Guilds, Why They're Private, And All That Jazz

Most people like guilds. This is not to be denied. Of course, not all people are ‘guild material’, and this is not a trait for one to be ashamed of. Some people do not find the time/talent/commitment to be tied into a guild with its board chatting, contests, and the like. This is a very real feeling of dread, and sometimes even I find such a feeling overcoming me… but I love my guild, so that will never happen.

However, there is a trouble with guilds these days. More and more guilds are becoming private. Private guilds used to be very, very scarce – people were willing to let in anyone as long as they were good, rule-abiding players. These days, though, the tables have turned, and it’s newbies that are feeling the effect.

Newbies are very willing, if they are not n00bs, to be like any Neopets player: Make impressive pets, make friends, chat, have fun… the normal stuff. And that ‘normal stuff’ includes, more then likely, joining a guild. The process of finding the right guild can be long, tedious, and very rough.

This is not an article that explains what guild is good for you and how to locate a guild that is as fantastic says it is.

This is, however, an article that tells you why guilds become private, what it means to be private, and, most importantly, what it can averagely take to be invited into a private guild. In this article, you will find an FAQ of guild questions and some advice to help newbies – and non-newbies – understand the process of private guilds.

WHY do guilds become private?

I assume that most guilds become private to keep out the ever-pressing and constant horror of n00bs that can do several things.

1: Not follow ground guild rules

2: Spam

3: Insult others

4: Not be active

5: Not take interest in the main aspect of the guild

However, not all guilds are made private because of n00bs. Some guilds are simply a circle of friends getting together to chat and have fun.

Some guilds will remain non-private until they have a certain amount of members, and then they will make it private to keep out another wave of members.

How do I know what a private guild is all about?

Simply sending a Neomail to a person that is in the guild is a good way of learning what the main interest of the guild is. Even better, you could Neomail the owner of the guild. Simply saying ‘Hello, my name is so-and-so. I am interested in joining your guild, but could you please tell me a little about it?’ is a nice, simple way of learning about the guild without being rude enough to say ‘Hello, can I have an invite to the guild?’

Eventually, you can grasp onto the subject of joining with whomever you might be chatting with, but never go outright with the request of such.

Help! The private guild I joined is inactive/doesn’t have a lot of members for my taste/isn’t what I thought it would be.

So, you finally get the invitation to the guild you have been so pining to join. Then you join, and it simply doesn’t meet your standards of a good guild like you thought it might. Do not be afraid to leave a guild just because you were invited to it and it is private! If you don’t like it and would prefer to try another, then so be it. The guild leader should not be offended for this if you are truly not enjoying the guild.

The guild leader won’t invite me to his/her guild! How can I convince him/her?

Guild leaders do not always know best what members to let in and what members to let out, but sometimes there are deadpan signs of who not to invite to their precious guilds. Sometimes guild leaders will not invite people because they had a bad reputation on Neopets, or they use chatspeak, or perhaps they simply think that the user does not have enough interest in the main subject of the guild.

One way that you will never get invited to a private guild is if you beg or ask directly. You must work your way up to the fateful question.

Should I make my guild private?

This is a tricky question. It all depends what you think is right for your guild. If you don’t want many members, then perhaps you will want to make your guild private and only invite others that might seem to enjoy your guild. However, if you don’t care who joins your guild as long as you have members, then don’t make it private. If you do, there will not be the large amounts of people rushing to your guild as you might want.

The basic pros and cons of private guilds:

Is your thirst for knowledge about private guilds not quenched in any above information? Well then, here’s an overall summary and some other random facts that you might want to know if you’re ever thinking of starting a guild and don’t know whether to make it private or not.

Pros: Private guilds will not have n00bs or unwanted guests in them. They will only have a close amount of friends and people that were invited and therefore rather ‘worthy’ of dwelling and being in the guild. Private guilds are also, apparently, not open to the public, so if you are ashamed of perhaps the layout or your number of members, whatever your reason may be, it will not be viewed by the more critical people.

Cons: Private guilds can sometimes be hard to keep members. If there are only a few or the leader is not active, then people are more prone to leave because the chatting is as active or they just overall do not like the guild. Private guilds are also tricky to ‘rule’ over for, as leader, you are responsible for not only inviting members that are interested in the theme of the guild, but making contests and topics that apply to the theme.

Well, that about wraps it up for Guilds - Why They’re Private, and all That Jazz.

You close the book and sigh, then it disappears in a puff of red smoke in your hands, leaving you coughing and rather confused on what you were doing in the first place.