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A Guild - What's In It For You
The Escapist has a piece looking at the rationale behind joining a Guild, and what it takes to enjoy the experience. Guilds are a core component of most Massively Multiplayer Online Games, but they're also one of the hardest to get right. From the article: "If guild members don't get what they need from their group, whether that need is companionship or gear, they are going to leave it. The guilds that thrive are not the ones that recruit hundreds of members with no common interests - in this case, finding members might be easy, but keeping them would be impossible. Similarly, if players refuse to accept the costs of a guild such as sharing loot or defending castles, the guild will have a harder time functioning as an efficient unit. The guilds with higher rewards and lower costs are the ones that will last."
I'm a officer in one of the larger outfits in Planetside. I've played about 6 or 7 different MMO's in the past, but only got involved in guilds in 2 games. I tried creating one in SWG during the first months of its release but it just failed miserably. I was in one in Earth & Beyond that worked nicely. I think it's safe to say that guilds definitely are an excellent way to get yourself addicted to a game. If you're just soloing through the world, it's definitely more of an uphill battle than if you have people who you are competing against when leveling and trading and such.
The best part of my E&B guild was that there were people who actually helped you level up. In Planetside, we coordinate our attacks and stick together when in combat. PS is unique in that you can definitely level without killing everything in sight. As a result, our players stick with our outfit because it's hard to find other outfits that do what we do consistently with excellent results. We often have people who show up for seven day trials that subscribe just so they can prolong their play with us. I think both of my experiences have shown the two good reasons why guilds should exist.
less snapping of the fingers and turned-up collars.
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