User:Aliceandsven/Guilds

Originally posted on a piece of toast stuck inside a crate headed for Nibiru in a space rocket propelled by anti-matter energy, a written Discourse on Guild-Communities

Guilds are generally bad. For a number of reasons. Guilds, clans, factions, whatever. It happens in every game! It's especially bad for new comers in older guilds, because everyone already knows each other, they have their inside jokes and histories, they prefer each other over new people and you'll never really fit in because you missed the the bonding period of that guild. If you get really unlucky you wind up with a guild that has tons of drama and attitude issues, a guild with idiots in positions of power, guilds with retarded rules (and I mean hair-pulling-aggrivatingly-stupid), or guilds with HUGE amounts of people to the (thousands, multiple alliances) and then you can be certain you don't matter and probably never will.

Now let's say you don't care about making friends or having a decent social atmosphere. Maybe you joined a guild with a purpose (speed clears, farming, PvP, etc). Suddenly, it's like you just acquired a second job and if you dare to take a break for more than a week you're gone.

Really, the gist of it is that when you take a bunch of people that aren't butterflies in social situations in reality (average GW player), it stands to reason that it's not going to work online either, especially once you throw in tiered status systems and kick buttons.

I finally just joined a small guild, there's never more than 5 people online at once these days. But those five people are genuinely nice, genuinely interesting-conversation material, and they're not stuck-up propriety-monsters like you'll find in JumboAlliance#432. I made a really good friend and we wound up getting tons of shit done together, a lot more than I would've gotten with time spent in a large guild (excluding speed-runs or something stupid like that).

If you like title-hunting alone, you don't need a guild. But I found it to be much more enjoyable getting that stuff done with a good friend. The moment I tried vanq'ing on my own I was pretty much falling asleep. Don't apply for guilds that spam adverts such as "[DERP] we have/do this|that|that|and|this|this|and|that 40000+ members" unless that's really what you're looking for and you're expectations aren't too high, or you can get along with those types of people. In guilds that aren't goal-oriented and focused your enjoyment all depends on your personality, their personality and how they meld or clash. Look for small guilds, "starting out" guilds or adverts that point out different things or make an effort not to be typical. Even better, just ask for what you're looking for as you go around outposts and don't wait for adverts. Make sure you talk to the recruiter and try to get a feel of who they are and their attitude. Immediately start measuring up the leaders/officers, get a feel for their attitudes and don't get too attached to anyone before you do this.

You don't need hundreds of people to get shit done and have a good time in this game, just two/twelve. And my personal philosophy when it comes to establishing relationships is less=more.

Just as an example, usually large guilds will have hyper-strict no profanity rules in alliance chat. Being against profranity to the point where you need to reprimand the seldom "shit" or "fuck" every now and then is stupid, it's an incredibly out-dated mind set considering the creature known as a "child" is rapidly disappearing, and if you're not a child then what the hell is your problem?

And I've been in an alliance where talking about Michael Jackson was not allowed at all during the days/weeks he died.

Watch-out-for-don't-join:
[KISS]
[NiTe]
etc.

We're-super-awesome-space-pirates:
[KoE]

If you are Venla please come say hi and let us known you're OK :(