What is missing in the world of MMORPG’s and the guilds that play them?

[RogueSlayer]

Greetings all!

I am currently working on a project that I would like to get some input from TOG members on. The project deals with MMO’s and the guilds that play in them. Such as needing a central place for all guilds from all servers from all MMO games to converge and interact with each other. Please read below for more detailed information.

What is missing in the world of MMORPG’s and the guilds that play them? Specifically, is there a need for a central gathering place for guilds to advertise, recruit new members, share information/news/ideas/thoughts and the like? Is there a need for new people to a game (or those thinking of changing the server they play on) to have a location they can go to research guilds across all servers for that game as well as each servers particular makeup of players?

Is there a need or a want for world wide interaction of guilds to work out what will be the “unofficial” Australian server, European server, PVP server, PVE server (if not already dedicated by the developers) and such? Or when a game may be experiencing a decline in subscriptions and a server merge may be coming. Would a central point of contact be used/needed for guilds (and others) to work out the “who”, “what”, “where” and “whys” of this?


Cross game communication. Is there a need for this? Where people from different games can interact and share ideas that a guild in another game may be able to use for an in game event, guild structure ideas and or tips on overcoming guild issues that others may have experienced in the past.


What about advertising? Is there a desire to advertise a guild outside of the normal means? Would a fee based advertising structure be used? If so, what would be a reasonable fee? What time frame should the ads be available, 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months or more for that fee? What features/bonus’s/options would be expected in return for these fees?


What other options/benefits do you see (if any) from a central guild gathering place such as this?


Please leave your overall comments and feelings on this. Is this something you think would be used? Is it something that may be needed or is it not needed at all? Would you use the service/product?

There is the possibility of your comments being used in a press release for this project. As such, if you are interested in having your comments quoted for this, please PM me. All other feedback left in this thread will not be used for the release but will be compiled (without your information) for the project its self.

[Atrayo]

Hello RogueSlayer,

Basically your asking about a potential "Guild Vault" aka a clearinghouse of Guild interests across several MMO's. Aside from sites that provide tools for guild websites and organization structure.

A meta-Guild portal site would lead to a potential mecca site for consumer game industry advertising. That's if it ever gets off the ground in popularity. So besides it being informative, it should also provide a couple of hooks of functionality. Such as a database of up to date info of things that Guilds will be interested in that could go beyond simple "how to guides".

The other functionality could be creating ties with game developers to have certain larger guilds. To have crack access as informal QA testers to a games beta. Perhaps have a minimium standard set up that all guild testers have gone through certain criteria to be better beta testers. Than the run of the mill tester that is just in it for sneak peek to a game title akin to a try before you buy.

Another more serious topic could be an "Advocacy Group" for quality issues for guilds in other games. Perhaps a further diplomatic version of the old but not forgotten "Lum The Mad" rant site. That injects debates like MMORPG.com is doing about game issues in MMO's recently in their "good cop, bad cop" columns.

The achilles heel for many guilds has been complacency of inaction and/or favoritism/niches. Besides lack of tried and true cross over knowledge in running a real life club or management like in a mid-sized business.

I can go on on, but i've had a few years experience in many MMO guilds as a junior & senior leader. So i've been like many perplexed by the dysfunctional dark side of guilds.