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Do guilds help or hurt a game community?
Waterlily
Member UncommonPosts: 3,105
People and even game designers sometimes claim that guilds are part of community building.
Are they really. Does isolation of the bigger community into smaller exclusive groups actually help the community of a game.
Does it help when players go into games as already formed isolated groups known as guilds. The guilds are often no longer created within the game, they are made before the game even starts.
Do guilds really help the community or do they hurt it?
Comments
I share your sentiments, Karmath.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
how does being in a guild isolate you from the game?
For the answer to this and every other question that may swirl around the OP's conundrum please refer to the two posts above yours. Thank you and have a nice day.
Bren
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beat();
}
A lot of guilds act really exclusive/repulsive to people who prefer PuGing or not comitting to a guild. This is especially true in PvP these days.
I've personally always prefered being able to play and see new playstyles in PuG groups, and generally not deal with the stress/expectations guilds often put on their members.
You dont want to play with the people I want to play with.
I play to win and get my shinies and have some laughs along the way.
I dont play to have some PuG do jackall and get ass-stomped on an easy encounter
Case in point I guess, that's the kind of attitude PUG'ers face, and lead to questions/concerns like the OP's.
fact of the matter is, most puggers do jack all and get ass-stomped on an easy encounter cause they can't or refuse to follow instructions. which leads to guilds who wish to collect like-minded individuals to better further their goals. its completely stupid to question if guilds hurt a game's community.
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The Devs of WWIIoL would disagree that the Guilds don't hurt.
Before I even started (campaign #19) apparently the 'guilds' (Squads) ruled the game to the point the Devs actively squashed them.
Maybe someone from the old Sturmgrenadier remembers?
Personally I think the Devs missed an opportunity in that game to use the guilds to aid the game.
I am also playing a Browser Based MMO where some of the 'guilds' have done far more harm than good - to the point where they have effectively destroyed a faction.
Although in that case - it is unfair to blame the guilds - more a group of veteran players working together and refusing to share.
Nothing says irony like spelling ideot wrong.
Really. And people wonder why I asked if it hurt the community.
Guilds are highly clique and closed off groups, and it's worse when those people look down on other players.
How is this helping community. Anyone?
I think an MMO has a terrible community to start with, if guilds within it treat people who are not part of them that way. I have seen a littl of what the OP is talking about. But, in most MMO's I have tried i haver found guilds to be rather open and welcoming. A lot of it, I think, has to do with the attitude we approach it from as apposed to the attitude we assume others to have.
So thats why my lfg/global/area chat channels are spammed with guild recruitment messages huh? Cause they're highly clique and closed off groups. Cause "Friendly, mature, active players" is such a small little clique.
You're hilarious.
Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!
The guilds that put out those sorts of messages tend to have no real goals or point, they just want to get more members because.. they want more members. They don't really help with anything, they don't organise anything, they're little more than a place to go if you want another chat channel.
I think a lot of games would do well to follow EQ's plan of having a Guild List with information about the guilds, if they're recruiting or not, what they do, what they don't do, what they're looking for. That way you can decide what guild is best for you, not just guild hop trying to find the right place and possibly getting a bad reputation as a 'guild hopper' in the process.
Best guilds I've been in, have become a bit like a family. Most guilds have been silent with a few individuals who attempt to make the guild seem alive. Many guilds only exist for the tangible benefits the game offers their members. Many new members only join a guild to beg for help, plvl, money or equipment. Worst guilds I've seen, exploit new members via making them do quests/errands that provide rewards to the guild and then kick them anyway. A close second are the guilds that exploit pugs by taking some in a run, actively grief them and try to diminish their loot.
As a whole, I tend to assume that ~1% of the guilds in any game are what I want to be in. I do admit that I might have had relatively bad experiences with guilds, but based on it, I'm not able to give OP the /facepalm many seem eager to do:)
As to the latter question, yes guilds can be good for the community as they can provide players the environments they seek. This promotes the sense of well-being in the game and as a whole the whole community benefits. Whether or not this happens in a game, is again a very different matter. With the amount of guilds and players in many games, they can get away with almost anything. With the level of social interaction in games these days, there are no easy solutions to make it better either... I think as a whole OP's question is relevant.
yep. a lot of guilds nowadays just want you to join so they can 'level up' and get the next perk.
Thanks.
Nuff said.
This isn't a signature, you just think it is.
In Darkfall some clans totally ruined the experience and even the game for that matter with there elitist sttitudes and big mouths.
Guild Wars 2 some clans totally wreck WvWvW servers few months back.
Clans/Guilds can be disaster or pain to have in games but they dont hold you back from game thats up to you.
I admit, it would certainly be amusing if they disallowed guilds in GW2.
The existence of guilds in general helps games. It gives players a way to organize within game itself. Having this kind of tool inside a game reinforces the idea that players should play together.
Only being able to join one guild at a time hurts games. I'm not sure why game companies are sticking with this particular limitation. Why shouldn't someone be allowed to join "People who love Cats With Bad Punctuation" and "People who love Dogs With Bad Punctuation"?
I'm on the fence about tools that cross the border between the game and external social networks like Facebook, Google+ or Twitter. If players are forming groups on Facebook, do they really need the groups inside the game? At the same time, Facebook has much better group tools than what's available within most games and those tools would facilitate a lot more interactivity than the tools available in most games.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
Does it make the game more or less fun? That is all i care.
And from what i have seen, guilds make games more fun. I can't play with everyone in a "community" anyway. So that is irrelevant to me. I don't see how guilds can prevent me from meeting people & make friends when i *want* to.