Jun 21

Members and Membership

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Just when you thought I wasn’t going to post any more… 🙂

I’ve got a number of accumulated things to cover, so this is likely going to be one of my longer posts. In spite of the length, please take the time to read the entire thing.

Besides playing the game, I’ve also been seeing how the choices ArenaNet made when the game shipped have impacted the game, and watching the direction they’ve been going so far. I’ve been really impressed with their level of commitment to the game, and regardless of where they end up, I plan on being here for the long term, and my plans for the guild reflect that – and I hope that most of our current and future members share that sentiment. ArenaNet has a really solid foundation to build on, and I think that we have a great core membership in the guild to build on as well.

Going forward, I’d like to see the guild get big enough to field both PvE and PvP groups on a fairly regular basis without it being any sort of hardship time wise for our members, and I’d like to accomplish that growth at a rate that allows the existing membership to get to know the new members as they’re added.

That raises the question of where the new members will be coming from, and I see the answer in 3 parts (in rough order of preference):

  1. Friends and family of existing members – the guild already has a number of people that have known each other in real life for quite some time and I think it really helps the cohesiveness of the group to have that trend continue;
  2. Active players who we get to know who have a guild that has pretty much died – I’ve heard a number of people both in and out of the game (in forums) say that they’re the only one in their guild that ever logs on anymore; and
  3. People who are attracted to the guild based on our in-game presence as a team – the best advertising we can do is to hang out as a group in the staging areas of the game and talk to people who show an interest.

So what are some of the traits that make a good guild member? My list looks something like this:

  1. Thoughtfulness – being willing to think about what you’re doing and how it affects those around you,
  2. Patience – being calm and understanding in the face of adversity, and
  3. Communication – being willing to talk with and listen to the group.

With those traits in mind, I’d like to establish a few points for the day-to-day well-being of the guild:

  1. Abide by the EULA (end user license agreement) of the game – this takes care of such things as griefing other players, racism, and sexism. I would hope that this would never be an issue, but I’d like to be very clear up front that I wouldn’t tolerate these sorts of activity any more than ArenaNet and wouldn’t hesitate to kick people from the guild based on an unwillingness to abide by ArenaNet’s rules,
  2. Remember that you’re representing the guild as well as yourself in your interactions with others in the game – if you’re tempted to do something that you suspect you might personally regret later, keep in mind that anyone involved is also going to see that you’re a BOYD member and associate your actions with the guild as a whole,
  3. We have members from around the world, a trend that I’d very much like to see continue – so please refrain from inflammatory statements about a particular country or nationality,
  4. Related to (3), not everyone’s first language is English (although I wish I was as fluent in another language as they are), so please keep your communication to the group in English words and avoid leet speak (u no who u r). This also ties into (2) and the game as a whole – people will judge both you and the guild based on how you communicate in the game, and
  5. Use the in-game communication channels appropriately – if whispering will work, don’t fill the guild channel with text, if you’re in a team, use the team channel instead of the guild channel. This is not to say don’t use the guild channel – it can be extremely useful in setting up meetings and establishing a sense of community in the guild, but if half the guild members have it turned off as a result of excessive use that doesn’t involve the guild as a whole it becomes much less effective.

I think that’s enough for one post. 🙂

If there’s anything that I’ve missed, or something that you’d like to suggest in relation to what I’ve said above, please feel free to either leave a comment on this post or track me down in the game.