This is certainly an issue (if not a full-blown problem) in my guild, so I wouldn't be surprised if most guilds have a rough time getting guild members to use some of the outside resources they've put together. Nowadays, there are so many ways
to make a guild website and so many different things you can do with one that most every guild has at least one place online to call its own. And those places are usually frequented by one or two people in the guild (usually the person running the site and/or maybe
the GM and an officer or two), but in my experience, it's kind of tough to get people to use those resources, just because of lack of interest or know-how or habit. What's the point of having a database of members, a message board, and a blog and picture gallery when no one uses it?
Enter Ankie of WoW Ladies, with
an intriguing idea to support the guild's website.
They have a little meta-game going, where every time you do something to contribute to the resource, you earn points, which are then redeemed for items from the guild bank. Put in a bio, get some points, redeem them for a guild bank enchant or a vanity pet. In essence, they're rewarding activity on the guild's site with little guild-related bonuses in the game, building a nice community in both places.
Obviously, that might not be feasible for all guilds, and certainly you can make your own tweaks (maybe you want to run a contest for one specific thing instead). But to those of you out there who've found a good way to
build community in your guild (for the rest of us who have lots of resources that aren't getting used), what other ways have you found to connect your guildies outside the game?
Tags: blogs, database, earning, experience, gallery, game-discussion, gamer-discussion, guild, guild-bank, guilds, habit, items, message-board, metagame, online-resources, points, resources, rewards, systems, website, world-of-warcraft-discussion, world-of-warcraft-hot-topics, world-of-warcraft-topics, wow-discussion, wow-hot-topics, wow-issues, wow-topics
Filed under: Fan stuff, Virtual selves, Guilds, Odds and ends, Breakfast Topics
Nov 7th 2009 at 8:00AM 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
MechaKingGhidra Nov 7th 2009 8:19AM
Probably the only thing similar to this is the classic 'sign up for raids on the website' dealie. Despite the in-game calendar, many guilds only use that as a last-minute resort for picking up non-priority members who can fill a vacant spot in a raid simply because one of the originally intended people who signed up on their website could not make it for some reason or another.
Other than that, asides from miscellaneous role-playing biographies fleshing out into organized events that happen to have interaction (albeit usually on a very, very minor scale) with an ongoing story played by people in their non-raid time, I cannot think of anything else off the top of my head that would get people actively using a guild's website.
Itchy Nov 7th 2009 8:20AM
Our method is simple, you sign up to raids on the website, Certainly encourages people to sign up!
Jalaris.Ghostlands Nov 7th 2009 8:21AM
Once Bliz added a calender, the need for a website plummeted. Our RLs uses add ons to track gear (dkp, etc.) points. Outside of recruiting, I'm not sure why you'd need a website any more.
Norlak Nov 7th 2009 8:24AM
I have to wonder, what's the point really? We already have guild calendars in-game and the officers can post dkp in everyone's personal notes. Guild sites are just kinda pointless, a relic of the old days.
This also brings up another issue. I've noticed that nobody wants to use the in-game voice chat even though it's pretty good. Why use vent when you have a much easier and just as efficient method of communicating. WoW players are generaly extremely rigid. I guess it comes from the repetitive nature of the game.
Gamer am I Nov 7th 2009 8:34AM
If you get disconnected and are using vent, you can let your guildies know that you got disconnected and are logging back in, or let them know that your internat has spazzed out and they should look for a replacement. If you use the in-game voice chat, you have no such option, and they have no idea what happened to you. Thus you force them to wait for you, even if you aren't coming back on.
Lexa Nov 7th 2009 8:49AM
The sound quality of WoW chat is nothing less than abysmal. Ventrilo offers better sound quality, and the option to adjust every individual's volume, as well as options like multiple channels (which can be very useful, even in raid situations) - not to mention, a lot of us like to hang out in vent and chat even outside of raid times, without necessarily having to be grouped up to do it.
PeeWee Nov 7th 2009 9:12AM
The in-game VC is utter shite compared to the sound quality and QOS you get from a properly setup Vent/TS server.
Guild sites are a great way to stay in touch from work, school or the holiday hotel. It's also a way to not alienate members that for one reason or another can't access the game temporarily (e.g. hospitalization).
What I do wish is that there had been a way to access, say guildchat from an external application that did not require the entire game installation, perhaps through a java application.
jbodar Nov 8th 2009 5:59AM
@Gamer am I
Good point on the benefits of Vent over built-in voice chat, but if your "Internet has spazzed out", Vent's not going to work either, at least in most cases.
Aurilia Nov 7th 2009 8:29AM
I don't necessarily see the issue as a bad thing; it just goes to prove that Blizzard has given us the tools we need in-game for effective guild communication: Guild chat, calendar, MotD, and even character notes. A Guild website should be an extension to the in-game experience, a means to enhance the guild community when players cannot be in-game.
As I see it, guild websites are often a stronger tool for recruitment, as it allows possible new guild members to see who you are as a guild, what you've accomplished, and what you're working towards. Having an active website community certainly helps in this regard, but ultimately for a website to support a guild community, your first priority is to support the in-game community, even if its at the expense of the website community. As long as guild members know that out-of-game resources exist, they'll use it at their own leisure.
Kanap Nov 7th 2009 8:32AM
I would have to say that most guild sites I have used or have seen are not much in use even before the calendar invite system. I mean they are a great idea but I think people view it as an inconvenience and just avoid it.
Ronnica Nov 7th 2009 8:54AM
I was wondering about this very thing recently so I'm glad to see this article come out. Certainly gives me some food for thought.
On the comment about in game voice chat, I find it very poor quality and only use it in the case that our vent server tanks.
Grizzleton Nov 7th 2009 9:02AM
Our guild's site (Ex Cinis Cineris on Farstriders: www.excincin.com) does a pretty brisk business, I'd say about a third of our 150 members use it on a regular basis, most use it at some time or another... only a few holdouts that pretty much never use it. We have something for everyone... Raid signups, RP story contests, class forums where you know you won't get flamed, a Troll's Lair where you know you might. Guild bank requests are done through the site (first to request gets it for a nominal fee of 5 silver/stack or item... not bad for a BoE purple). But then, Ex Cinis Cineris is an adult social guild, maybe that makes a difference, as we've even expanded into virtualized RL with a Facebook group.
Dmom Nov 7th 2009 9:27AM
We have a live chat feature (we call it guild chat, jr.) on our guild website, which is very popular during the day for those who cannot log into the game from work.
Calavera Nov 7th 2009 10:47AM
I think it often comes down to numbers, 100% of guild members will almost never use a guild site, much more likely 30% will, then it's just a difference if that's 2 or 50 people.
Our guilds website (http://shadowguardians.eu/) is frequented by about 10 out of close to 50 active members, so a fifth. Although many of these are officers, and as such our guildsite has become a quite efficient tool for officer business.
We have tried getting more people to use the guildsite with both useful information and a nice social atmosphere, recently we even had a contest for a TCG loot-card (6/50 people signed up) - but I guess some people just aren't the guildsite types.
Aelwythe Nov 7th 2009 9:32AM
We don't tend to have a problem with this, since the majority of our guildies actually *want* to get to know each other. I'm always surprised at guilds who don't have a community out-of-game, for people to hang around in when they should be working etc ;)
We've got the forum (obviously), raid signups (the in-game calendar is truly horrendous), guild blogs, monthly awards & nominations, the application form, etc etc and so on. It is of course also a good place to keep a record of all the need-to-know things like Vent info and general guild rules, so nobody can say they didn't know about them.
We're often complimented on having a site a little out of the ordinary "free hosted template" genre and a few people have even listed it on their application as one of the things that attracted them to the guild.
Get a website, guys!
Stardruid Nov 7th 2009 9:36AM
Our guild website is a wealth of information, including links for the up and coming toons about how to spec, what attributes to gear for and so on. There's no way to get this kind of information out, currently, in the Blizzard interface. And while one could argue that the information is out there on the internet, this puts it together in one easy location. We don't cover everything, but we do cover the basics and this encourages people to want to better themselves with continued reading.
It also serves as a place to share pictures, personal triumphs or tribulations, anecdotes, recipes, jokes, etc. This means you're raiding with friends, not strangers.
Greg Nov 7th 2009 9:57AM
For us at The Brown Coats (Exodar) it's easy. We have no requirement to join our site and interact with it, however, we run fun things like The Independent Army and contests that benefit the members a great deal. Then we just talk about it alot in guild chat. Plus I write Independent Army reports on our site that often include the names and adventures of members of the guild. They all want to see if they get a mention or if they are up for MVP this month. If it is just information that is available, you won't get people to go to the site, but if you include them and give them their 5 minutes of fame they will visit it all the time.
rulez Nov 7th 2009 9:57AM
Until MMOs get an in-game forum, that's what you need guild sites for :).
Imagine all those lame excuses not to use the guild forums would go away if a forum/message board would exist in-game:
"Uh I don't like/get forums on the internet."
"I'll register later, alt-tabbing is killing my system."
"My anti virus software won't let me see anything on the guild site. "
"I never received the registration mail."
*rolls eyes*
florianbroerse Nov 10th 2009 1:15PM
The website of my guild is wildly used. Since it's creation more then 13000 posts have been made by all the member in there over the 3 years the guild has been up and running.
Gimmlette Nov 7th 2009 10:55AM
This is an interesting idea. The in-game calendar has flaws. If it's an all-guild event, such as one of our "craft fairs" where you'll want to bring that low level toon to get enchanted as well as your level 80, we can only invite the mains due to the limitations on the number of invites. We have had huge problems with people not seeing events on the in-game calendar. Some of our runs are invitation only to ensure a good mix of toons. Some are open to all. The calendar seems to decide whether you'll see an event or not. We've had level 70's see the Naxx runs and level 80's not see the Naxx runs. And if you join the guild shortly after the calendar has been posted, either you continually ask what's going on, use the web site or I go back and manually add you to every event for which your character or characters are eligible.
We tried just putting on the in-game calendar that there was an event scheduled for a day, no other information, in the hopes of forcing people to the web site. My site administrator has done a fantastic job with it (www.spectaculardeath.net) and there's so much information as well as a live chat that many of us can access during the day from work. But, people would just ask when they logged on, "What's happening today?" that we gave up that attempt after 3 weeks. Excuses for non-use ranged from "I can't see it at work so I forget when I log on at night" to "I can't be bothered with web sites".
I run contests all the time, in fact it's time for the "Use the following words in a sentence" contest. I've come to the conclusion that if you come to the web site and find something of value to you, you will return. We don't know what that one piece of value is and it's different for each person, so anticipating that is impossible. We just continually tell people, "Information is on the web site" and hope they go there.