The GM's Den - All Comments

Vampyrate — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:39:31 GMT

I think one of the hardest things a GM can do is avoid the burn out. A normal player burns a typical wick but an active GM burns that much brighter. It's hard to mitigate real life along with guild duties and being a typical player to boot. I wonder if being a guild GM is the new post office position :)

Vampyrate — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:48:15 GMT

One of the biggest challenges you face as a GM is when a somewhat sizable group of people join you. When they do, they bring a collective their own ideas, opinions and voices. The strength felt from the greater numbers can also lead them to be a bit more vocal than if it was 1-2 members joining.

Vampyrate — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:43:14 GMT

Marafor-a good idea is to ask for donations. You should not have to fit the gold bill yourself. Our vault has a large amount of money in it. Part of it has come from donations, part has come from selling off excess items.

Dorn-There is a lot to know about but it all depends on what level do you want to take it too. Do you want to control anything and everything yourself or delegate some items to other people to handle?

Dornola — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:02:34 GMT

Im a gild leader r there any responsibilitys i must no abot?

P.S.if u get this comment please post ur responce on my page

Marafor — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 00:57:00 GMT

Im a Guildmaster and it sux so much! I have to pay huge fees and such to start off the vault and tabard and vaults tabs! IM OUT OF GOLD!

Noryleatis — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:04:47 GMT

Many have I placed into a position of Leadership. Welcome to the Worl of MULTI-GUILDING. Now; if you find yourself drooling at the mouth & looking for therapy...mabey leadership is not for you. The simple fact is that paople are not programed with A.I. & each one of us are a unique indevidual. You must be the ROCK or the WATER. The rock stands against the torents of the water & is unyielding. The water flows around the rock & it's path is unimpeded. I count my joy in the success of others. Many times have I seen failure & the loss of a dream. We sponcer the Guild recovery & restoration Program for failed Guilds. The simple fact is that WOW only wrote a basic guide for running a guild. Don't just look at guild control & say piece of cake. Looks are decieving & all it takes is one check mark to run it into the ground. Have fun.Now grab this game by the tail & swing it like you just don't care. <Noryleatis>

agamoose — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 11:13:01 GMT

Hey,

Just me again some quick advice for all looking for some, try and find a way to get the whole guild involved not just the high levels (end game content-raids).

One of the things i do for our guild is run an in game lotto charge a small fee to enter, put everybodys name in a hat and the winners drawns takes the gold. I added to this by putting vanity pets and bags up for grabs to make it more attractive, it works very well.

Another thing i do is hold a guild meeting for everybody to attend this is where i draw the winner for the lotto. Some times the guild meetings can be choatic but it all adds to the fun and to have so many guild members together in one place all at once is great. I normally hold the guild meetings at various inns round the game world, plus we have a few locks so we can always summon everybody to the inn.

I hope this advice will help some people out that may be struggeling with there guild. Remember that even low lvl toons are important as they grow like everybody else, also nobody knows everything there is to know so be open to advice, suggestions and try to be willing to help others.

Thanks again

The Moose

sorchablade — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 03:02:48 GMT

Hi just wanted to add something here I am gm of eternalsouls of lethon my guild was failing and i wanted to quit delete my toon and be done with it. No one was participating or anything so i kicked all the members a whole 20 of them who were not willing to help .Of course i felt saddened and i started asking in general chat on how to get rid of gm status without giving my guild to a stranger i got a reply from the most wonderful person he put me through gm 101 taught me how to run it helped with guild control and ranks so now eternalsouls is back and running as a medeavil guild and i am high dark queen we have almost 50 members and alll are so dedicated we are like family and now i am haveing a blast so to all those who feel hope is lost dont there is always help for you with me and vorpel edge ask for darkeden from eternalsouls or noryleatis of voral edge happy gm everyone

Vampyrate — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 23:09:07 GMT

Good luck with your merger Fatal. We've had many guilds merge into us over the years so I am familiar with the process. You can recover items ninjaed from your vault. I've had to do it several times.

Pfrost-can't say I know. Might want to check around the warcraft site for info.

Yourmom-it's very tough. All the major issues in my guild have always seemed to break out whenever I'm not around. I don't know if it's bad timing, "when the cat's away, the mice will play" type of thing or if me being a mediator has simply stopped fights before they got to big just because I was online at the time.

In the years I've run my guild, I admit we've had a few spin offs from us. However I've always noticed they have largely failed if not completely died after a month or 2 tops. It mostly seems that once the hate simmers down, the guild just doesn't have any real ties that bind.

yourmomsagm — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:33:47 GMT

I'm also a Guild Leader goig on 30 days now (in the guild) and I'm lost...

I'm never on when the fights happen so i get stuck with 2 people leaving and sadness in my heart... being a Guild Leader is like being a other/Father of many kids and I dont think I can hande it any more so I am going to make an alt and pretend like I'm just another guildie...uless anyone has any advice to help my dying guild.

Monlight13 — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:20:15 GMT

Im proberly the most youngest GM to be on WoW,At the age of 13 and the help of others my Guild -The Silver Rose- Seems to be going pretty well,

We raid Pre TBC& Pre WotLK places,For the fun of it really,I also have my Assisents ( Sidekicks xD ) that help me make the big desicions,Wich is always a great help,(I strongly agree if you dont have any! ). Up to now i have 104 members and we've been on the go for about 5 months now, With nearly 20 lvl 80's and Also alts of my own and Assistents we make the guild more talk-ative and active.

I have made Many guilds before , when i was younger but so far TSR has gone the best and furthest.Wich im very proud of and Thankfull to all fellow members.

I myself turned lvl 80 yesterday after 4 years off fooling around i finaly got down and worked my way up to the top.With many alts it's nice to be at the top of the ladder!

To all thoose fellow GM Keep in there : ) there will be a reward with ur name at the top of the list soon!

If anyone would like to chat further please feel free to talk to my charecter on Arathor (English Server) My charecter is Monlight and im always happy to help :)

Goodbye Gm's Were all in the same boat and i wish you all Good Luck!

Monlight x

Fatalfallen — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:13:34 GMT

/salute

Yeah, you got a fair few points in here; I'm a council member - which in our guild is the brains of the organisation, we sort out all the mundane things like recruitment, loot systems changes etc. We're a (struggling) end game raiding guild - and theres a lot of big decisions flying about; And our glorious leader Mr H, is really stressed out about it (and I can see why).

We used to be like 3rd or 4th on the server (6000th /ish/ in the world) - but we lost a couple of core people, our regulars started becoming less regular, we had a couple of guys ninja half the GBank and migrate (around 10000g's worth). We're considering a merger with another guild in a similar situation and make a super guild of 30ish people.

Wish me luck in merger talks - else its migrate and start a new.

xXxArcheyxXx — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:27:32 GMT

Nicely spoken my friend i'm a GuildLeader 2 (on European Realms)

i got 70 members now ( i just started) so its not going well the members are not comming on much cause the y have mains so i try recruiting free newbies who i cna learn how to play wow and i did it right :)

so its going fine noe there liek 25 members on every day an i have my first guld bank tab and a nice tabard, i'm only 120G awasy from the next guildbank tab (i'm lvl 39 so not much gold on me)

Ty i hope you make more stories :)

pfrost2176 — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 01:08:30 GMT

im a guild leader myself and i know what you mean about spending all your time helping everyone else. i feel your pain .i was also wondering if you could tell me what steps to take to become a gm for blizzard?

agamoose — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 09:20:02 GMT

Well as a GM myself everything said rings true. I run a guild of about 80 people no small task i can tell you. For the most part the guys and girls i have in the guild are great. Thats not to say that there has never been problems in the past, however those problems were resolved by me and the guild went from strength to strength. Personally i try to fair as a GM and i give people the benefit of the doubt most of the time (somebody who breaks rules knowing its wrong do not and are kicked) I believe in second chances myself, at the same though i know a few people in the guild who think i am too tough and that i rule with an iron fist. Thankfully this is not the view of everybody.

The position of Guild Leader (I prefer the term leader as i tend to lead the guild, i don't master them) can be very hard work, at times stressfull. I know for me i am glad i have officer's and a select group of people i can trust that i call a council, to help me make the big decisions and if everybody is not in agreement then no decision is reached.

I always try to do what is in the best interest for the majority of the guild. This does mean that i have lost some pretty good guild members along the way, however to still have so many active members in the guild after 18 months i must be doing something right. I do feel for all GM's, Officers and other people with responsibility in this game. As the original post states we often go unthanked without praise, yet we are the ones to make difficult decisions for the most part.

In closing its not all doom and gloom. Some of my guild members do let me know if they think i am doing a good job. They also let me know if there are things i can try to help improve the way the guild is run. I think it helps that i am open to suggestions and that i am honest with the guild.

I hope in some way what i have said may help people and i thank both Vampyrate (The original poster) and Youthinasia (The first to comment) for your gratitude to all GM's.