Guild Expectations

[Admin]

I feel like the guild is stagnating.

We've lost over 20 members, and there's a lot of inactive ones - I think there's probably only about ten to twenty people actually in the guild still. No one seems to read the forums. Barely anyone attended the last guild meeting, and the final session for the Murder in Northshire RPG got indefinitely postponed due to lack of participants.

So the question is: What do you expect from this guild? What do you want to get out of the Viridian Shield? What do you feel the guild ought to expect from you?

I want everyone to give their opinions please. This will act as a way to see who's still actually active as well as hopefully put us on the road to recovery.

[dresdyn]

Speaking for me, my inactivity is due to the impending holidays. Sadly, I can't knit and play WoW at the same time

As for RP and such, I've never made a secret that I'm not much of a RPer, at least in this format. It isn't a judgement against anyone, or that I don't want to participate... it's just not something I enjoy.

I joined the guild to be social, which is all I've ever wanted in a guild. Before my previous guild, I'd only been in guilds with close RL friends.

I'm always happy to help with quests and such, if I'm available. I'm sorry my time has been so limited lately, but... that's the holidays. I'll be around more once I get some of these projects finished.

[karranaii]

So the question is:
What do you expect from this guild?
A chance to meet and play with others who enjoy role playing and teamwork.
What do you want to get out of the Viridian Shield?
Same as above.
What do you feel the guild ought to expect from you?
An honest effort to participate in guild events and support my guildmates.

The guild continues to meet all my expectations and I hope the reverse is also true.

One last observation:
It is only natural for there to be cycles in the life of the guild. I am not alarmed by turnover of membership, as long as we continue to attract some new friends. If there is a concern that we are indeed stagnant and failing to attract any new members, then a serious discussion is warranted, perhaps at a wardens meeting.

[cyani]

For the record I read the forums, but I just don't reply to anything. Except this post. Other then that I'd be more active but there are extenuating circumstances why I cant be at this time. However if those circumstances change, and I wish they do, I will participate more. Until then I'm more or less stuck.

I expect that the guild holds up to its values and practices. I have seen and been apart of too many guilds that talk about helping their members only for new members to be lost in the shuffle and forgotten while the higher ranking members simply help each other. However this isn't an issue with this guild. I have received help each time I asked and helped each time I was needed. What I would like to get out of the Viridian Shield is that friendship that stems from its members helping each other and the members building off of each others strengths. Not just Gameplay wise, but also in RP.

On the basis of losing members, sometimes its best to downsize to the actual ones participating and then rebuild from that. Its too easy to get lost in big guilds, and if the guild is too small, it may be days or weeks till you see more then 3 people online at once. I believe a serious "weeding out" is necessary to keep our serious members together and make room for new ones.

[adana]

I pretty much helped found this guild, and I worked along with Ula on most of the guild RP's. I've even acted as Archwarden on two occassions. I am troubled by the drop in membership, but I've also seen successful new members, and at least one seemingly lost to us return. And I know everyone who left had their own personal reasons for doing, which was never, as far as I know, out of malice for the other members.

What do I expect out of a guild?: I like RPing, socializing, and questing with other members.

What do I want to get out of the Viridian Shield?: I would like to see my labours into the guild pay off, but also interact with the members as peers and mostly have a laid back attitude with and RP flaire.

What should the guild expect of me?: Continued participation and interaction in activities and socialization, subject to RL concerns.

[Azaile]

I had a discussion the other day with one of our newer members, and their name escapes me at the moment, which is part of the problem. This person told me that they were thinking about leaving the guild, "I wanted to join an RP guild, and other then the Guild Chat, no one ever RP's." I can understand where they were coming from, I also joined this guild to RP, and for the most part I don't anymore. A few months ago, when I was a youngling, we ran a good RP, "The rescue of Sherazhina." It was prologued by a guild assault on Shadow Fang Keep, which I really enjoyed, and I think that everyone who participated did also.
After that time I have played with a few members in an RP sense, probably twice, not including, A murder in Northshire. When I log on to play I don't usually bother with asking if anyone else wants to do anything, because I have in the past been told that everyone else is busy doing something.
I understand that everyone wants to get higher level, and pick up some fabulous loot, and gain rep, and a whole host of other things, but by doing that at the expense of playing with guild members, then whats the point of having a guild in the first place?
<begining of rant> I'm at 53rd, and trying to get to 60, but that doesn't perclude playing the game. Just grinding rep, just grinding xp, thats more like work then entertainment, and I pay $30 every two months to be entertained, not sit in front of my computer and grind boring ass faction rep day in and day out. <end of rant>
But the problem I see with most of us higher levels, and I am including me in this, is we don't do enough to make the newer players feel welcome, we don't take them around for their first few big quests, we don't do instances with them, I'm not saying all of them, but running someone through Deadmines or Shadowfang really makes them feel good about the guild and their guildmates. Like I said at the top of the post, I talked to a newer member of the guild, and I don't even remember they're name... and thats on me.
I expect a fun entertaining time from this guild, time that I get to spend with my online friends. I want to have a positive experience, one thats so much fun, that I can brag about it to other people, people who might want to join the Shield too. As for what the guild can expect from me, it can expect me to continue promoting more RP content, bringing humor to the OOC and GC, and generally trying to be a source of fun.

[briona]

Don't mind the short sentences. I'm just using them as I feel they get the necessary points across.

Overall, I'm happy with the way the guild in its current state. I agree with Karranaii that there are cycles in any guild. With the upcoming holiday season, I would be surprised if members didn't show up online more often.

I expect this guild to continue with its friendly, supportive nature. I don't expect everyone to always offer assistance or events to be held every week.

You can expect me to do my best to participate in any even that is organised. I would expect this of others too, although I expect a pressing real-life situation to override any obligation to participate.

That's all I have to say. My views are likely to be skewed due to my absence.

[auralene]

I expect to be in an environment that is friendly (at least OC - IC disagreements can happen with players still being happy and sociable, IMO), and helpful. I'd like a little more interaction than is happening now - I don't see much conversation in guild chat a lot as it stands. People are friendly enough, I think. I agree with the concept of helping each other out - I know I don't mind going on the occasional lowbie run now and then, but even casual conversation about what's going on can be a good starting point for conversation.

Also, everyone should feel important - One of the major reasons I left Twilight's Bane was because I didn't really DO anything anymore. If you're needing something, ask guildies for help - it frequently gets you backup, I've learned, and you may just find a questing/instancing buddy down the line.

That said, feel free to ask Aura for assistance with anything. I don't mind healbotting much anything that's within my capabilities, long as I have time to do it ^_^

-Aura/Grips

[Fevrier]

Ok, I know I'm late in putting my input in all this.. I apologize that I only check the forums every week or so... I spend too much time in game.

What do you expect from this guild?
As I tend toward light to medium RP, I do find it hard to do complicated Role Playing events.
I joined the guild as a social environment, where I could spend time with my friends, do quests with them, and interact in character along the game's scenarios.
I've typically seen my Role Play Games and my CRPGs as two separate entities. Mainly cause the game environment has it's own quests/scenarios/story line/setup/etc and I choose to create a character 'within' the game world... rather than create a character for a role playing game.
I guess I've never really been able to explain it this way before, but I enjoy just being my character... not creating elaborate story lines and complex adventures.

What do you want to get out of the Viridian Shield?
What I want out the guild, I am getting.. A group of people that I've been able to get to know well enough to call my friends. People I can adventure with, people to have fun with and interact with when I just want to kick around and relax. I guess that I have a sort of 'pride hangup' where I don't like being babysat through runs. If I'm out adventuring, I like to know I'm contributing to the event rather than just playing tag along. So, yes, I often decline help from higher level characters, because it's TOO easy, I don't go for power leveling, I go on quests and dungeons because they're a challenge and require work. If I walk in and walk out unscathed, I feel I've not only cheated myself, but I've cheated the game... I don't like cheating. Occasionally, when I'm in a crunch, I'll accept the aid of higher level players, but this is more the exception than the general rule.

What do you feel the guild ought to expect from you?
I'm hoping the guild expects me to be me.. a helpful, friendly, relatively outgoing friend who is willing to help out guild mates who need information, an extra hand, or help them acquire a particular item they need... whether it be gathering it, creating it, locating it, or help fend off mobs to get to it.

There is going to be some level of stagnation at this time of the year as people are drawn away from the game world to prepare for the holidays. To head out to spend time with family and friends. There will be a few times the next month where I won't have access to my computer, so I won't be online.

Hope this helps people sort out how I can be on/off sometimes...