112046-the-role-of-a-guild-leader

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Hello everyone,
 
 
What is, in your own words, the role of a guild leader?  What does your guild leader do within your guild?  If you're the one leading the guild, what exactly does your "job" entail?
 
What are some of the marks of a good/bad guild leader?  What are some extraordinary things you've seen guild leaders do that set them apart from others?  What are some tough decisions you've seen guild leaders make, or had to make yourself?  Have you had any interesting experiences as or with the leader of a guild?
 
I know it seems like a barrage of questions, but I really want to see what others definition of a "guild leader" really is.  There's been some struggles in my guild and I want to see what other people think of the role and what is required of it.  These are really open-ended questions for any type of guild, raiding/social/pvp or otherwise.  What do you do to hold everything together?	
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Guild leaders need to keep the group together and try as much as possible to overcome attrition that comes with any game as real life at times has to take priority for all of us.
 
In my opinion taking care of drama is not really guild leader job but job of guild members... players should not be drama queens... well unless they are RPers... but that is a different kind of drama.
 
 
And the one other thing for a guild leader to be is real. In several games where guilds are dying the option is to merge/absorb/disband/accept not being able to achieve certain level of content. It is not an easy decision to make.	
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I've been a guild leader (or secondary leader) in WoW for 10 years, and I started a guild on Headstart. To me, being a guild leader is like being the glue that holds everyone together. Not everyone may like you, but you make sure the guild gets along and create some awesome friendships that really make a guild feel like home.
 
To me, a guild isn't just a means of raiding or doing PvP or any of that, no, a guild is a community that you've created in a game to play with and be around people who want the same things out of the game that you do. Be that PvP, PvE, or whatever kind of content you want to do. So, to me, a guild leader is a community leader / organizer who makes sure the guild feels like a big family, rather than a disconnected bunch of characters who run stuff with each other occasionally. The best guild I was ever in was in late BC to early Wrath, back in WoW. Everyone in the guild was always talking to each other, we all talked on a first name basis, and it felt like a great big family. You had a couple siblings, that crazy uncle everyone secretly loves, and all that. So what does a guild leader have to do with that? Well, they got people talking, they hosted events that had people playing together, and they basically made the guild act like a community, rather than as a lobby for content.
 
You don't necessarily have to be any good at the game to be a good guild leader, though it does help. You have to be good socially, if that makes any sense. As the two below me said, the guild leader is a role model for people in the guild. So if you're quiet and reserved, then that sets the mood for the guild, and people won't talk a whole lot. Likewise, if you're charismatic, friendly, and always trying to get people to do stuff together, well, people will follow suit - and you'll keep members around too! Sure, the game has some people who don't care about anything but being the world-first or something like that, but a lot of people out there look for guilds that really feel like a home. And that's what I aim to do with guilds that I run or help run - I try to make the guild feel like a home, not a lobby.
 
In my opinion, the best thing a guild leader can do is to get people talking and playing together in the guild, and to create friendships. When you've got a community like that, then your guild can do anything you set your minds to. ^^
 
So, what's in a good GM?
 
A good GM (in my opinion) is someone who is talkative, friendly, willing to put themselves out there to get people talking, who's active and isn't some invisible ghost of a person. A good GM also has to be a leader, and make those decisions that affect the rest of the guild, even if it's not the most popular decision. You also have to create events, games and schedules for people to get involved with the guild. It is almost like a job, but if done right, it's one of the most fun jobs there are. ^^
 
You ever heard of Chua Ground Darts? :3
 
A GM won't necessarily make or break a guild, but a good GM generally makes a good guild, while a bad GM usually makes a quiet, reclusive guild.
 
While it is nice to have a GM who's efficient and good at running the guild and organizing people, a guild that has a close-knit community where everyone knows each other is far more capable than an efficient one any day, if you ask me.	
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It does not take just good ideas or good intentions but an actual effort to apply them.
 
So far I have yet to meet a leader that combines both the mind, heart and determination into one individual, which is why successful guilds have the right people for the right jobs. I guess good leaders know how to pick talent. I have met some amazing dreamers that unfortunately do very little and just enjoy 'the idea' more than anything. I have also been literally next to tyrant that did 'everything' right but was hated by everyone because of the way he did it (to this day people love to hate him).
 
It is tricky.. most people who actually have the skills to do it right don't want to invest to a bunch of on-line people that can easily just quit if their mood swings, and I get that.
 
Bad qualities:
Abusive, Racist, Megalomaniac, Self-centered, Paranoid, Dismissive, Absent (bad!..logging for 5 mins in the afternoon is just bad)
 
Good ones:
Humble, Intelligent, Funny yet extremely Patient, Organized with a good team behind him, Decisive, Present, Open-minded, Strong of character.
 
Wow.. this sounds almost like a dating profile.. haha XD	
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This is a multifaceted question - there's lots of ways to answer this.  It's something that a book could probably be written about.  I'll try to be brief :)
 
First and foremost, a guild leader is responsible for setting the tone of their guild.  For the guild to succeed, the leader needs to be the person everyone else looks to for inspiration.  That's true regardless of what a guild is focused on.
 
The guild leader needs to set strategy - realistic goals that the guild is working towards.  This might be getting vet dungeon completion, or attunement, or taking down the next boss in Genetic Archives, or doing X number of RP events a month, or whatever.  But the guild leader needs to be driving goals that the rest of the guild buys into.
 
The guild leader needs to be a good judge of people and their strengths and weaknesses.  They need to be able to look at that guy who's been in the guild for three weeks and say "he's got officer potential" or "he'd be a good class lead".  It's just as critical to recognize problems:  "He's got a good heart but he can't seem to open his mouth without inadvertently making someone mad".  The key to being an effective leader is delegating the right things to the right people.
 
The guild leader needs to be active.  They need to be joining guild groups, talking to people, posting on forums, and so on.  The leader of a guild is a symbol for the rest of the guild to follow, and they need to be as visible as they can be in order to make that work.
 
The guild leader needs to care about their members.  I mean, really, really care - like "hey guys, so_and_so's cat died last week, let's send flowers" kind of caring.  The leader needs to recognize that their guild members are people and not just "toons", and they need to be willing to take time out to make sure all of their people are happy and enjoying the game, as much as possible.
 
Finally, the guild leader needs to be transparent, honest, and a good listener - but they also need to be decisive.  Guild members will look to the leader to make decisions - sometimes hard ones.  As a leader, it's ok to let your members know you're human.  It's ok to ask their input, and it should happen often.  But when a hard decision has to be made, a guild leader has to have the courage to make that decision and stand by it.
 
Being a guild leader is possibly the hardest job there is in a game.  A lot of people think that the guild leader should be great at the game, or an amazing raid leader, or whatever.  That's not really true.  What they should be is an organizer, a communicator, and a delegator.  They should excel at helping others to realize their full potential.
 
A good leader isn't a guarantee that a guild will be successful - but a poor leader will doom a guild to drama and failure. 
 
I know that's all very conceptual, but I hope it helps :)	
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Haha, maybe I was a bit too brief in my post. You two are making me look bad! Maybe I should edit it and type out a bit more. :P
 
(And now I did, so ha! You can't make me look bad anymore.)	
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Haha, maybe I was a bit too brief in my post. You two are making me look bad! Maybe I should edit it and type out a bit more. :P
 
(And now I did, so ha! You can't make me look bad anymore.)
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Psh, there's brevity, and then there's typing something out real' fast just to say you did. Now I think I really got my point across, and I'm much happier with the length. ^^
 
Well, I wouldn't say your ramblings are insane, per se, they're definitely not the normal attitude, but they're the the right attitude, if you ask me.
 
The biggest point I think though, is that a guild leader needs to actually care about their members as people, and not just as a number or a chunk of DPS or something in a raid. A guild leader needs to realize that the guild is made up of people, and people need to be treated as thus. Sure, raiding is fun, but you need to build your community outside of that too. If you have that, then I can guarantee the guild will be a good one. :3 So remember that, all future GM's reading this!	
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I agree with pretty much everyone else. I've been leading my guild since 2007 and it's like a job away from your job. You've definitely gotta be humble, skilled, talkative, and stern. You must also realize that like in real life you will never be able to appease to everyone, and that there will always be haters/people that are displeased.You gotta realize your members are more than just an avatar within a video game. They have families, jobs, lives, and real life stuff that comes first and foremost; regardless of how much you wish it wasn't true. You'll always have people coming/going no matter how well you do as that's just how the MMORPG world/online world works. But, when you can form a bond with individuals you'll grow a strong foundation that will set you above just a "guild". I've got guys that I've been playing with since 2004 that have remained at my side throughout the years/games and it's so refreshing to have that brotherhood sense with individuals that you can game alongside with trust.You also have to use a website, voice comms, and know how to rally people with newsletters, events, schedules, and etc.. Which ties back into the sense that it's like a job.It's like being a family man and the CEO of a company. But, at the end of the day I wouldn't trade it in for anything as having people I consider an online family is super rewarding.Qualities of a bad GM are hot tempered, quiet, lone wolf, unsupportive, no website, no voice comms, and just overall if you wouldn't wanna work for them you shouldn't be guilded under them. Too many people form guilds nowadays thinking that being a GM is just a walk in the park. It's work and a lot of behind the scenes stuff that no one will ever give you credit for or even be aware of a majority of the time.Anyone can start a guild.. But, it takes work to maintain a guild throughout the years and build a brotherhood/family cohesion with individuals.
 
I've always stood by the motto of quality > quantity. These guilds that think 150+ members is an achievement..... Where it's really just a giant clique in which most individuals don't know one another. I'd rather stick to 50-80 members where everyone has the opportunity to know one another, and even then you have occasional cliques form up that you must break up from time to time.My 0.02 ¢	
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Depends. Some guild leaders are like dictators who rule with an iron fist and take all decicions by themselfs with perhaps input from their officers.
 
In our guild its a bit different. We have the guild leader, then 5 officers and then the members. The main difference between them is that the GM is the "boss"  he implements decisions made, he generally forms our groups on guildnights to maximize Attunement progress for everyone. If he is absent or lazy, officers do that. He has to enable to guild buffs etc and keeps us motivated to group up to increase influence.
 
Officers organize other guild events (PVP on saturday, raffle's, contests etc) they are the glue that keeps the guild together and playing together together with the GM ofcourse, he does these things as well. This is also the group that decides on applications to join. They all get a vote and in case of a tie the GM's vote is most important.
 
Important decisions are generally NOT left to the officers and leader. But put to a vote to all members. For instance, the faction we rolled on was decided by a vote, the members choose wrong and now we ar exile... (I SOOOO wanted to be a chua!!) :P Same with the server we rolled on. Raid nights etc. all of those decisions are Guildwide and everyone has an equal vote in a public poll. Officers and the GM then decide on the best way to make it happen :P
 
Unfortunatly the GM also has to deal with the member drama we had (together with officers) on of his hardest decisions was to remove a member from the guild, knowing that SOME would follow but not knowing how many. It ended up costing us our main attunement group and setting us back a couple of weeks in progress, but in the end it was imo the best decision as now the guild is going strong again. And i believe the people who left all found new places to call home and new guildies to enjoy the game with.
 
so OFFICIALLY his job is not that large, most of the tasks can be dellegated to the officers, but ofcourse he stays in the loop with everything and is actually quite busy in /o and wispers to members all the time who have questions, ideas, conerns etc.
 
 
Back in WOW i was the 2nd in command for a 200+ member guild where the leader was the "*cupcake*" who everyone loved to hate, while officers where everyone's best friend keeping the guild together. That was a thought out structure btw. We moddelled it after the army where the commanding officer is a dick that makes hard decisions while the sergeants bond with the troops. So secretly we arranged everything in /o and then had our GM announce the hard decisions while we announced the good ones :P It worked for years :D
 
TL;DR:
the job of a GM can be as small or big as you decide it to be. From just "clicking" the things that can only be done by a GM while having others decide, to deciding everything yourself and micromanage every relationship your members have with each other.	
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This is all very good information, keep it coming.
 
To add another question to the discussion: What would you do as a GM (or expect one to do) if you realized you no longer enjoyed playing the game?  If your GM came to you and said this, what would you respond with?	
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Personally I think a guild-leaders role is mainly to delegate responsibility and follow up with those that he has delegated to. 
 
 
His only real role outside of managing his delegates (which should self-manage for the most part if they are quality people) is to step in in dramatic situations when a final verdict is needed.  He/she is the so-called veto vote or overruling decision when there is an uproar or some sort of drama.  The less your GL actually has to do the more you know your guild is running smoothly.
 
 
Thats it. 	
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So far I have yet to meet a leader that combines both the mind, heart and determination into one individual...
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Lead a guild.
 
 
yeaaaaahhhhhhh	
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			The Guild Leaders job is to organize, recruit, and motivate. It is also their job to recognize the strengths of the players within their guild and use them appropriately. The guild leader should not be responsible for leading every event, but should be capable of delegating the right authorities to his officers.The stronger his/her support staff, the stronger the guild will be.It is not the guild leaders job to babysit. If players can't handle the game on their own, or understand the rank structure/ raid structure, then they need to go play solo. The guild leader has enough on his plate that he should not have to micromanage every turd that floats in his bowl. 	
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I became a guild officer for the Skulldance Clan on Steamwheedle Cartel, became a GM for The Aspen Grove Ring on Moon Guard, and then also became GL for the Skulldance Clan and moved them to WRA.  All I can say is that being a guild leader is hard.  Unless you have people you can 100% rely on, you need a hand in everything.  You need to always be recruiting, always be handling other people's attunement and grinds, always making people feel welcome, always running your storylines and making sure you're enforcing your RP concepts.
 
I don't have the time for it and everything else right now, but I could always become a GM again.  Really, though, I'd rather just be an officer right now.  I hate, hate, hate recruiting.	
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The first thing I look for in a quality guild leader is someone who is able to organize the things that help a Guild stay active and successful.  Did he get a website set up and make it useful so that people would go there? Is the chat server up and the info on how to get to it easily accessed? Is the Guild *doing* stuff that's in line with what its members wanted when they joined up? (That is, if a raiding Guild, are raids getting organized? If RP, are there RP events? If it's just a guild for socialization/chatting, is that supported and encouraged?)  Is the MOTD regularly updated with good info? Do the players know what they need to know so their Guild can help them and they can help their Guild? For me a lot of it is about organization and information flow.  If a player needs something or wants to set something up, is the GM available online or offline? Did he bring enough officers on board so people can get invites and so on?  
 
It's a lot of work to stay on top of what the game offers the Guild and how to see to it that your Guild gets access to those goodies and that they are fairly distributed.  Is the Guild Bank organized? What are the distribution rules? What about rules for adding stuff to it? Is there someone in charge of keeping it organized so the bank is actually useful to members instead of a horrifying mess?  Who decides what perks should be bought and when? 
 
I think the "drama" is generally manageable if the Guild has clear, unambiguous policies about member behavior and those rules are enforced without favoritism.  It turns into "drama" when the rules aren't clear, or when the rules get bent for certain Guild members but not others either because the offending member is a RL friend of the GM, or because the offending member holds an important post in the Guild's structure himself and starts abusing his privileges because he thinks the Guild can't afford to kick him out.
 
As a side note, I think MMOs could do a lot more to support efficient Guild Management than they do. For example, I'd love to see an in-game Guild Billboard where Guild members could post notices, because a lot of Guildies don't bother to go to outside Guild websites for info. Guild rules for member behavior and access to Guild perks could also be posted there for easy reference. More tools like Calendars or Vote Boards would be good too. Guildmasters would really benefit from in-game organizational tools.  
 
Really, I feel it's largely about communication and organization, just like any effort that involves getting a big group of diverse people to cooperate successfully. Of course people with top quality skills in these areas are usually too busy with their real life jobs to run a game guild....	
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Being a guild leader, as many have said here, is something of a job away from your job. It takes a lot of time and dedication. To me, as others have a said, a guild is more than just people you play a game with. It's a community you create. You should form real friendships there, even though there is always going to be people coming and going. In my guild, I want people to feel welcomed and to feel part of something bigger than themselves.
 
A guild leader sets the tone for the guild as well as expectations. A guild leader leads by example. You cannot expect people to log in and run that dungeon for the 100th time if you, as the leader, aren't willing to do it. Patience is required, as is an open ear and open mind.
 
As a guild leader, I try very hard to be as available to my membership as possible, aware of what people need and what their goals are in game, and to learn about them as people - because they are not just names on a screen. I stand up for them. I stand by them. I advocate for them when I can. My guildies are doctors, programmers, nurses, pharmacists (we have a lot of medical folks!), stock boys, college goers, moms, dads, service men and women, etc. They have hobbies they enjoy besides gaming. They have kids that need things. Outside of playing games together, as a gaming community, we support charity work such as a guildmate's breast cancer walk team and Extra Life.
 
Guild leaders need to have a good team to support them. They need to recognize those that help out and make sure they know they are appreciated. They sometimes have to make the hard decisions.
 
If a guild leader does not want the job any longer, they need to find someone to pass it to, or find a guild to merge their members into. Guild leadership can be very time intensive, and it's not something, IMO, that you can do willy nilly. You cannot force passion and drive into someone. And, without support and drive, a guild leader will simply burn out. You need to be self aware enough to recognize the signs of burnout and ask for help or seek out other options for your guild.	
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You couldn't join if you had an Alliance toon on the same server.
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This is a really odd rule -- and also impossible to enforce I think, unless he required everyone to give over their account IDs so he could watch them when they logged on and make sure they didn't roll Alliance.  What was the thinking behind this? 
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To me it's a guild leaders job to set the tone to keep people active and chatty and happy. To organize things and solve problems. To be everyones friend, and to make the guild the best experience it can be. To act quickly and fairly.
 
Am I a good leader? I dunno I try but you'd have to ask my guild	
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This is all very good information, keep it coming.
 
To add another question to the discussion: What would you do as a GM (or expect one to do) if you realized you no longer enjoyed playing the game?  If your GM came to you and said this, what would you respond with?
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This is all very good information, keep it coming.
 
To add another question to the discussion: What would you do as a GM (or expect one to do) if you realized you no longer enjoyed playing the game?  If your GM came to you and said this, what would you respond with?
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This is all very good information, keep it coming.
 
To add another question to the discussion: What would you do as a GM (or expect one to do) if you realized you no longer enjoyed playing the game? If your GM came to you and said this, what would you respond with?
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