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Guild Gathering #7 - Ideal Members

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  • DmhofmaDmhofma Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
    I've always though of an ideal guild member as someone who want to participate in most pieces of content and plays a reasonable amount, takes the game seriously enough to attempt most things but not so seriously that they can't handle jokes or memes at their expense, and someone who will either organize or actively participate in conversations/events for the guild. My expectation may be a bit extreme but that is not to say that everyone in my guild has to be ideal, just that I prefer to take things semi seriously in game, and have fun with other things out of game.
  • What characteristics make an “ideal” member for your guild? How do you set and communicate those expectations, and keep track of a member’s performance against them?

    An I deal members will always represent the guild with Honor. They will try to be motivated and willing to participate in events with their members. No matter if it is in game money donation, resources, time and items they will attempt to always contribute to the guild cause.

    Although, I dont expect members to always be online or part of every event. I do expect my guild member when they are online to communicate both their involvement and their needs without being shy. Sometimes members have their own goals and feel as if they dont get support in completing or reaching them. Sometimes they are their own barrier, so communicative guild members are a plus.

    Ways to help measure involvement should include tools in game to monitor guild members play time, donation such as bank contribution (item and money). Tools for ranking and structure (custom structure similar to discord permissions). This will help identify and modify control and understanding of members involvement as well as give them incentives to reach new ranks within the guild.

    Sometimes, I would prefer to say MANY times an ideal guild member needs to be molded into the culture of the guild. Rarely do I feel you find ideal on the first meeting. Yet, anyone that is willing to take that journey along side me in a guild is an ideal member until THEY chose not to be.



  • Coming from a long history of administrating and being part of leadership in MMO guilds, I tend to value three criteria in a co-gamer.

    1. Active playtime, they are around nights and weekends and like to participate in content with the group on a very regular basis.
    2. Attitude fits with the team culture and is not about just the individual. They are relaxed and enjoy group progression as much as their individual character progression.
    3. Skilled performer, able to do a solid (but not perfect) job at whatever content the team is tackling, be it PVE, PVP, or other.
  • As a guild leader and officer throughout the years, I have a lot of thoughts about the "ideal" guild member. As others have said it most depends on the guild's focus. I typically run mid-weight family/adult PvE guilds. Focused mid-tier progression through the game. The ideal guild member is empathetic, has a good social sense, comes prepared and is always willing to help out where possible. They bring their own consumables and might bring extras to share. They try their hardest to improve, but they don't lose their mind over it. They're patient but always challenge those around them to do better if necessary. They don't get down on their guild members for making mistakes, and they offer their time to those less experienced than themselves. They're active during peak hours and communicate if they won't be around for a period of time - especially in the raiding scene.

    The worst guild members I've seen are the ones who constantly rag on their teammates for others' mistakes but never own up to their own. Who complain after every wipe, or are never around. In raiding, unreliable guild members are the worst because that causes a sinkhole effect in the guild. If you can't fill a role during a raid, others in the guild might get upset or impatient with guild progress. WoW was only able to remove the DKP system once they implemented group finder. Otherwise a raid without a third healer would be dead in the water. But by removing DKP, they completely removed the incentive to be a prepared or competent raider.

    A guild's leadership sets the tone for the rest of the community - in everything from their recruitment efforts, to the way the leadership holds themselves during raids and social events, to how active they are and how much BS they accept. Guilds should identify and reward members who display the same principles that the guild was founded on. If you want a younger-aged guild, promote young people to officer positions and encourage them to reach out to find new members. If you want a more "mature" guild, promote those people appropriately. It's all about telegraphing to the world and to your own members what you're all about.
  • SuileabhanSuileabhan Member
    edited August 2021
    Guild Gathering #7 - Ideal Members
    What characteristics make an “ideal” member for your guild? How do you set and communicate those expectations, and keep track of a member’s performance against them?

    These characteristics are what i want to find in my guild members, importance may vary depending on the guild objectives :

    • Involvement : The player play with de guild, contribute to the effort and attend to guild events on a regular basis
    • Integration : The player behave well in the group, communicate with team members, tell in a calm and respectful way things they don't like and contribute to the "life" of the group.
    • Skill : The player have the skill required for the guild objectives. If they lack in some way, they know how to see what is wrong (auto-evaluation) and do the things needed to improve. If they don't know how, they are able de ask for help. In the end, they share their question/knowledge/answer to the group, contributing to the overall skill/knowledge of the Guild.
    • Social : The player always respect all the other players, even if not in the same guild/group/clan/town/race or whatever. Its fun to play with and if there is a problem of some sort, does not aggravate it but try too solve/alleviate it instead ==> tend to solve drama than to provoke them.


    Now how to set/communicate those expectations :

    First, with a clear guideline/charter/code of conduct witch every member abide. Then with a quick warning (oral of written) when disobeyed or failed to comply with and, if still not enough, a longer oral meeting to see how the problem can be solved.


    Finally how to track performance for each characteristics :
    • It could be nice to have a dashboard with some numbers like time connected each day, time in the guild, number of attendance in guild event or guild group, ratio with total number of event ...
    • Contribution to the guild like the gold/resources given, crafts ...
    • Also performance/experience relative to content : win/loose or kills numbers with rating in pvp or boss down in PVE, dungeon clear etc
    • History/career of the player in the server : the list of previous guild/clan, past achievement and maybe past ban/warning of the game.
    • Track contribution to a guild wiki in game ? i don't know if it's possible but could be nice

  • Not every player is automatically an ideal player but the characteristics you look for are a buildable player. Honestly, we don't all start off as a Gem recruit defined as a pro, elite player. Many of us have the ability to become them with a little guidance and patience from people who have the ability to teach.

    I constantly set up a guild structure of class leads where we set up areas to duel, look at peoples rotation, numbers, how they approach certain classes, who they target first, how they assist, how well they listen. Overall, an ideal player, is simply open to constructive criticism, a criticism that is a guiding hand that is non-toxic and a safe learning environment; something that is rare in most PvP related videogames.

    This is something I hope guild halls will have the ability to cater to, dummies to beat on, abilities to parse, break down someone's rotation, summon an NPC of a specific "class" for them to face, and really just help someone really improve bit by bit to where the only thing left is positioning which can be done on the battlefield once everything else feels fluid.

    Not everyone picks up this type of game easily or has experience in the MMO genre, many of us are willing to build better players and our guilds show that. Sometimes they don't even stick around and they crave a more elitest environment, that's okay.

    When it comes to how we promote members, we look at how they participate, and if they want to go really high into our leadership roles, they have to put the guild before their own needs in the game at all times in order to suit those roles, not everyone is fit for that, and it's simply okay to be a respected member of lower leadership. There's responsibility and busy work that might come with the roles and most people won't be bothered with that. What I think we really want to get away from is the spreadsheets many guilds have of tracking membership recognition, if we have various ways of seeing how much someone PvPd, someone's node contribution, someone's financial guild contribution, mat contribution for crafting, etc, we can really just open windows, screenshot, have a 10 minute meeting, and just simply play the game.
  • FozzikFozzik Member
    edited August 2021
    Qualities of an ideal guild member...
    Someone who is more skilled and knowledgeable about the game than I am, but isn't a jerk about it. :smiley:

    Obviously, as everyone will say, activity level is key. The ideal guild member shows up regularly and takes part. Not just in events, but in the day-to-day conversations and relationship building that leads to a close-knit group. Someone who logs in 1 minute before a spawn and logs out 30 seconds after...not ideal.

    Someone who gets along with others in general, not just one or two others in a clique. Whether they are laid back and easy-going or high-energy and loud...they do it in a way that endears them to the group instead of being annoying or frustrating to other members.

    People who share a bit of themselves, in some way. Whether it's stories of real life happenings, a talent for art or music, or any other window into the real live people behind the avatars. Obviously this would be a bit different in a role playing guild, but would still hold true in its own way.

    Someone engaged. The person who reads the forums, knows the rules, learns their build or class or role and spends time on their own contribution to the guild, whatever it might be. Even the best player in the world can contribute and benefit from practice and taking part in guild stuff.

    Responsibility / accountability. People you can trust to handle their stuff and do what they say they will do, and admit it if they don't. Someone who owns their successes and their mistakes is generally going to be improving and be someone everyone likes to have around.

    Commitment. People who stick around, through lean times, drama, and all the ups and downs of any group of people who hang out together. "Creative differences" and personality conflicts break up more groups than just about anything. The best people are the ones who stay, handle grievances in a constructive way, work things out, and are in it for the long haul.
  • Regardless of guild type, whether the intent is to be the top content players or a more social play it by ear guild...

    My ideal guild members strive to accept, understand, appreciate, and respect other players for who they are. We all have our communication preferences likes and dislikes and I appreciate people that are willing to navigate those idiosyncrasies.

    If you are planning on being an active top content goal oriented guild...
    1. State your expectations and intent in the guild charter
    2. Using / building an activity point system could also be useful
    3. Don't invite random people to quickly fill in spaces, make sure people are on board with the charter, and build a good reputation that draws competitive players you might want

    #1 should apply for any guild, state your values and norms

  • Be honest, in my future guild I will have honesty as a priority.

    He has to know what he wants to be.
    • Be a hardcore gamer
    • Be a player who just wants to have fun
    • Be a player only looking for pve or pvp
    • etc

    Whichever option you choose, you are always welcome as long as you are honest and really know what you want to be and if you don't know, you are open to learning along the way.

    If he just wants things easy, without learning anything and is more of a burden than a help, then he is not a member of my future guild.

    We are all brothers and we help each other to improve.
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  • VaknarVaknar Moderator, Member, Staff
    Hi all! Thank you for your awesome feedback. They say the perfect guildmate doesn't exist... But I know they're out there somewhere!

    Check out some of the key points of feedback on the OP :)
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  • NoaaniNoaani Member, Intrepid Pack
    • Many players want members who are knowledgeable, helpful, skilled, and willing to learn and get better.
    • The ideal guild member is willing to have fun, be respectful, “chill”, and create an overall sense of camaraderie.
    • Many players want members who are able to play often, consistently, and can communicate their availability.
    • A member who is team-oriented and participates in the creation and execution of guild activities, as well as shows up on time.
    • Some players expressed that they wanted mature guildmates as well as guildmates that would follow the rules designated by guild leadership.

    So, I'm really curious.

    What useful/new information did Intrepid gain from all of this?

    Was there a part of the above that they were unaware of?
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