Scott F. Andrews - The Guild Leaders Handbook: Strategies and Guidance from a Battle-Scarred MMO Veteran

For my officers, past and present

Carl Bean

Mike Buonaspina

Katherine Burgess

Tyson Conrad

Mike Cornish

Doug Gobeille

Mike Hands

Aaron Lamping

Judy Lanier

Dereck Lesko

Dan Mortara

Mark "Norty" Northam

Adrian Olivares

Aaron Pikcilingis

Joel Pollard

Daniel Rosenfeld

Jim Schleicher

Jesse Thomas

Joshua Weinger

Jessica Williamson

Josh Young

Sincere thanks to the following:

Guilds are the backbone of massively multiplayer online (MMO) communities. Guilds take an open-ended game world, a formless glob full of promise and adventure, and give it structure. Guilds bind players together into a social network and enable those players to work in concert for a common purpose: to tackle the incredible group-oriented content designed by game developers. Without guilds, the experience of playing an MMO would be vastly differentand, in my opinion, a lot less fun!

Guild leaders are those inspired individuals who make it all happen, who sacrifice time and energy to help their communities thrive. The Guild Leader's Handbook is for anyone who is or ever wanted to become a guild leader.

The work of guild leadership poses a unique challenge. Leading a guild in an MMO today is unlike any other type of leadership that the world has ever seen before. All the great generals, all the great coaches, all the great presidents, kings and queensbasically, every leader throughout historyhad an advantage that we as online leaders do not: They had face-to-face contact, at some level, with the men and women they led. A guild leader rarely, if ever, has that opportunity.

Even so, a guild is not an imaginary thing. It's a very real social community that can have as much impact on someone's life as competing on a sports team, acting in a play, or volunteering for a service organization. As you read this, there are hundreds of thousands of guilds online, conquering foes, exploring worlds, building towns, and amassing wealth. Sure, their deeds are imaginary. But at the same time, the members of those guilds are telling jokes, confiding in one another, arguing, grieving, and celebrating as a real community. They may live separate lives, but they all share the same online experience.

As a guild leader, it's up to you to make sure their experience is a positive one. The purpose of this book is to equip you with the knowledge and tools to guide your own community confidently and decently. Far too many players step into this role (or are suddenly thrust into it) without anyone to turn to or any reference to help them succeed. My goal is to change that.

In , you'll examine the fundamental choices you should make before you create your own guild: size, attitude, and gameplay focus. The chapter helps you to make your guild unique so you can stand out from the crowdan essential feature for competing with other guilds on a crowded server.

takes you through the steps for founding a guild. You'll register your organization, choose the right name, and set up effective policies according to the Guild Policy Triangle. You'll obtain the tools you need to communicate and to manage the day-to-day business of the guild, such as a website, a voice chat server, and an events calendar. Finally, you'll select your first officers to help you with the duties of leadership.

is all about recruiting. The chapter explains the seven fundamentals of effective recruiting, including the most important technique: building server presence so that your guild is well known to players. You'll learn how to build an appropriate recruiting application, how to follow up with new recruits, and how to identify and deal with four types of problem players that may slip through your screening process.

Drama is the focus of . This chapter will introduce you to the 10 player personality classes , which you can use to understand your players' motivations and predict their behavior. You'll learn about the causes of drama, when to intervene, and what you can do to stop it. The chapter also covers rewarding and punishing members and handling the dreaded "gkick."

dives into the complex world of successful dungeon raiding. The chapter examines the differences between hardcore and casual raiders and between guild leadership and raid leadership. You'll learn how to encourage preparation, fill raid slots effectively, explain and execute strategies, and analyze the outcome of the raid, as well as individual performances, to help your players improve.

Then, once you've killed the boss, it's time for loot! will help you to manage all aspects of dividing up your spoils. The chapter discusses the drama that often surrounds loot distribution and the fundamental principles for dealing with loot fairly. It describes how to choose among and implement the five categories of loot systems and discusses ways to recognize and deal with possible exceptions to your system.

covers the other two major guild focuses: player vs. player (PvP) combat and roleplaying (RP). You'll learn about strategies and recruiting for both open-world (or territorial) and instanced PvP conflict and the type of leadership required for each. On the RP side of things, the chapter examines in-character leadership and the three degrees of roleplaying. You'll learn about choosing RP guild roles, guiding RP sessions, and dealing with RP-specific guild issues.

In , you'll learn all about managing your officers. You'll promote the right players, examine the pros and cons of their personality traits, and assign them to proper roles within the leadership structure. The chapter covers how to discipline officers when necessary and tells how to avoid officer burnout.

walks you through all the long-term considerations for an established guild, including boosting morale, planning special events, making ethical choices, controlling your guild's reputation, and dealing with a large-scale drama outburst.