User:AOTT/politicaltheory

As part of my experience as an Alliance and Guild Leader, I'm going to start thinking about the politics of Guild Wars. My thoughts will be put here. =Guilds=
 * Guilds are social constructs of up to 100 people.
 * There are 3 classes of members within a Guild
 * Guild Leader
 * 1 person MUST be the Guild Leader. There can be only 1 guild leader.
 * Guild Leaders can promote officers.
 * Only Guild Leaders can demote or kick Officers.
 * Guild Leaders can begin Rated Guild versus Guild battles.
 * Guild Leaders can Disband the entire guild. (Kicking all members and officers out at once and removing their status as Guild Leader, thus destroying the guild)
 * Guild Leaders can invite new members to the Guild.
 * Guild Leaders can kick members from the Guild.
 * Guild Officer
 * It is possible for there to be up to 99 Officers in a Guild.
 * Officers can promote members to Officer.
 * Officers can invite new members to the guild.
 * Officers can Kick members.
 * Officers can begin Rated Guild versus Guild battles.
 * Guild Member
 * Members are the most basic class within the guild.
 * There can be up to 99 Guild Members.
 * Members can only directly impact the guild through faction donations and participating in Guild versus Guild battles.
 * Members cannot begin Rated Guild versus Guild battles but they can participate in them.

Politics of Guild Class
Guild Leaders want certain things to happen in their Guild in order to make their guild more powerful, active, and desireable to new recruits. In order to attain certain goals, Guild Leaders need their Officers and Members to participate in the "grand plan." In this section, I will describe the nuances of attaining these goals.

The Basics

 * Guild Leaders are the masters of their Guild, and everything that the Guild stands for. The Guild Leader has their own goals, be it owning a town in Factions, attaining a rank/rating through GvG, or maintain guild activity in PvE or PvP.
 * Guild Officers are cohorts of the Guild Leader. They may seek different things, however.  A member may be promoted to Officer for many different reasons; as such they may vary widely in what they use their abilities for and what they want.  As it stands, Officers can do most of what the Guild Leader can do, with the exception of kicking other Officers and completely disbanding the Guild.
 * Guild Members are the most basic tier of the guild class. They are for all practical purposes, anyone's guess as to what they want to do or why they are in their Guild.  They cannot kick, invite, promote, start rated guild battles, or directly impact the guild in any way other than through faction donations or participation in Guild Battles.
 * Everything boils down to what the Guild wants. For all practical purposes, the Guild Leader is the "brain" of the Guild.  What the Guild Leader wants determines the style of the guild.

Styles of Guilds:

 * Faction Farmers
 * These guilds seek to control cities and outposts in the Guild Wars: Factions campaign. There are many different ways to accumulate faction, both in PvP and PvE.  It is a sort of bridge between the two worlds.


 * PvE Oriented
 * Farming Guilds
 * Farming guilds are generally composed of players who have completed most or all of their basic advancement and now just play the game for enjoyment and in-game profit. These players may focus on title grinding, wealth accumulation, hunt for rare items, or do generally anything involved with PvE with a general focus on harder "Elite" areas.
 * Basic Advancement Guilds
 * These guilds are generally composed of players just starting out in the game and are prolific in the early stages of a game's release. The players in these guilds are interested in beating the campaign they're playing and discovering everything there is to know about a game.  They may evolve over time into a farming guild.
 * Other
 * Some guilds may focus on odd things in PvE.


 * PvP Oriented
 * Guild versus Guild
 * Guilds that focus on Guild versus Guild (GvG) tend to be smaller by virtue of accountability. GvG is a style of PvP that directly impact your guild's reputation and therefore the retention of recruits.  Because of the impact of GvG, accountability within the guild tends to force the roster to be composed of a small group of tightly knit individuals.  There are, of course, exceptions, but guilds that are serious about GvG tend to be smaller.
 * Heroes' Ascent
 * Heroes' Ascent (HA) is the largest PvP engagement in the game with a highly competitive hierarchy leading up to a final battle in the Hall of Heroes (HoH). The really great thing about HA is that if you lose, your guild does not suffer; but if you win, your guild's name is broadcasted worldwide (within the game) as the winners.
 * Self-Contained Focus
 * *Explanation: 1v1/group vs. group within the Guild combat. These battles are unrated and do not impact the reputation of the Guild (unless you are fighting within your Alliance, in which case the impact is simply informally social.)


 * Balance PvP/PvE
 * Some Guilds seek to do a little of everything.

=Guild Politics= A guild leader is hard-coded with the most power of any one individual within the Guild. Because of this, the Guild Leader has the most authority of any individual within the construct. Benefits: The Guild Leader is able to excercise more control over Officers than normal members because the threat of Demotion hovers over Officer's heads. This leads to a paradox; a normal member has no reason to do what they are told except for the threat of being kicked out, which by its very nature releases them from any obligation to the Guild.
 * Ultimate Authority.
 * Can not be forced out of the Guild by the other members.
 * Has the ability to reverse any decision made by an Officer.
 * Able to kick Officers.
 * Able to manipulate the Message of the Day box.

Role of Consent

 * When a player joins the guild, they therefore consent by default to abide by the guild policies, social expectations, and goals.
 * Refusal to yield consent results in either:
 * Kicking, enacted by either an officer or the leader of the Guild.
 * Demotion, if the member has Offcier status.
 * Leaving of their own free will.
 * It is counter-intuitive to join a guild if you refuse to consent to their policies, because:
 * The leader is, essentially, omnipotent in the sense that your continued membership may be terminated at any time.
 * If you don't want to help out the Guild, there is no incentive for the Guild to help you.
 * If you refuse to yield consent and abide by the rules and policies of the Guild, then you will liekly be kicked out.
 * A Guild is a social system based entirely on the consent of the members to the Leader's hard-coded authority. If a member does not consent to the reasonable expectations of the Leader, they therefore forfeit their place in the roster.
 * If a Guild Leader has unreasonable or unenforcable expectations for the Guild, they are being unreasonable.

Healthy Guild Policies

 * Without law, there is chaos. While chaos can sometimes yield good results, it's also notoriously unreliable.  To this point, some ground rules are strongly recommended.

Age Policy

 * Commonly, older players may begin to tire of the antics of younger, less mature players. As such, sometimes a guild will begin to enforce a minimum age policy on their membership and recruitment.
 * Age 21+
 * An age limit of 21+ on recruits limits your recruitment pool, as the phenomenon known as "getting a life, wife, and kids" may strain those in this age bracket. However, it makes for more mature members and as such perhaps less irrational drama.  Personalities differ widely in all populations, so no definitive statements can be said.  Oh, but you can ask them out for drinks.  Attempting to specifically recruit at a minimum age above 21 will exponentially decrease the size of your recruitment pool.
 * Age 18+
 * An age limit of 18+ will yield a college-age group of "adults" and probably keep out most of the riffraff. However, many young'uns may simply treat this like "you must be 18 years old to view this website" and claim they are of age.  This is true about any age group restriction.  Once you get them on the ventrilo servers, though, their maturity and age may become more apparent.  I suggest the 18+ range because it is in keeping with the EULA.
 * Age 14+ to Age 16+
 * I have actually seen this kind of recruitment age restriction. Since technically, the EULA explicitly states in legalese that players under 18 must be playing under the name/guise of their hopefully of-age parents, I wouldn't even bother.

Other Ground Rules

 * Any rules have a bend to them and a breaking point to them. This must be kept in mind with any rules that a guild wishes to enforce.
 * Behavioral controls
 * Controlling the behavior of your members, regardless of age restrictions or otherwise, is like trying to keep control of a playroom in a daycare, or, if you have older members, cranky old men at a retirement home with Alzheimer's. As such, behavior that warrants kicking (really you can't do anything other than kick members, there's no other viable alternative punishment) must be clearly defined.  Vague rules are blurry.  As such, so is the line.

Taxes

 * No one LIKES taxes.
 * Taxes are unenforceable without the consent of the members.
 * If the leader tries to impose taxes on their Guild, they have only 3 methods of enforcement.
 * Demotion, in the case of Officers.
 * Kicking, in the case of all others.
 * Denial of resources to members.
 * If a leader attempts to enforce a tax by kicking those who refuse to pay it, they may end up with an empty roster.
 * If a leader tries to enforce a tax by demotion, they may run out of officers, AND they have no way of enforcing the tax among the members short of kicking.
 * Generally... not a good idea.

Real Money Examples
 * To charge real money to members for IN GAME things is against the EULA.
 * Charging members for services OUTSIDE the game is ACCEPTABLE, assuming you are not violating someone ELSE'S EULA.
 * Forums (example: SomethingAwful.com charges for forum membership)
 * Voice servers (Full-version Teamspeak and Ventrilo servers cost money; conceivably you could charge for the use of it.)
 * Newsletters (woo get a spammy e-mail once in a while!)
 * Subscriptions (gee... I dunno, kinda the same thing as "newsletters")

Entry Fees
It can be argued that entry fees equal in value up to the cost of invitation (100 gold) are acceptable to impose upon members. Whether the fee should be imposed is a question of who is recieving it.
 * If the LEADER recieves the fee (assuming the member was invited by an officer) it does not appear to be logical. The officer in question loses their money, then the leader gets money, supposedly as a reimbursment for the invitation.  The leader did not pay for the members' invitation, therefore they do not appear to have any claim on the fee, except in the role as the leader of the guild.
 * If the INVITING PARTY (Officer or leader) recieves the fee, then reimbursement appears logical. (Guild Wars guilds did not used to have a 100g fee associated with invitation; supposedly it was implemented to prevent invitation-spamming)

Enforcement of entry fees is impossible. Much like paying for a "run" or buying a guild (I still haven't determined whether or not it's allowed by the TOS to sell your guild for GW gold. Maybe I should look into that; it seems to happen a LOT) there really isn't any way to guarantee that the transaction will take place fairly. The inviting party may simply take the gold and ignore the invitee, thus stealing their gold. If the member refuses to pay the fee after they have been invited, then there really isn't much you can do to them. You can leave them be, and they stay in the roster; OR you can kick them, but you still don't get your 100g back. Generally, a bad idea.

Starting up a Guild
Starting a Guild is simple. All that a player interested in becoming a Guild Leader must do to start their Guild is speak to the Guild Registrar found in most major cities.

So, you've got your Guild, Now What?
Players will often respond to random invitations, it's true. However, players need a reason to STAY once they have joined. My best advice is to convince some of your friends to join you in your enterprise to start a Guild. This way, you have a core group of members that will help you expand the Guild.

On Recruitment
This is how I recruit.
 * I spam BOTH local and trade chat with a generalized message with as much information as I can pack into it (see below)


 * I Put out a party search in the Guild category that says: "[VEX] is recruiting! |Age 18+"
 * New version:[VEX] is recruiting!//Age 18+


 * I PM all people without guild tags with the message: "Would you like to join a guild?"
 * New Version, MUCH more effective: "Would you like to join a guild? We are PvE oriented and looking for mature players. Interested?"
 * If I get a response from the PM that suggests interest, I follow up with "are you 18+?" after answering any questions the potential recruit has, BECAUSE the potential recruit may not have seen the spam or the party search.
 * If I get a negative response or no response to the PM, I do not respond because that would annoy them. I have, however, had negative responders turn back around a few minutes later and request information, leading to interest and potential recruits.


 * After successfully recruiting someone, I send a message through Guild and Alliance chat that says "Welcome (name) to VEX!"
 * It is CRUCIAL that this message is responded to by guild and alliance members to make the new recruit feel welcome.
 * The vast majority of new recruits are addicted to attention. Give it to them.

"The Spam" or "Here's The Poop." "What you put in your spam will determine it's taste." Since there's a limited number of characters that can be placed in the chat window, this means you can only fit so much information about the guild in your spam. Certain information has to be sacrificed.

Ingredients
 * Guild Name
 * Guild Tag
 * Faction
 * Faction Count (Guild)
 * Faction Count (Alliance)
 * Rank
 * Rating
 * Hall
 * Cape
 * Membership count
 * Allies
 * Ventrilo, teamspeak, websites, forum, etc. (Periphery communication tools)
 * Guild interests (PvP, PvE)
 * Recruitment Criteria (example, "Age 18+")
 * Other Stuff

Examples

 * 1/5/09
 * [derp] is recruiting! |Age 18+|DoA, Dungeons, UW/FoW, Elite Missions, etc.|## members|PM for invite!
 * This was the first message I started putting ot for [derp]. It had an emphasis on what we [u]did[/u] but lacked information about guild mechanics, such as our Faction (kurzick, or our actual faction count,) Guild services (such as the ventrilo or the forum) or the most basic guild accessories, the hall and cape.  I wasn't back "in the groove" yet with this message.


 * 1/6/09
 * [derp] is recruiting!|Age 18+|Vent/Hall/Forum|Kurzick|## Members|Elite PvE, DoA, Dungeons, Etc.|PM me!
 * This is the message I am putting out at the time of this post. It includes the guild tag (the name is too long and actually psychologically a bit of a turn-off), the recruitment criteria, information regarding peripheral communications, the hall, our faction status, our membership (I only included it because it is large enough to be impressive), and ended with our interests.


 * 2/10/09
 * [VEX] is recruiting!//Age 18+//Mature//Vent//8 Allies//Kurzick//PvE//DoA//PM me!
 * This message will be of most interest to guilds that are just starting up, since this message is barbed. The // marks are an improvement on an original single / design I saw from another new guild.  It makes the message look at first glance like a web address and causes a double take.  Hence the barbs; it sticks to their eyes.  This means people will linger on the message, if only for a split second.  Also, as it turns out, the 18+ and Mature requirement is actually an attractant to 18+ and mature members.

The Guild Hall
The Guild Hall is you personal city. You can add every kind of merchant in the game to it. Without a Guild Hall, your members cannot GvG, AB, or have a place that they can truly call their own.

Campaign Oriented Guilds

 * Prophecies
 * Prophecies Guilds are oriented towards the core Guild functions.
 * Guild Vs. Guild combat
 * Rank
 * Champion Title
 * Tournaments
 * Cape Trims
 * Silver
 * Gold
 * The most important feature of a guild is, and always will be, fostering connections among players. The guild construct allows players to get to know each other in the gaming context; thus it will be easier to advance through the game by virtue of being able to ask questions and have reliable teammates who can be held accountable within the guild/alliance.


 * Factions
 * Factions Guilds are oriented towards the collection of Luxon or Kurzick faction in order to gain control of outposts and cities in the Luxon and Kurzick controlled areas of Cantha.
 * 12 vs. 12 combat (12v12)/Alliance Battles (AB)/Kurzick vs. Luxon combat(KvL)(LvK) are all synonomous.
 * Syncronized Entry-Attempting to enter 3 teams at the same time into AB at the same time in the hopes of entering the same battle instance. This allows for excellent communication between the 3 teams and may increase chances of winning the conflict.


 * Nightfall
 * Nightfall has the new elite mission, Gate of Anguish (Domain of Anguish) which carries great prestige and rewards. Many guilds have been formed off the premise of simply farming DoA to get rich relatively quickly.


 * Eye of the North
 * EoTN has given Guild Wars a mind-boggling array of new skills and gameplay styles. There are new titles and new farming opportunites; An EoTN based guild will essentially be a farming guild.

Communication

 * The Forum
 * Having a forum for your Guild/Alliance is extremely helpful. It increases member retention, helps with the organization of events, and helps members get to know each other better.  Forums can also be used to create usergroups that do specific things.
 * Guild Chat
 * Alliance Chat

Tolerance

 * Members and Abuse
 * Direct Offenses
 * Direct offenses are usually easy to discern and therefore can be quickly disarmed with a swift kick. (i.e. Johnny called Bobby a nasty name for no discernable reason and refuses to apologize, or Billy deliberately screws over a GvG. That sort of thing.)
 * Rumors
 * Sometimes, rumors will get started. Some members will not listen to reason when it comes to rumors, but it should always be dealt with as soon as possible.  If understanding cannot be reached, silence, at least, can be.
 * Overreactions
 * Oftentimes a minor offence, intended as a joke, or something said rashly, will result in overreactions. The best way to deal with these is to try and let people "cool off."  Then if they still wish to talk about it, try to do so rationally.  If necessary, procure an apology (after explaining to the offender that they caused the victim grief, and simply apologizing will reduce friction and allow activity to return to normal.)
 * Racism
 * Racism should not be tolerated. So there.
 * Sexism
 * Sexism should not be tolerated. So there.
 * Homophobia
 * Homophobia should not be tolerated. So there.
 * Other Issues (homophobia, political strife, unique situations)
 * If civility cannot be maintained, my suggestion and course of action is kicking whomever is the antagonist.
 * Political Strife
 * Reality invades the internet on a regular basis and Guild Wars is no exception. Politics can cause friction between members, especially if you end up with people from opposing nations in the guild.  I've never had a problem with this, but I can see it happening.  I suppose the best course of action is to kick the antagonist or try to reach an agreement of civility.
 * Unique Situations
 * Unique situations require unique solutions. Good luck!

The Invitation Binge

 * This method has saved many a failing guild. It can be performed by anyone of Officer rank or above-- simply go to a heavily populated outpost or city and try to recruit as many new members as possible until the roster reaches an acceptable level of activity.
 * Drawbacks: Some members see the rapid invitation and immediately assume that the guild they are in is either new, weak, or otherwise a "bad place to be."  This results in a LOT of leavers.
 * The Trick: The trick is to keep it up for a while.  Each day, you'll have some new members that stay, building up a history, eventually this balances out the previously stated problem.

The Rank/Rating Gamble

 * This method involves GvG combat. Raise your rank and rating through GvG combat; new members will see the higher rank and rating and you'll have a higher level of retention.
 * Drawbacks: your guild may take a massive plunge in rank and rating if you keep losing.
 * Difficulty: It can be difficult to get together 8 people to participate in GvG. It can be difficult to get together 8 people who are competent in GvG style combat.  Sometimes you get people who will fight, but won't follow the build.  It's possible that newer members may try to sabotage a GvG.  This method must be maintained because it entails changing the focus of the Guild to PvP/GvG.

The Bribe

 * Offer new members automatic promotion or powerful items. Works best in lower-level areas with lots of newbies.
 * Drawbacks: Items are difficult to obtain, and the role of officer can be easily abused.  And new members could join, take their items, and leave at will (screwing you over.)

=Alliances=
 * Alliances are social constructs of up to 10 Guilds, with a maximum capacity of 1000 people.
 * Within each Alliance, there is 1 Alliance Guild Leader, and one Leader Guild.
 * Stand-Alone guilds are technically Alliance Leaders until they are invited to join an Alliance.
 * Within each Alliance, there can be a maximum of 10 Guild Leaders, 9 of which are not Alliance Leaders.
 * The Alliance Guild Leader is solely capable of inviting new guilds to the Alliance and forcibly kicking out other Guilds in the Alliance.
 * Each Guild Leader within the Alliance is capable of forcing their Guild to leave the Alliance.
 * The Alliance Leader can not leave the Alliance until all other guilds have left or been kicked from the Alliance.
 * Because of this, the Leader Guild cannot be disbanded until the Alliance has been dissolved.


 * Alliances are part of either the Luxon or the Kurzick faction.
 * When an Alliance has enough faction, they can take command of an outpost or city in the territory of the faction they are loyal to.
 * Benefits of owning an outpost or city vary with the "level" of the outpost or city.
 * Because of the fanaticism of leading alliances, the possibility of taking command of an outpost is fairly slim.
 * Because the Alliances controlling outposts focus on few other aspects of the game than maintaining their position, they often break down due to member disinterest and argument among allies.

Maintaining Alliance Faction Points (Factions Only)

 * Guild/Alliance Faction Points decays at a rate of ~10% per day.
 * Example: If you have 100k Faction Points in one guild, the next day, that guild will have 90k Faction Points.
 * Example: If an Alliance of 10 guilds has 100k Faction Points each (total 1 million Faction Points,) the next day, they will have 900k Faction Points total (90k Faction Points in each guild.)


 * For every Guild Member, there is potential for a daily donation.
 * If one member donates 5k Faction Points a day (the minimum allowed donation) then the guild will eventually reach ~50k Faction Points.
 * The more members that donate regularly, the higher number of Faction Points can be maintained.
 * There is no way to accurately enforce a daily donation.
 * There is no way, short of direct observation, to determine who donates Faction Points or when the donation takes place.

Maintaining Control Of An Outpost

 * Cavalon and House Zu Heltzer are the most prestigious outposts to control, Luxon and Kurzick respectively.
 * The more prestigious an outpost, the more Faction Points it takes to control it.
 * The number of Faction Points needed to control an outpost depends on the number of Faction Points the Guild controlling it has.
 * In theory, an Alliance needs only 1 Faction Point above the controlling Alliance in order to take control of the desired outpost. The Alliance previously owning the city then moves to the outpost one level below the one they had controlled, pushing down all other alliances below it to the next city.
 * If the Luxon faction pushes into Kurzick territory, the number of Faction Points needed to control outposts in Kuzick territory can be very low (and vice-versa) depending on the number of Alliances with high levels of Faction Points.
 * In order to push into the enemy faction's territory, your faction must win more Alliance Battles than the opposing faction. (NEW THOUGHT:  The territory line may not actually reflect which side wins more battles.  It may simply shift according to a schedule or the developer's whims.)

Guild stability vs. Alliance stability

 * The only guild you have any control over is your own.
 * The extent of this control is already mentioned above.


 * Although maintaining a healthy social relationship between guilds within an alliance is important, your own guild always comes first.
 * The only connections that exist between guilds in an alliance are:
 * The common goal of the alliance (PvP, PvE, Faction, etc.)
 * The overall faction count (the result of the combined efforts of the guilds in an effort to control and outpost)
 * The Alliance chat (which is extremely similar to Guild Chat in nature.)
 * The Alliance is a secondary construct to the Guild itself. You cannot see who is online in another guild, only your own.  With the exceptions of a Friends list, you are essentially BLIND to the status of other guilds within your alliance.
 * The alliance leader is uniquely able to affect the Alliance as a whole by having the monumental ability to kick or add guilds. This is an EXTREMELY heavy-handed aspect of leadership and it must be carefully considered before use.  It is the only direct, hard-coded way to enforce unity and stability within an alliance.
 * (I ran out of ideas about here.)