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Entris38
Member UncommonPosts: 401
I had this idea and checked the forums here and did see that recently there was a post similar to what I was thinking. I believe its title "maybe it's time to separate the masses":
I'm thinking on a different line. How about an MMO, that requires you to choose a "starter guild" upon logging in. Perhaps there should be several different types to choose from, but you must choose one, and maybe requiring so until level 10 or 20. Whenever the supposed, training/new player experience is played through. I do understand the option should be available there to switch guilds a few times...to find the Noob guild of your liking. Also adding the ability to join an existing veteran guild upon logging in if your account is tagged that another character is already in said guild.
I really believe MMO's lost the social aspect of the genre long ago. While I understand people will scream, I want to play my way! I want to solo! Well, look what it's done to the genre........destroyed it. Every game is a single player RPG with MMO aspects.
I realize this isn't going to be for everyone, but how else do we make MMO's the genre it once was?
Discuss. I'm anxious to see what the rest of the community thinks.
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I think that forced guild membership would be very problematic. Guilds couldn't kick out or take other actions against problem individuals within the guild, and the starter guilds couldn't have any meaningful functionality besides chat channel because that would be the only way to prevent abuse.
Rather make it a system that makes it easy to create and join to starter guild, but a voluntary one.
Those who won't volunteer wouldn't interact with others anyway.
Great points, to both yourself and DMKano.
Voluntary and perhaps a GM/Mod to oversee these guilds would maybe also be a great idea. Not a mod/gm to plan things, just to keep it clean.
That's a big "no" from me. I tried guilds again recently in AA after about 10 years of avoiding them like the plague, just to see if they're as bad as I remembered them to be in other games . They are. Needy people who can't stop pestering people for a hand with something that ay competent player can solo, greedy whiners who want free gear or to borrow some gold, higher-level characters who want lower-level members to drop whatever they're doing to help them with a trade run, guarding THEIR ships and packs while doing nothing for lower-level members...
Nah, screw guilds - they're just a bloody nuisance. I'll socialise with RL friends and family via voice chat as I play, thanks.
Except not all guilds are like that. Only when you join guilds where they accept everyone will you find these issues.
Small family/friends guilds are all over the place.
In any case, to the original post, I agree with DMKano that the game would have to have some need for guild/group play and in an ideal world it would be a true starter/ask questions guild, possibly run by a GM.
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If you say there will need to be things that require a group then fair enough. You can get a group without a gold though.
Starter guilds work very well in DAoC where every new character was automatically placed in a realm specific guild. All the members of the guild could only communicate. There was no GM, officers, or any sort of member hierarchy other than chatting and learning who knew things and was helpful.
Definitely helps new players find groups and learn about the game as there were plenty of experienced players still in the starter guild while questing through Battlegrounds/quest hubs.
I'm surprised more MMO's don't use this social type structure of a new guild.
And if you don't want to be in the starter guild you can leave the guild at level 1 or whenever.
A few games I've played do this already. DAOC placed you in a starter guild, as does EVE Online. I'm sure there are others, but these are the examples I know of off the top of my head
In DAOC you were placed into a starter guild upon character creation. You could leave the starter guild if you were determined to be solo. No guild was required. The reason they implemented the starter guilds was to help new players meet each other and to make up for some of the moves they made that harmed socialization in the game. It kinda worked early on, but really only served as an additional chat window and a way to not get guild invites tossed at you every time you were in town.
In EVE you could create you own one man guild (corp), but had to be in a guild (corp) of some type. Rarely did any interactions take place within the starter guilds (corps) aside from trolling and general craptastic behavior. There were a few long time members of the EVE starter guilds (corps) who knew each other, but beyond that I never saw any social benefit to either games version of forced guilding.
I understand the desire to want to push socialization in MMO's, it used to be my favorite part of playing, but players still have to want to use the tools given.
I can safely say that back in the early days, we didn't need guild tags to be social. Nor do I think guilds necessarily promote sociability. After all, guilds have no fiduciary duty to make the game work for everyone; they only have the duty to make the game work for its private membership.
What I do know is that guilds do promote exclusivity and exclusiveness instead of inclusivity and inclusiveness...if only to ensure that everybody is communicating in the preferred method (voice chat service, web boards, etc.).
This is why I'm a firm believer in factions over guilds. Factions provide a connection to other players, while still insulating players from the 'snootyness' of private guild selection criteria.
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Yeh, and that is how I like it.
Forced guild membership? Very simple, won't touch such a game with a ten foot pole.
I find this hard to belive. I mean there are tons of games that have race/faction/starter guilds. What if they just made the lable a little more defined. As in race/faction (A) has the ability to buff from any distance or race/faction (X) has more health when not partied?
How about a game that makes you reach your guild based on the actions you make ingame. Where players join the major factions, and each major faction is represented by a guild.....
next to guilds, there should also be fammilies, where friends can join together regardless of their ingame affiliation.
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
This is an excellent idea! You should pitch this to someone.
Seems like a great way for people to find like-minded individuals.
wait .. we are talking about player guilds right? I don't see any game that forces you to join a "starter guild" in the beginning.