I was recently named leader of my small guild. This is a guild that has been around in one incarnation or another since Prophecies made its debut. But like all guilds, it has evolved. Nearly all of the original members and officers (including the previous leader) have gone on to WoW or other interests, but a handful of us remain perfectly happy with GW. We want to continue with the guild.
It so happens that the guild is part of a larger gaming community...I discussed this in the "introduce your guild" thread. Like the guild itself, the website/IRC community is something I've been a part of since the beginning, and I'd like to do all I can to help these communities grow.
So now we come to it. I'm reaching out to leaders of successful guilds to hopefully learn a few things about leadership. My wish is to build the guild up, increase activity on the website/IRC, perhaps even form our own alliance one day. But I know this takes work, patience, and perseverance, and nobody does it alone. I've got good officers and enough experience to know what works and what does not.
When I say "successful", I'm thinking of guilds where everyone is happy, active, and working together. Because when you have that, everything else follows. And I know those guilds are out there, because I've PUG'ed with your members (possibly even the leaders) many times. They're always calm, cool, collected, and having a great time. They're knowledgeable and helpful without being arrogant. They're courteous and friendly, even during PvP.
That's the sort of guild I'd like to nurture and help grow. I've got a good start with our officers and members, but there are too few of us who are active. I learned firsthand that you don't recklessly recruit every random guildless soul you see...and there's no need for that. There are plenty of good players out there that would be happy with us, and that we would enjoy having.
So...what do you all look for when recruiting? So far the best candidates I've seen are usually right here on these and other forums, searching for a guild to call home. I'm sure they're also out there in the gameworld, wandering through outposts and PUGging in hopes of finding the best fit for themselves.
We need to find them, and they need to find us. Any advice on how best to accomplish this would be very humbly welcomed...and thanks for taking the time to read this.
Tanith
