Building a Guild or just belittling the World?

[Lolitra, Celorrim Purrty Twins]

Firstly - forgive us if this has already been discussed - couldn't find exactly what we were getting at it on search.

Just before this wonderful world of PlaneShift went offline for its updates, my wife and I thought long and hard as to how we were going to build our House of Purrty guild, and how to fit it into the world of PlaneShift.  Whilst we did this, and gaming continued, we were horrified at the growing numbers of blatant abuses of the naming policy in both characters and guilds.  We won't go down the road of pointing fingers as that is futile, as it will always happen - but those who do it, know who they are and shame on you for your lack of imagination.  Then there are the guilds who have no purpose in game, apart from gathering people who use Mac's or are of one particular language, or have interests similar that have no connection to the gaming within PlaneShift.

Onto the point of our post today -   

Now we know there will always be a desire to create groups for like minded people and that we don't have issue with, what we do have issue with is their contempt to the populous of PlaneShift, but naming themselves with totally inappropriate names that have naught to do with the setting of PlaneShift.  Also, their guild rules and objectives are lacking or nonexistent... (Just recently having been asked 'Join my guild, but to do so, you have to be high level...' followed by 'tell me your level or you can't join!'.  Not exactly what we would call RolePlay at it's best.  When asked what their purpose was it was something like 'I want to be the strongest guild') - hmmmmm?

There are many guilds already out there with more than excellent slants, fantastic RolePlay settings, and most wonderful rules and guides for their members...  why should we have to put up with the lazy group making people who just can't be bothered to put a little thought behind the guild for which they wish to create.

The buddy list is there for creating a list of friends who have similar interests, and groups are there to enable you to chat in such groups, why inflict the nonsensical laziness of one’s lack of imagination upon those who put a great deal of effort into making the users of this wonderful place called PlaneShift.  One should at least 'sugar coat' your group making with a decent name, and a game setting set of rules to help cover the fact that you are only a bunch of Windows Only users, or Mac Only users, or German speaking or French Speaking.. or... etc etc etc...

Also there are forums out in the Real World for the likes of that...

Because of our thoughts on this 'guild' issue and that we felt strongly enough to put it to the populous of PlaneShift to see if there are any Ideas out there as to how to prevent the world becoming a mass of guilds called things like:

Iwannabear or Macuserinc or WespeakaIT... (All nonexistent so as not to finger point)

and joining requirements like:

Mac user, Windows User, etc...

We personally think that Guilds should not be allowed to be 'created' if there is no attempt at giving it credence by having a decent name, and set of rules or ethics... and ultimately and in game Role Playing purpose... and once posted a permission given by the governing body of PlaneShift...  Where clear reasoning as to why it was allowed or why it was turned down is given.  ie - a set of criterion for the guild to meet to become viable.

(A good debate is not to name and shame but to propose ideas with sound reasoning.  Bad debate is to just name and shame... pointless really. If you think someone’s idea is silly, don't just say 'that stupid' as that is pointless, say why you think it is not a good idea, and propose your own with reasons why...)

[Zan]

*nods agreeingly*

What I personally find the worst is not the existence of these guilds with their lack of originality or roleplaying purpose. It's that they are far far more succesful (in terms of members and activity) than most great initiatives. Most of those guilds rely on mass recruitment tactics and while some might have standards of some sort, those standards are easily met most of the time.

I've seen quite a few amazing guilds, that is those with an excellent idea, name and description on here, who never made it in the game. Or when they did make it through the creation process, they didn't survive for very long.

Anyways I agree that if this should be reduced to a minimum the guild creation requirements need to change. I'd like to see the tria and member requirement give way to requirements which are directed towards dedication, content and originality. First off there could be a general time limit which prevents any new accounts from making guilds. I don't think it'd hurt to only have those older accounts which already exist for a few months be able to create guilds. Secondly it would be nice to let people create their guild on these forums or on a website first, write out the idea and all, then have these ideas approved before they can be made in-game. This will greatly reduce the number of guilds only because it will take more effort and you need to be patient and wait for a guild creation supervisor before you can have your guild.

Lastly I was thinking about something not directly related to the creation of guilds but which would be better than things are now. This is the ability to join more than one guild with your character. It is more realistic in my opinion since I don't see why someone can't join a miner's guild as well as a blacksmithing guild, for example. The player would select one guild which would be his/her primary guild and show up in their label .. but they are also free to join other guilds. Of course this would require some changes, in the guild chat tab among others.

I think this would be interesting for a few reasons. First of all because the still limited roleplaying community can be spread across a greater area this way, instead of contributing to one guild one can contribute to several guilds. This would also be a big addition to the creation of networks and relationships between guilds and between roleplayers. Lastly it creates more possibilities and a tighter community. Right now I find that there are groups of roleplayers, usually within the same guild or with a few allied guilds, but those groups rarely mingle.

[zorbels]

All good points and a very well said post. I agree with you and your views on guilds. Before the update came and the server went down I was disussing with a friend of mine how ridiculous it was becoming to see the almost every darn guild has the name Yliakum in it. They all seem to stand for the same thing. Helping people. Ok wonderful and great, help away, but isn't there other things you could do as well? That your guild could stand for?

Anyway, I wish that our guilds were more than just happy friendly helpful guys. Everyone one wants to be a guild master, but not many guilds survive for long because of lack of imagination.

[Lolitra, Celorrim Purrty Twins]

Yes, the idea of joining several guilds is most certainly one of great benefits for those who choose to RolePlay varying aspects of their character, as said above - one could be a minor, or a knight, and have codes of honour according to that membership, then pledge allegence to a cause of another guild...

[Verrliit]

To head off the inevitable defense by Guilds who are basically OOC...


Yes, there are some guilds that are unconventional, and do not follow the herd of would-be heroes.

But they remain within the background setting of Yliakum.

You cannot point to them, and say you are the same.

Just putting Yliakum in your name is not enough.

You must also create a story.


~Verrliit~

.

[Delsabor Nash]

Alot of guilds are entirely:

We protect the weak and good. We smite evil. We are heroes.

Its apparent to me that not many guilds are actually wholely unique, with interesting RP intents, mechanics or codes of law at all. Most are very similar, other than the name. Actually, scratch that, alot have similar names to. I know i can't be a guild master because I am not all that great at starting up a huge group sized rp that should be included with the making of a guild.

[Repius]

Joining more than one guild is good, but this could take to unbalance. In other games for example you can't to join more than one fighters' guild, but you can join more crafters' guilds, or merchants' guilds.
---------------------------------------------------

Secondly it would be nice to let people create their guild on these forums or on a website first, write out the idea and all, then have these ideas approved before they can be made in-game. This will greatly reduce the number of guilds only because it will take more effort and you need to be patient and wait for a guild creation supervisor before you can have your guild.

I would suggest that the supervisor follow this rule (among the others): "Guilds' backgrounds cannot collide. ie: last arrived guilds' backgrounds must not collide with backgrounds of previously approved guilds."

[HarenaAbdolor]

I agree with you and your wife certainly.  I loathe some of the names of characters because they do not have any relevance to the game at all.  I'm also in the process of forming my own guild, but even when I have finished with creating a story line and such, I fear that no one will want to join because they will not be into the Roleplaying-type guilds anymore.  Instead they will stick to the ones formed only to advance levels and has no in-game substance at all. 

I'm glad that you submitted this topic and I hope the GMs and everyone responsible for the monitoring of PS take action to preserve the integrety of the fantasy-based MMORPG we love, and want to keep the way it should be!

Harena A. 

[Alhana]

I don have much to say and just going slightly off topic, there is a rule in force which prevents newly created characters from shouting for the first hour, to see a similar rule applied to the requirements before creating a guild would be a welcomed addition.

With mining (namely platinum) becoming so popular you can bet were going to see an increase in such guilds as mention by the Purrty Twins.

[HarenaAbdolor]

True... though I can't knock platinum because that is the main source of my income.  Maybe, though I really HATE to say it  , there should be greater obstacles in the way of getting to the platinum mines.  (So painful to suggest  ) But I agree that it does allow for guilds to be made with less consideration as it is less of a financial risk now.  Though it certainly would kill my bank account! Gah!

Harena A.

[Astraea]

Alot of guilds are entirely:
We protect the weak and good. We smite evil. We are heroes.

I completely agree with this summary. I can count at least 5 guilds that follow those three sentences, and another 5 that are "evil." What's really missing in the world of guilds in Yliakum is what originally made up medieval guilds in RL - crafts and merchants. We need guilds of mages, blacksmiths, healers, hide merchants, weapons merchants, etc. Those by default would need a background story to function and are deeply involved with RP on a daily basis.

[HarenaAbdolor]

*nods* I totally agree with that.  (And I'm working to help on that too...  )

Harena A.

[Delsabor Nash]

Seeing an all Mage-centered Guild would be very interesting. but more interesting would be the story behind it.

[Karyuu]

We already have the Arcane Order I think one of the first and longest lasting mage guilds.

[Delsabor Nash]

Ive heard of THEM, but never really of their actions ect. what are they about?