Advice for starting a guild?

WhiteCoatSyndrome

I've toyed with the idea of starting my own guild, and I'd like to know are there any major pitfalls I should watch out for? How work intensive is it? A kicking-one-month-inactives policy seems to be the standard, are there any others?

akredon_ESO

i just started mine and it takes a lot of work. you need to have dedicated players that hope to see the same vision as you and want to all work as a group to obtain those goals, If you don't its going to be a rough struggle.

Jules

1) Have a clear cut purpose.

PVP. PVE. Raiding. Trade. RP.
The guilds with the highest success rates have one clear cut purpose and they don't try to be successful at everything. Sure it can be possible to be the top PVE and PVP guild but it seems unlikely.

2) Value your guildies. Create a fun and social environment whatever direction you choose.

3) Get a teamspeak

akredon_ESO

Jules is 100% correct and thats exactly what im doing with mine

Rayek

Pretty much what Jules said...be organized and have a goal. Have some ground rules to keep the guild "civilized" on how you want your guild to be.

Couple other tips:

1. Once you've got your plan post it on the ESO forums guild section:
   http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/categories/en-pc-mac-na (or the EU one depending)
2. Don't randomly invite people without asking...have a plan for recruitment

G'luck

Moonshadow66

Depends on what kind of guild. I founded one end of last year and only added a few friends which also added a few of their friends, just to share some goods or run dungeons if we were in the mood, or just to chat. Like a second friendslist with a guild bank included

Casdha

I'd also say it depends size of guild you want. Size is directly proportional to work involved. I'd say shoot for 15 loyal members to start, that way you have a buffer for the 10 member limit to keep your bank open.

SteveCampsOut

Or you could go the casual route, don't expect it to grow fast or retain anyone looking for serious organization. They won't stick around. But I've run 1 causal EU guild for almost a year and started a NA guild by the same name about two months ago. Both are doing pretty well without a lot of rules.Still takes a lot of time and patience.

Danikat

I definitely think it helps to have a clear purpose or theme or something to bring the members together.

Firstly it means when you're recruiting you have something to distinguish your guild from 1,001 others who promise to do everything, with everyone, all the time. Something to make people think your guild is the one they want, rather than the first one they came across or one of many that they picked almost at random.

Secondly it gives your members a reason to talk and play together so they can get to know each other, which makes retaining members and keeping the guild active much easier.

That purpose can be anything: hardcore PvP or PvE speed clears, role-playing, Non RP parties, teaching newbies how to do dungeons, chatting about American football while playing....

But make it something you (and anyone else you've got on board to join) wants to do, so you're recruiting people with similar interests.

WraithAzraiel

Just have fun, with people worth having around. Best advice you can get.

drkeys143

A lot of sound advice here, agreed
I started a guild last November, it has grown to around 30 folks at present, and you know what? - it can be hard work sometimes to keep things going, but we have a lot of fun too. I value each and every member, they are good guys to have around, makes logging in after a hard day a pleasure!

As long as there is plenty of social interaction and you try to make every member feel included in some way, then people will get to know each other and have fun grouping, exploring, PvP-ing, whatever it is you want to do, and the guild that plays together stays together ( sorry, that was cheesy I know!)

Oh, nearly forgot important point - make sure you are online regularly I am on at some time virtually everyday, if the GM doesn't appear interested or committed, can't expect it from the guildies either!

Vizier

It has to have a clear goal with it. PvP, PvE, Social, Trade. Whatever you choose it has to be relevant to the people within it or it will fail. That means be prepared to spend alot of time pushing groups and events. ASAP get people that want to do that too cuz unless you live online you can't do it all yourself.

Make two guilds. One for everyone and one for you and officers for special bank. The things you don't want everyone else getting access to. If you are restricting most of the guild from the bank then probably not necessary.

Good luck.

WhiteCoatSyndrome

Thank you everyone for your advice!

Tabbycat

Yeah you definitely need to have a reason for the guild to exist or you'll have a hard time convincing others to join. It also helps if you already have several people interested in joining your guild before it is formed.

WhiteCoatSyndrome

Heh, the reason existed before the desire to form a guild did. For the record it's "help people find other to people to complete Craglorn quests with." I KNOW there's a need there; I helped two groups through Missing Guardian just last night and the level of gratitude I've gotten for that help is heartbreaking. And I've been doing this sort of thing for a few weeks now, so I know it isn't a one-off thing; something needs to be done. But doing it all by myself is not very efficient, which is why I'm considering a guild.

How...important is Teamspeak? I've never used it before and haven't needed it up to now.

Guild size I'm uncertain of; 'enough to get the job done' is my goal, but more specifically I'd like a small core of people who will stick around because I expect the majority will join up, finish the quests they want to finish, then leave for other content.

Tabbycat

WhiteCoatSyndrome wrote: »

Heh, the reason existed before the desire to form a guild did. For the record it's "help people find other to people to complete Craglorn quests with." I KNOW there's a need there; I helped two groups through Missing Guardian just last night and the level of gratitude I've gotten for that help is heartbreaking. And I've been doing this sort of thing for a few weeks now, so I know it isn't a one-off thing; something needs to be done. But doing it all by myself is not very efficient, which is why I'm considering a guild.

How...important is Teamspeak? I've never used it before and haven't needed it up to now.

Guild size I'm uncertain of; 'enough to get the job done' is my goal, but more specifically I'd like a small core of people who will stick around because I expect the majority will join up, finish the quests they want to finish, then leave for other content.

If you plan on doing group events with others where you need to coordinate things or direct people on what to do, it is far easier to talk them through instructions than it is to type it out. I would say if you need to organize a group event, you need teamspeak. If you are just doing social stuff, you probably don't.

Since the purpose of your guild is to help people through Craglorn, your guild would benefit from having Teamspeak (or mumble or ventrilo).