Added to our Resources thread.
Added to our Resources thread.
<table><tr><td><a href="http://www.funcom.com"><img src="http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/images/avatars/funcom/transparent_logo_official_3.png" alt="Funcom" border="0"></a></td><td><span style="font-size: 10pt">Gray 'Tomium' Hogan</span><br><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Community Manager<br>@CM_Tomium</span><br>
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I agree with everything you wrote, its exhausting, its humbling, and rewarding. People that have never been in your guild and that you have never even spoken to will hate you and troll you in global. You will gain friends that feel like family....(you know that uncle that your embarrassed to take in public and that rock star who is embarrassed to take you in public.)
Its not for the faint of heart, you must know the game, the classes, the instances, you are the cheerleader and listening ear, its your fault if it goes wrong but its everyone teamwork when it goes well, but most of all you must pick good co-leaders and officers to help. They are your heart and will keep you going and the guild going.
dealing with drama -- drama is inevitable, cannot be avoided. someone sometime will get upset about something, be it one word in a wrong place or a person you trusted who then kicks everyone from the guild and then leaves the mess for you to clean up.
dealing with stalkers -- ignore or report by petition
dealing with loot arguments -- rules that prevent loot arguments, if problem still arise -> loot ban, raid ban or kick
dealing with loot whores -- see above
promoting / demoting / kicking players, when, how, and why -- individual needs
how often to have officer meetings -- use forums
when to change the rules, and how to deal with minorities -- rule changes approved by officers first. what do you mean by minorities?
how to handle terrible players -- offer help, direct to guides found online, hold hand until improvement happens
how to handle elitist jerks -- can you give an example?
how to handle multi-guilded players, especially when they PVP against players in your guild -- don't allow player to be in other guild
DKP? open roll? other? -- why would anyone use DKP? open rolls leaves too much to chance and open the flood gates to ninja looting and loot whoring.. master loot using common sense
dealing with peoples psychological needs -- not needed, its a game not real life.
dealing with conflicting personalities -- gonna be hard to avoid and absence of real life contact makes it really difficult to see what kind of person you/he/she is
aligning groups goals with your own -- for new guild goals need to be visible to all who think of applying, older and longer existing guilds goals can be found out by talking to people
reacting to competing guilds -- competing over what? pvp? raiding? pvp side of things is not equal playground for known reasons which are not to be mentioned here and raiding for world firsts against guilds who play with GM's is.. well, stupid.
don't make it your second job. keep it simple. clear rules and ask for help if/when you need it.
I don't agree with all that you have stated, my answers to some of the situations would be much different.
dealing with drama -- Make sure you didn't start the drama or trigger the drama, get you officers and co-leaders into vent and find out what everyones feeling are about the situation.
Dealing with loot arguments -- clearly posted rules that are fair to everyone and that everyone has access to. Allowing an open guild where people can discuss the fairness of the rules and change them if and when its needed. Everyone in guild should always have equal access to loot, and no one should get special treatment.
Dealing with loot whores --Have a meeting and discuss the way that they are being perceived, it could be just a communication issue.
promoting / demoting / kicking players, when, how, and why --I believe that not everyone wants to be promoted, but those that are leaders and wish to help should be given at least officer responsibility. Demoting is not really happening unless folks just quit logging in. Kicking is totally extreme and should not be done unless is the very last option after trying everything else.
how often to have officer meetings -- Forums are great, but every officer should help form raids and understand the process ..every raid form can be a mini officer meeting. You should have all your officers and leaders key bound to you in vent so you can talk about the raid and the fixes without having to point out peoples flaws. EXCEPT if the flaw is yourself, then admit it opening in vent and move on.
when to change the rules, and how to deal with minorities -- rule changes approved by the leaders first then a conversations with officers to make sure that the new rules are fair to everyone and ensures that LOOT...is getting spread around to everyone.
how to handle terrible players --its very difficult if someone is not reaching out for help, but sometimes you just got to suck it up and carry some fail or you will turn into the elitist jerk.
how to handle elitist jerks -- I recall a time in the early days of AOC that if your main tank guardian didn't show up or was late...you could not raid, you had to wait for this primo player. The best way to handle it is to create a diverse guild that is never dependent upon one player including yourself, have checks and balances. Make sure that all your officers can lead a raid when your not here and that you can lead it if they are not here.
how to handle multi-guilded players, especially when they PVP against players in your guild -- PVP is about killing each other, if your on opposite sides of the mini game then they should be killing each other and if a gulidie can't handle that they should not PVP!
DKP? open roll? other? -- Master looting with open roll concept, meaning if your in the raid and you need the gear and its for your class you get to roll, unless you already won something, if your counterpart already has it then you get lucky and get more!
dealing with peoples psychological needs --I agree that the game is not real life but we are all people and should be treated as such, so knowing folks likes, traveling, kids, grandkids is part of being a guild and being a bit of a family.
dealing with conflicting personalities --If there is more than one person around at some point there is conflict. You handle it the same way you would in real life.
Not every guild is handled that same way because we are all different, some leaders demand more from each and every player and some are very laid back. But the real answer is to lead the way that you wish to be treated, nothings perfect. Take the advise that you see is good and can relate to and let the rest go. Revisit everything you do and make sure that your staying on track with your goals for the guild every couple months. If its not going the direction you desire then stop and talk to your officers and leaders and fix it.
Thank you Tomium for the add to the Resource thread.
Roddam's comments will probably drive a future post of "why should I join a guild?"
Overall, I think the discussion here shows there's different ways of leading a guild but all of them take effort, time, and patience.
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Kalur - 80 Bear Shaman, Brunstol - 80 Dark Templar, Tallas - 80 Assassin, Gilben - 80 Conquerer, Pangert - 80 Barbarian, Xoltal - 80 Necromancer, Matzui - 80 Herald of Xolti, and a bunch of lower level alts.
Wiccana -> Set -> Crom