Taking over a Guild Due to an Inactive Leader

Ezmaralda · December 2014

I want to take control of a Guild. I helped start in in Beta. The man who started it has been inactive for 6 months or so. I have tried to contact him but no luck. Is there a way to take over? I don't think he would mind! I want to keep it going and invite active players but it's hard to do with an absent Leader.

nerevarine1138 · December 2014

You can petition a GM, but don't hold your breath. If the leader still has an active account, there's zero chance of them transferring guild ownership, and even if the subscription has lapsed, it's still not likely.

whiteshadow711jppreub18_ESO · December 2014

I had this happen to me, since my previous Guild leader left the game.

You have to try to get him back and then have him make you the guild leader (this one happened to me, he came back and made me the guild leader, recently he has come back to play the game and is interested in what the champion system will be like), if you cannot do this, then you might need to disband the guild and start a new one with yourself as the guild leader..

Good luck..

xaraan · December 2014

We had to do this as well. We put in a help ticket, they emailed the old leader and talked to him, then ZoS gave the former leader a one day pass to game so he could log in and pass the lead to someone else.

Iluvrien · December 2014

This happened to me too.

If starting a new Guild is an option then I would suggest doing it. 4 months after reporting an absent Guildleader CS finally transferred the position to me. By which time many of our members had left.

Save what members you can, make a new Guild, do not depend on CS for a fix.

Flaminir · December 2014

We had same with Vanishing Legacy... CS wouldn't help so we had to start again.... just by adding a 'The' at the start of our name!

Ysne58 · December 2014

Submit a support ticket and good luck.

SteveCampsOut · December 2014

I'm against people taking over guilds that aren't theirs. I was in one where the GM had been gone and CS did indeed give someone the GM position and the first thing he did was remove active people from the guild including myself and I was one of the original members and I had also been inviting new members to keep the guild alive while the GM was away.

Iluvrien · December 2014

So how would you prefer to see issues such as these resolved, @SteveCampsOut‌?

SteveCampsOut · December 2014

If you or anyone else wants to be a GM you should form a new guild. Take the members from your current guild that want to go with you and leave the rest alone.

Iluvrien · December 2014

And if the issue is not "wanting to be a GM" but rather that new players would like to be promoted... ever? Or that CS had already contacted the GM in question and had been told that they had no intention of ever returning? Or that the other guild members had a lot of time and energy tied up in the guild and its identity and had little desire to see that go to waste?

Your answer seems to suggest that it is a simple interest in the power or position that prompts these situations. Certainly in the case of the Guild that I am part of, and am attempting to rebuild, this was not the case.

Would your answer remain the same under these different circumstances?

SteveCampsOut · December 2014

Of course not. As I stated, however, that wasn't what happened in my case. I doubt that most of the active members even knew the guild was switching hands. It certainly wasn't announced in any guild chats or on the guild website and as I said, it didn't have pleasant repercussions in my case.

LarsS · December 2014

We have had a simmilar problem. Our GM signaled that he inteded to quit but did not transfer the GM post. He had problems geting into the game, unfortunately. In our case I could provide ZOS with a discussion on our webpage between me and the GM, which showed that his intention was to transfer the title to me. Our GM also asked ZOS for a transfer of the leadership, which ZOS after some time executed.

Gyudan · December 2014

Ezmaralda wrote: »

I want to take control of a Guild. I helped start in in Beta. The man who started it has been inactive for 6 months or so. I have tried to contact him but no luck. Is there a way to take over? I don't think he would mind! I want to keep it going and invite active players but it's hard to do with an absent Leader.

ZOS will at best try to contact your GM by email. If he doesn't answer, there's nothing they "can" do.
Imho you should follow all the advice posted here and start a new guild. It may take a few days to get all members to transfer to the new one but it should work out eventually.
Good luck

stefan.gustavsonb16_ESO · December 2014

I tried this with a small, casual guild where the GM left without handing over the torch to someone else. The support staff was helpful, but the forced takeover process was very slow.

Sneak_Thief · December 2014

I have to agree with @SteveCampsOut , if a GM creates a guild and doesn't come back, it doesn't void the fact they own the name.. While GMs should be more diligent and pass off leadership, they shouldn't lose it without giving their consent, as they may come back and want their guild name.

If you are the stand in leader of the inactive guild, create your own guild and urge all players to join it, this way the old guild will be just a husk, but the GM still has the right to it if they return..

So their are 3 options I have seen people do:
1) Contact the old GM, get them to pass leadership to you or have them contact ZOS
2) Urge all members to join your guild, and kick the other inactive so its all empty.
3) Or depending on how many actually log in (and if you can kick), I have known a couple to simply not invite anyone and just use the gbank for storage.

These are some of the outcomes I have personally seen from people in your situation. Do what you feel you need to but I doubt ZOS will just hand you the guild.

Rosveen · December 2014

Open a ticket. One of my guilds had the same problem. The process was slow, but eventually CS resolved the issue - first they had to establish that the GM had been inactive for at least 30 days and nobody could contact him, then they sent emails to all high ranking officers asking who is interested in becoming the new GM so they could make a list for further consideration. Which means they don't just give the position to anyone who asks, but try to consider all potential replacements. The officers unanimously nominated our current GM and that was it,

SteveCampsOut · December 2014

Rosveen wrote: »

Open a ticket. One of my guilds had the same problem. The process was slow, but eventually CS resolved the issue - first they had to establish that the GM had been inactive for at least 30 days and nobody could contact him, then they sent emails to all high ranking officers asking who is interested in becoming the new GM so they could make a list for further consideration. Which means they don't just give the position to anyone who asks, but try to consider all potential replacements. The officers unanimously nominated our current GM and that was it,

Sadly, that didn't happen when the guy stole the Guild on the EU server that I was in. It would have been nice to have votes and discussion about it.

Rosveen · December 2014

SteveCampsOut wrote: »

Rosveen wrote: »

Open a ticket. One of my guilds had the same problem. The process was slow, but eventually CS resolved the issue - first they had to establish that the GM had been inactive for at least 30 days and nobody could contact him, then they sent emails to all high ranking officers asking who is interested in becoming the new GM so they could make a list for further consideration. Which means they don't just give the position to anyone who asks, but try to consider all potential replacements. The officers unanimously nominated our current GM and that was it,

Sadly, that didn't happen when the guy stole the Guild on the EU server that I was in. It would have been nice to have votes and discussion about it.

That sucks. Our officers were very open about this whole situation. Perhaps CS learned something from past failed transfers? Or maybe it's a matter of luck and depends on the support person you talk to.

One thing though, how were your guild ranks set up? CS was planning to choose a replacement from members of the next highest rank, so if you had only one or two active people there, it could have been the source of the problem.

ZOS_JasonLeavey · December 2014

Hey there, @Ezmaralda. As some folks have said above, be sure to contact support directly. They'll definitely be able to look into the request and help assist you.

Tonturri · December 2014

I also had this. I poked ZOS about it, and they poked the then-GM. He ended up getting a couple days of game time to come back and change it (which he did).

OtarTheMad · December 2014

My guild also had this when the original Guildmaster ran into heavy computer problems and we had to remake the guild since ZOS didn't or couldn't promote someone. Lucky that we were able to keep the same name pretty much.

SteveCampsOut · December 2014

Rosveen wrote: »

SteveCampsOut wrote: »

Rosveen wrote: »

Open a ticket. One of my guilds had the same problem. The process was slow, but eventually CS resolved the issue - first they had to establish that the GM had been inactive for at least 30 days and nobody could contact him, then they sent emails to all high ranking officers asking who is interested in becoming the new GM so they could make a list for further consideration. Which means they don't just give the position to anyone who asks, but try to consider all potential replacements. The officers unanimously nominated our current GM and that was it,

Sadly, that didn't happen when the guy stole the Guild on the EU server that I was in. It would have been nice to have votes and discussion about it.

That sucks. Our officers were very open about this whole situation. Perhaps CS learned something from past failed transfers? Or maybe it's a matter of luck and depends on the support person you talk to.

One thing though, how were your guild ranks set up? CS was planning to choose a replacement from members of the next highest rank, so if you had only one or two active people there, it could have been the source of the problem.

This happened about two months back so I don't recall but we still had a healthy membership in the 200-300 member range.... hell, I don't even recall the guild name at this point. Bad habit of mine, blanking out bad memories....

drschplatt · December 2014

There just needs to be a successor tag that a guild leader can apply to one member and allow the guild leader to set the terms. The guild leader should be able to choose 30 days, 45 days, 60 days, etc where if they are offline, leadership passes to the successor. It's a system that has worked very well in other MMOs.

Ysne58 · December 2014

I was recently offered GM of a guild because the current GM is about to go inactive. Only problem with that is I'm already GM of another guild and it appears that one can only be GM of one guild in game.

AlexDougherty · December 2014

Ysne58 wrote: »

I was recently offered GM of a guild because the current GM is about to go inactive. Only problem with that is I'm already GM of another guild and it appears that one can only be GM of one guild in game.

Yeah, because GMing is an intensive business.

Ezmaralda · December 2014

ZOS_JasonLeavey wrote: »

Hey there, @Ezmaralda. As some folks have said above, be sure to contact support directly. They'll definitely be able to look into the request and help assist you.

Thanks, i just sent in a ticket. Hopefully you will be able to contact him. I know he had moved a few times and he was having some issues afk.

stojekarcub18_ESO · June 2015

Other MMO's I have played, if the Guild Leader was offline for a certain period of time (usually 1 month, sometimes less though), they would be removed from the postion and a vote would occur. The voting period was anywhere from a few days to a week, to ensure all in the guild had notice and plenty of time to get their vote in. At the end of the voting period the winner would be the new guild leader. This entire process was automated, so no one could "rig" the votes.

Elijah_Crow · June 2015

I am absolutely against CS removing a guild leader for inactivity. If I start a guild with friends and later a group of us decide to take a break and play something else for 6 months, I expect my guild to still be there when I return..as I left it.

If I wanted a guild to live on and continue in my absence, I would set it up like that. If I didn't it was for good reason.

With that said I would be sure than any junior member joining would know up front if this was a possibility and would always have the option of staying through the hiatus, or leaving.

If I were to return to a game with a group of other players after a hiatus and find my guild had been given over to some player without my express permission, I would be livid.

If someone wants control over a guild, then build it from scratch and recruit. Stop trying to take what others may have put an extreme amount of time and effort into.

If I build it and decide to let it go to ***, the remaining players always have a right to leave and re-form. This is the only way to protect the people putting in the original effort.

I know this may not be a popular view from the perspective of a player who's guild leader has walked away, but i'm sure there are enough guild leaders out there that understand they should be protected as well from a creative and leadership perspective.

Enemy-of-Coldharbour · June 2015

Elijah_Crow wrote: »

I am absolutely against CS removing a guild leader for inactivity. If I start a guild with friends and later a group of us decide to take a break and play something else for 6 months, I expect my guild to still be there when I return..as I left it.

If I wanted a guild to live on and continue in my absence, I would set it up like that. If I didn't it was for good reason.

With that said I would be sure than any junior member joining would know up front if this was a possibility and would always have the option of staying through the hiatus, or leaving.

If I were to return to a game with a group of other players after a hiatus and find my guild had been given over to some player without my express permission, I would be livid.

If someone wants control over a guild, then build it from scratch and recruit. Stop trying to take what others may have put an extreme amount of time and effort into.

If I build it and decide to let it go to ***, the remaining players always have a right to leave and re-form. This is the only way to protect the people putting in the original effort.

I know this may not be a popular view from the perspective of a player who's guild leader has walked away, but i'm sure there are enough guild leaders out there that understand they should be protected as well from a creative and leadership perspective.

Agree 100%.

olemanwinter · June 2015

My landlord has been out of town a few months. I'd like to just take the property and own it. It should be mine.