Guilds. This term irks me so. I have a dislike for guilds, but I should say why I dislike guilds so much. And by proxy why I am not fond of guild leaders and the new guild communities, and this should clear up why I am not fond of guilds.
Let’s start. I’m OnyChaos by the way. :3
Disclaimer: This is me, venting/ranting. And it is crazy that I have to add such a thing. Take what you see with a heavy gain of salt. I’m just telling you what I think and how I feel.
The Dragon Knights
There was a time where I loved guilds, and let’s go back a few years to where it started and why I loved being in guilds. 2017 is not the year. 2011 is not it.
2009 to 2010 is the year. Back before people were super sensitive or hyper-emotional, I was a part of a fun guild called “The Dragon Knights”, and this was an adventure quest worlds guild run by Dragorath and skydragonv1.
This guild had everything that made a guild, a guild at the time. It had a web chat room, forums, website, and a good community to talk with. It was a fun place. You share memes, progress, and talk to other users on forums. It wasn’t like today where you walk on eggshells, which is petty. 2009 to 2010 was great for me.
The Dragon Knights were everything that I wanted in a guild, but like all things, it has to end.
What happened to The Dragon Knights?
The guild disbanded. Given that most users’ social media was Adventure Quest Worlds, the game’s content was starting to get stale and repeating. And with flash MMORPG also being somewhat laggy on some computers back then, and life called.
During the close to the final days, there were mentions of guild wars and nothing of note. And when the guild died, I left the guild but now raising my standards for guilds because The Dragon Knights left me with a good impression.
A guild leader that is not overly emotional and very sane, and would never make a big deal out of nothing.
A guild community that was likable and drama-free*.
It was an overall very positive experience being in a guild, and sadly no guild after I join has been able to recreate this feeling (I will come back to this later), and somehow do worse? And of course, by an offset, guilds and guilds leaders are already in the negative, and have a bias against them, as the dragon knights are my gold standard for guilds.
Guilds I have joined
Let’s see, there was this nameless guild I joined in elsword and got kicked from the guild after I was away for 30+ days. And was slightly burnt by that but was not enough for me to dislike guilds but it did make me paint elsword guilds in a bad light, slightly. And it was a guild I had no interest in.
Then there was a Pangya guild I was in but that had some petty drama and I was not a fan of what was going on in that guild and dip. And my friend made a guild to honor someone dear to them but I couldn’t join that guild in good faith but I have to assume there is no more drama or petty rp drama.
There is ThunderCry, after a good while the guild became something I grew to dislike. New changes in the guild, the general vibe there got negative for me and I left because being there was not fun anymore.
And then there is [blu]. I talked about this guild quite a bit and made a few blog posts on this guild and server, and it is not a bad guild, it is a whale guild, let’s keep it a stack here. It is a whale guild. And there are assholes there and gatekeepers there.
And currently, I’m in the Witching Hour guild, A Phantasy Star Online 2 guild. Pretty good, it is super casual with a lot of hardcore players. Had its fair share of issues.
And then there are Midnight owls. I will say this. I think their community is nice.
As I have said. Guilds already have this huge offset or bias stacked against them and should a guild or guild leader set off red flags, that is no good, and as someone who already has trust issues and doesn’t trust new people I know barely less then 6+ months.
Is this fair I see all guilds in a negative light or have a bias against them? No, but every time I join a guild, the guild leader is awful or ruins my guild experience so much that I don’t like talking to them or their community is downright awful. There is no perfect balance with modern guilds. It is like picking your poison. Slow and painful or fast and painless.
Things I ran into whenever I joined guilds
the guild leader is one of two things.
The Guild leaders are too serious. They are all work and no play and I only met two guild leaders like this? Ultimate, and Sura? And I think with them, it’s hard for me to have a connection to these users or guild leaders, I can’t vibe with them but I can or have a slightly better connection to sura than Ultimate.
The Guild Leaders are too pushy. I am a Taurus who does things at my own pace, talking to someone, hanging out with friends or people, the more you try to push me to do something, the more I will not do something, and in some cases, I will actively avoid you. It is really easy to make me ignore your request, doubly so if you are not a close friend. If your rapport is low, I will perceive you “differently” Advice in general.
Guild leaders are sometimes chill but their community is bad.
Guilds seem to be run by the following (Most guilds tick these flags)
1. Kids
2. emotional people
3. pushy people
4. people who don’t know how to run guilds
5. people who are way too serious
6. weird people (I.e creeps)
7. Drama mamas
8. annoying people
9. inexperienced guild leaders
10. unstable people
The only guild that somewhat comes “close” to a time where guilds had good leaders and communities is the Witching hour, and am using this loosely. The Witching Hour reminds me of a time where the only problem was missing an event or party farm with the guild, and not worrying about drama or dumb stuff.
Let me give you an example real fast like.
Elpha, the leader of Witching Hour and the leader of “X”
There were both in the same boat, I started talking to them less since they were pretty much my boss for a guild, and for me, a boss trying to be buddy with me is weird, because whatever rapport you had is low.
And for the record, Both Elpha and the leader of X were seen in my eyes as a “work boss”, and so I had no trust in them and rapport was low. And every negative action would impact our rapport or lack thereof.
With Elpha, that was never the case, hell. They earned a great deal of rapport from me as I never not once had an issue with them as a guild leader.
There would be days where I would get a discord message from Elpha and I would not answer it because I am not in the mood to answer it and keep it in mind. I am a guild officer or guild mod in the witching hour and same with another guild. (May change after this post.) Anyway, when I feel good and ready to answer, I answer the dm.
And we share friendly talks before going back to doing our own thing, and this is what Dragorath had that I loved about him. He was a very chill guy, and it seems that Elpha is the same as him in some ways, which is great, and it is what I like in a guild leader.
Sure, Elpha may be very laidback, but they know how to how to be a good leader and keep most people happy, Elpha went from being a work boss to a friend over time, and it helps that I have known them much longer than a few months, I say, we are close to a year now, and I can say I enjoy their company much more than before.
A guild experience is a rare thing that should never be messed up by anyone.
And hey, here is a cool tip for any future guild leaders. If rapport is low between me and a guild user or leader, I will try to be silly with a gif, if your reply is serious in tone. And with new people and strangers, If you ruin that experience, it is pretty much burning down a bridge of rapport and that is one thing you don’t want to do, as it is very easy to do.
But you know why I dislike guilds and this is something I kept to myself. New guilds to me will never reach that point and most of the guilds I joined start “great” but nosedives into the ground, and killing the experience sometimes. I will say it. There will never be another “the dragon knights” for me, as guilds to stand on their own, they fail short or fall hard for me.
Like the things, I mentioned before. Either the community of said guild is good but the guild leaders ruin that by being bad or guild leaders are good but the community is awful. You can’t win here, or in this case, I can’t win here. I don’t need any more petty drama in my life but I seem to have petty drama going on. Drama, major or petty is a big turn off for me.
Guilds have become disappointing to me. As of late. It is sometimes the same thing all over again with a new coat of paint, and there will come a guild that will show me that guilds do not suck but it is rare, and are well, fun to be in. but I guess I am just jaded because no guild can become what The dragon Knights were.
I have had my guild experience ruined before, rather it be bad guild leaders causing a bad experience or a guild community being awful doing it, I’m starting to understand that guilds I join just suck because of these two factors, and not much I can do about it beside telling you if a “x” is a POS or not.
2022 is a new year, I should see if some guilds are worth another shot or just a lost cause to me. Well, You now know how I feel and think about guilds and know a little more about me.
Ony facts
And one more neat fact. you know I have trust issues, and I am very closed off to people. And you know I am a Taurus. So here is the last fact. If I have nothing I want to talk about and if it is someone I don’t know well enough, I will not talk to them that often. being pushy or trying to make me talk to you will make me not want to talk.
Forcing me to talk has the opposite effect on me. When I have something I want to talk about, I will talk to you. It is why I am very careful with making new “friends” because I get new “friends” I end up with a headache.
So, please. Don’t try to force anything. I said before I don’t have anything to talk about as I got friends for that I have known for a year+ to a decade who fill that role, and i feel safe around them. I don’t have interest in trying to get to know new “friends” Oh, wait. I used to and got stabbed in the back by new “friends.” a few years back before and thrown under the bus. So forgive me for not being so trusting and caring to everyone off the bat. And new people don’t really help make me feel any different, just reinforces what I think of new “friends/people” already, when they act a certain way.
I do things at my own pace, so, go hang out with your friends, do your own thing and i will come to you once i warm up to you, assuming you have not damaged your rapport with me, in which case, it will be a while. If you don’t like this, i don’t know.
This is probably a big post that I keep far inside. But time to let it out, no?
Oh well, now to answer these discord direct messages and hope for the best. Doesn’t this look like fun? A ton of mentions and probably a ton of unread direct messages. It is why I social anxiety, and this doesn’t help. Oh lord.
Ony's chaos realm 