“To Guild or Not to Guild”

I recently did a paper for school, and I decided to share my research paper with you. First thought as I was doing my research–I came to the realization that no matter how much I think that being in a guild is best, I finally came up with, it’s just a personal opinion.

Now I’ll post my argumentative paper with arguments from both sides and let you see what you think.

Why Joining a Guild is Beneficial

The benefits of joining a guild far outweigh any of the possible bad experiences players face otherwise. Guilds are an amazing feature in gaming. Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs) are social games and the chat buttons a person has do not normally have a good selection of options for chat. The main goal of a guild is to have a group of people who focus on the same goals for the better enjoyment of the game.

Guilds bring players together and encourage teamwork, create friendships, bonds, and provide a sense of belonging. Most guilds will create a webpage to ensure the members get the information they need to participate in the guild’s events during game play; good guilds thrive on honesty, loyalty, trust, kindness, and teamwork. Most players need the feeling of a perfectly rounded team to back them up during game play whether it be player versus player (PVP) or basic role playing (RP). Guilds designed in the gaming world will help new players and support experienced players. Most players have a sense of loyalty when he or she can trust others. Guilds have a higher priority to the members of the guild rather than the general population, so people in the same guild tend to group for the purpose of similar goals. Guilds normally have protection pacts for its members where any high-level guild member will be on call for protecting the guild’s lower level members. Participating in a guild gives a group of people a place to socialize no matter where he or she is in the game.

Guild Killers

Conflict (DRAMA) is one of the main guild killers. No guild is immune to the harsh realities of guild conflicts and what it can do to players. Disagreements happen and the way the leader and members of a guild handle this can make or break the guild. Loot is something that an enemy drops as a reward for winning a small battle, which the game will distribute by players choosing one of four options: need, greed, pass, or dismantle; depending on the game these options vary. After all team members choose an option the game will award the need option first. When an option gets selected by more than one player, the game will roll virtual dice to see who gets the items. In a guild there is a guild bank that players may have to put the loot in for the guild to distribute the items to players who need them. Loot is something people will argue about even when there are loot rules. At least one member of all guilds believe he or she deserves the right to be in any leadership position or he or she is always correct about a subject in the game or guild. Real life or personal issues brought into the game will always find its way back to disrupt the guild and give a bad name to the guild, the leader, the members, or all three. Relationships such as boyfriend/girlfriend, spouse, or even a boss will often bring a player down emotionally and cause him or her to be angry with other players, even when the person tries not to be. In some situations a person can get stressed because of the job he or she has and can get unruly to other guild members.

Guilds Offer Help and Support

For new players, and players who need extra help in killing a world boss or completing a tough quest, he or she can join a guild specifically designed for him or her. New players join the games every day and need help to learn better ways to play. Guilds normally put a library on the website giving good information to players. A knowledgeable leader can give advice and extra information not posted anywhere. High-level players will require the use of a groups to help in difficult areas specifically designed for group play. Calling on friends for unexpected situations will eventually get tedious so a guild will give a person resources needed to complete tasks or quests in the game. Guilds will have a variety of players for every group’s needs and abilities, which may vary, depending on the player’s skills.  World bosses are very difficult to beat and require at least one person to heal. Healers can heal larger groups than most characters making them a valuable asset to the group. If there is no healer available the group may not succeed.

Guild Leaders Gone Wrong

Some guild leaders start a guild for the wrong reasons or fall off track from the guild goals. Not all guild leaders know what he or she is doing or what is best for the guild. Leaders who base their guilds on personal ideas instead of what is best for the guild are often the reason for guild failures. Guild leaders who start a guild for the personal power and gain as the leader will always fail the guild and its members. Leaders have a responsibility to the members but at times may feel above others because of position and the guilds power. Bad leaders start guilds solely on the idea the guild and bank belongs to him or her instead of the initial idea of helping others. Making rules for the guild to follow should be more like guidelines rather than rules because not all players have the same mentality and are more trustworthy than others. Bad rules have no business in the guild and only give benefit to the leaders; this will destroy the morale and spirit of a guild. One ridiculous rule is members must pay a guild fee to the leader to pull gear from the guild bank. This rule will bring a guild down fast because the members worked hard for the items they put in the guild and do not want to pay for work he or she did. A guild leader who makes rules based on his or her personal goals will destroy the guild before it gets the chance to progress.

Guilds are powerful features most MMOs have. The idea of a guild and its members will determine if it will be successful or not. The decision to be in a guild is the responsibility of the player. Based on the information provided, deciding on a guild is a personal choice and determined by the goals of a player. There are many factors involved in a player’s ultimate decision to join or not. Players should base their decisions on attitude, desire to succeed, and goals in the game above other reasons.

I felt the need to share this because as I was researching, I could not find one thing that gave this type of information. I found a lot of “you should join a guild because of this” and a lot more of “do not join a guild because of that and this.”

I am the leader of Toltecas in Star Wars The Old Republic (SWTOR) on server Jung Ma and I wanted a better understanding of what people think–so I did the research. There are lots of books out there on being a guild leader but learning from a book and learning from real life are two different things. If you can combine both of those then you have something to work with. I have been in the Army for the last 15 years and learned a lot that also pertains to what can be done as a guild leader.

I will end this with this: No matter what argument you find or support, what do you want to do? That’s what it comes down to, benefits or no.