Closing Guilds (moved from Keeper's Korner)

[Calador]

Do not merge guilds. Don't EVER merge guilds.
If people are content with being in a low populated guild, let them.
If people have a hard time getting into one of those guilds, help them. Or at least make sure they understand that the low number of members can make it a hard task to join, and that it could take quite a while before they would get a chance.
If there are council members active in a guild, I do believe that they would want to get new recruits, so it shouldn't be too hard if you are willing to make an effort of it, and if the council members are inactive, the wizards just have to demote them and appoint a new leader.
I know that the change of leadership is a grey area because how do we decide if a guild is active or not. Do we go purely on last login or do we find other ways of doing it.

It is sad to see good, renowned players leave Genesis, but it equally as sad to see guilds close down.
And the 2 guilds I've spent most time in are both closed now, so I know how it feels.

[gorboth]

Okay, then!

This thread has really turned things around for me. It has shown me that:

• Many people really do care about this problem.
• Many people are willing to consider formerly taboo options such as wizard-interference to fix it.
• There is quite a bit of passion and life left in many guild concepts that I was not aware still had caring members.
• Closing guilds outright is the wrong path to go down.

The energy that this topic has generated has been really something. I have gotten more mail from more people than in quite a long time. I am grateful to those of you who have taken the time to think about this issue and given me your perspective on the matter, especially as it relates to your own guild concerns.

Having thought more about this after reading everything people have shared, it seems to me that while there is a definite "choke point" aspect to this problem, there are two things that make it less severe than I had originally supposed.

Firstly, (and most importantly) new players will not experience this as a choke point. With the cadets and the academics, they have two fantastic guild options beckoning to them right away. If they want to go full occupational instead, the Mercenary guild is ready to welcome them just outside of Sparkle. The choke point occurs more when they have learned to play the game, and have come to desire a new experience - perhaps one that resides in one of the guilds who have council issues that are making them hard (or impossible) to join.

Secondly, as players do feel very frustrated by the fact that certain guilds appear inaccessible, the playerbase on the whole seems to feel that wizard assistance is an acceptable answer to solving these problems in guilds councils that cannot figure things out on their own. What this suggests to me is that things could, in fact, remain somewhat as they are now with the idea that all guild councils *do* begin trying to solve these problems on their own. Then, as promotion occurs and we get many new faces, it will be up to each council to make clear that they do not require my assistance. Though it does mean a new and different kind of workload for me and the wizard staff, it is the sort of problem I would welcome, because it would mean that promotion has been successful and we now need to deal with the issue.

I regret the effect some of my posts here have had on some people and guilds. It became clear to me that many of you presumed that your guild had been targeted for closure, and my lack of specificity caused speculation to run wild and take on a somewhat despairing tone. So ... let me clear that up.

No guilds are going to be closed. This was an important thing to wrestle with. We wrestled with it, and I feel good about the things that have been said, suggested, and cautioned against. This, actually, is pretty much exactly what I was hoping for! I'll be focusing back on the other pre-promotion needs now, so lets lock this thread.

G.