What to look for in a guild?

     What to look for in a guild?

     I’ve surveyed neopians on the guild boards… and this is what they have to say. There are a million factors involved in what makes each guild different from the next and what makes these work for the members that are in it. There’s a lot to consider from a member’s standpoint when deciding if a guild is a good match for you. Also, keep in mind that you may not be able to determine with absolute certainty if a guild is for you until after you’ve joined and tried it out for a few weeks. Some of what I’m about to tell you will be easy to decipher just from the guild webbie or advertisement posts, but other aspects may be a bit more difficult to know ahead of joining.

     Activity Requirements:

     This is the most split question in the polls, and there’s no room for grey area. Either people really want activity requirements, or they want to be left to do things at their own pace. You should know what your personal goals for Neopets are. Do you want guild rules to give you motivation to complete goals, or do you want to ensure you never get removed for lack of activity? These are things you’ll want to consider before picking what activity requirements are right for you.

     There was a 50-50 tie for if members wanted activity requirements or not.

     Size:

     The majority of Neopets members stated they prefer a guild size of about 50 members. Guilds of this size are popular because they are large enough that there are enough people to chat with on the boards and that you can recognize people from activity to activity. I’ve found that it’s nice to also have some guild members on different time zones so there is usually someone on at all times. However, I have also seen groups of tight knit friends who have made their own private guild with only people they all knew in it. Others want as many people as possible. This is completely up to you, and you may have to just experience each to decide what you like best.

     This was almost completely unanimous for about 50 people, although a few members noted they paid more attention to activity than to numbers.

     Guild Activities:

     Guilds can offer you a lot of fun activities. Some have weekly crosswords, competitions, 1 NP auctions, teams, and much more! Some guilds require you to participate in these events to be considered active in the guild and some just have them as fun add ons. Everyone has a different preference on this, just the same as with your activity requirements that we talked about earlier. One of the best arguments is that they encourage you to build your account, whether it’s working on having more NPs, avatars, trophies, creative entry prizes, or just fun things to do to keep your guilds tight knit and homey. A drawback is that sometimes the challenges/activities may not be focused on the specific thing you’d like to work on for your account. If this is a concern for you, I would recommend searching for a guild that allows participation by creating your own goals.

     Guild Activities were also a big influence on members. 75% of members wanted Account Improvement activities and contests.

          Friendliness:

     Now, something I personally like to do is scope out the guild boards before posting my interest in the guild. This may or may not give you an accurate indication of how active the guild is and how members interact with each other. Some guilds have a lot of interaction with each other on their recruitment posts, others have another board outside of recruitment, and all guilds have a private guild chat area inside the guild itself. The latter you won’t be able to see until you join. Recruitment boards are usually under neoboards --no tags here- Guilds . You’ll look for that first and then see if they have a guild webbie for new members to look over. Usually if there’s another board that members actively chat on, it will be listed here. Check over these to see how members interact, how friendly everyone is, and how active they are. Different guilds will have different feels to their chats. Some may be lighthearted and gently encouraging, while others could be more serious and highly competitive.

          Friendliness was a strong influence listed on the polls. 75% of people mentioned seeking guilds with friendly members.

          Council Members:

     There’s one thing you won’t readily notice until you join a guild, but it’s something to look for before you get attached to one, and that is the council members. One of the most important parts of a guild is how their council leads. Do they listen to what the members want? Is it easy to discuss awkward guild topics if there is a conflict between members? No matter how wonderful a guild and its members are, at some point there is guaranteed to be a disagreement of some kind between members. Can you trust them to be impartial if the other person is a friend of theirs? Theoretically, we are all friends in the guild, but some people might be closer than others. A good council will find a solution that is unbiased. The council has a lot of responsibilities that you as a member may not notice unless it is done improperly. They have to work together to decide on rules, activity, what demographic of members they want to go after, and there are so many pages that need to be run and updated constantly. The more pages there are in a guild, the more of a need there is for the council to work smoothly together and to stay on top of things. Guilds with a lot of members may also have a sub-council to assist them. I’ve even seen a guild where everyone worked together to serve council functions as a unit to accomplish everything.

     25% of members noted that a strong council was important to them when looking for a guild.

     Personal sidenote:

     The more active in a guild a player is, the more screen time they have to accomplish their goals. They also have people to bounce ideas off of and to stay motivated to get their dream pet, accessories, gallery items, or anything else their Neopian heart desires! I found an AI (Account Improvement) guild that has encouraged me to build my account, helped me to focus on my goals, and has made me flourish! I hope you are all able to find the perfect guild for you.

     Here are the amazing guilds that were noted in the polls:

     Aethia, Astral, Enchanted Ivy, Epic Adults, Painted Pets Playground, Procrastinators, Zenith.