Dual Guilding

[Argider]

Nah, these are good points, though I still wouldn't support a codewise restriction (since I think there should be exceptions and built-in flexibility). I doubt I'd have been so likely to dual-guild in the first place, though, had my chosen guild not been so incredibly, literally dead at the time that I joined it (I had to be guilded by an imm). There was almost no activity and barely any members, and Argider was my first character on TI -- I didn't want to create an alt right off the bat, so I decided to seek a second guild instead when I found out that I could. I'm really thankful that I had that option, and I'm really glad I ended up going that route, because it not only meant that I stuck around and gave TI a chance, but it also allowed me to develop my character's family history and past experience in ways that I hadn't expected but that turned out to be incredibly... gentry oriented, for lack of a better term. I think too often people in TI confuse "gentry" with "middle class." They're really not the same thing.

The more I think about it, though, the more I wonder whether GL inactivity and "dead guilds" is a -cause- of people dual-guilding so much, or merely a -consequence.- Or maybe a little of both? People might not be so apt to dual-guild if they were getting enough RP from their first guild. Then again, maybe there'd be more activity if people didn't dual-guild so much... or have so many guilded alts.

I'm hoping some of these issues will be fixed with changes to the guild system... whatever those changes turn out to be.

[Empheba]

To be honest, I never considered dual-guilding and was not aware it was so easily available and widespread. O_o I know there are people that dual-guild, I just assumed that they were only able to after a lot of case-by-case IC work and backstory.

I can see dual-guilding being useful for certain character concepts but not for others. From a game-mechanic stand-point (trying new aspects of the code) I'd rather use an alt than branching out within the same character. But whereas I personally find that characters with well-defined restrictions and limits often are less "two-dimensional" than jacks of all trades, I also appreciate that this is a matter of personal play-style and preference. If people enjoy broadening out, go for it. I think limiting a feature that may help people come up with new and interesting character concepts would be a bad move.

As for the parallel GL-discussion, I have no actual GL experience to offer. When being a regular member I would certainly not mind some minor tasks or goals now and then, even the simplest things can give seeds to get roleplay going. It's should not the GL:s sole job to create roleplay for the guildmembers though - whereas one person may have some extra commands and tools available, guilds exist to help fascilitate and focus RP - this must be a collaborative effort also from the grass roots - guild activity is the sum of the activity of all members after all.

With the caveat that I'm not fully read-up on what the GL guidelines actually says, I do think it could nevertheless be a good idea to at least recommend some sort of structure for a new GL to follow. At least to the level of requiring that people report what they are actually doing in the guild, pay guild taxes (the more money drains in the game the better) and the GL maybe organizing some meetings occationally if the guild lore allows. Minor, organizational things - the kind of things logically required to maintain the illusion of a working organization at all.
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Empheba