Advice to Failing Guilds

[Myg]

Let your Guild die if you think the time has come, its better that people build from the memories and ashes instead of trying to sustain something that is dead on the inside.

Its a good thing that is healthy and a requirement for the World/Game to grow.

[Manowar]

So... are you saying that the ZOG's shouldn't rise again?!

[Myg]

A guild like anything else has a set lifetime, you can try to bring it back; but it will only be as strong as the vision and passion of the members who take part it in. Things will never be the same, or back to the way they were exactly. It may grow or not, but it takes much more effort to resurrect something then to create something new with new people: Which is what this game needs.

Besides, looking at the mafia-style guilds that exist now; it may be a fish out of water...

[Karik Verlee]

I think hes talking about K^A

[benny-]

I disagree, to an extent anyways. If you're leadership goes, then yea, I'd agree you'd be better off simply disbanding and letting other guilds form....but so long as you (the gm) are active and have even a single dedicated member, you can always build and reestablish your guild.

I know my own guild struggled for months (I had even discussed disbanding with my handful of loyal members quite a few times)....we underwent a number of changes, new members joining as others went inactive, and ultimately tried a number of things before finally getting established as an active and steady guild.

For any struggling guilds or those considering forming a guild, my best piece of advice is to establish a target time that you can expect to be active. From there, look for other players who play during the same times and try to establish a group of people who (generally) will be altogether during the same times everyday.

I've seen a number of guilds struggle to keep active when trying to deal with issues of playtime. Unlike the servers of olde which offered individual shards to different regions, we have but one server here accommodating players from many different parts of the world....simply put, you can't expect to lead an active guild when you're playing say late evenings in Pacific and half your members are playing afternoons in Europe.

Trying to keep these large conglomerate guilds together consisting of players being active throughout all times of the day, and keeping up with that from a leader's role is nearly impossible.

Anyway, best thing you can do is pick a target time and try to get active players who play during the same times....develop a steady (if even small) group like that and you'll have a consistent and active guild....from there, things will take off.

[SirEricKain]

I disagree, to an extent anyways. If you're leadership goes, then yea, I'd agree you'd be better off simply disbanding and letting other guilds form....but so long as you (the gm) are active and have even a single dedicated member, you can always build and reestablish your guild.

I know my own guild struggled for months (I had even discussed disbanding with my handful of loyal members quite a few times)....we underwent a number of changes, new members joining as others went inactive, and ultimately tried a number of things before finally getting established as an active and steady guild.

For any struggling guilds or those considering forming a guild, my best piece of advice is to establish a target time that you can expect to be active. From there, look for other players who play during the same times and try to establish a group of people who (generally) will be altogether during the same times everyday.

I've seen a number of guilds struggle to keep active when trying to deal with issues of playtime. Unlike the servers of olde which offered individual shards to different regions, we have but one server here accommodating players from many different parts of the world....simply put, you can't expect to lead an active guild when you're playing say late evenings in Pacific and half your members are playing afternoons in Europe.

Trying to keep these large conglomerate guilds together consisting of players being active throughout all times of the day, and keeping up with that from a leader's role is nearly impossible.

Anyway, best thing you can do is pick a target time and try to get active players who play during the same times....develop a steady (if even small) group like that and you'll have a consistent and active guild....from there, things will take off.

*claps* I couldn't agree more with you on this my friend, bravo.

[Officer_Atraxi]

I think Myg is referring to BPD. He posted on one of our topics where I was trying to rally the officers to put in some more face time. I think he misunderstood what I was trying to say.

I want to make this very clear: BPD is not dying. Some of our members have taken a temporary leave of absence from UO, but they will be back. And those of us who are here are very active both in patrolling and in recruiting.

Please understand that we don't all work at the same time. At any one time there might only be one officer working. Or there might be 2 or 3. We don't have shifts. We work when we can, and we also have alts we play on as well. And some of our officers, such as myself, patrol ALL of the cities and then some. We don't all just hang around WBB. Just because you don't see us might just mean that we aren't where you are when you are there.

As I said in the BPD post I am referring to:

Sir, I can assure you that the Britannia Police Department is alive and well. Many of our officers have taken vacations (although, looking back, I guess all of them doing so at the same time was not ideal), and I have been spending time outside of the guard zones with our allies apprehending murderers. But, my Chief has informed me that more thieves have started appearing at the banks, so be prepared to see more of myself within the city limits again.

I will say this, sir. If you feel that you could be of assistance ridding our cities of this filth, we are currently recruiting. If you crave a little justice and maybe some blood on your sword, we would be happy to have you. Please check our forums for more information on our hiring practices.

Yes, there are more thieves at the banks but it is because they think that we are not around anymore. Believe me, we will show them that we are. From what I understand, Officer Blade has been working very hard on this and I commend his actions.

[Myg]

Well, I wasnt thinking of any Guild in particular, but after looking at a few Guild forums and getting a general feel of things; I though it best to start a topic to discuss it.

I think benny-'s response is quite inspirational in the extent of assiting survival of struggling guilds: Structure, predicitiblity, reliablity and consistancy are key. People need to know that people will be somewhere and when they will be there. The golden rule of human collective behaviour - A crowd attracts a crowd.

Concerning BDP, I think its a bit too important at this point in time to drop, crime is bad enough in Britian; infact: Today we had 3-4 reds In town, next to the bank downstairs of the Artists Guild. They picked off a few people including myself (who went to investigate what was going on).

There was no organised resistance against them and it was sad to watch as the theives and PK's worked together. PK's were playing their part, and the theives were as well; but you guys wernt...

[Officer_Atraxi]

Wow, that is incredible. Where were the town guards? They should have come to that situation.

As far as us not being there during the day, we do have jobs IRL, too. In fact, right this second, I am in school. I am just checking the forums between my assignments. Then, after school, I will be headed back to work again.

I will try to get on as soon as I can and report to Britain, but we don't really have the manpower to take on a group of pks. That is really a job for the NPC Town Guard. That is what they are there for. We are here to protect the citizens of Britannia, but there is only so much that we can do. If the guards did not respond even with that NPC yelling for them, you need to take that up with Derrick. Maybe there is a bug with the guards or something. I don't even see how a group of red got into town in the first place.

[Atraxi]

I have been informed that the Town Guards do not protect the basements. I did not know that. I tell you what, if you see this happen again, you may want to get on IRC and try to contact someone in C^V, IL, or PoV. Those guilds are anti-pk, and if they are on, they may be able to help.

C^V can be found in #C^V and PoV can be found in #pov. I don't know if IL has their own IRC channel, but I know they can be found in #secondage.

BPD really focuses more on thieves, although if the red was alone we could probably take him. Those guilds I listed like to focus on pks.