I don\'t think that this high amount of guilds is a real problem. Some of them are bound to turn into a well organized and important guild, some probably already are. For all the guilds that fail, at least their leaders will have had their chance to try and hopefully learn from their mistakes. - Sharaz
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No doubt there will be this \"natural\" selection based mostly on leadership, organization and most of all the commitment of the members. That is normal and healthy.
So for all ppl looking for a guild to join try and look at the organization and activity of the members of the guild(s) you are considering. A look at the website will give you an idea of the professionalism and organizational ability of the leadership. Look at the guild(s) own forum to get an idea of how active they are and whether they are just \"goofing around\", trying to build their own little empire or are actually working on ideas and contributing to game development.
Also if you see members from a guild you\'ve been watching do a search under their name(s) in PS forum to see how often they participate and more importantly what they contribute to PS forum and the whole PS project. You will quickly find out who is serious and constructive,who is just goofing around and who is actually making a pain of themselves pestering others, and abusing the forum for personal intrigues.
That being said, consider the difference in structure and \"power-sharing\" in guilds. Some guilds (but by no means all!) have a hierarchical order with one person (the leader/founder) at the top with all the say. This requires a very nice and balanced leader to make it fun for the other members to be part of it. Other guilds have a more open and representative decisionmaking structure with a council or elected body that make decision together. Those are probably the ones in which there is more team work and dynamics, although that is not to say that other forms of guilds can not be a close knit unit with good relations amongst themselves.
There will shortly be published a survey of guilds comparing them with each other i.t.o. type of members recruited, aims, alignment, ranking- and organisational structure as well as allies. When that is done it will be announced in this forum with a link to the survey.
A word of advice (can be ignored at no peril

) if you are thinking of starting a new guild do so in an \"area\" that is not already populated densely by existing guilds. There are no Merchant\'s guilds for example yet. In the game merchants will be an important factor as all will not be fighting, blood-and-guts stuff but also making a living etc.
well, guild halls had better be damned expencive and time consuming to make to keep every guild that pops up from creating fortresses and such- Dril (again)
I think you are right some guilds would have to partner (i.e. very close allies that actually work together) or fuse with one another in order to really be able to influence Yliakum in-game and to be able to establish a noticeable presence.
well they could always a hire a builder character to make them a shack - Dril (again ...and again ....)
That\'s the idea of a true genius Dril! You create a builders guild, would mean you would gain lots of building prowess so you would become even better at destroying guild halls effectively

.
*pats Dril nicely on the head and gives him a dog biscuit for good behaviour (Still love you man - btw our relationship has been discovered! 8o :] )*
A last (promise I\'m done now), thought. Because a guild has been around al ong time does not mean it won\'t fall apart and die of old age and lack of activity (just have a look around this forum for evidence of decay, death and suicidal actions

). Also just because a guild is new and small it does not mean it won\'t last. Leadership, organization, dynamism and member committment mean a lot more than age.