We’re really pleased to introduce another new member of the TOROZ team. Rick Duff is a self-confessed stealer of Stormtroopers and he’ll be writing on guilds and raid progression. Welcome Rick!

In our game, SWTOR, and the countless other MMO genres out there, guilds are an integral and core part of the game. Can you imagine an MMO without organized groups? Unheard of! A guild can make or break the game for you. It can help you progress as a player, it can keep you motivated, it can even bring you closer socially to others who you would not usually associate with in real life.

Without a doubt, guilds are a driving factor and are important to everyone. Unless of course you want to be like Yoda and exile yourself in the Dagobah System. Still, without association or people, we would not have MMOs. So it then makes sense that for such an important part of our game, we created a section here on TOROZ dedicated to Guild Management and Progression. As we are imperfect human beings (well maybe not me…) we must remember that associating and co-operating with other individuals will have its own pitfalls and its rewards too.

My name is Rick. I am the Co-Founder and Co-Creator of a successful End Game Raiding Guild which I will refer to as “The Order” in this column. This name however, is not our actual guild name as this section is not about drawing attention to my own guild but rather, sharing and discussing management and progression tactics with the Oceanic Community.

“The Order” dates back to the MUD days and followed onto EQ, WoW and today, is alive and thriving on the US SWTOR Server called Krath. At the time of writing this, we have a total squad of 42 fulltime and casual core raiders made up of Australians and Americans. “The Order” has always been a non hardcore guild. Rather, we stand for being ‘Social Serious’ – a genre which is socially accommodating  yet when it comes to Operations, is serious enough not to be called casual.

I am no expert at all the facets of guild life, but I would hope I have a little bit of freedom to speak about the common principles and experiences of guilds in general.

Guild: n.

1. 1.     An association of persons of the same trade or pursuits, formed to protect mutual interests and maintain standards.
2. 2.     an organization, club, or fellowship
3. 3.     an association of men or women belonging to the same class or engaged in the same industry, profession, interested in the same leisure, literary, or other pursuit, etc.

As our common dictionary defines above; guilds, clans, squads, groups, chapters etc are a systematic and organized way of socializing and progressing in a game. There are hundreds of non-MMO games out there which have systems in place to accommodate groups of people with like-minded pursuits.

It must be known however, that there is no right or wrong way to run a guild. There is no handbook and there is no specific way to create and run a successful clan. Rather, we will be sharing the positive and trending ways that are successful when it comes to managing and progressing with a goal of hopefully creating a richer experience for all people out there who play SWTOR.

Many people have asked me in the past, “What does it take to run a successful guild?”. To be honest, there is no simple answer, however it can be summarised and will no doubt be covered in more detail here on “The Order” as time goes on. If I had a gun to my head and had to answer quickly, these are the main things which come to mind:

The Guild Cycle of Success

1. A Dedicated Leader
   Julius Caesar was not a part-time Commander of the 13^th Legion. He lived it. He was involved with it and he fought with it. Although this may sound over-dramatic, there are some principles we can learn here. The success of a guild starts with the vision and investment of its GM. Just like any corporation in the world today, if you start it up and then not invest time and effort into it, it will fail. Which leads to the next point:
2. Planning and Organisation 
   This is the single most important key to running a guild, especially end-game progression guilds. The level of planning and organisation will obviously be dependent upon the size and needs of a guild (common sense) but just like any group or body of people, a form of organisation and a vision or direction is needed to progress and manage expectations. Unfortunately, you can’t wing it:
3. Motivation
   Ahhh.. why are these people even bothering to be in your guild? Is it because they like the fancy name plate they gain above their head? Well, it could be, but you can be assured that novelty will wear off very fast in the end-game if you do not have a common purpose or vision. Guild members are human after all – they have needs and wants and a desire to succeed. Having a clear direction and a plan of action will motivate people to work together towards the common goal and keep them in your guild and not leave to somebody else’s. It is the feeling of success through commitment to achieve these things, whatever you set them to be, which encourages  the next point:
4. Loyalty
   Ultimately, nobody wants to create a fantastic organisation and have nobody to share it with. To what benefit is it, if all your members leave you? Loyalty is important for your guild’s survival and sometimes a GM can forget that his/her guild is pointless and useless unless it has a happy, successful body of members who believe in what the guild stands for. Which brings us back to the first point and the cycle repeats. How can a person be committed and loyal to something when the person/people running it are not dedicated and focused themselves? If you are not a dedicated GM fully committed  to your guild, you cannot expect your members to be.

And so, as time goes on, this column will discuss the many different and successful ways to build and maintain and address issues in guild management. The slant will no doubt hinge on end-game progression but the principles can be applied to other types of guilds too.

There will also be a monthly Guild Interview which will showcase a chosen Oceanic Guild, their Leaders and Officers and discuss their successes and motivations. If you are a Guild Leader yourself and need some advice or would like to have an issue or principle discussed in “The Order”, or if you would like to apply for your Guild to be interviewed in front of the whole Oceanic Community, please contact us at contact AT toroz.com.au or use our contact form.

Ultimately, the greatest benefit of a guild is: if you aren’t in one, you are only experiencing a fraction of what the game is. And after all, we’re here to experience the game in its entirety.