Guilds: How to recruit? who to recruit? and what to do? - Guild Wars Forums

Canadian · May 26, 2005, 05:32 AM // 05:32

I have my own guild. There is only one member: me. I haven't yet gone out recruiting, but I soon will be. Before I do recruit, I will most likely modify my cape for the 2k gold (people like joining guilds with cool capes, rather than drury ones).

I have a question to all those who know or have a successful guild: How do you go about recruiting?
By that, I mean, do you just recruit anyone who appears to have a good build and some interest? Do you get to know the guy? Do you care about the person? Do you know the person? Do you recruit the person on the grounds they play a certain class, or have that character already made?

How do you go about creating a successful team; a compitent team. Does it really take time?

I'm seeing many guilds thriving in the pro dueling arenas, and it seems like they have assembled themselves quite effeciently and in good time.

Possibly someone who has a good guild could suggest to me how to make my guild do well.

nightlith · May 26, 2005, 06:55 AM // 06:55

I think alot of it has to do with pre-established clans. Starting a guild from the ground up, from nothing, takes alot of time. The guilds that are doing good in such a relatively short amount of time are groups of people who have played online together for awhile and probably in other competative games.

I myself am slowly building a guild, and I can tell you it takes a long time. For the most part, you are in control of who you want in your guild. Without a plan of attack...or a guideline...or any sort of planning your guild probably won't take off.

To create a good team of players, you need to know what you want to get from the guild. A guild isn't some mysterious omnipotent being. A guild is the people. Do you want a group that is highly competitive for PvP? Do you want a roleplaying society? Do you want to appeal to the family friendly group? A mature crowd, a young crowd? There's alot of things you need to consider. The questions you asked are ones you need to answer, must like the questions I proposed as well.

Also, people who ask to be in a guild just because you have a cape, or a guild hall is really shallow. I've spent the better part of the week designing and implementing a guild website, with forums, integrated screenshot gallery, bells, whistles; basically something a guild needs. Some form of central communication outside of the game. A voice-comm system is also very high on the 'must-have' guild items list. Perhaps a defined chat system (MSN, AIM, XFire, IRC). These I think are far more important than capes or halls.

Above all else, don't treat the guild like some sort of business. Don't make your members feel inferior just because you are the leader "and anything you say goes". Respect you players, and remember: they are players. It's only a game, go out there and have fun

(Now I know, you were asking good guilds, and I'm not good yet. But I feel this are core parts of having a successful guild, and I hope many successful guild will agree. I too would like to know the 'secret formula' for getting more members. I just know one ingredient: patience.)

Witt78 · May 26, 2005, 10:06 AM // 10:06

In my opinion, there is one thing you should pay attention to, if you want to build a strong guild.

Don't let your guild grow faster than the friendships of it's members. Nothing else matters.

It does not really matter if you know the guy your inviting, or if you just shout for new members in Ascalon. As long as everybody knows everybody well enough to feel comfortable in the guild chat... You'll be okay.

Don't expect to build a powerful guild overnight. If you do, you will have alot of members, but you won't really have a "Guild" If you know what I mean.

-Witt78

PS - When I invite a new member, I will shower them with gifts... and I will do so INSIDE the guild chat. I will take the new member around and introduce them to players in the guild "IN PERSON" Instead of a couple of "Hello's" in the chat window. It's easy for a good leader to "Kick Start" Friendships. Then move on to the next new member. =)

nechronius · May 26, 2005, 06:00 PM // 18:00

Sound advice for building proper guild member relations. Two of the guys in my guild left their guild for mine. We are not a large group, barely 10 in number, but it says something about the quality of the members if people leave their guilds for ours. Growing too fast means losing the personal touch with your members and not giving them Time to grow with each other.

For the record I didn't convince these people to leave their guilds. They left on their own accord (A subtle reminder about member satisfaction) without a word of "encouragement" from me.

Alzbeta · May 26, 2005, 06:11 PM // 18:11

Personality, helpfulness, and a tightly-knit group are very important to me, and that's what I looked for in a guild. Invite people you've grouped with, and don't spam "GUILD ____ RECROOTING NOW! WEEE HAV CAYPS!" in local channels. Get to know people before you just extend an invite -- it means a lot when a guild leader takes the time to travel around with you and chat for a bit. Snazzy webpages and programs like Teamspeak/Vent/etc are ok, but they're not what will make someone feel appreciated in a guild.

The IOU · May 26, 2005, 06:30 PM // 18:30

Invite slowly. Sometimes the best members you invite are the ones you finished in a mission with and had a great group.

We have about 20 members now, it started with 4 of us (RL friends). I have made a lot more since then because they have joined our guild.

Helpfulness is key. But I dreadfully hate the guilds that "require" help. When I am in a mission and they leave at the start saying "Sorry a guildy needs my help I have to go" after we spent 10 min getting a group is not cool and I don't think guilds should be like this. They should understand that we all can be helpful in a volunteer type of way.

Once a night I go around to maybe the first 10 districts of popular cities and ONCE say we are recruiting and leave. I don't spam it 10-15 times in the same district. I don't think my method of recruiting is wrong and usually I get about 2-3 responses on more information.

One guy PMed me and said that his guild wasn't helping him ascend and wondered if ours would. That was his first PM to me. None-the-less after a while I had to ignore him because I don't think that is the kind of member we want in our guild. We would've (and we do help when we can) helped, but he demanded it and that just hit me in the wrong way

May 26, 2005, 05:32 AM // 05:32	#1
Canadian Frost Gate Guardian Join Date: May 2005 Location: Canada Guild: Forsaken Elite	Guilds: How to recruit? who to recruit? and what to do? I have my own guild. There is only one member: me. I haven't yet gone out recruiting, but I soon will be. Before I do recruit, I will most likely modify my cape for the 2k gold (people like joining guilds with cool capes, rather than drury ones). I have a question to all those who know or have a successful guild: How do you go about recruiting? By that, I mean, do you just recruit anyone who appears to have a good build and some interest? Do you get to know the guy? Do you care about the person? Do you know the person? Do you recruit the person on the grounds they play a certain class, or have that character already made? How do you go about creating a successful team; a compitent team. Does it really take time? I'm seeing many guilds thriving in the pro dueling arenas, and it seems like they have assembled themselves quite effeciently and in good time. Possibly someone who has a good guild could suggest to me how to make my guild do well.

May 26, 2005, 06:30 PM // 18:30	#6
The IOU Krytan Explorer Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Iowa Guild: Guild of Night Profession: Mo/E	Invite slowly. Sometimes the best members you invite are the ones you finished in a mission with and had a great group. We have about 20 members now, it started with 4 of us (RL friends). I have made a lot more since then because they have joined our guild. Helpfulness is key. But I dreadfully hate the guilds that "require" help. When I am in a mission and they leave at the start saying "Sorry a guildy needs my help I have to go" after we spent 10 min getting a group is not cool and I don't think guilds should be like this. They should understand that we all can be helpful in a volunteer type of way. Once a night I go around to maybe the first 10 districts of popular cities and ONCE say we are recruiting and leave. I don't spam it 10-15 times in the same district. I don't think my method of recruiting is wrong and usually I get about 2-3 responses on more information. One guy PMed me and said that his guild wasn't helping him ascend and wondered if ours would. That was his first PM to me. None-the-less after a while I had to ignore him because I don't think that is the kind of member we want in our guild. We would've (and we do help when we can) helped, but he demanded it and that just hit me in the wrong way Last edited by The IOU; May 26, 2005 at 08:06 PM // 20:06..

May 26, 2005, 06:55 AM // 06:55	#2
nightlith Pre-Searing Cadet Join Date: May 2005 Profession: Elementalist	I think alot of it has to do with pre-established clans. Starting a guild from the ground up, from nothing, takes alot of time. The guilds that are doing good in such a relatively short amount of time are groups of people who have played online together for awhile and probably in other competative games. I myself am slowly building a guild, and I can tell you it takes a long time. For the most part, you are in control of who you want in your guild. Without a plan of attack...or a guideline...or any sort of planning your guild probably won't take off. To create a good team of players, you need to know what you want to get from the guild. A guild isn't some mysterious omnipotent being. A guild is the people. Do you want a group that is highly competitive for PvP? Do you want a roleplaying society? Do you want to appeal to the family friendly group? A mature crowd, a young crowd? There's alot of things you need to consider. The questions you asked are ones you need to answer, must like the questions I proposed as well. Also, people who ask to be in a guild just because you have a cape, or a guild hall is really shallow. I've spent the better part of the week designing and implementing a guild website, with forums, integrated screenshot gallery, bells, whistles; basically something a guild needs. Some form of central communication outside of the game. A voice-comm system is also very high on the 'must-have' guild items list. Perhaps a defined chat system (MSN, AIM, XFire, IRC). These I think are far more important than capes or halls. Above all else, don't treat the guild like some sort of business. Don't make your members feel inferior just because you are the leader "and anything you say goes". Respect you players, and remember: they are players. It's only a game, go out there and have fun (Now I know, you were asking good guilds, and I'm not good yet. But I feel this are core parts of having a successful guild, and I hope many successful guild will agree. I too would like to know the 'secret formula' for getting more members. I just know one ingredient: patience.)

May 26, 2005, 10:06 AM // 10:06	#3
Witt78 Academy Page Join Date: May 2005	In my opinion, there is one thing you should pay attention to, if you want to build a strong guild. Don't let your guild grow faster than the friendships of it's members. Nothing else matters. It does not really matter if you know the guy your inviting, or if you just shout for new members in Ascalon. As long as everybody knows everybody well enough to feel comfortable in the guild chat... You'll be okay. Don't expect to build a powerful guild overnight. If you do, you will have alot of members, but you won't really have a "Guild" If you know what I mean. -Witt78 PS - When I invite a new member, I will shower them with gifts... and I will do so INSIDE the guild chat. I will take the new member around and introduce them to players in the guild "IN PERSON" Instead of a couple of "Hello's" in the chat window. It's easy for a good leader to "Kick Start" Friendships. Then move on to the next new member. =)

May 26, 2005, 06:00 PM // 18:00	#4
nechronius Krytan Explorer Join Date: May 2005 Location: Southern Cali Guild: Herald of the Storm Profession: W/R	Sound advice for building proper guild member relations. Two of the guys in my guild left their guild for mine. We are not a large group, barely 10 in number, but it says something about the quality of the members if people leave their guilds for ours. Growing too fast means losing the personal touch with your members and not giving them Time to grow with each other. For the record I didn't convince these people to leave their guilds. They left on their own accord (A subtle reminder about member satisfaction) without a word of "encouragement" from me.

May 26, 2005, 06:11 PM // 18:11	#5
Alzbeta Ascalonian Squire Join Date: May 2005 Location: South Carolina, USA Guild: Order of the Silver Dragon [OSD] Profession: R/E	Personality, helpfulness, and a tightly-knit group are very important to me, and that's what I looked for in a guild. Invite people you've grouped with, and don't spam "GUILD ____ RECROOTING NOW! WEEE HAV CAYPS!" in local channels. Get to know people before you just extend an invite -- it means a lot when a guild leader takes the time to travel around with you and chat for a bit. Snazzy webpages and programs like Teamspeak/Vent/etc are ok, but they're not what will make someone feel appreciated in a guild.