Multiple guilds?

[Irvyn]

Here is an interesting quote from Brad on the OVF about allowing people to be in multiple guilds. I haven't seen any elaboration though.

Originally Posted by Aradune

we should also think about allow people to be members of multiple guilds and other types of persistent social constructs, especially given the variety of activities you can involve yourself in Vanguard (for example, you could be part of a raiding guild, a harvesting guild, and then a small guild of your work buddies).

The original thread is here.

[Pirotess]

Hrmm that is a pretty foreign concept. I know we have a strict policy that people cant be a member of multiple guilds to make sure everyone is focused on making our guild successful. Im not sure our members would even be able to feel comfortable beinging in multiple guilds that werent all ours.

[Melchizedek]

Honestly, this is definately different. I agree with you Piro. Guild X is raiding tonight but crafting guild Y needs you as well. This would cause severe consternation with me.

[Delvie]

Well maybe folks will belong to a guild, several associations, and a family? I think it's going to be extremely hard for anything but the biggest guilds to cover all possibilities. When you add in all the group activities and regional differences the possibilities get pretty enormous. When you add in the fact that each sphere is supposed to require approximately the same amount of time to level most guilds will probably want people to specialize.

I can see where for example a blacksmith might belong to a guild, an association of crafters focused on weapons, an association of crafters focused on construction, and even maybe a family for their closest friends. Belonging to the associations is actually a benefit for the guild, because the blacksmith will have ready access to crafters focused on what they are trying to make - for example weapons will take different components not all made by the blacksmith.

Families are something I've always wanted in a MMO because I play with members of my real life family but we have very different gaming styles. Some are heavy into raiding, some crafting, some in-betweeners, etc. But we still like to stay in touch in something other than tells (we are spread across the US) so often we all end up in a guild together but not necessarily the right guild. Or we end up making our own channel - some games make this easier than others - I see a Family as a way of having a persistent channel available.

One thing I've wondered is how guilds will handle the fellowship concept? Will they require members to only belong to fellowships consisting of other members?

[Pirotess]

Belonging to non-guild fellowships doesnt really seem like a big deal to me as a Guild leader. However they want to advance is up to them. The interesting thing is fellowships might actually increase the pace that international guilds like my own advance. We have members from Australia to the UK so we could conceivably be helping each other level as they are at work or sleeping. Sounds good to me!

[Guanott]

I think this is a good idea. I've generally been part of just one guild that revolves around raiding and the like, but I can see how this feature can be a good thing. I'm still a little in the dark on how this will work (as I think we all are), but I feel that it only opens options to everyone, regardless of playstyle.

Well, it is something new to think about, and should be interesting to see how it will be implemented. Hopefully it doesn't end up tearring guilds apart because half of its members belong to a 'questing' guild, and the other half want no part in that. Only time will tell how this will work out, and I'm hoping that it doesn't end up tearring groups apart because of varying affiliations.

[SixGuns]

A guild is focused on being a tight community of players who interests are similar. I dont think this is a good idea to allow participation in more than one guild.

But guilds are also supposed to be of a certain craft or job, such as thiefs guild, or the tanners guild. I beleive it would be cool to see such things as mentioned earlyer. example: belonging to a blacksmiths guilds of members who blacksmith, but also being in a group or "guild" such as a family or a army under a certain banner, where the group has no real focus other than friends..or a raid group. But i dont think they should be allowed to join say a blacksmiths guild and a tanners guild and so forth.

[Aredhel]

Excuse me while I drag out the notes, here, but....

I actually can see both sides to this! I've build a GL for many years, and I know that it's hard for people to narrow their scope of friends as defined by a single guild. So many opportunities are missed that way.

I think, in Vanguard's case, it's going to depend a lot on how the guilds are actually formed. I know that EQ2 was talking about doing Guilds and Families and being part of both, but this is a wee bit different. We won't really have full understanding until we see it in action, and there's always time to change one's mind!

[Cobalt Katze]

I think there are a few things to be considered with such an idea. In FFXI, players could belong to multiple "guilds" called Linkshells. Instead of guilds in the traditional sense, they were something like chatrooms you could switch in and out of... However, to function as a guild was severely hindered by it. One could belong to multiple LSs without the others knowing and have a lot of potential backstabbing or covert information getting. On the plus side, one could socialize with a larger group of players... But I personally think the minuses far outweigh the plusses.

[Greymain]

I like the idea of multipule guilds.

An NPC run Guild limited to players under level 20 which is based in your starter town and encourage new players to meet and play together.

Normal friends Guild - social and play grouping

Raid Guilds - This allows those who enjoy raiding to do so without leaving thier friends guild, a big problem for my old guild in WoW.

Craft guilds - community projects

Class guilds - specialist quests to raise your status within your class.

My only wish is that they are not all called Guilds!