If you were to ask me five years ago why I thought my guild was successful I would tell you it was because we had the best players. We didn’t all get along. We rarely all agreed. Some of us outright hated others but we were just really good at coming together when need be and dropping whatever the target was. After that we could go back to our bickering. If you were to ask me the same question today I would tell you it is because of trust, respect, friendship and love. If you want to build a long term successful guild that is what you need. There are few organizations more powerful than the ones built on such a strong foundation. The Iniquity I knew then burned very brightly, rose very fast and then burned out. The one I know now will likely endure for my lifetime. That is how close we are. We are not acquaintances, we are actual friends.
Dealing with such a guild can be a challenge. Unlike in my previous life I can’t tell someone to just “shut up and do as I say.” That doesn’t work. You have to be more diplomatic and trust in your members to be more independent. You have to be more nimble as a leader and willing to not get your way. These are things that are generally undesirable in raid guilds but it does work. We’re proof of that. You can’t kick players by the wayside and replace them. You have to be understanding of their situations. By doing so they come to trust you and you them. Everyone starts to act in the best interest of the guild and not themselves. These are the guilds that maintain their success for years to come.
Work hard to integrate your guild on an individual level. Bring in only a few players at a time and let them learn your culture. Learn who they are, take an interest and make them feel welcome. Remember that finding who you need to win may seem simple but taking the wrong person in the right class will only work so long. Look at your long term consequences and plan for the duration, not just for the next mob. Your members that fit with this system will stay and help to grow it. Let the rest go. Not everyone is ready to have more than “online friends” out of their guild. Once you have a solid base you can build anything and your members will follow you. I’ve been blessed to be surrounded by individuals that, for some reason or another, trust me and the leadership. It is something you can take for granted. Don’t.
If I can give a new guild leader one piece of advice it is to remember that every character you see in game has a living, breathing, person behind them. They have a life, a family, hopes and dreams. If you treat them as such they’ll follow you. Focus on the person and less on the class, race, and specialization. The rest will work it self out in the long run. It may sound sappy, foolish or even down right crazy but this is how success is built. Try to make friends with your guild mates and worry less about how well they parse. In the grand scheme of things that only really matters if you’re competing for the top slot and there is an awful lot of game outside of that.
I love my guild mates like family. Out side of my blood relatives and two best friends they’re the people I spend the most time with, the first I go to for advice, and the ones I share my pain with. In turn they share their pain with me and their guild mates. This weekend two of us have had a lot of pain. The kind that should never have to be endured. It gives us a clear reminder of how close we are and how much we mean to each other. I have no better way of expressing that than to say how much they mean to me and their guild mates. We are here for you, we love you, and we grieve deeply. My God grant you some peace.
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Wonderful post.
I usually come here to disagree with you but you do have your moments. Not many, but you do have them.
I couldn’t have said it any better myself. Our guildmates are very special people and I am glad & more than happy to be a part of it. Lead on brother….
Yeah, it might sound sappy, but it’s the truth. The moment you start treating others like statistics instead of people you make a grave mistake.
The flipside is, of course, when you can’t just snap orders and dump people to optimize the group you do lose some power. That means you won’t be doing world-firsts, you’ll be repeating a lot of content as people keep trying to learn, etc. I think of it as the difference between your co-workers and your friends you will hang out with at the bar. Your co-workers focus on efficiency and getting things done, your friends on having a good time. Different people want different things from a game, so they will gravitate toward different groups.
Personally, I don’t need to add more stress. I like pushing my capabilities, but not at the expense of pulling my hair out at having to deal with other people. So, I prefer the friendly, family-style guilds in games. Or, simply duoing with my better half.
Nice article Ferrel. Sounds a bit like my own guild. We’ve been around for over 5 years now and have a great bunch of people. I count some of my guild mates among my closest friends. It’s an amazing thing to be able to hang out with a bunch of your friends each night without any of us having to leave our own homes. I’ve been sent TDY for a few weeks to Afghanistan and Iraq over the past several years. While I was gone, I had my guild mates keep my wife busy in game so she wouldn’t focus so much on what could happen while I was over there. It really is nice to have in game people you can count on for real life situations.
Guilds like these are hard to find and you know you have lost something special when an event happens to take that magic away.