Ronin

Shiek, Greysea, and I have been talking this over a little today. I am of the opinion that there needs to be at least 3 ranks:

Member - For new guild recruits. They will have invite privileges of course, but not the ability to view officer chat or to "boot" people. This could be a probationary rank so that we (and they) could determine if the guild was a good "fit".

Officer - The largest segment of our membership, these guildies would be those people who had moved beyond the probationary period. These members would have "boot" ability and access to officer chat. They would also, perhaps most importantly, be able to vote on all guild policies.

Counselor - A very small group of administrators (5-7) responsible for (among other things): Arbitration/mediation (in-guild as well as intra-guild), managing the bank, financing and administering the Ventrilo server and website, promoting members to officers, removing inactive toons, active recruitment, etc.

Of course we will have a paper GM because we have to, but the real control of the guild will rest in the hands of the officers. I would submit that we promote the ENTIRE body of the existing guild to officer rank immediately, with the intention of admitting new members with the lowest rank.

Just my 2 cents. Feel free to agree/disagree, as long as you post your thoughts too.

I agree here. From the only example in history of true democracy, it has so far been a really hard affair to keep. Besides, I think when it comes to guilds in games, the type of organization that it is just calls for having some sort of leadership. Considering that we want a paper GM, then the leadership would consist of a concil. That doesn't mean the concil would have privaligedges that others don't but at least its clear that there is a leadership that is both administrating and taking the guild somewhere (as in constantly improving it).

Having a concil also doesnt mean that there can't be commities outside the concil to overlook and administer other things.

I really think that there needs to be ranks within the guild. Nothing that in any way denotes someone being a "Lord" or a "King" or anything like that. I feel there should be a council of around 9 members. The reason for this is because although I am all for having a democracy, yet we need to have leadership positions within the guild to help implement changes that we feel the bulk of the guild membership would approve. That is not to say that some things will not be voted on by the membership, and that if our fellow guildies have concerns or complaints that they cannot have them addressed. It's just that we cannot have a vote every time a change needs to be implemented. It would take away from the game and would be a major PITA. I would also suggest that there be an officer rank that is not given to every not trial member. That basically makes an officer rank less meaningful and really doesn't help to make it more of an honor nor as desirable to distinguish oneself within the guild. The officer corps can be as large as the council thinks is fitting, while still being something that one works to attain rather than just being handed out for being in the guild for a certain period of time. I think that the rank of Ronin (thus Ronin of Ronin) sounds cool to differentiate members from new guild "initiates", so it is still a mark of honor (which it is), and lastly the rank of member or some such, which could be our probationary members. I still feel that everyone within the guild should have invite priveledges, yet maybe only once you reach the rank of Ronin once we fill our ranks. At first we will really want new members to be able to invite their freinds, etc to the guild. Later on when we are flush we can change that possibly. I do feel, however, that as members we are all "equal" as far as having the right to voice our opinions and have some say in what happens in the guild. If you have too many people at all levels of responsibility it will be impossible to keep track of everything we need to. Let me know what you think.

Mormont- lvl 60 Rogue
Arath- lvl 60 Hunter

It sounds like there are several valid opinions here. I will collect each of them and plan to present them as a part of the meeting (whenever that happens to be). Each person will have the opportunity to advocate their position in an open forum.

AFTER the meeting, I think we should put it to a vote. Let the guild decide how it wants to be run having heard the various points of view. This also eliminates the possibility of people feeling like they didn't have any influence just because they missed the meeting. We can leave the polls open for a few days, post the vote to the GMOTD, and keep this thread moving for point/counterpoint.

Simple majority should be sufficient, since our current membership is low. I know it's not a lightning-fast response to the leadership issue, but I think it will be a thorough one. In this case, I believe that thorough trumps quick.