We Do Not Want Everyone and Their Dog in Our Guild! We Do Want...

Remember the aftermath of the 'Dot Com' detonation several years ago? Smart folks...smart, greedy folks were lead down the primrose path of quick and easy money only to find that they had invested a fortune in nothing more than astronomically over-valued...web-sites! This was the worst predictable financial disaster since the last 'Big-One' over fifty years ago. Now comes the strange analogy part of this missive...Guild Wars guilds have...and will continue to suffer a fate similar to that of the 'Dot Com' era investors.

Imagine the 'Cool Factor' involved with 'Starting Your Own Guild'. You collect a wad of Guild Wars Gold and trade that for a flashy cape and an 'umbrella' to shelter your fellow gamers called...whatever you pretty well want to call it (within reason). Viola! You are now the proud owner of your very own guild!

With this accomplished, you simply can not wait to run to the highest peak and shout out to everyone within earshot that the pinnacle guild of the game has just begun...and everyone is invited to partake! Within the hallowed halls (as soon as you can gather the considerable down payment) of the premier guild-of-guilds...all things are possible! Imagine! Vast lakes of Guild Wars Gold to dive into at the close of each gaming day and Superior Runes scattered here and there to be used as coasters for all the free Dwarven Ale dispensed by skimpily clad toons that wait on you 'hand-and-foot'!

And if that was not enough to get you in the doors...The Ascended Help Desk is manned 24/7 around the clock! Your every whim granted before the pixels are even dry on the screen! Hey...you just can't touch this! You know!?

That is the fairy-tale version of managing a guild...the 'Dot Com' version of Guild Wars guild ownership. I believe the fact of the matter is closer to this though.

Out of all the tens of thousands of guilds that were initially created, most are no longer managed by the original owner. I believe that over half of these have been relegated to little more than a name created during the Beta Weekend Events and beyond...because it was the 'thing-to-do'. I am probably giving myself considerable leeway when I say that five per cent of the guilds created during the BWE's are still viable, growing guilds. Of the guilds that do not fit into any of the preceding descriptions, probably half of those have no web-site to share information between their members. A Web Presence provides a blending and bonding influence throughout their members and any allied guild with which they happened to be involved. (Imagine New York's Grand Central Station during rush hour as a Guild Wars guild...'nuff said)

Then there are the entrepreneurial guild listings which have sponsors that fund gaming events and a membership that often provides more casual players with a rich source of gaming information. In other words, I am referring to the 'Commercial Guilds' and their associated web sites. The individual and group efforts required to maintain a commercial site is daunting, and something that I would never consider undertaking myself! Therefore, I tip my hat to you folks! I would imagine that the total number of Commercial Guilds, whose web presence receives a substantial amount of 'hits' each day, would figure to be less than two hundred or so. And, keep in mind, that some of these commercially supported sites have little or nothing to do with the actual game play of the guild that is being hosted."

So...you are sitting there wondering, "What is the Point?” I thought you would never ask!

The point is this...if I am even marginally correct in my assumptions...most of the Guild Wars guilds really stink! I mean they smell bad like the interior of a tightly sealed Lexus with a soiled baby diaper locked inside and left on the roof of a parking garage at the Houston Hobby Airport in Texas during the summer...for a week! That is the sort of bad I am talking about! If I am correct, and I like to think that I usually am a good portion of the time, do yourself a favor and use Ben Franklin's advice. Ben was one of our country's most productive trouble-shooters who accomplished many, many tasks with nothing more than a pen and sheet of paper.

If Ben were trying to decide which Guild Wars guild to join, the first thing he would scribble down would be any relevant statements or questions someone might ask, or be asked, if they were a prospective employee and vice-versa. Then he would draw a line down the center of the remaining page and label one column 'Yes' and the other 'No'. Ben would then proceed to answer those questions to himself...placing a check mark on one side or the other...either Yes or No. Simple mathematics, with regard to the number of check marks on one side of the page or the other, would render Ben his decision...and he made some very good choices in his life.

So...do some research...ask a few questions...shop around a bit...find yourself a guild where you can be as comfortable as you are sitting around in your bloomers playing your current favorite game...Guild Wars!
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