Where do I fit?

I warned you all that I am obsessive. I am one of those people who reads Elitist Jerks to keep updated. (Though I know I will most likely never do OS+3 I want to understand it.) Recently I have been thinking a lot about guild and raid make up. This of course leads to me spending hours looking to see what the latest information is I can find on it.

Sebastian has does a series of EXCELLENT articles that cover this topic in great detail so I am not going bother re doing his work. I would encourage you to go check them out. For now I am just going to summarize.

First, what kind of GUILD should you be in? There are basically 3 types.

The Hard Core raiding guild.
The Raiding Guild and
The Casual Guild.

Despite what a lot of guilds claim There are really only a few TRUE Hard Core Raiding Guilds. They make up about 2% of the WoW population. These guys and gals are the BEST OF THE BEST. They are the RANKED guilds. The top in the WORLD. Their members LITERALLY have little to no life outside of WoW. 40-60 hours of game time is not only normal it is DEMANDED. It is a full time job and EVERYONE in the guild knows it.

The second most common guild make up in WoW is the Raiding Guild. These are made up of people who WANT to raid but in general HAVE lives, jobs, kids, school, etc so are unable to be a part of a Hard Core raiding guild. There are of course different levels of them, Some are more casual or hard core than others but these guilds tend to flux a lot more both in longevity and guild membership.

The third is the Casual guild sometimes called the Social guild. These are the MOST common guilds and are made for a variety of reasons. They can at times be so large that members are not even aware of who their Guild Master IS or so small as to be no more than real life friends.

After you have an idea of what type of guild you are either in or looking for then you have to think about your role IN that guild. I am not just talking about your ranks. Sure you need Guild masters, Officers and Members, but there is more to it than even that.

There is a gamer personality test that will tell you the type of gamer that you are called the Bartle Test. If you have never taken it before it is a lot of fun and will give you some insight into the type of gamer you are. This breaks you down into Four basic types.

Achievers are the type of people who like to gain points, lvls, equipment, or other concrete indicators of advancement.

Explorers prefer to discover, create maps or find hidden areas. Easter eggs, unrestricted movement, those types of things are enjoyable to this type of player.

Socialites - The name says it all, they have a friends list that is bursting at the seams. All they really want to do is chat. Everything else in secondary.

Killers - They want to be on EVERYONE'S most wanted list. They thrive on competition against others on a personal lvl.

Seldom are you just one type but you generally are dominate in at least one area.

The guild I am leading Eternity Matters started out as a Casual guild. However with the advent of the 10 man raids of Burning Crusade we BECAME a Raiding Guild. It was NOT an easy metamorphosis and it was one that was debated long and hard before we made the official transition.

Once you make that transition you notice the body of your guild will begin to change as will your member base to a certain degree.

Sebastian again gives a good description of the Four basic types you will see.

The Visitor
Or as we like to call them "The Gear Ups". They are only there to get what they want or need so they can move on to that better place. Often they are braggarts. These are often the most hated of all your guild members. And feels can be mixed when and if they go.

The Loyal Soldier
They are the stalwart member that have been there from the beginning and won't depart until the guild disbands. Need a run through an old world instance on an alt? These are the people most likely to help you. Looking for some kind of low lvl regent? They most likely have a stock pile on one of their MANY MANY alts.

The Troll
Another term is "Griefer" or "Drama Queen" Basically these are high energy individuals that once they have reached a certain point become easily bored and then spend the majority of their time complaining, using Wow and the guild as their place to vent.

The Newbie
Making up the rest of the guild are the New players. The inexperienced and/or under geared. They take time, guidance and you don't KNOW what you may find in there. Personally I generally enjoy working with these types of players. While it can be difficult when they finally emerge and reveal themselves to be Visitors or Even Trolls, The Loyal Soldiers make it worth it.