What is a guild? A guild is like a club that you can join in World of Warcraft to keep in touch with certain players, friends, and others. Typically a guild helps each other, raids together, and socializes together. There is a shared “guild chat” that everyone in the guild can see and type in and there is a guild bank that is like a guild’s warehouse of items and materials they have stocked up. It’s the group of people you choose to play with because you want to, and the guild is there for organizational purposes.
It is common for guilds that focus on raiding to have an application process (Yes, you apply to play with a certain group of people in a video game). This may seem excessive, but its uses are actually practical. For instance, someone who does not fill out an application probably does not want to be in your guild, to rephrase that; if they do not put forth the effort to answer a couple of questions, what makes you think they will put forth the effort with anything else? Questions range from guild to guild, but typically they ask a person’s age, their World of Warcraft experience, who their character is and who their last guild was (and why they left). In a way it resembles a job application. An application is an easy way to gain a snapshot of how a person will perform in a guild.
Just joining a guild does not make a member a “full fledged” guild members yet. In most cases, they undergo a process where they are allowed into the guild, but not allowed full access to guild perks; guild paying for your armor repairs, guild contributing materials from the guild bank to craft items, guild raids etc. A person has to earn their stripes, and prove that they can be reliable by showing up to guild raids consistently, being polite by how they interact with others, and proving that they can play the game well by staying alive during raid boss fights while completing their role (tanking, healing, damaging) well.
Guild structure usually consists of a guild leader (like the owner/big boss), officers (like managers), members (employees), and applicants. The guild leader usually has the final call on decisions like what to raid during a week, who to bench during a raid if they are playing poorly, etc. Officers usually help give input to these decisions or make suggestions, they also deal with issues the guild leader might normally handle when they are offline or away. Members are really the backbone of a guild. With solid members a guild can do very well, because the better the members are, the less guidance they need from officers. Applicants vary… some are very dramatic, loud, rude, bossy, helpful, kind, friendly, etc. It’s the officers and guild leader’s job to gauge how well they think an applicant will fit in with the rest of the guild.
If a person wants to make an impression on their guild, they can do so by being helpful. A guild in general always appreciates Fish Feasts (http://www.wowhead.com/item=43015/fish-feast), these items give a buff (or power-up) to the entire raid, and can be obtained by crafting, or purchasing ones someone has already crafted on the auction house. Being polite can make a very big impression on other members, and that will also increase a new member’s chances of success. Last but not least, performance is the biggest tell of how well a person will be received in a guild. If a person plays their character exceptionally well, people may be more lenient on their personal flaws. It’s important to remember that as a new member, you’re making an impression regardless of what you are doing, so act accordingly and as if everyone were watching you.
Every guild is different, some have different motives, different conduct, different structure, but this is how most guilds handle themselves. Guilds are also very popular in WoW, and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who is not in one. Overall, a guild should contribute to the social aspect of your gaming experience, and if a guild is causing more problems than resulting in fun, perhaps you should find a new guild. Remember that all members represent a guild, and if you’re in a guild with a people who play well and are polite, you will be perceived as such. However if you join a guild full of jerks, and poor players, you will probably be considered a bad apple as well. Post a comment if you have any questions you feel like asking, thanks.
I just recently joined one of my friends guilds but I haven't logged on in about a week. I am feeling like a bad guild mate. Hopefully after summer classes are over I can get back to playing :)
ReplyDelete@Tyler Most people understand that things come up in real life and people have to take a break. We've had people disappear for months without a word, it happens.
ReplyDeleteWow. I always knew that many people take this game very seriously, but this post really made me see just how seriously that is. I didn't realize that there was quite that much interaction between the players and how much they judge each other through these guilds.
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