Guild Announcements: 8/03/09
 

Future of the guild

Well, we just can't seem to even make it to the 50 mark mates. I have been asked numerous times if I'm going to give up and disband the guild, and I felt that I should let everyone know that, no, I won't be doing anything of the sort right now. However, I feel that for us to flourish as a successful and fun guild that people can enjoy, we'll need to rethink some things in ways of recruiting new members. This is where I need everyone's help. Not just the guilds, but anyone willing to show some support for us.

I'm asking what it would take for you to join the guild. Now, before you stop reading and move on, please realize I'm not going to try to use the suggestions to change the guild just for you so you will join, but rather trying to see what the POTCO community as a whole looks for. Some things like my belief about what I want the guild won't be changing, and I won't be tossing the rules out the window either. I am open to minor modifications to rules, but anything you have to say can help.

Recruiting Award still available
Ain't no stopping it now! Considering our recent decline in members due to that lovely ol' guild "event" POTCO hosted, it seems we've dropped by at least 10 users. Now for many guilds that wouldn't seem like much, but considering we only had around 29 before the loss it hurts us quite a bit. That is why we're going to keep our recruiters award available until further notice. For more information on the award and how to get it look here.

A successful guild should be run from the game itself. Promotions, demotions, and how you control the guild in general should be based on the game, NOT a forum fansite.

This is the only way to attract new members, and keep the members you already have. It's fine to have a forum about a guild but a guild about a forum is no good.

well im in the sort of stump you are in as well

any way my recommendations for any guild are:

Guild Raids on Selected place , such as kingshead or la pugas
Guild Gold Runs , to help out your less fortunate mates
Some sort of guild even like a pvp or svs day

have all of these happen once or twice a week

another set of good things for a guild are:

Like the game the members should have a sense of humor
Any guild should also talk enough , not so much that it fills up the chat bar
but enough to keep words coming
And as well its very good to do one or the other of these too things:
-You can make members take an oath that they will not leave ( My friend does this for his guild )
-You should also befriend members in your guild and treat everyone like family ( unless your family fights far too much then treat them like you would treat jack sparrow)

Theres alot of things one can do inorder to help promote their number of members as well as keep it, but theres one main thing you MUST do if you want a successful guild.

Build friendships with the members.

Look at all of the really successful guilds around you, such as Black Barts Krewe, Dueces Wild, The Guardians, the Partners In Crime guilds, Rogues of Fortune, McRaging, etc. The reason they are so successful is because their members became friends with one another. Remember, there are two types of guilds out there. There are guilds, and then there are more-than-a-guild guilds. The difference? The regular guild is just a bunch of people who only engage in conversation such as "Ahoy" "Hey" "How are you," and maybe go out on a plunder run once in a while. Long story short, a guild like that is gonna lose members FAST, because theres no real reason for somebody to stay.

On the other hand, the more-than-a-guild guild is a guild were everybody treats one another like they've been friends forever. They pal around with each other all the time, make jokes, play games, and have fun. If you were looking for a guild to join, which one would you choose?

What Im saying is, if you show that you are a guild that wants to make long-lasting friendships with the members, then you will DEFINATELY get more members. Good luck Jack!

I agree with Jason, Jack. I understand yer idea behind the officers in yer guild, but you've lost several people because of it. I will never tell you how to run your guild, just a suggestion.

Also, maybe have yer officers and yerself friend a few people, like Del said. Have guild buddies. When these people log on, have an officer talk with them, make them feel welcome.

I had already actually made this change shortly after posting this thread. That doesn't mean I'm going to pass out officer promotions left and right, and most of the guild stuff will still be ran from the forum, but it's no longer a requirement to have a POF account just to be an officer.

I do enjoy chit-chat within guilds very much and hope that the guild is quite a friendly bunch, that's part of what I wanted in the guild. I'm just not quite the conversation starter myself, and I can't really order people to talk, bossing people around to that degree just seems immature in my eyes.

Aww Jack, it's not that hard to get a guild chat going! Start by asking what everyone's up to, what do they think of this and that? Who wants to have a random guild sail or take some fun photos for the forum (Used to have a lot of fun with that with Pistols N Bladez, had a random story going with pictures and everything! It actually inspired my blog after a while.)

Be random! Conversations can start from the most random comments! Sometimes the krewe has a whole conversation about what we're having for dinner! If people see you making an effort.. eventually the will too! It may take some time to get people to loosen up and start chatting but they will in time. Just make sure to include everyone in the chat, especially new members. I know how nervous I was when I joined the krewe but by including me they eventually got me over the 'new member' awkwardness. You can't force people to talk but a little encouragement goes a long way...

When I joined the guild it was because I knew you guys and trusted you.

If I were to be a guildless pirate, to join one I'd like to know the person inviting me. I'd want to be around their guild a bit to see what they do, and if they seem nice. You don't want to be invited to a guild where you'll get kicked out for unreasonable things. I was in a guild once, 500 members or so, and was kicked out after "the last straw" You don't just kick someone out for something they don't know they did, becuase you don't like them, etc...

That's why I joined HSP. It's easier to join a guild when you talk to them a lot, like here on POF. I'm not really good at explaining things, but when I'm invited to a guild, I want to know the people a little bit, their behavior, know the guild rules, and know if it's going to be fun. It just can't be every man for himself where the lower levels of the guild ask for help and then get a "Do it yourself" response.

Like I said, I'm not good at explaining things, but if I'm going to join a guild I want to know them first. Just going up to some random person and saying, "Would you like to join the guild?" doesn't cut it. It's just too silly.

We are having an extremely hard time finding new members. I have five invite codes, but haven't found anyone that will let me play with them or get to know them enough to see if I think they'll be good members.