The Great Guild Meeting

[Huntress]

*slams sword into globe* You know, this is actually the kind of thread where I'd normally address all guild leaders, on the premise that six people are much easier to discuss with about guild technicals than twentysomething. But, well, that's the actual issue I'm going to address, oddly enough. Anyway, as she who issued summons, I convene this, the first Brethren Court of the Guilds, to be held on the White Weewoo, because the old girl has to be good for something. Don't try to set her on fire, she'll come to life and rip you to pieces. Thank you.

So. Considering the point I recently made on the GW OOC thread, and Strife's recent roll call thread, and endless MSN chats on the topic, the issue I would like to raise tonight is the issue of guild leaders or lack thereof. There are actually a number of other things about the guilds that could really use discussing, but what it seems to boil down to is the lack of leaders all the same, and so I'd much rather address this first and bring other things up later.

Face it, we're short on de facto leaders. Not people who bear the title, all guilds seem to have those, but many of them, I'm sorry to say, aren't actually leading. My definition of 'leading' here is keeping an eye on things, giving orders, deciding what to do and where the overall guild policies should be headed in current plots/events, this sort of thing. Without an active leader, a guild is little more than a small bunch of aimless people - something that especially shows from the roll call thread. There's a roughly equal number of people in all guilds, but the ones that are coordinated are clearly more active. Ergo, a guild needs a leader. Gods know that the guilds as a whole need more coordination and accessibility. There really isn't a single reason for a newbie to join a guild right now. And the key to coordination in my opinion is to have a person in each guild who's willing to actively discuss problems with other leaders and then delegate tasks as necessary.

So, the Pirates have Captain Huntress, a.k.a. yours truly. Who do you have?

EDIT: copying the immediate guildly to-do list here for everyone's convenience. Bear in mind that each item in this list is unfinished and fully doable by anyone. So don't expect anyone else to handle it, experience has shown that nothing ever gets done that way >>

[/b] A map of the guildworld. Which is nicely in progress and actually very nearly done for now, all it really needs is some more names for the islands and rivers and geographical areas. Go to the subboard and use the chance to adopt your very own archipelago, people.
2. Guild HQs. As in, descriptions, maps, images, overall guides so that we'd know what we're dealing with. There are bits and pieces about some HQs (Fleet, Mages and Pirates, and possibly Knights) but none of them can be called finished at this point.
3. Persona profiles. Y'know what kinda bothers me? That some people post them on the profile thread and some on the guild HQ threads. Which kinda defeats the point because whenever I want to find someone's profile, I have to go dig through eight threads to get to it. So getting them all together on one thread would be nice.
4. NPC profiles. Especially the past ones whose original owners aren't around any more. As part of the history-collecting, that is. So if you have any that aren't yet documented anywhere, go post them.
5. Old threads that warrant getting moved to the subboard. As in, stuff in those past 16 pages that's informative and could get shipped off to the subboard to be preserved.
6. GW guidelines. Which I think were already agreed on, so all that's really left is writing them down and posting them.
7. Overall guild rules. Seriously, guys, we lack those. A lot is generally known but unwritten (like the GW stuff), a lot is just hazy, like the rules for starting a guild, technology levels, admission, start-up guidelines for newbies, this sort of thing. I'm not even sure what should get specified and what not.
[/ul]

[Celestial]

Currently the Mages don't seem to have anybody leading them. Ikkin has been fairly inactive and while Sarn promised to become the leader a while back, I'm not sure what happened to that.

If there is no leader, then I'm willing to become de facto leader until this is worked out. Any mages, please feel free to speak out about this or say if you want to become the leader.

[Shadaras]

Wolf and I end up as the leaders when a roleplay is actually going, but neither of us have time for GW3. Last I remember, Sarn is the only Knight in GW3. I honestly have no idea where most of us went, and I've been thinking about trying to start a Knight-only roleplay, but with GW3 going, I'm not sure how many Knights would notice or join.

[Celestial]

Jan 16, 2010 20:04:44 GMT -5 Shadaras said:

Wolf and I end up as the leaders when a roleplay is actually going, but neither of us have time for GW3. Last I remember, Sarn is the only Knight in GW3. I honestly have no idea where most of us went, and I've been thinking about trying to start a Knight-only roleplay, but with GW3 going, I'm not sure how many Knights would notice or join.

I don't think it would be wise to start up any roleplays as long as GW3 is going on it will obviously overshadow them. However, we can make any arrangement and plans that we make now take place post-GW3, which would also be a fairly good time to start as the Guilds will resume being unactive then unless we do something about it.

Therefore, we should use GW3-time to play and afterwards set those plans into motion.

[Draco]

From what I understand, Vyt is supposed to take over as leader of the Ninjas after the Ninja Superior bites the dust, which he has in GWIII.

For Steampunk, Toka was voted to be leader.

[Strife]

Spacefleet has Fraze, who is reasonably active, and should he ever drop out, the Fleet's command hierarchy makes it relatively easy for someone else to pick up the command role. For this reason, I have been considering assimilating Strife into a different guild and making him the de facto leader of said guild. The only thing that's holding me back, really, is the question of just how active i'll remain from that point onwards. xD;

But yes, Hunty and I have had many an MSN convo on this subject. Not only do some guilds need leaders, but they need leaders that want to be leaders. Sure, we could poke and prod people to step up to the plate, but that doesn't guarantee that they'll actually hit a home run or even swing the bat. xD; A proper leader would need to have genuine interest in keeping their guild alive. Otherwise, it'll just feel like a chore to them and they'll drop out after the first week or so.

From a personal standpoint, I think this has hit the Knights guild the hardest. It's a shame, really, because the Knights have some of my favorite characters, and they have (in all probability) the most recognizable landmark in the entire guildverse: Castle Kestrel. I think the Mercs are also in a bit of trouble, seeing as how their home base was recently destroyed. As for Brassport, they have a lot of potential as a guild, but a lot of their characters are secondary characters of people who have main characters in other guilds.

Anyway, one of the ideas I think we should consider is establishing a "minimum member" rule for the existing guilds that would be enforced every now and then with another Roll Call thread (or perhaps just by checking recent posts in the Guilds section). While you need a certain number of supporters in order to start a guild, there's no rule yet saying how many people need to be active to keep it going. I think that 2 members is a good limit. That way, there's always a leader and a backup leader, technically speaking.

...and I think i'll pause for now, cause I need sleep badly. xD; My eyes feel heavier than an unenchanted broadsword.

[Shadaras]

Yeah, the Knights have been hit hard. I'm not sure what led to that, but I'm fairly certain the existence of GWs don't help. The Mercs died because our leaders (Elcie and Fen) left, I believe, but they at least keep a good presence in the GWs.

I swear, I'll get a Knightly roleplay going as soon as GW3 ends/trails off. The Knights were a lot of what drew me into this forum in truth, and I don't like them being dead. Unless we have some ideas for non-roleplay events that won't die?

[Draco]

Jan 16, 2010 20:36:05 GMT -5 Strife said:

Spacefleet has Fraze, who is reasonably active, and should he ever drop out, the Fleet's command hierarchy makes it relatively easy for someone else to pick up the command role. For this reason, I have been considering assimilating Strife into a different guild and making him the de facto leader of said guild. The only thing that's holding me back, really, is the question of just how active i'll remain from that point onwards. xD;

But yes, Hunty and I have had many an MSN convo on this subject. Not only do some guilds need leaders, but they need leaders that want to be leaders. Sure, we could poke and prod people to step up to the plate, but that doesn't guarantee that they'll actually hit a home run or even swing the bat. xD; A proper leader would need to have genuine interest in keeping their guild alive. Otherwise, it'll just feel like a chore to them and they'll drop out after the first week or so.

From a personal standpoint, I think this has hit the Knights guild the hardest. It's a shame, really, because the Knights have some of my favorite characters, and they have (in all probability) the most recognizable landmark in the entire guildverse: Castle Kestrel. I think the Mercs are also in a bit of trouble, seeing as how their home base was recently destroyed. As for Brassport, they have a lot of potential as a guild, but a lot of their characters are secondary characters of people who have main characters in other guilds.

Anyway, one of the ideas I think we should consider is establishing a "minimum member" rule for the existing guilds that would be enforced every now and then with another Roll Call thread (or perhaps just by checking recent posts in the Guilds section). While you need a certain number of supporters in order to start a guild, there's no rule yet saying how many people need to be active to keep it going. I think that 2 members is a good limit. That way, there's always a leader and a backup leader, technically speaking.

...and I think i'll pause for now, cause I need sleep badly. xD; My eyes feel heavier than an unenchanted broadsword.

I can understand the idea of limits. I have ideas for characters in almost every guild, but I wouldn't be able to work that many characters Heck, I have two characters in the waiting I want to use at some point, but doubt I would ever use them. So I don't bother to introduce them and have them join a guild.

As for overall activeness, I'm always around if I have internet When everyone is busy with school, I'm still hanging around like a stereotype nerd in his parents basement... In fact, I'm just a nerd in my room of my parents house ^_^;; But yeah, I don't let things like school stop me from doing my normal runs of the internet. Maybe for a day or two, but that's about it.

[Huntress]

Jan 16, 2010 20:36:05 GMT -5 Strife said:

But yes, Hunty and I have had many an MSN convo on this subject. Not only do some guilds need leaders, but they need leaders that want to be leaders. Sure, we could poke and prod people to step up to the plate, but that doesn't guarantee that they'll actually hit a home run or even swing the bat. xD; A proper leader would need to have genuine interest in keeping their guild alive. Otherwise, it'll just feel like a chore to them and they'll drop out after the first week or so.

Yeah, I originally addressed that in my first post and then deleted it because it turned the post into too much of a textwall. Fact is, I'm not sure how much of a difference this thread will even make because leadership - proper, active leadership - is based on the inherent drive and will to assert oneself, and if nobody has stepped up in the current guilds so far, there's really no reason why this thread would make them want to. But I wanted to draw attention to this issue all the same.
One of my vague-ish ideas was to concentrate the whole guildbusiness - future events, recruiting, policies, in-story politics, what have you - into the hands of the guild leaders to discuss and coordinate, simply because it'd be easier that way (although all other guilders still have the right to speak up all the time, obviously) but that'd also mean that all guilds that fail to find the leader/spokesperson/active representative will simply fall out of the picture. Hence this thread.

[Draco]

I wouldn't mind being a leader, but I just don't know what to do if I was

Oh, and just a small thing I just now noticed... Are you trying to do a Pirates of the Caribbean thing with the leaders of the guilds and that globe? I think your sword might be a little lonely if no other guild leaders pop up

[Celestial]

I wouldn't mind being a leader either, I was just planning to establish myself post-GW3 (and get the consent of the active mages. >>) and since nothing can stop me from getting internet, I'll remain fairly active for now.

Draco, I'm sure you'd be able to work it out. ^^ Leadership is a challenge but once you get to it, you should have no problem.

[Shadaras]

Jan 16, 2010 21:33:47 GMT -5 Huntress said:

Jan 16, 2010 20:36:05 GMT -5 Strife said:

But yes, Hunty and I have had many an MSN convo on this subject. Not only do some guilds need leaders, but they need leaders that want to be leaders. Sure, we could poke and prod people to step up to the plate, but that doesn't guarantee that they'll actually hit a home run or even swing the bat. xD; A proper leader would need to have genuine interest in keeping their guild alive. Otherwise, it'll just feel like a chore to them and they'll drop out after the first week or so.

Yeah, I originally addressed that in my first post and then deleted it because it turned the post into too much of a textwall. Fact is, I'm not sure how much of a difference this thread will even make because leadership - proper, active leadership - is based on the inherent drive and will to assert oneself, and if nobody has stepped up in the current guilds so far, there's really no reason why this thread would make them want to. But I wanted to draw attention to this issue all the same.
One of my vague-ish ideas was to concentrate the whole guildbusiness - future events, recruiting, policies, in-story politics, what have you - into the hands of the guild leaders to discuss and coordinate, simply because it'd be easier that way (although all other guilders still have the right to speak up all the time, obviously) but that'd also mean that all guilds that fail to find the leader/spokesperson/active representative will simply fall out of the picture. Hence this thread.

See, I've had (and accepted) the de-facto leadership of the Knights since the beginning of last summer. It's just that I've been busy/fading off the NTWF since then. Only now, when I don't have time but don't care, GW3 is going on and that makes it blasted hard to get anything else done, Guild-wise.

Guild politics would be fun to play with, though.

[Lord Hayati]

I agree with celestial for being the mage leader. I know She remains faithful when it comes to RPing, espically after RPing with her god knows how many times at the shenkuu teahouse.

[Deleted]

Jan 16, 2010 19:48:59 GMT -5 Celestial said:

Currently the Mages don't seem to have anybody leading them. Ikkin has been fairly inactive and while Sarn promised to become the leader a while back, I'm not sure what happened to that.

If there is no leader, then I'm willing to become de facto leader until this is worked out. Any mages, please feel free to speak out about this or say if you want to become the leader.

*winces* I tried. I really did. But there really wasn't much to do. I tried to get some things going and the Guilympics sorta took off and then arsed over in the dirt. *small sob* I'm obviously not a capable leader so I'll defer to anyone else who wants to take on the role. I shall support you in whatever ways I can.

[Draco]

Jan 16, 2010 22:58:50 GMT -5 @adoqhina said:

Jan 16, 2010 19:48:59 GMT -5 Celestial said:

Currently the Mages don't seem to have anybody leading them. Ikkin has been fairly inactive and while Sarn promised to become the leader a while back, I'm not sure what happened to that.

If there is no leader, then I'm willing to become de facto leader until this is worked out. Any mages, please feel free to speak out about this or say if you want to become the leader.

*winces* I tried. I really did. But there really wasn't much to do. I tried to get some things going and the Guilympics sorta took off and then arsed over in the dirt. *small sob* I'm obviously not a capable leader so I'll defer to anyone else who wants to take on the role. I shall support you in whatever ways I can.

I was liking the Guilympics. The Bribing was getting out of hand, but was really fun Everyone just slowed down and disapeared because of school and that NaNo thingy (which took me almost until the end of it to find out what it was).