Guild Hall and all - with 99% funding from myself, means that it's a bit of wrench.

The reason this is an issue is because none of us play 24/7 - and in the case of the automatically promoted member - he hasn't been on in a month, and there is no way of contacting him to rectify the situation (nobody in the Guild has seen him for the best part of a year - we all seem to cross in the ether, so to speak).

If I was to remove permissions to a folder at work - WITHOUT TELLING THE PERSON CONCERNED - I would be fired (most likely). Now, I know that probably wasn't the best analogy, but I hope you get my meaning?

DR

First of all It IS 2 months, I was in a guild that set there with an inactive leader for well over 1 month. (The last logged in date was at "1 month" for a few weeks).

I will say, if you got demoted before 1 month - It is a glitch in the system. But maybe you THINK it was less than a month...but time really does fly. I've had several instances where I thought..Well I havent been on in a day or two - only to see that my last login date was over a week prior. Thats the only insight I can see...

Secondly - They dont autopromtoe any officer thats been inactive for as long as the leader that was demoted. Dont worry.

Thirdly - As soon as That officer hits his inactive limit like you did - He will be auto-demoted just like you were and since you formed the guild - you are obviously the senior officer and will just get your position right back.

Anyway, if its just a friendly "Group, no will leads" community....who cares who has the highest name on the page (I know plenty of guilds that just let the mmost active person be leader)...You said yourself that the leader position really didnt matter. Then you turned that right around and said "and the fact that I pretty much set it up - Guild Hall and all - with 99% funding from myself, means that it's a bit of wrench." - Meaning you twisted your own words around and the Leadership spot does matter to you...Too which I say "Well Then, you should have cared more about logging in and keeping that spot.."

Dont come back with the excuses like "I work, I cant play 24/7"....24/7....All thats required to be "active" is you logging in FOR ONE SECOND every SIXTY DAYS.

BTW, your analogy is wrong, More like, "If the manager didnt show up for work for 2 months, He'd be fired and replaced."

Anyway...I'm getting frustrated with this topic..I'll just leave you with this...When that guy hits 2 months of inactivity you'll get your guild back..

Heh, I remember when I was inactive for many months without a playable internet connection (can anyone say 16.8kbs?). It would sometimes take me 14 hours to download a larger update to the game so I decided it would be better if I handed over leadership of my guild to my second in command. Problem was, she didn't want it. So I asked my next highest ranking, and trusted, officer. He didn't want it either.

Then came the "intervention." Talking in an all officer MSN chat one night they confessed that they couldn't imagine the guild being run by anyone else. No matter how hard I tried to convince them that it was only temporary and once my internet was reestablished I'd be back they would have no part of it.

They forced me to endure long downloads just to log on every couple weeks in order for my name to stay in the Guild Leader slot. That way the guild they knew and loved wouldn't change.

The moral of the story? I guess there isn't one really. But keep this story in mind when you're looking at your guild. Sometimes those in the guild care more about maintaining a comfortable, familiar atmosphere than having an active leader.

P.S. On the upside of things, all the downtime gave me an excuse to revamp the guild website.

v1sor I know what ya mean. I've been in guilds where it isn't about who is leading and who isn't. Hell my guild now, the officers setup and "lead" just as much as the leader. We are just an easy going guild that occassionally likes to pve or pvp together. Our leader is leader cause he put it all together, maintains the website, and has our vent server. Not to mention he is a nice guy and we wouldn't have it any other way.... (in case he reads )

People just don't always understand that all guilds aren't like theirs :S Hope you get it worked out.... or at least maybe in a month or two when the appointed leader is still inactive it might kick in again.

Add a note to the guild announcements asking the new guild leader to kindly designate you leader again. IMO, you've got nothing to lose by doing so.

Maybe you guys didn't read the link in the OP's original post. He had been demoted several times due to inactivity. If he didn't get the hint the first time, then maybe he shouldn't be leading a guild at all.