Taking Your Guild To The Next Level

Being in Casualties has made me think a lot about how guilds work, and how they can be better. I'm not saying my guild could be better, of course. My guild is perfect. But while I'm playing with my awesome guild I often think about how bad other guilds are, and how they could be better.

This probably mirrors your own thoughts. Why is my guild bad? Why can't it be as good and as cool as Casualties?

Well, I'm not in your guild, so your pretty much sunk right there. But yet, your guild could be better. And there are a lot of ways your guild could get better, but today I'm only going to talk about one.

Making Your Guild Better Through DKP Minus

Noobs are everywhere and it seems like there are more noobs everyday. In fact, the number of noobs is increasing rapidly. The UN High Commission on Cyberhealth estimates that by 2017 there will be more than seven billion noobs in the world.

Now, the limits of modern technology do not allow your WAR guild to contain all seven billion noobs, although it may seem that way. Nevertheless, it still likely that your guild is, as a statistician might say, bleeding noobs from its eyes.

Never fear! There is a brighter tomorrow and its name is DKP Minus. DKP stands for "Dragon Kill Points", and it was one of many innovative systems developed by Everquest players to distract themselves from the fact that they were playing Everquest. Of course, the basic idea of DKP is that you reward players for helping the guild, and they use that DKP to "buy" things from the guild.

But those are really just trivial details. What's really important in a DKP system is subtracting DKP from players. Now, the biggest misconception people have about negative DKP is that players should lose DKP for bad performance. Now -- of course -- of course you should subtract DKP for bad performance, but negative DKP should be so much more.

You can dock players for making your guild look bad or mouthing off. You can dock DKP for having useless tradeskills or playing a bad class. You can even subtract DKP for out-of-game infractions, like living with your parents or being fat. Penalizing your guild members for these problems now is only going to save you problems in the long run, or at the very least justify a DKP Minus 2x Multiplier next time around.

So, what infractions require DKP subtraction?

Starter DKP Minus Infraction List

Section 1, Ventrilo

Having your mic too loud (-1 DKP)
Shouting in Ventrilo (-1 DKP)
Swearing in Ventrilo (-1 DKP)
Chewing on Ventrilo (-1 DKP)
Chewing on Ventrilo but you didn't bring enough for everyone (-20 DKP)
Singing in Ventrilo (-5 DKP)
Humming the Rocky Theme in Ventrilo during a boss fight, either the Fanfare or Eye of the Tiger (no penalty)
Refusing to shout, swear, chew, or sing in Ventrilo when asked (-10 DKP)
Shouting, swearing, chewing, or singing in ventrilo when asked (-15 DKP)
Talking out of turn (-7 DKP)
Switching Vent Channels (-1 DKP)
Logging off Vent (-1 DKP)
Tying up Vent Server Spots when you aren't even around (-5 DKP)
Using the term "Bio Break" (-10 DKP) (( Instead you should say something like "Hold on, I can't play and hold this bottle at the same time." ))
Bad-Mouthing the Guild (-10 DKP)
Sugar-Coating the Guild's Many Crippling Problems (-30 DKP)
Chewing on Ventrilo (-5 DKP)

Section 2 : Leveling

Not Rank 40 Yet (40 - rank = DKP Minus per day)
Not RR 80 Yet (80 - RR = DKP Minus per day)
Making guild look bad by hitting rank 40/RR 80 while they still level (-15 DKP)
Saying leveling is Hard (-5 DKP)
Saying leveling is Boring (-5 DKP)
Saying leveling is Easy or Exciting (-20 DKP)
Chewing while leveling (-5 DKP)

Section 3 : Guild Chat

Typing messages in hard-to-see light blue text (-10 DKP)

(etc.)

Here is what I want you to do Today to make your guild better :

1. Stand up to the noobs in your guild when they make mistakes. Tell them "I'm not going to take your noob behavior sitting down, I will not let you ruin this guild, noob." Then swear at them.
   
2. There are No Warnings, only DKP Subtractions
3. Dock DKP everyday.
4. If you forget to dock DKP one day, you need to show the guild that everyone is treated the same when it comes to failure. Subtract DKP from every player in the guild.

Now, some of you might say "Hey boat, I am not an officer and my guild doesn't even have DKP." And this is the beautiful thing about my system -- this system will still work for you. Merely keep your own personal record of DKP for the guild on a website or blog. Make sure you inform your fellow guildies when they receive a DKP minus.

Now, your results may vary, but within a month of implementing my system your guild will probably be the best guild on the server. Remember: never get too comfortable, and never quit subtracting DKP.