This article I wrote almost one year ago, but the information is still relevant. At the time I was the owner of Free Stuff 4 The Poor Guild, the largest Soup Kitchen guild there was but then it vanished overnight. Hopefully this article will help those guild master wannabes out there!
The Guild Headquarters is an exciting and busy area to work in! I, myself, run a large guild located in the Soup Kitchen. We are at the top of the list, and receive many extra members each day. There is always the hustling and bustling of members chatting and helping each other, and the scamper of council members doing their daily guild routines.
Just because our guild now runs very smoothly, with only a few ripples every now and then, doesn’t mean it always has been. We haven’t always been this successful and we haven’t always been this busy. We’ve started off like all guilds, with one member. A question I am constantly asked is “How did you get your guild so big?”. I hope I could perhaps answer that question for you here, and give you an idea of how to make your guild bigger and better.
My number one rule is be true to what you offer. If you offer a free item for joining, actually GIVE that item to the people who join. You will not gain any more members by lying to them. You will only gain a bad reputation and you won’t feel too hot about cheating, will you?
When you run a guild, you need to have commitment to Neopets. You cant just start a guild the first day you join Neopets and expect it to be thriving 3 months later and you haven’t even visited it once. You’ve got to work on it as much as you can, and you can’t just say “But I cant get any members” if you don’t work on your guild.
You’ve got to have content. A guild with nothing but “Hi, Join this guild” won’t gain too many members, will it? It’s a good idea to start off with something you can run by yourself, something that is interesting and something that people will want to participate in. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a contest, it can just be a game or a service.. (e.g.: Scavenger Hunt, Mystery Pic, Advice Column). Once you’ve got activities that guild members can use and participate in. People will want to come to your guild for the activities and the fun.
Your attitude to running a guild is a big factor as well. If you are a boring git who hates interacting with other people, do you think you will make a good leader? Think about it.. Would you rather be in a guild with an exciting leader who loves to talk, or a boring leader who snaps at you if ever say boo? I know what I would choose. So yes, make sure that you are friendly towards your members.
Recruitment is a big factor. If you all the way at the very BOTTOM of a list, then it’s not as likely that people will see you as it is the number one guilds. Recruitment & contacts are really the main ways. You could invite all of your neofriends to join your guild or, you can do what most people do which is advertise on the Chat Boards. Post a post or two about your guild and why people should join. You can often get a lot of members from there if you do it enough. Advertising in your shop and any other place where you can advertise guilds is also great. We gained our first 100 members from Neofriends and Recruitment and then also word of mouth.
Then there’s the biggest factor of my Neopian Guild Leader career. The Neopian Times. Back then, you were able to submit your guild and some would appear in the Neopian Times. Unfortunately, the guild spotlight has been removed. For some guilds back then, the Neopian Times was certainly their big break. Free Stuff 4 The Poor started off with 100 members… but the night after the Neopian Times was released, I woke up in the morning and BANG! 600 rowdy members were awaiting my presence! It was absolutely amazing. And then at a steady pace we grew and grew, gaining more friends and council members…. And here we are now!
Another important thing, is selecting the right council. You shouldn’t select someone to be your second in command, if they get on Neopets once a year and don’t know a np from a duck. You should select someone you trust (maybe a close friend) and who will help the guild to dominate the guild world! Your rest of the council should be the same. A guild is about trust and friendship and your council should all be trustworthy friends.
And before I finish up this sector of Guild information, I should remind you all that Friendship is definitely number one. A Guild is a group of people who share common interests in the topic of the guild. It’s important that you, as a Guild Leader, get to know the guild members and make sure they are all happy and safe. If you have a happy, and helpful bunch of members, they are surely to tell their friends about your guild!!
Once you have completed all these stages which are:
1) Honesty
2) Commitment
3) Content
4) Attitude
5) Recruiting
6) Council
7) Friendships
You should be on your way to a GREAT Guild! – Nae