Guild 2.1

One of the first ground rules I can see coming out of this is that idea that a guild and the member have a social contract. There are expectations on the members to put time into the guild, and an expectation that the guild will (in turn) provide certain things that the member expects. Those member expectations are above and beyond following the rules or playing the game well. Showing up is not “giving back to the guild”. If all you have time for is to “show up”, then I seriously question why anyone should carry you by running events, hosting a website, managing a VOIP server, etc. I certainly had the reverse thrown in my face many times as a guild leader. People telling me that they are sick of carrying everyone else in the raiding group since they are showing up on time, doing their best, while others are not. If your guild required nothing more than people to show up and play their best, you wouldn’t really need a guild, would you? People can play their best on their own.

This concept for a guild would not be “new” per se. But it would be a formalization of how guilds have worked in the past. It’s also a more formal view on what a guild actually is. Instead of being a club, it’s an arrangement and everyone knows it and appreciates it. Many serious gamers really do join and run guilds like this. It’s not written down, but it’s a social contract guild. Do X and Y, and you’ll get A and B in return. This is also why those high end raiding guilds fall apart when progress is not happening. Suddenly the guild isn’t delivering A and B despite a member giving X and Y. The guild is in breech and the contract is null and void. It’s possible that the guild is not to blame and it’s just a string of bad luck, but that’s just a horrible contract. No guild can guarantee progress, and if the members believe it can, they are the ones buying a bad bill of goods.

But, this idea might work for more deliverable services. Such as a guild agreeing to host so many events a week. Or making sure people have VOIP services, calendaring, and people to manage the bank and keep the jerks out of the guild. Those are feasible things a guild could deliver in exchange for members who promise to help run some of those events, contribute to the bank, etc.