Maltare's tips for starting a guild

This is a really great post. (*sticky* - hint, hint!)

Read Machiavelli's "The Prince".

This is the reason I am the designated recruiter/kicker for my guild.

This is a GREAT POST Maltare!

Every point you made was dead on. I'm actually 1/4 of the guild leadership in my guild, but I've taken the lead role here in GW. The other 3 are officers since there is no other way to designate them. I can say the part about being the guy who does the majority of the recruiting and party making was right on the mark. I find myself often speanding an entire day once per week just on recruiting.

Also since I am one of the most active people I'm always going back and helping people get through missions I've done a bunch of times before...

Anyway, I agree with what someone else said... this post needs a STICKY!

(bump)

Dont recruit ignorant w/mos

<bump>

*bump*

Will someone just sticky this already? :P

And thanks Maltare

Great post, Matare!

14. Be picky about who you recruit. Recruiting the wrong people is the fastest possible way to ruin your guild. Take your time to screen people and find out if they actually fit into your ranks. Don't ever blind invite people. Talk to them first! Explain what your guild is all about, where its strengths are (maybe PvP or PvE or both), maybe where its weaknesses are (be open about the fact that your guild is rank #7,000 if you don't care about rank anyway) and most important: what kind of people you are looking for. Don't recruit 1337 sp34kers if the rest of your guild is age 30+. Don't recruit competitive PvPers if the rest of your guild is fun oriented. And so on. Make sure your new recruits are a good match to the existing members. Don't try to lure people with items or gold as this pretty much guarantees that you will be getting people you don't want to have in your guild. If someone insists to be promoted to officer right away, let them go. Set up a code of conduct for your guild and ask possible new recruits if they feel being able to follow them. And last but not least. Do a test run with them - this will help both of you to figure out if you want to be guild mates or not.

Excellent post Maltare.

Sticky!

Nice post Maltare =D

I agree with pretty much everyone who posted here.. Nice post and sticky it already ^^

It's come at the right time for me though, i usually end up resorting to "Who's desperate enough to join a guild with FIVE WHOLE MEMBERS? We have cape + hall" and believe it or not, it works more then a serious recruitment message.

Great tips Maltare! I have been in a few guilds before, and I find organisation one of the biggest problems in guilds. I am currently the acting guild leader (as senior most officer) of my guild, because my guild leader will be on sporadic for a while due to real life hitting hard. We don't think this as a problem, as we have a good amount of officers on any day.
Problem I know face is dealing with the accidental rotten apple to join our rich guild dish. I have put the issue for my council of officers, and I let the majority decide (I'm not the leader, only acting as one - I need those officers to help me, and they are all picked for their abilities as officer). Right now I have one member on his last warning (great tip on code of conduct!), but I wish for ways to get members more involved in the guild, its forum etc. So how to organise a succesfull guild event? We tried planning and setting a date in the past, but we found that less players would be on than during random nights. Should we try again for planning? Or are there other ways?

Thank you for your sage advice!

And indeed Marodac is a guy that anybody can depend on for anything. Trustworthy and intelligent, among a group of superb officers that make me proud to be part of my Guild.

Organisation can be achieved by giving a nudge for others to tag along. I would say that I want a Titan quest done and I will make an announcement that at i.e. Sunday 8pm I will tackle it. Most players I find, will be there around that time give or take 30 mins so if anybody wants to tag along they may.

Also spur of the moment little trips depending on how many are online can be easily assessed....6-7 online...? Lets do FoW or take them through Thunderhead Keep...all depends on the climate but have to be able to read the general mood of the people there and then.

Bad apples.

Step 1: Issue private, warning explaining reasons.

Step 2: Issue public warning to identify the culprit and his misbehaviour to the rest.

Step 3: Ban him. Don't feel bad. Don't regret your decision. Ignore his whispers as you are protecting a lot more people by standing by your decisions. "Cut off the head, and the body of the problem will perish".

I do urge you not to be hasty in your decisions and get all the facts straight first maybe by talking to another officer. Considering all in all so far, i would say that although "Bad apples" have appeared we have been fortunate enough in our guild to route them out quite fast. If you are an officer or even worse a leader and you have a "vision" of how you want your guild to be, and you are confident that you are with like minded people, do not suffer fools...people know what they are doing so if you don't call their bluff, you ll end up being their fool.....

Protect Your Guild and Fight for it So it Becomes What You Want It to Be!

Cov

much of what was covered in the post by maltare is what my guild excersises, my self and one other officer almost lead the entire guild right now, in my opinion, the true key to having a succesful guild is knowing how your guild members play, what they do well, what they do poorly, and their goals. If you (the leader) and your officers stay in touch with the guild and know what they are all about, then you can help out the entire guild much more.

Also a problem that has stricken my guild many times is when a player joins the guild in hopes that the leader and officers will give him/her money/runs/items/etc. Members.... dont do this to your guild. There is nothing wrong with asking for something but a leader can only help you out so much. I reccomend to you leaders that you do not let this go on more than a day. If it does tell the person to stop and if they continue, kick them.

great Guide, free bump

On Recruiting:

I feel that anyone who says that a guild has to be a certin way to join is automaticly off my list, as they are inflexable

I feel that anyone who says they play 1 class and only one class is off my list, as they are inflexable

I feel that anyone who says "whats in it for me" that has little or nothing to bring to the guild is off my list, as they will usually beg and pester then leave the guild for another guild.

If your not mature I will never invite you. Maturity means state of mind rather then age.

Personally i dont feel any one member or potiential member is good enough to sacrafice my current members. When i recruit, i look for people that would fit in, be helpfull, and are looking for a guild, rather then a new chat client. If you browse the forums for people looking for a guild you can find the "i'm rank 5 and expect to gvg everyday or i'm gone, and i only play a warrior monk or ranger" these people do not belong in my guild as they are ebay bought characters, or uptight assholes who generally rage quit. Then complain to the guild about losing, lowering moral.

If you don't have a since of humor, i will never accept you.

What i look for, is flexability, activity, brains and lastly true expierence.

True expierence in my eyes, are people that have activly pvp'ed or pve'ed in other games. If i'm aiming for a pvp'er, and they where on mordred of DAOC, i would consider that an expierenced player, if they said they have been pvping for 5 months on guild wars, i would consider that person a newbie.

These practices usually bring the quality of members i want in my guild. I always cringe when i see the people spaming in ascalon city or RA "join my guild we got hall, cape, TS" as the people you will get are people that really don't care about your guild, and are in it for themselfs. I personally hold high weight to potiential members that already know someone in the guild.

Hope that helps some of the guilds that are new with recruiting, as the majority of problems seems in getting members that talk shit, don't do anything, and leave after they posioned your guild.

But some inflexibility is not always a bad thing.

A little aside:
I've run guilds in other games. I realized over the last two years that I really don't have time for it anymore. I'm a software engineer by day, gamer by night; husband and father full time. My oldest daughter is a better MMO (non-PvP) player than most people I encounter, and in many ways has more time to play now that I do. Anyway, as a former "guild leader" from other games, I may be one of the more difficult members for some guilds. Still, I think I bring a lot to the table too.

What am I inflexible about?

I expect any guild I join to be somewhat tolerant of out-of-game lifestyle choices. I enjoy a debate as much as anyone, and out of game I’m far from “politically correct”, but intolerance is out of place in cyberspace. I may (or may not) privately dislike the beliefs of some real group, be it a religion, political party, or T.V. show fan club. I’m not, however, going to carry it into game because, in the end, it doesn't just hurt the game for a handful of people; it damages the entertainment experience of those totally uninvolved in any situations that may arise.

I don’t expect the tolerance to be limitless. In fact, I’d require it not to be. No tolerance for intolerance is a good motto. Racial slurs, sexual orientation slurs, the use of race indicator slang terms, etc. cannot be acceptable. I’m constantly disheartened by how many guilds don’t take a stand against these things. Last night I witnessed anti-Semitism to an extreme in public chat, and heard only one other person make negative comments about the offender.

My advice to those forming a guild:

Spell out some guidelines over what is and is not acceptable and stick to it.

As an officer I have been extremely lucky when it comes to the quility of players in my guild. One recruitment oppurtunity commonly overlooked is helping low level players through missions and quests. I tend to be more of a field officer and this has given me the oppurtunity to recruit players who are exactly what we are looking for.Obviously you dont want to invite people who beg for every drop or good drops as they come along. or players that rage quite, go afk for the mission, etc... Our guild leader is very good at knowing the strengths of officers.recently we have had numerous guild teams going through thk. During our most recent trip we had the rare slot open for a random non guild player.half way through the mission the warrior rushed, died, and left. After we successfully completed the mission with me as the only warriorI couldn't help at wonder about theleaving player. Being a wa/mo myself I must say to make sure that players dont fall into the pitfalls normally associated with classes such as mine. This form of recruitment is a good player filter, letting you know how players react in the field.
By recruiting this way we now have guildies that I wonder how we ever did without.

Also recently A guild group Including myself was in piken square. We were farming charr to help a guildie get fur squares without just forking over the cash. We say a character looking for a group...not a run...a group. After teaming and having a great time we went our seperate ways. The next day i recieved a whisper asking for an invite. As it turnes out, that character and her boyfriend joined. Both are extremely strong players who add a lot of experience to the guild.