PlaneShift

Gameplay => General Discussion => Topic started by: Tessra on March 18, 2011, 12:31:22 am

Title: Guild Leadership
Post by: Tessra on March 18, 2011, 12:31:22 am
Ok, so this is something I've been thinking about.  I really hope I put this in the right sub-forum too.  :sweatdrop: 

What do you think makes a good guild leader?  I don't mean people, and I am by no means looking for people to name names, or insult anyone.  But I am curious what traits do players like to see in "leaders" both ICly and OOCly. 

Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: potare on March 18, 2011, 01:27:48 am
Leadship and kind people make the best leaders
and also I don't like this Teshia guild leader hehe
(joke)
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: LigH on March 18, 2011, 02:19:19 am
I remember a similar discussion from a rather long time ago ... long enough to start over, I believe.

There will be a few extremes, and a character taking this position will have to find an own optimum in the space between them.

Personally, I prefer the "organizer" kind over the "dictator" kind. But there will be times when a decision is necessary...
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: potare on March 18, 2011, 02:28:13 am
LigH I agree for a good (Adani Order, klyros Junction) guild leader should not be a dictator, but a evil guild like the outlaws could get away with a dictator as a guild leader.
Potare
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Sarras Volcae on March 18, 2011, 03:22:35 am
icly: someone who is respectable, has a strong sense of morals, and has a goal.

oocly: someone who is helpful, motivated, and not a turd.

what a post, sarras. you could've done so much better. but, of course not. nope. had all these ideas brewing in your head. and then... poof! nice going, loserface. ah hell, sarras, quit talking to yourself!
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: LigH on March 18, 2011, 03:52:04 am
@ potare:

Even for the evil kind of guild, a preferably organizing leader can be useful, if it has a "lawful evil" orientation -- in contrast to the "chaotic evil".

"Lawful" here not in the meaning of "obeying the governmental law", but rather in "obeying an own law with strict rules" (which does not need to be compatible with the government, or the society). "The Evil" has its own point of view, in contrast to "The Good"; that's all.

References in Wikipedia: Alignment (role-playing games) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alignment_%28role-playing_games%29) | Alignment (Dungeons & Dragons) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alignment_%28Dungeons_%26_Dragons%29)
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: potare on March 18, 2011, 05:23:51 am
Ok I understand
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Perlam on March 18, 2011, 06:16:59 am
In my opinion a good leader does everything in his/ her power to help his/ her members to develop as characters, shows them everything he/ she knows, and who in general has a lot to teach his/ her members about all there is in Yliakum, all of this OOC-ly speaking. Also, the leader listens to his/ her members needs always, and has his/ her members understand there is room to discuss "things". A good leader will make his/ her members completely independent over time. Even if a leader knows one of his/ her members is in fact rather a leader himself/ herself, he/ she will develop that member fully in order that that member will also be a good leader once.

A good leader should have this thought in mind regarding to members: "quality over quantity".

IC-ly speaking a good leader in my opinion will not determine what RP the member should do, IMHO that is totally up to the member. A good leader IMHO recruits members according to what a member does or wants IC-ly and if that fits in his/ her guild based on the RP of the guild itself. In other words, if the RP of the member and the guild differ too much, then a good leader should have already known this by communicating and interviewiing a new recruit, and not have that recruit as a member.

With a leader as an "organizing" entity instead of a dictator: I agree on that, though it should be described more specificly: "organizing" here does mean, creating an evironment for the members where many things are possible for the members, but it should not automatically mean that a leader should organize events in order to be a good leader, these events should not be necessary in order to achieve that, but should always be seen as "extras".

A good leader should also "rectify" members when they do things that are not allowed or makes the guild look bad. This should always be done in a mild and kind manner by the leader.

That's just my 2 cents
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Mekora on March 18, 2011, 06:53:17 am
In a remarkably short answer, the effective guild leader should be active. Playing at the very least 5 times a week. Once this is accomplished consistently, they can work on all the other areas that they feel can better themselves as leader.
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: potare on March 18, 2011, 07:22:46 am
Like your leader but playing 7 days a week he is a good leader
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Sangwa on March 18, 2011, 07:39:05 am
First of all a leader must recognize his members and his/hers objective. Without knowing those two items there isn't leadership. It doesn't matter if he is kind to them, or demanding, he must know who they are, what they do and what's the point. If he knows this, then he can manage motivation and concentration. Members should have an identity within that they don't want to lose and that identity has to do with what is expected of them and with their own expectations from the guild. This last part is obviously linked with the main objective.

Leadership is about the relation of hierarchic fields and this relation is strictly dependent on the cells that compose it: members, resources and objective and thus the maximum optimal values will often come in different units for different relations studied. This is why it's hard to find qualities that transverse all the different types of possible relations involving leadership.

LigH this "organization" you speak of is knowing what you have in hands and managing it. Though the successful cases can vary from 2 hierarchic levels with an absolute leader and 12 hierarchic levels with a vote system... There's not a type (strict or relaxed) of organization that is always better.

I'd say a mix of intuition, rational thought and social awareness always helps... Since these qualities transverse all the other aspects of life as well.
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Vakachehk on March 18, 2011, 07:51:06 am
To me, a good guild leader is:


There's probably quite a few points I missed
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Perlam on March 18, 2011, 10:43:03 am
I think both Sangwa and Vakachehk made good points
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Elkarway on March 18, 2011, 05:59:41 pm
I think it's important to note that while the perfect guild leader would be all of the things mentioned.  They don't exist too often.  I think the most important thing is for a guild leader to recognize his or her faults and surround himself with people who can aid him in them.

I also think that, while somebody may hold not hold the title of guild leader, they can still be, in many ways, the leader of the guild.

Earning respect, and being able to demand it but, not needing to.
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: potare on March 18, 2011, 06:07:27 pm
I agree with you
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Sangwa on March 19, 2011, 02:54:17 pm
L...

Lol
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Jekkar on March 19, 2011, 03:17:50 pm
I always thought being a good guildleader meant that you have to be a great friend. That you have to listen to your friends and most of all enjoy playing with eachother.

Edit: Sangwa is a great friend.
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Jekkar on March 19, 2011, 03:29:27 pm
It's so wonderful to hear that you and Sangwa are great friends, and that you enjoy playing with each other.

Not only Sangwa, Rinenud, you too. I enjoy playing with you most of all and I'm sure you could be a great leader, like running the Dawn Force or being Shadowlord.
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Jekkar on March 19, 2011, 03:39:30 pm
Thank you for you kind words friend Jekkar. Owing to pressing social engagements, my time is somewhat limited as of late, and instead of playing with my many fine associates in this very fine game, I am lately taken to playing with myself.

I should indeed think I could once again don the mantle of leadership but I feel that nowadays, in my declining years, the decaying composition of my cells is leading to a breakdown of the various hierarchic fields, my field of vision being one that is greatly diminished. But hope springs eternal ever, and once must wait and see.

Know that our doors will always be open for you, Rinenud.
May your recovery be whipped into a sudden haste, as Roberet Goldsmith would say.
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Sangwa on March 19, 2011, 08:32:00 pm
You be well then and until such a time. I shan't be waiting, but know it is almost because I want to assure there's something here for your grand return.
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Candy on March 27, 2011, 01:16:43 pm
Get a room you three.
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Sangwa on March 27, 2011, 02:52:25 pm
Don't you want to be the forth? We're always looking for more... Actually, that's why we don't get a room.
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: potare on March 28, 2011, 04:11:43 am
This topic has gone a bit  :offtopic:
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Sangwa on March 28, 2011, 04:37:05 am
Really? Thanks for the contribution.
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: davante on March 30, 2011, 06:54:29 pm
I think that (in short) it's as simple as this: A good guild leader must be able to facilitate and delegate. 

What people look for in a guild could be divided into different areas like (in short, and there may be more) gaining knowledge, having people to talk to (so for fun), to be able to achieve certain goals in game they could otherwise not. In every one of these aspects the perfect guild leader must make sure the members of his or her guild can find that (in some guild one more than another).

When running a guild this usually means that a guild leader should help people out when they need help with anything. But when it is something that happends more often the guild leader should make sure that there are members of the guild that deal with these kind of problems for him or her. This way the guild leader will always have time to deal with new problems and judge what is right in exceptions. And since the structure is in such a way that more members don't put more pressure on the guild leader the guild will be able to have more members (what usually allows players to achieve their goals faster).

A guild leader that runs a guild like this can be missed for longer periods of time and will be able to run a very big guild without problems. It does take quite some organisation and people skills to do this though, since delegating must be done in the right way and to the right people.
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Avathius on April 08, 2011, 11:16:15 am
I was a good, proud guild leader of a 100-man guild. We defeated other guilds in guild wars (we were undefeated!!!). We held massive in-guild RP events. I remember how we had a ranking system based on how many enemies you killed/resources you brought into the guild. The highest rank of knight involved an elaborate ceremony at the Bronze Doors on the tip of the eagle head, where we would "knight" the player using /me commands and then give the player a ceremonial sword. It was awesome.

Then a couple major updates came out, causing most of our members to quit, and now the guild is disbanded.

Hurrah.

Aside from that, I would say a good guild leader needs to keep the guild interested, needs to keep people busy trying to up their ranks and also needs to host some guild events. A guild war makes people really like to be in the guild (unless you pick a fight with Klyros Junction). At least, that's how I remember it. Oh yeah, and be online a lot. Nobody likes it when there isn't always a high-ranking official to give you points.
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Sangwa on April 17, 2011, 03:54:14 am
Sure thing nek-- Wait a minute. You're just that lowly dude! *keeps egomania trip and stays tf in*
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Tessra on April 18, 2011, 03:52:57 pm
Ok... don't make me send my drooling yulbar to Elkarway to get him to come whip you two back into shape.  I will do it!

Thanks guys, for all the replies. :) 
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Sangwa on April 18, 2011, 05:24:35 pm
/me runs away.
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Perlam on April 20, 2011, 06:27:58 am
in addition:

Any self-respecting guildleader that calls him/ herself a "good" leader should have the leader's blues IMHO
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Tessra on April 20, 2011, 02:49:46 pm
Oh Perlan... tell me what these "leader's blues" are...
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Mask on April 20, 2011, 03:01:51 pm
Oh Perlan... tell me what these "leader's blues" are...

You wear a suit. And sunglasses at night. And a hat. And sometimes, you sing to a slow guitar.
Title: Re: Guild Leadership
Post by: Elkarway on April 20, 2011, 03:05:30 pm
Oh Perlan... tell me what these "leader's blues" are...

Probably has to do with killing people for no reason...  Or maybe some type of dance move.