There are quite a lot of problems with the current guild system, and it's time to make some changes. So, first I'm going to outline what the problems are, then ask for your opinions on ways to make changes and improvements.

Filling requests for new guilds is the single most tedious and time-consuming activity for admins, and are by far the hardest things to do. Which means that all these failing guilds or lots of request for new ones that don't have a strong base, all cause quite a tremendous burden on the staff. This means we need to make the requirements for starting guilds much stiffer, and we won't just accept any guild request given like we have been doing.

The first problem with guilds is their short life span. People will make guilds, and then a month later they get rid of them. If it's not because of lack of interest, it's because of lack of activity. So, let's discuss activity and ways to improve things.

Something that really hurts guilds is the "exclusive" attitude. If you want to be "the" evil guild, you've got to be open to all of Arda. Some guilds are impossible to join, and others have all their forums password protected or are otherwise uninviting to normal RPers, so no one posts in there except sometimes the small handful of members. A solution to this is that I might stop allowing guilds to password protect more than one IC sub-forum. Anyone with invite-only guild recruitment needs to seriously reconsider this exclusiveness, for it may be disallowed in order to preserve activity.

Also problematic is that many guilds, once created, begin to change their purpose and recruitment requirements and in essence become something different than what everyone signed up for. Consistency is key. If you change your guild from its original purpose or who it lets in, your initial members are probably going to not like it, lose interest, and you'll find yourself without enough members to keep the guild alive.

It has also become evident over time that the 4 sub-forum limit is one that is actually too high. Most sub-forums get little to no posts in them, so the number of sub-forums allowed is going to be reduced to 2 at max. Maybe even only one (this is not including the OOC sub-forum).

Another problem is the extravagance of the forum descriptions. You guys are very creative, but I have been too lenient on the things I have allowed for guild descriptions. I will no longer be accepting descriptions of insanely large and lavish, magical descriptions. This is for the sake of being realistic.

A few members have created quite a lot of guilds, all of which have not lasted long and were disbanded. From now on, if you are one of these frequent guild-makers, you will find it much more difficult to get approval.

Similar guilds. We seem to have several "good guy" guilds, 3 at last count and 2 more pending. I will stop approving guilds if they are similar to ones already in existence, because we don't need 5 good guy guilds. This way we have only one guild with a certain theme, and that guild will be large and survive instead of 5 small, failed guilds.

Purpose. Some guilds have a very vague purpose. "We're evil, yay!" :p I like how the Library of the Divine Trinity is not just a guild, but a library and educational facility. That makes it something that anyone should be able to go RP in. I think that guilds need to have more to them than just "we are of a certain alignment and we're going to hang out together."

Guildmaster dedication / plot drive. You people looking to make guilds, it's not an easy task and requires that you put a lot of work into it. You need to be the one to say "alright, let's start a topic here about this and have fun with it." You need to come up with some guild plots to get your members interested. It is also a good idea to start topics in the RP requests forum inviting non-guild members to participate in the happenings of your guild. It's a good way to gain interest in your guild anyhow. Participation not contingent on actually joining, something like that.

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So, I'd like now for everyone to give their opinions on the problems I've stated. It's also helpful for you to mention problems you've spotted on your own. Have you been a guild master before? If so, what problems plagued your guild and led to its downfall? Have you been a member of a guild? What has caused you to leave a guild you were once participating in? What has caused you to stay?

This is a very important topic, I'd really like to get a lot of feedback. Sorry if the paragraphs are slightly repetitive, I'm in a weird mood. :lol:

The only other guild I've been in was the Brotherhood of Chaos, which later became the Brotherhood of Darkness, which was later sold.

The thing that proved to be it's downfall was that the guildmaster suddenly decided to switch the diety that the guild served, and changed a lot of aspects to the guild. He never concsulted the guild members, but simply made the changes. This killed the guild activity, and eventually he sold it because the guild bombed after this change.

The Dread Legion simply has slumping member activity. It's not that there are any problems with the guild, but most of the original members are simply not logging on. The guildmaster also has some activity issues, and this is hurting recruitment and also IC guild activity.

Both of these were already covered by Loth, but still.

I'm excited about these changes and agree with pretty much everything. Losing the exclusive mentality is an important step forward to ensure activity, in my opinion. The only thing I'd say is that, once a certain guild's numbers seem to be getting large, that they are allowed to request a stricter method of recruiting in the future. Super saturated guilds aren't any good, either. But it is up to the admins to judge whether or not the restrictions are justified.

I like the guild I'm in now (the brotherhood of chaos... n'ah only joking, I'm in the Lightbringers) because the Guildmaster tries to involve everyone in something. Rather than be just another guild for status purposes, The Lightbringers also has some neat roleplays and plots which are going to involve everyone.

The guildmaster also listens to everyone and takes what they have to say to heart. He lets us in on everything before making changes and that's great because we get to have our say.

I think that some of the guilds are failing mainly because there is nothing for the guild members to do. It's one thing joining the guild but what does the guild have to offer apart from membership? Perhaps some guild only plots, a high status within the world of Arda etc.

EXACTLY. Some guilds seem that the only fun part is joining, and then there's a big "well, what do we do now?"

I have been thinking a little bit about something like "clubs" or "clans" that are similar-ish to guilds. It'd be just an interest group with no IC forums, and something that doesn't stop you from joining guilds. They'd be cheap to start and not require a lot of work, and would help people to get over that "oh, I'll join this guild just because they like chaos and I like chaos too." Something like that. :unsure:

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Something else! I'd like to see suggestions for what to put into a "form" that should be filled out for requesting to make a new guild. Such as purpose, plot ideas, listing those kinds of things you'll be doing to ensure your guild has a solid base and lives. Something like that. :unsure:

Could be a hit! ^_^
I also think that perhaps a jobs section for guilds should be placed up. Basically, several jobs would be placed up on a job board and a guild would choose to take the job and RP it out. The job itself would be something simple such as:

"A rich baron has requested that several people escort his carridge through the forest and protect them from bandits..."

...and basically be a good thesis for a decent roleplay. A guild would take this scenario and RP it out.

I'm not sure if that makes sense. I'm tired and need some sleep... :lol:

Sounds like something the DMs could arrange quite easily :D

EDIT: I LOVE the idea of clans/clubs!

The DMs and admins will not be doing any work for the guilds. Everything done has to be up to the guildmasters and their members. The Syndicate already did something like this, since they were mercenaries they offered their services and stuff like that. If guilds want to do that, that's fine, but not exactly something that I'm looking into planning up in this topic. :unsure:

I have been wondering if perhaps there ought to be a minimum number of members to qualify to be a guild.

If there aren't enough, then it qualifies as a group or clan.


Does that make sense?


Say, several people get together and form a group. As the group grows, it may eventually qualify for a guild. This would allow the group to have time to develop, to test the endurance of the group, and many of the other problems that are facing guilds.

Yes, I was also thinking that you'd have to have a certain minimum number of people interested in joining before receiving approval. Good suggestion. :yes:

Something else of importance. Guilds that are created to accommodate a fad, or that require you to create alternate accounts to fit in. Those will not be approved, since alternates are called alternates for a reason - they aren't your main, most active accounts. A guild build off of alternates is bound to suffer from inactivity. And fads are sure to fade as well.

Well I don't know if this helps, but the benefits of a guild are often the same. I mean I looked at some of your existing ones and many of them all have the same basic offers to it's members. You get the back up of the guild, you get this, you get that. But really that is not much of an incentive and some of the benefits can't really be enforced, so I ask what exactly do the benefits really do? If they are all the same then this just goes to further the aforementioned Guild Clones.

Uhm being a former guildmaster, I feel that I most of what Loth says is true, but there are some things left untouched ^^ I'll try to compose meh own list, just to be sure.

Some guilds do have active guildmasters, and try their best to ensure that the effort the members made in getting into the guild was not put into waste. Some issues though include the member's inactivity themselves. Some members I've seen join the Syndicate vanish after getting the title in their profiles. We've had to make a purging of inactive members of sorts and wiped out more than half of our roster back then.

I'd agree with the password protected areas being too restrictive, but I think there should be at least one, for the sake of guild privacy. Some members want to RP with other guild members only, so it would be helpful if one of the benefits a guild could offer would be their own private forum. But the four IC forums is a bit too big, particularly from the population we have now.

The minimum people suggestion is good, as it at least maintains the prospective activity of the guild. I find it good that people started posting 'guild planning' threads to ensure that there are some people who would be willing to join up. Helps maintain a certain level of guild activity.

Something I would like to propose would be some 'center' of the guildmasters, a DM position where his sole job is to handle this tedious task ^^ I'd also be willing to help with the guild application form, if Lothy wants...

Previously being in the Templar I find that inactivity is the thing. Many people, some intentionaly some through no falt of their own, failed to be active. As said, sometimes guild members are kept from posting due to life, internet problems and such but activity is the key. If a guild has unactive members then the guild goes kasplat into the realm of deadness. That is the main thing that killed the Templar. We had at least sixteen members when we started, before the name change six of them were active after the name change only three were.

An application for a guild sounds very good. I vote yes.

Anyway, I like most of these ideas, and I can definately understand where Loth is coming from. I've helped put together Invision forums of my own, and the process of adding, deleting and editing the boards, by yourself no-less, is extremely tiring. That's why I gave it up. Personally, I think one forum, with a single, private, OOC sub-forum would be enough. You could put all your private conversations in one board, and the guildmaster could pin another thread for open OOC discussion. So, it would be something like this.


-- GuildName
Description of Building
---- OOC Sub-forum
-------- Private Pinned Topic

I also think that if and only if the guild wants a big elaborate building the guildmaster should have to pay more for the guild.

I like the idea of little Clans and Groups. You could say that if a sect has more than 5 People it's a Clan, and if it has more than 15 it can qualify as a guild, in which case it would have to pay the fee to have the guild actually made. Also, I think each Clan, and they'd have to be a clan so it wouldn't include the time they were a group, would have to survive for two months before they would be allowed to purchase guild-status.

Also, the guild should only be allowed to be formed if the owner is an intelligent, able role-player, preferably an ARPer, who has been around for maybe 3 months. They would have to be involved, have good, active plots with their members, and actually have a plan. A guild that simply exits to kill or to destroy is no good. If they have no purpose they have no reason to be there. Simple.

Perhaps joining a guild should be similar to applying for a God or Goddess position. You'd have to do it with your main character(s) only. NO alternates made just to join. Maybe even have it where to join you have to have been active for X-many weeks/months.

Anyway, just my input.

The problem with that then is that no alts would ever be in guilds, and some people happen to be as dedicated to their alts as they are with their mains. Take me for example. Sraxen is an alt expressly made to be in a group of holy beings, but Aloric is my main. By these rules, Sraxen would not be allowed to join a guild. Thus, all alts would be homeless :(

However, you guys do bring up an interesting point about making guilds harder to form. Instead of anyone with 500 gold buying a guild, the guildmaster would have to be approved. As good as this sounds, it may slow things down unnecessarily as well as giving too much work to the staff. But it's something interesting, and could possibly be worked with.

I think there could maybe be a simple list of requirements for guildmasters, like Anni said, membership for a certain period of time, active and everything. The most important part of a guild, though, would be the content that the guildmaster and interested parties come up with. Does it have goals? Does it have a large enough member base? Is it original? Those kinds of things.

I think it would also be nice if the applying guild master can list down what he or she plans for the guild, activities and all. This will likely ensure that for a certain duration of time, the group will have something to do. We also have to make sure that the guild itself has a solid purpose that can be rped out. I remember having sects in the Syndicates that didn't have much rping value eg. the Neutrals and the Acolytes. One was there to check and balance between the Acolytes and the Blades while the other was there to pray to Threnody. There really wasn't much rping value between them. I think the guildmaster must prove that what he/she is establishing is intriguing and planned out enough to survive long-term membership.

I didn't mean it like that, dude. :lol: I meant that you could have alts in guilds, but they'd have to be proven. Ya' know? You would have to have a really active and experienced alternate account, not just one you threw together for the particular guild.

Well, I won't stop alternates of any kind from joining guilds, or put requirements on them. I just won't be approving any guilds that you have to make an alternate to join, like the Tiny Terrors.

I dunno. Sometimes you (meaning anyone) don't get a good idea for a character until a guild pops up that seems perfect for that character. You take that idea and run with it, eventually making an alt you can really sink your teeth into. I don't think people should be turned away just because of that. If they are turned away, that should be the guildmaster's discretion, not an official rule. *shrugs* That's just how I see it :)

I was a member of the Lost Souls which just up and vanished, then the Brotherhood of Chaos which was later changed to the Brotherhood of Darkness which was then sold and recently I applied to create my own guild dedicated to the Stars and Light which was declined.

So I well understand everything that is going on in this topic. The Lost Souls died because there was
1: Little member activity.
2: No defined goals
3: No real benifits for joining the guild

The Brotherhood went up in smoke because, like it has been previously stated, its guildmaster made MAJOR changes without asking any of its members. BUT, on the plus side, Alba had a fair bit of money behind him so he generously bought bits and pieces for members of the guild.

I was going to do a similar sort of thing for my guild. I was going to pin a topic where people could post if they wanted to make a donation to the guild, then, when we had enough gold, I was going to buy special items/spells for my ACTIVE guild members.

I think that would be one way of encouraging people to keep the guild active and also would encourage new members to join.

e.g. Join The Children of Fire and recieve the Flame Arrow spell.

But, to stop people from taking advantage of this by joining, getting the spell, then leaving you could have a sort of void contract. If you are banned or leave the guild in under a certain ammount of time (say 6 months) you must give back the spells/items you recieved.

Pitching in on a few things here:

I LOVE the idea of clans or clubs. Though I think "club" sounds too modern. Clan sounds good, or possibly cults if it's a religious clan? A very good idea to cut down on "throw-away" guilds. Much easier to throw away a clan, and Lothy won't have done a ton of work for nothing.

I dunno, Anni, I think banning people's alts from guilds isn't such a good idea. I think stopping faddy guilds before they start is better than not allowing people to tailor characters towards guilds.

I like the idea of joining benefits/rewards, Vaul. However, as you stated, we would have to be very careful about people abusing that system. It could put some strain on the admins. Maybe you would wait a week or two after joining to give them the spell, so they actually have to be in the guild for a little while before they recieve the joining benefits?

:D

I like Vaul’s Idea about the Benefits and the contract thing. It would make sense and provides more of an incentive to join a guild rather than just to say I'm with this guild and they have my back! However there would have to be a system of sorts to have that, to ensure that each guilds rewards and what not are different, which in turn means more work. But if this pulls through the work load might balance out, less guilds would be approved and at a different speed (due to people having to have been active for a certain amount of time.) leaving time for Admins to manage guilds individually, maybe...

Something that just became apparent to me: I should also write that when interested members wish to donate money to a person making a guild, they should do the donating *only* in the guild request topic in the sale's counter. In case the request is canceled, and to keep track of who gets money back if the guild is ever sold.

Ok I will admit, all evil guilds will be somewhat the same as will all good guilds etc. While I put alot of thought into trying to make the Knights I shall admit that I made it because I felt I had no chance what so ever of being let into the Lightbringers, thus the only way for Zenith to be part of Guild was to make my own. I have tried to to make the guild different, but as stated above most good guilds will have the exact same basic plots of slaying evil in Arda or "fighting for the Light!"

I also admit I have a fair number of guilds, my first one failed because members went inactive because someone started a war against us before we were even made. While the Brotherhood of Chaos / Darkness failed not only due to inactivity but also because I could no longer play evil characters, thus why I thought I would try one as Zenith ^_^; In truth if the Lightbringers were to allow me to join I would be there in a heartbeat as if fits Zenith perfectly, he would also get to be with Sraxen :D

Well not necessarily so, sure a lot of good guilds are like that but you can still specialize it. A good guild for magic wielders, a good guild for warriors, a good guild based on learning and furthering the power of good aligned people, a good guild based on ridding the world of impurities like Vampires, Orcs, Werewolves, a good guild for healers, and then a good guild whose idea of good is so strict that it is evil. When people make guilds, they make them to general, back in medieval times guilds were groups of like-minded people or artisans who banded together to help one another out with a specific trade. That meant you had a wood cutters guild separate from a carpenter's guild. Each guild had a specific purpose and rules, and they let in the best of the best. They trained their new recruits etc. Getting into a guild back then is like getting into some fancy social club with college connections today. It ensured your future, so they had to be specific to ensure specific futures. Also there is nothing wrong for having guilds that are a bit similar in their cause, if and only if you offer competition. If one is trying to run the other out of business then that offers a wide variety of plots and that means there is always someone out there for you to try and beat guild wise. I'm fairly new here and my opinion, in my opinion, doesn't coutn that much, but I think some peopel jsut aren't trying, they get a guild to have a guild and say I have a guild. They don't try to be as creative as possible.

I think it's a brilliant idea.

More thoughts on the problems? I'd like to here more proposed solutions to the problems too. :)

If Rask and Will would agree I think the Lightbringers should maybe be a guild for all those of a high quality good aligned and the dread legion for high quality evil alinged to join guilds. Then maybe having one neutral guild made as well? :S Just a thought, that way they could infact be proper guilds with many members and high level of activity.

well, basically all other guilds would be neutral. They would have purposes different than just alignment. Siln's idea of a gambler joint is a good example of what a neutral guild would be. There doesn't have to be just one neutral guild.

Well there you are with that Exclusiveness. Plus those guilds won't meet every members needs and wants. as I've stated general guilds are all fine and dandy but real guilds need to have specific goals, objectives, jobs, purposes, and plots. A guild needs to be tailored to a slightly specific group of people, say archers in general, or Mages. Guilds say open to all Mages could have a lot more mage related plots than a simple light guild. It could have Evil Faction/ Good Faction rivalries, competition within the guild and amongst others....etc. etc. And then there is, what is your definition of High Quality? Alogn with those guilds comes with a members needs, an Archers guild would be able to better accomodate archers in general than say a specifically Good Aligned guild would. Just an Opinion.

I left the syndicate because there was absolutely no guild-related threads present, and very little activity. I even went as far as to make an alt to hire out guild members, but nobody stepped forward, whether because they weren't interested or were just lazy. The reason I join guilds is to make friends with certain members and their characters. That, and there's an added layer of fun in joining a guild with your character. It helps to flesh him/her out.

Alright, so, here are a few of my suggestions, or comments:

• Lothy said something about some guild halls being far too large or unrealistic. I agree. Have you seen the prices of houses that members on this board can purchase? I medium stone house with a slate roof is a little over 500 gold. Purchasing a guild is 500 gold. People were making outrageously large guild halls. The Dread Legion's base was a massive castle in the middle of the mountains, and Vaul's was an immense tower. I don't want to put a damper on anyone's creativity here, but if you want a massive, unimaginably large guild hall, you should have to pay for the thing! Maybe guilds should have to by regular homes, and then customize them based on the home's size? At least then the guilds would be more realistic, and people would actually be buying homes on this site. Jeez, I'd love to draw a guild house... :drool:
• I -don't- think guilds should be terribly exclusive. The more members you have, the greater the likelihood of member activity, and guild-specific threads. Specialized roles in a certain guild would be better. A good guy guild could have a division of hunters, or inquisitors, that actually go out and hunt evil. They could have a research division. A leadership council. Oh! That actually brings me to my next thingy...
• Guild leadership? I'm in (was in) The Dread Legion for a while, and something that irked me was that ¾ of the guild were leaders; 'Warlords'. Sure, people donate gold and stuff, but to go out and say that some guild members are better than others is asking for trouble. Sure, if a guild member proves himself, or is really cut for the role of leadership, they should certainly be moved up, but putting characters in positions they aren't cut out for is foolish.
• I like the ideas of clans/cults/clubs. And the idea of having a minimum number of guildmates in order to establish a guild is also a good idea. Maybe they could prove themselves somehow in order to make a guild? What I mean is, prove that they're active, serious, and not going to drop the guild after Lothy or another admin puts tons of effort into making it.
• Guild gifts? I like! What I like even more is the idea of a guild specific item. Something that only the members of your guild have, that can distinguish you as a guild member. Maybe having a custom magic item for guild members to buy can be part of the guild application? Say, a medallion with your guild symbol that can cast 'cure light wounds' or 'light' on command. Something simple.

~shrug~ That's my opinion. I might just join the Lightbringers and not a newly-formed guild, though. :lol:

That's some great feedback, Sarty. B)

In the past I've rejections about certain guild benefits like guild-only items, but I'm starting to reconsider. I'd like to hear more ideas related to the kinds of benefits guilds can offer. Keep in mind that there should probably be restrictions on some benefits. For example, if your guild can offer a unique item, you should have to be a part of the guild for a month first and plan on staying around in order to get it.

I think that since I plan on being more restrictive with guilds, that should give them greater social appeal. Instead of it just being another guild, it's a place that's had to work hard to earn approval and that makes it have a better reputation. Just a random comment, really. 0_0

Well, I have to admit to not knowing tons about this as I have not been in a guild and the one I was going to be in is not going to be made now but one thing that I noticed that made me wondr if I could even be in the Lightbringers was the thing about being a person of faith, a member of the Church of either Lothlómendil, Kieraline or Threnody. I may be a follower of Lothy, and the other on basis of beliefs as well, but I am first a follower of Liara because I am a water elemental and that puts me in the realm of nature. So, I guess what I'm saying is I think that if we are not going to allow more then one guild for good we need it to be truly open to everyone of good alignment.

I do like the idea of guild gifts because it will give people a reason to join and stay in. Maybe there could also be a reward for being an active member for a year or something like that as it will make people want to stay active within the guild. Of course, something would have to be made that said what constituted being an active guild member but I think this would help keep the activity up as people would really have something to work for.

I also really like the idea of having divisions within a guild. I think there should be groups that concentrate on each different deity so that each person can work for all the deities but has a group with which they concentrate on their own as well. This way everyone can interact with each other but no deity will be completely overlooked. We will all interact with eachother on most matters but will have specialized groups for specialized purposes.

I really like the idea of clans because they seem like they could be left more open to anyone and with guilds as they are characters like Cara will never be able to be in one. I like the idea of everyone being able to interact with each other on some level related to interests that are not strong enough to create a whole guild around. Some things that could be included would be an archer group where they train together and a swordsman group with the same idea.

I know a lot of what I have said is basically reiterrating things that have already been said but I just figured I put in a little of my own input.

Reiteration is good, it drills those ideas into a persons brain. I agree that if there are Items that there needs to be restrictions. But we could do it in a leveling system as well. once you've been there and active for a certain amount of time you get a benefit, and then after a certain amount of time you keep that benefit regardless of whether you leave or not. I also Like what sarty said, if a guild wants a massive place then they need to save up for it and buy it. If they want to start out small and then get bigger then thats fine, but back to the gifts. If your guild encompasses multiple classes then there also needs to be gifts that are suited to those classes, which can be easily delt with but still posses a small problem.

I just thought I'd throw out there my idea that I've been juggling around in my brain. For some time I've been thinking about making a guild for newbies to join when they first get to Arda, and we'd basically set up roleplays with each other and have group events and help everyone out. Now I'm thinking this would be more suited to be a clan, so that the new member can join the clan and continue to be a part of it for as long as they'd like, and still be able to join a specialized guild. Just mentioning this because I've yet to mention it on the boards, though I brought it up once or twice in the Cbox.

I do think that maybe, eventually, more than one good guild, and more than one evil guild, should be allowed at some point. The Lightbringers are a good guy guild, but they are highly secretive and do not openly share their status as a guild. Not every good guy would want this. Perhaps one with more open goals should be created at some point, but not first without proving that they have enough dedicated members and are intent on staying.

Hmmm I've read mostly from Sartana's to the latest, so some inputs I have might be repeated already ^^

The concept of a guild is a loose community of people who share something in common. The exclusivity of a guild would depend on what that common thing is. Having a guild for good guys sounds good, but if that's it I doubt much can be expected for guild activity. But if the guild is made to put into action a single concept, like say witch hunting or serving a goddess those guilds are sure to have activity, since the roleplay theme is already there.

How it is structured is up to the person who constructed the guild, so guild divisions (which the Syndicate had) might be more appealing, and at the same time more complicated to handle. A guild division or faction might attract more people since the speciality is loosened a little, but it could make the activity harder since the guildmaster can only do so much, and the division leaders must more or less be as active as the guildmaster. If a guild should start, I'd think it should just be a basic guild for now. Then if the population becomes too much, guild divisions could be implemented to accomodate the growing variety in interests.

For the guild gifts, I really like the idea but then again it brings a lot of 'additions'. If a guild would over services for their own members, additional costs would be required for entries (partially to pay for the guild items, and as part of the guild funds for future services) Other requirements would be a stricter application for the guilds. I was thinking more on the line of creating a PrC (in terms of difficulty and organization), so the guild structure will be solid and the guild services will be implemented well. This would make joining guilds a bit harder, but also more rewarding than simply having a title and being around people who have the same interests.

I'd also agree with Sartana about the guild halls. Maybe a suggestion I'd like to present would be that the guild would have no cost in purchasing, only a stricter application. Instead of the money spent on buying the guild, the money spent would be for the house where the guild will have as a base. That way the guild hall will be fully customizable by the guild itself, and so that the items in the shops will be more appealing. The guild halls subforum could just be a link to the respective guild house.

I've actually thought about these things even while I ran the Syndicate, particularly the guild factions... hope the inputs help ^^

Might just be me who has noticed a huge amount of mercenaries/assassins/bounty hunters and yet no Mercenary enclave from which to hire these people.
If Arda is about realism in fantasy surely that would a fairly major guild.
Heck, a lot of fantasy settings have had their heroes start off as merc's, and everyone loves sellswords.
Name me one person who has read gemmell and doesn't love waylander?
Neverwinter nights had a huge part of the game dedicated to working for the kingdom and being a hireling.

Not a terribly useful post, but I felt it needed to be said.

As for ways to correct this problem, Maybe only Advanced roleplayers hould be Guildmasters.
These people are generally online a lot more and will have established reputations. It just makes sense

On your comment Jack, I had made something like that, and to clarify on that:

A mercenary guild is difficult to keep running. If you keep a command structure with members, you get people who join the guild with the sole reason of getting the position, which is a huuuuuuuge issue. And it drove me nuts enough that I trashed the guild. Oh, and these guilds need something to do, constantly, so the only way to keep them running is something on the lines of a guild war. Thus, you would need several mercenary guilds to duke it out, since the good or evil guilds may not participate in.

My thoughts on the rest of the issues are:

No more exclusive? Grand! Although, the 'exclusive' should be defined, since ARP only is a 'reasonable restriction'.

Guild gifts? These will need to be restricted, as in what other people have suggested a ____ amount of time wait for the gift. And also the capacity to have them all quickly stripped if the member leaves the guild. Or if the guild is sold, will you still remove the items or what?

Password protection? Password protect ooc and on IC. Password protected guilds are...annoying.

Strict requirements for making? Yes please! I like this idea, and should cut down on fad/alt guilds.

Grandiose guildhalls? I think there should be a limit to that, but reasonably. If a guild is to field any number of people, it needs logistics from its main base to back it up, and logistics(being capitol, such as rations, gold, and replacement arms/ammunition) requires space and men and women to run it. Thus, a guild getting a large facility is almost necessary for a combat based guild. Then I would suggest not that we raise the price, but approve the guild description as well for the purpose and member base of the guild. Raising the price makes guilds far more difficult to get, and may smite an excellent guild idea before it is even created.

And thus, my favorite section, guild leadership.

First off, I'd like to say we restrict all the leadership positions of a guild, and keep a small command structure. What I dislike seeing is all the people who join guilds for the purpose of getting a command position. This should be solved, but no doubt it will be an issue for the guild masters themselves.

Then on the subject of Guildmasters being ARP only. No. Bad. Very bad. Anyone should be able to start a guild, but I think we should restrict it on how long someone has been active.

Oh, and here's something I'd like to put in:

Guild wars. As I mentioned before, this would be great for keeping combat based guilds running. I would think that there should also be bonuses for guilds that win, such as 'guild shared' items, like siege engines, horses, or additional NPC complements to make them more powerful in guild wars. Not to mention a gold bonus for victory, but not a large one, just a 'victory pay', of mebbe 20 gold.

Most guildmasters have come from the ARPer area, but some are still found to be lacking. It takes a lot more than being a good writer and a good reputation to be considered a good guildmaster. The person who wishes to head a guild has to have the time and effort to attend to guild activities as well as Arda business.

So I guess the requirements would go higher, something like a moderator requirement? It would make sense since all those who qualify for becoming a mod in Arda would surely qualify to lead a guild actively... It's just that they can only be a mod or a guildmaster... the responsibilities are overwhelming ^^