Joining guilds

[iza]

There are some great current leaders so no offense to anyone. However, guilds are a big part of what make the game for long periods of time. It doesn't make sense to me to restrict such a large component of the game to the opinion and efforts of just a few handful of people, no matter how active or fun they might be at the moment. We all have lives, our time is valuable and people understandably get busy. Its unreasonable to think a leader can be active to manage all recruiting in a way that is not just healthy for the guild but really for the game. Equally its unreasonable to others for them to be locked out of major part of what this game can offer.

The admins of this game are notoriously hands off when it comes to how the world runs, but if that is the way they want to roll, then I think the way guilds work could use an overhaul to promote more healthy RP politics and conflicts even within the guilds. The way people are currently playing, either the leader likes you or you are completely out of luck and might as well try some other character or game. Recruiting based on a leaders opinion is great for RL companies and businesses, but it doesn't sound like its that great for the game, it stiffles internal conflict making it a more boring experience.

One important thing to note is that even back before I couldn't help but feel there was a bit of an OOC component to recruitment. As in, it seemed some people popped out of nowhere, barely RPed but got strong quickly, and then joined guilds that I had never even the leader or many members around. It feels like knowing people OOCly here helps get ahead, which is basically cheating in my books.

Now to be clear, I am not accusing anyone of doing this but it does feel like the current system promotes such OOC cheating.

That said, I've listed some ideas and suggestion below that work great in other places, but its been a while since I played guild and its currently a daunting task to get into one so who knows if I will ever get a chance again, which is why the suggestions could be moot at this point and should be taken with a grain of salt.

My recommendation:

• In order to become leader a vote of confidence from active members.

• Kicking someone out would also require a vote from active members

• It would take some time of active playing within the guild to get ability to vote. And you need to be actively playing (no logging in to an alt just to vote)

• Guilds would have a multiple ranks-ranks determine the level of power you can access from the guild.

• Leaders would have the ability to promote/demote people of ranks.

• People would join through NPC once they meet minimun requirements. They would get access to equipment and some abilities, but not all, promotion to higher ranks that grant access to higher abilities is at the descrestion of the leader.

[Delia]

Why would the single leader of an organization hold the reins of human resources? Surely there are more pressing matters to attend to like diplomatic talks and so on.

So, move rights of recruitment outside guild ranks completely and introduce "roles" which determine what rights a character has inside a guild.

If you have been given the roles "recruiter" you can recruit but how that happens could change depending on your guild rank.

Lv1(trainee) could start a joining vote that others could see. If unopposed, target would join the guild.

Lv2(standard member) could bring someone into the guild without a vote and start a promotion vote for rank 1 characters. If unopposed, lv1 promotes to lv2.

Lv3(officers) would serve a managerial role and would have recruit role automatically (which however, could be revoked)and they can veto whatever lv1 and lv2 do. Demoting and promoting people is a key job too. They also choose the lv4(leader) and with a majority vote can depose a leader too.

Lv4(leader) can do pretty much any management act without delay but mainly focuses on being the face and on diplomacy, agreements between guild and so on. Has to enjoy the good will of lv3 body.

Could work, but then again different guilds work a bit differently. Maybe someone can salvage something usable from this.