Politician Archive
Thread: Guild City
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Mayor_Mojo
Wed Mar 30, 2005 4:18 am
#1
I've been told by other city Mayors on my server that 'Guild Cities' are rare and that they are "frightened of them". They've even gone so far as to call us elitists! It seems to me that there are alot of such cities in existance though. It takes a dedicated group of individuals to make a project of this size work and prosper. Of course even a city created, run, and funded by a guild allow some citizens to live there that are not guilded, at least mine does, we are very open minded. We have no restrictions on race, profession, ability, guild, none really. If someone wishes to live out in our desolate krayt infested city next to the Sarlacc they are welcome. Unless of course it's ten people at the same time from the same guild, i smell a takeover attempt then.
My question is, how many of you Mayors find that running a city made of mostly your guild members makes your job easier? I founded our guild AND city. One cannot survive without the other in my opinion. 
Khristen
Wed Mar 30, 2005 8:28 am
#3
Mayor_Mojo wrote:
My question is, how many of you Mayors find that running a city made of mostly your guild members makes your job easier? I founded our guild AND city. One cannot survive without the other in my opinion.
It has made the job in Kor Spera infinitetly easier as well, at least from the perspective of player drama.
When my friends and I founded Kor Spera, we had all just recently come from the player city we had originally founded. The previous city had been a one-guild city until faction drama caused a rift and another guild split off from the original. Flaming and finger-pointing ensued and many of us just left. We had not intended to start a new city (having had enough of the drama), but many of those who had left encouraged my friend and I--who had been guild/city leaders in the old city--to start a new one on Corellia.
We had a very clear vision from the start. One guild, all citizens a part of that guild--and a role-playing city to boot. A very clear structure with one person as mayor and guild leader and not giving approval to guild or accept new citizens without that person's approval. It is made clear to every new member that this leader will never change and we will always be one guild in the city. Considering that PA halls are not allowed as citizen housing (there are a total of three in our city: one the guild's hall owned by the guild leader, the other two were set up after an extensive process) we don't have to worry about a secret coup deciding to split from the main guild.
Our guild and city are virtually interchangeable terms. We don't send out "citizen" mails because "guild" mails cover all the same people and allows more than just the mayor to send them. We have a few guild members that don't live in the city, but no one who lives in the city isn't in the guild. Wehave never had to beg or recruit people to join us; they have always come to us by our reputation which we worked hard to build. We have a fairly extensive screening process required before joining that generally takes a week or more. We currently have 70 citizens and are just over a year old.
There's nothing wrong with multi-guild cities, but having experienced both the single-guild and required membership is by far the easiest from a management standpoint. Not only does it help keep people on the same page, there's a larger sense of community and friendship that was never present in the multi-guild situation.
bluejanus
Wed Mar 30, 2005 11:49 am
#4
Guild cities are pretty common in my opinion, but generally if bad things are happening in the guild, they'll affect the city as well. So if the guild dies, a lot of times, the city will die too. Oh and you don't want to deal with guild power struggles in a guild city.
Jutewr
Wed Mar 30, 2005 11:51 am
#5
I think guild cities are just as valid an idea as non-guild cities. The only thing I get wary about is having the guild leader and mayor be the same person. This comes from personal experience. (And maybe I've just had bad ones. ) The first guild/city I was in had a mayor/guild leader who wouldn't play the game for months at a time. A group of us eventually left to form our own guild/city because of that. Then, several months later, when the new voting system came out, our new guild leader/mayor (who is a great guy and one of my best in-game friends) sent out a mail saying he welcomed anyone who wanted to run for mayor against him. I decided to go for it, but met with strong opposition from people in the guild/city who thought I was betraying our mayor/guild leader, and that I wanted to take over the guild also. This led to some ever so exciting drama, ending with one person leaving the guild, another quitting the game, and me making my own city.
) The first guild/city I was in had a mayor/guild leader who wouldn't play the game for months at a time. A group of us eventually left to form our own guild/city because of that. Then, several months later, when the new voting system came out, our new guild leader/mayor (who is a great guy and one of my best in-game friends) sent out a mail saying he welcomed anyone who wanted to run for mayor against him. I decided to go for it, but met with strong opposition from people in the guild/city who thought I was betraying our mayor/guild leader, and that I wanted to take over the guild also. This led to some ever so exciting drama, ending with one person leaving the guild, another quitting the game, and me making my own city.The moral of the story is: Sometimes having too much power invested in one person can cause problems.
bluejanus
Wed Mar 30, 2005 2:22 pm
#6
Jutewr wrote:hehe That's why I am attempting to make my city non-guild specific. Hasn't worked too well so far, as all the citizens are members of my guild (which by the way is the same one from the story above), but I have my dreams.
bluejanus wrote:
I find cities to be more viable if they're not single guild cities. That way it'll survive if a guild goes under or has trouble or most of the members quit.
Try negotiating with another guild or even another nearby small city.
bluejanus
Thu Mar 31, 2005 1:24 am
#7
Jutewr wrote:I think guild cities are just as valid an idea as non-guild cities. The only thing I get wary about is having the guild leader and mayor be the same person. This comes from personal experience. (And maybe I've just had bad ones.The moral of the story is: Sometimes having too much power invested in one person can cause problems.
I find cities to be more viable if they're not single guild cities. That way it'll survive if a guild goes under or has trouble or most of the members quit.
Jutewr
Thu Mar 31, 2005 1:52 am
#8
hehe That's why I am attempting to make my city non-guild specific. Hasn't worked too well so far, as all the citizens are members of my guild (which by the way is the same one from the story above), but I have my dreams.
bluejanus wrote:
I find cities to be more viable if they're not single guild cities. That way it'll survive if a guild goes under or has trouble or most of the members quit.
Mayor_Mojo
Thu Mar 31, 2005 3:28 am
#9
I'm the guild leader and the Mayor, we're four years old now. This is my dream, my baby and i'm very active. Understandably it's hard to find a dedicated leader to get behind, i guess thats why we've been so successful. I never imagined that it would be such an undertaking or that it would blossom to the size it's become!
As for the problem of the city dying out if the all powerful leader takes a dive... Since release i've searched and searched for a worthy apprentice to take care of things should i die, and i've recently found one. Basically I needed someone who would become my clone. He needed love for the city and guild, be online alot, and take my exact template of Master Architect/ Master Artisian/ Master Merchant/ Master Politician. I find this template is perfect to provide for the citizen's housing and decoration needs. I've made 90% of the buildings and also most of the decorative items inside them. I enjoy spending a few hours with a member when i can to help decorate their home. Sometimes i'll find a home with items they've bought off the bazaar that are not only default named but also have the crafters tag on the end, i hate that! To walk thru my city knowing it's mostly of my creation is a feeling few will ever comprehend.
As for my apprentice, he's now mastered all but Politician and we're voting him in this week as Mayor. Once he's obtained Master the plan is for me to take back over and if i ever fall he'll be ready to step right in. I may to decide to leave him in there or maybe play out a heated election between the two of us once in awhile because we like to RP.
Of course having a standby clone is not feasible for most, let's face it, a dedicated Architect/Mayor who loves the city and people as much as you do is hard to come by.
bluejanus
Thu Mar 31, 2005 3:35 am
#10
Mayor_Mojo wrote:I'm the guild leader and the Mayor, we're four years old now. This is my dream, my baby and i'm very active. Understandably it's hard to find a dedicated leader to get behind, i guess thats why we've been so successful. I never imagined that it would be such an undertaking or that it would blossom to the size it's become!As for the problem of the city dying out if the all powerful leader takes a dive... Since release i've searched and searched for a worthy apprentice to take care of things should i die, and i've recently found one. Basically I needed someone who would become my clone. He needed love for the city and guild, be online alot, and take my exact template of Master Architect/ Master Artisian/ Master Merchant/ Master Politician. I find this template is perfect to provide for the citizen's housing and decoration needs. I've made 90% of the buildings and also most of the decorative items inside them. I enjoy spending a few hours with a member when i can to help decorate their home. Sometimes i'll find a home with items they've bought off the bazaar that are not only default named but also have the crafters tag on the end, i hate that! To walk thru my city knowing it's mostly of my creation is a feeling few will ever comprehend.As for my apprentice, he's now mastered all but Politician and we're voting him in this week as Mayor. Once he's obtained Master the plan is for me to take back over and if i ever fall he'll be ready to step right in. I may to decide to leave him in there or maybe play out a heated election between the two of us once in awhile because we like to RP.Of course having a standby clone is not feasible for most, let's face it, a dedicated Architect/Mayor who loves the city and people as much as you do is hard to come by.
You could try finding out if any cities are dying and solicit their residents/mayor to come over.
WildmanHT
Thu Mar 31, 2005 5:33 pm
#11
Howdy
Our city is about 95% guild members...I find that it runs pretty easily....Our guild/squad has been around for over 4 yrs now in that we came from another game. I dont even recall there has ever been a problem in our city..
BT-Trajan
Fri Apr 01, 2005 1:55 am
#12
Aurora was originally built as a Guild Sponsored City. After a year and a half we have long since moved beyond that model to one where we have a city council staffed by leading citizens and guild leaders. We have 4 large active guilds in town. We have several smaller Guilds/Clans and we have numerous non-affiliated citizens. There are many suburban developments on the borders of our city where other collections of players have made their homes.
I feel real happy when I log in and rid my swoop into town, drive over the mountain just outside of town and see the urban sprawl that is Aurora. The community is something that keeps me coming back to SWG.
The original guild that build Aurora has long since passed from a large guild with constant activity, to an older guild with many dedicated players aged 30-50, that play regularly though are not nearly as visibile as we once were. We keep our respect in-game by supporting the efforts of the other ascendant guilds and making sure that sanity reigns.
bluejanus
Fri Apr 01, 2005 1:24 pm
#13
WildmanHT wrote:HowdyOur city is about 95% guild members...I find that it runs pretty easily....Our guild/squad has been around for over 4 yrs now in that we came from another game. I dont even recall there has ever been a problem in our city..
Well I have seen problems with other cities. Guild collapses for one reason or another then the city dies.
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