A wealth of online guilds have been born – and perished – over the years as MMORPGs have grown in popularity. These groups of like minded players come in many shapes and sizes, which can make it difficult for a guild to distinguish itself amongst the rest. Nor is it easy to decide upon a guild format for a guild you might be looking to create (or join).
In that light, I’ve written this overview of the three major online guild archetypes that can be found in the online gaming realm today.
Corporate
A corporate guild is led by a core group of members, who are commonly referred to as the staff. These players ordinarily assume such roles as that of a recruiter, webmaster or event organizer. In most cases these roles are voluntary, which means that other staff members or the founding ‘guildleader’ will perform these tasks if no one else does. This guildleader is initially responsible for everything – and usually remains an overruling party above the staff members themselves.
Most corporate guilds tend to employ detailed schedules and are thus more properly organised than other kinds of guilds. Any events and gatherings will be planned in advance, which will allow members a greater measure of leisurely play, because they know when the guild will be doing something as a group. This makes corporate guilds particularly good for busy people (working individuals), who want to know when to be on in order not to miss out on anything important, but can’t be online enough to go on every little random group hunt.
The corporate guild brings major advantages for the guild founder(s) as well. Initially the guildleader will be tasked with just about everything, which can be a little overwhelming. But eventually the guild will grow and people will step forward to take on new roles in the organization. Soon enough most of the important tasks will be spread out amongst a wealth of individuals (preferably several per task for redundancy) and the guildleader can enjoy a greater amount of ordinary playtime than guildleaders in other kinds of guilds.
Guild members themselves meanwhile, will be allowed to assume roles in the organization. This will give them direct influence on the path that the guild will take, should they choose to exert it. If they do not wish to bother themselves with guild matters, then that is fine too and someone else will step up in their stead.
Another interesting advantage of a corporate guild is that it’s easy to promote. The structure of such a guild is solid and easy to explain and will attract both people interested in helping determine guild policies and those who want to have others manage all the ‘boring stuff’ for them.
Corporate guilds tend to be well-organised
Democratic
The most popular guild format is the democratic archetype, especially in fantasy MMORPGs. It’s also the least successful guild format.
More often than not, these kinds of guilds are started by a small group of people who intend to share leadership amongst themselves and prominent members later on. Some take this concept further and let every member in the guild sit in their ‘council’ for some measure of time and award no favours whatsoever to the guild founders themselves. The advantage of this concept is obvious: every member has a say in what the guild does.
The disadvantages should also be painfully obvious. Many democratic guild will force members to join the guild leadership at one point or another, even if these members have no time or motivation to do so. Also, every little detail will be decided with a vote, which takes up needless amounts of time.
Rather than having an entire council session over whether a member should get item X from storage, it is far more efficient to simply appoint a storage keeper (corporate guild format) who will decide upon these matters him- or herself, within reasonable limits.
Other drawbacks are the lack of focus these kinds of guilds display, due to their constantly changing leadership. As well as the complete lack of any immediate decision making capabilities, which are essential in certain – particularly PvP-oriented – MMOs (e.g.: EVE Online). More importantly, members will need to be interested in guild leadership and have time enough to invest in lengthy democratic voting processes. It may be fair, but to most players it’s also boring, slow and ineffective.
That is not to say the democratic element in and of itself is bad. Most other types of guilds tend to employ democracy for major decisions, allowing all members (who choose to do so) to enter their vote in a forum poll of sorts, before a specific deadline. It is fair and it works, but only for matters of little urgency.
Dictatorial
The dictatorial guild is fairly self-explanatory. This guild format is rather more common amongst FPS clans and younger gamers and involves a single person assuming control over everything guild related. Members will never be bothered with decision making, but they don’t have a say in anything either.
A dictatorial guild relies solely on it’s guildleader for everything and therein lies its weakness. Should the guildleader be incapacitated or leave, then the guild will most certainly fall apart. Nor is it common for a single person to be capable of managing a guild in accordance to the wishes of all of its members for any length of time. Few people can manage this, and most who are capable enough to do so will opt for more than a simple dictatorial implementation.
One major advantage of a dictatorial guild is that it’s generally going to be a very solid guild with clear distinctive attributes. This will help in the recruitment process as it makes guild promotion much easier than a more bland democratic guild or frighteningly well-organised corporate guild. These kinds of guilds tend to have a more inviting feel to them, when they’re well-managed.
In a dictatorial guild, members will certainly have no say in the design of their cape
A Mixed Bag
You could consider any of the above guild archetypes to be superior to the others, but all of them have their strengths and weaknesses. Therefore it should come as no surprise that most – capable – guilds do not fit entirely in a single category, but employ elements of two or three guild archetypes.
There are tens of millions of MMO players active today, and hundreds of thousands of guilds to support them in a wide variety of games. Obviously there will be a wide variety in leadership mechanics as well, but in the end they all boil down to one (or more) of the above archetypes.
You might have an entirely democratic guild, which utilizes it’s democratically chosen ‘president’ as the face of the guild to gain a more solid outward image, like a dictatorial guild. Or you might have a corporate guild, which utilizes polls amongst it’s member base to decide on important, but not time-sensitive, issues such as whether a new recruit should be admitted. Whatever the combination is, you’ll be certain to recognize elements from one of the archetypes.
Size plays a role as well, for while a dictatorial guild would work decently enough with 20 members, it is wholly insufficient for a 100 member guild. Likewise a democratic system is unlikely to work well in a 20 member guild, because it is designed for managing larger groups of people. The corporate guild does not suffer any size limitations, for it functions equally well in a 20 member guild as it does in a 100 member guild.
My Guild Structure
After nearly a decade of clan- and guildleading experience, I’ve come to know my preferred guild structure rather well.
This would be a largely corporate structure, with a lot of planning preceding the actual formation of the guild. I’d make lovely multi-page documents detailing as much as possible about the workings of the guild: rules, staff positions, awards and ranks, guild activities, potential schedules, votable issues (guild capes, event schedule, etc.), and so on.
Then I take all this and use it to create an informative website for prospective recruits, as well as members and staff. Whatever tasks have been laid out will be taken on by me and whatever co-founders I may have, until enthusiastic members step up to take on staff positions.
Any members that join are left to freely decide whether to join in on events, take on staff responsibilities or just join in on occasional guild gatherings. But participation in events is encouraged. Essentially it’s a very open guild, but with strict recruiting policies and a firm set of rules that ensure a level of maturity and compatibility amongst all guild members.
But, this structure was designed for small-medium sized guilds (12-45 members) of a rather specific format and would lose most of it’s effectiveness when used for large guilds. There are many ways to lead a guild – and this is but one of them.
When you find your ideal guild type, things will start running smoothly
Your Turn
Take these guild archetypes to heart when you next find yourself looking for a guild, or perhaps starting your own. Knowing these archetypes will help you form your own kind of leadership structure and allow you to spot its strengths and weaknesses. And knowing those will allow you to improve the experience for your guild members.
Joining a guild has become a major part of MMO gaming – and is not to be underestimated. It is best to take your time and analyze your candidates well, before deciding to join one – or create your own.
So what do you think? Do you recognize your current guild in these archetypes, or have you been able to find a more suitable guild by attempting to spot the strengths and weaknesses in your candidates prior to applying? Would you like to see more guild-related articles on GameDrone?
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