{"id":105,"date":"2011-06-18T12:00:22","date_gmt":"2011-06-18T16:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acheron-guild.com\/zosima\/?page_id=105"},"modified":"2011-06-21T16:28:15","modified_gmt":"2011-06-21T20:28:15","slug":"creating-useful-guild-ranks","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.acheron-guild.com\/zosima\/guild-relations-archive\/guild-creation-activities-and-leadership-guides\/creating-useful-guild-ranks\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating Useful Guild Ranks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Copied from the original posted by Aenea<\/p>\n<p>Creating Useful Guild Ranks: a FAQ<br \/>\na.k.a. What Do I Do With Ten Rank Slots?!<\/p>\n<p>This  is a compilation of responses to a thread started on the old  forums  about why and how to set up guild ranks. This FAQ exists  entirely  because of the amazing people on the Guild Relations forum.  I\u2019ve put it  together in the hopes that others can benefit from our  veterans\u2019  experiences as much as I have.<\/p>\n<p>This document does not go into  detail on how to use the guild  control interface. It focuses instead on  the reasoning behind guild  ranks \u2013 the problems good ranks will  forestall, and the benefits that  accrue to the guild as a result of a  thoughtful, fair ranking system.  For your technical questions, you&#8217;ll  want to see Ashling&#8217;s Guide &amp;  FAQ to In-Game Guild Creation.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/forums.worldofwarcraft.com\/thread.html?topicId=11963472&amp;sid=1\">http:\/\/forums.worldofwarcraft.com\/threa &#8230; 3472&amp;sid=1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Right, let\u2019s get started.<\/p>\n<p>1. Why would anyone care that much about making Guild Ranks?<\/p>\n<p>Some  Guild Leaders won\u2019t care. But many of the larger, more  long-lived  guilds have found that having a fair and well-thought out  ranking system  can forestall problems down the road. Every good  organization needs  stability, and a ranking system that is clearly  defined will provide  that stability for its members. A well-designed  system can also  forestall some of the inevitable power struggles that  many guilds face.  When members feel they can work within and be  recognized by the system,  they are likely to support it.<\/p>\n<p>Guilds are about people, and  balancing the sometimes very different  needs of very different people in  order to make something bigger than  any one individual. Careful ranks  are one of the many tools you have at  your disposal, as a Guild Leader,  to solve the Problem of People. <img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Smile\" src=\"..\/forum\/images\/smilies\/icon_e_smile.gif\" alt=\":)\" \/><\/p>\n<p>2. So what\u2019s my first step?<\/p>\n<p>As  a GL, your first step should be to read Wytch\u2019s amazing guide.  Much of  this FAQ will build off your answers to the questions she  poses: what is  your guild about, and what do you want it to become? If  you can answer  those, most of your work will already be done.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/forums.worldofwarcraft.com\/thread.html?topicId=17532432&amp;sid=1\">http:\/\/forums.worldofwarcraft.com\/threa &#8230; 2432&amp;sid=1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In  case you haven\u2019t looked at it yet, you should also read the  official  WoW guide to your guild control interface. It helps to know  how this  works.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldofwarcraft.com\/info\/basics\/guildtab.html\">http:\/\/www.worldofwarcraft.com\/info\/bas &#8230; ldtab.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p>3. Okay, so really, what\u2019s my first step?<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s  start from the ground up. What do you want to do with new  recruits?  Most guilds institute at least one \u201ctrial\u201d rank. This is the  lowest  rank, and is designed to give both your guild and your new  recruit time  to get to know each other. Privileges are limited \u2013 you  don\u2019t want a bad  seed \/gkicking all your members, or taking all of the  runecloth from  your guild bank. It&#8217;s generally useful to allow &#8220;trial&#8221;  ranks to listen  and talk in \/gchat &#8211; it&#8217;s tough to get to know someone  if they can&#8217;t  talk. <img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Smile\" src=\"..\/forum\/images\/smilies\/icon_e_smile.gif\" alt=\":)\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Some  guilds will have two trial ranks. Social guilds, for instance,  might  want a second trial rank to give everyone more time to get  acquainted  and comfortable with one another. Raid guilds, on the other  hand, might  have the \u201cgreen recruit\u201d rank and then a slightly higher  rank for people  who can become members once they meet level, gear, or  attunement  requirements.<\/p>\n<p>The most important part of this rank is the  promotion process. Think  about what you expect from your members, and  design promotion  requirements to &#8220;test&#8221; these qualities in your  recruits. For some the  process could be as simple as a time limit \u2013  after two weeks, you gain  full member status. A PvP guild might require a  certain Arena rating. A  PvE guild, where dedication and cooperation are  vital to the guild&#8217;s  progress, might want difficult level and gear  requirements to help  gauge a new recruit&#8217;s commitment. A popular choice  for &#8220;testing&#8221; this  kind of dedication is to require a tangible goal like  375 in a  secondary tradeskill.<\/p>\n<p>Gertrudis (Feathermoon) explains:<\/p>\n<p>Q u o t e:<br \/>\nWhen you app to the really high level guilds, they make you do  really  crazy things, like have a toon with 300 fishing. Same deal. If  you&#8217;re  not willing to grind out something easy, for sure you&#8217;re not  going to  be there on wipe night number 47.<br \/>\neditor&#8217;s note: this quote was taken pre-TBC<\/p>\n<p>(Some  guilds with advanced progression will require things like  attunement to  the instances they&#8217;re running &#8211; this is as much a  pragmatic requirement  as it is a philosophical one, since a character  can&#8217;t raid Karazhan  with a guild if he or she isn&#8217;t attuned to it.)<\/p>\n<p>Finally, make  sure you let your recruits know what this process is!  You are more  likely to retain the type of recruits you want if they are  clear about  your guild\u2019s expectations of them. A good way to do this  is to post  policies on membership in your guild website \u2013 that way a  prospective  recruit can decide before even applying whether or not your  guild will  be a good fit.<\/p>\n<p>4. What\u2019s the deal with members?<\/p>\n<p>Members make up the core of your  guild. In the last step you already  decided what you expect from  members, now it&#8217;s time to think about  what privileges this rank should  have. Guildchat Listen and Guildchat  Speak are a default privilege of  membership. Some guilds will allow  members to invite other players,  while other guilds will need to be  more selective and reserve that  ability for officers.<\/p>\n<p>The complete list of privileges you will  need to allocate are:  Guildchat Listen, Guildchat Speak, Officerchat  Listen, Officerchat  Speak, Promote, Demote, Invite Member, Remove  Player, Set MotD, Edit  Public Note, View Officer Note, Edit Officer  Note. See the WoW Guild  Tab information for a fuller description of  these privileges.<\/p>\n<p>5. What should I do about officers?<\/p>\n<p>This  can be tricky. As GL, you need to think about how you want to  lead your  guild. Will it be a dictatorship? Do you want to have a  council of  advisors? Will you go all-out democratic? Your answer to  this will  determine the number and power of your officers.<\/p>\n<p>A few warnings:  many of the people responding to this topic  cautioned that officers are  in a unique position to help or harm the  guild. You should promote  people that you trust absolutely, because as a  guild gets larger your  officers will likely have more interaction with  the membership as a  whole than you will. This could lead to power  struggles and even a split  guild if you\u2019re not careful. Trust and  communication are vital between a  GL and his\/her officers.<\/p>\n<p>This is also the argument for limiting the number of officers. Too many cooks in the kitchen, and all that.<\/p>\n<p>Officer  reponsibilities vary greatly, and largely come down to what  kind of  guild you\u2019re running. Raid guilds, for instance, may have  \u201cClass  Leaders\u201d in addition to \u201cGeneral Responsibility\u201d officers.  Social guilds  might give officers specific duties, like website  maintenance or  recruitment.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some thoughts on officers from Fancypants:<\/p>\n<p>Q u o t e:<br \/>\nThere a few general ways to divide officer responsibility that I could think of:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022Class Leader: Each class has a specialty officer that is in  charge  of members of their class (promotions, questions, recruiting).<br \/>\n\u2022Departmental: Each officer has a different department (Guild   activities, recruiting, quartermaster, webmaster, Raid management,   advancment).<br \/>\n\u2022Committee: No one has a permanent duty.  Assignments are given as they  come up (who wants to be in charge of the  next raid, activity or  project)<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m sure that some guilds have various hybrids of the three. Two examples:<br \/>\n&#8211; Have a Class officer Rank and then a General officer rank  underneath  it. You could divide the departmental responsibilities  between the  general officers<br \/>\n&#8211; Use the Departmental type organization for a few responsibilities, but divide the rest in the committee type organization.<\/p>\n<p>Almost  unanimously Guild Leaders said that letting members know how  officers  are selected is useful for preventing any concerns about  favoritism or  arbitrariness on the part of the GL. If you state clear  policies for  officer promotion, you encourage your members with that  desire to  contribute more and perhaps take on greater responsibilities  within the  guild. It\u2019s tough to manage even the smallest guild alone,  and creating a  system that recognizes the talent within your guild will  make your job  much easier.<\/p>\n<p>For a very in-depth look at the issue of Officers, see Aerte&#8217;s Officers: A Guide.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/forums.worldofwarcraft.com\/thread.html?topicId=34203875&amp;sid=1\">http:\/\/forums.worldofwarcraft.com\/threa &#8230; 3875&amp;sid=1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>An  additional note on Class Leaders: these ranks can really shine in   actual raids. Class Leaders often function as circus ringleaders &#8211;   ensuring their assigned class knows the strategy, watching and   correcting performance, and filtering suggestions up to the Raid Leader   as needed. They can be invaluable for preventing Raid Leader overload.<\/p>\n<p>6. What about in-between ranks?<\/p>\n<p>Some guilds like to have a  punishment\/probation rank where certain  member privileges are revoked as  a warning to guildies who act up. For  example, some GLs have a &#8220;mute&#8221;  rank where people who abuse the guild  chat are placed until they either  \/gquit or learn the error of their  ways. Some like to have an Alt rank  to distinguish all the Mains from  their little siblings. Some like to  have &#8220;honorary&#8221; ranks like Veteran  where outstanding contributions are  recognized.<\/p>\n<p>An important in-between rank to consider is a Raider  rank. This is  most useful for Casual Raid guilds, where you&#8217;re trying to  balance two  sometimes contradictory goals &#8211; end game progression and  individual  prerogative. The most important problem to solve in that type  of guild  is how to keep the guildies who want to progress from clashing  with  players who don&#8217;t want the responsibilities of raiding.<\/p>\n<p>A  Raider rank helps differentiate the different goals and guild   expectations of the players, allowing Raiders to get the first crack at   clearing new content and still leaving room for more casual members of   the guild to fill in when and where they like.<\/p>\n<p>There are two main  problems that this rank solves, at two different  points in the  lifecycle of a guild. Casual guilds just beginning their  endgame  progession often have trouble filling their raid slots. 15  people may be  ready for a (20-man) Zul-Gurub run, but the remaining 6  guild members  all feel like leveling their alts that night. A Raider  rank allows you  to create a class where that&#8217;s not an acceptable choice  &#8211; Raiders raid,  or lose their &#8220;first chance&#8221; spot.<\/p>\n<p>Hardcore guilds, needless to say, can just require that members raid on raid nights. Period.<\/p>\n<p>Casual  guilds who are further along in their endgame can find  themselves with  more people who want to raid than available raid slots.  Instead of  making signups a first-come first-served process &#8211; which  can discourage  the people who&#8217;ve dedicated a lot of raiding time to  getting the guild  where it is &#8211; a Raider rank can make sure your  committed players are  rewarded for their effort in a systematic and  transparent way.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some thoughts from Wytch (Skywall) on the Raider rank, quoted from another thread:<\/p>\n<p>Q u o t e:<br \/>\nMake a raiding rank &#8211; it really does help when it comes time for   invites and it helps sort the really casual folks out from those that   would like to progress. Be specific about what is expected of the rank.   We are a casual guild and we call this rank &#8220;Incarnate&#8221; &#8211; this is the   core raid group. We have 8 &#8211; 10 of each class in this rank and for the   first 15 mins of invites they get slots &#8211; after that we open it up to   our members, which represent the newest folks in our guild and those   hoping to be part of the core raid group.<\/p>\n<p>7. Well that\u2019s all well and good, but can I see some examples of systems that have worked?<\/p>\n<p>Oh, so glad you asked! Read on for the FAQ part 2!<\/p>\n<p>Good Luck!<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>Aerte<br \/>\nLevel 60 Tauren Hunter<br \/>\nGuild: Blackrock Legends<br \/>\nRealm: Blackrock<\/p>\n<p>Hey,  you may just be in luck! BRL is fairly new, as we&#8217;re only about  7  months old, and still tackling some of these issues. I&#8217;ll just tell  you  how I went about doing it, what I&#8217;ve learned, and what has seemed  to  work.<\/p>\n<p>1. Effective ranks: This will depend heavily on what type  of guild  you are. BRL started out as casual, so I had  GM\/Officer\/Member\/Alt  ranks. Then we moved forwards into a medium casual  and I added an  Initiate rank. Now we&#8217;re chugging towards becoming a  raiding guild, and  so I&#8217;ve instituted a Raider rank  (special\/advanced\/privileged)as well  as the Class Lead rank.<\/p>\n<p>2.  Blizzard has thoughtfully restricted us to 8 ranks I believe. So  BRL has  GM\/Officer\/Class Lead\/Raider\/Member\/Alt\/Inactive\/Initiate. This  sort of  allows me to move people around a tiny bit, but mostly people  will just  be Members of a guild.<\/p>\n<p>A lot of guilds get creative, naming  their ranks to follow the  guilds general feel. I decided not to, because  it gets somewhat  confusing for people outside of the guild to  understand your ranking  system without full explanation. Furthermore, I  felt it would be  detrimental to name, say my Officers &#8220;Legends&#8221; because  then it feels  (to everyone else) as if they aren&#8217;t important. Military  names are  fairly common, such as general, sergeant, corporal,  grunt&#8230;etc&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>3. Like I said in #1, BRL has progressed from  being small-casual, to  medium-casual, and now into raid-guild.  Previously we didn&#8217;t need to  consider who would become a class lead, so  until the need arose, I  didn&#8217;t set up a rank for it. Now we need class  leads so that officers  can take breaks from always having to be in an  instance for loot  distribution. As a raid guild, BRL will need to really  start focusing  on newer content (BWL\/AQ40) and has to get certain  people geared enough  to attempt this.<\/p>\n<p>This is where my Raider  rank is supposed to really help out. While  BRL is new to it (it went  live last night) I believe just about every  large guild has something to  this effect. The truth of the matter is  that not everyone really puts  100% into the guild, and you&#8217;re going to  need to reward those who do.  Raiders get a few key privileges, such as  loot priority (Officers can  override a DKP bid in favor or a Raider  when needed), auto-invite to 40  man raids, and raid consumables  (pots\/flasks\/health stones.)<\/p>\n<p>The  flip-side is that there is a very limited number of Raider spots  per  class, so there is no way we&#8217;re going to cut our Members out of  raids.  I&#8217;d say that if we had only Raiders, we&#8217;d have about 25 members.  PLENTY  of room for everyone else! Also, Raiders are going to be  evaluated  bi-weekly and can have their rank stripped if they fail to  meet the  Raider standards.<\/p>\n<p>4. GM &#8211; Guild Master<br \/>\nI am responsible for  writing all guild policies and rules. I have the  final word on all  disputes, class questions, member infractions, and  officer discussed  topics. It is within my power alone to make alliances  with other guilds,  make deals with them, and decide which guilds we&#8217;re  interested in  entering trade agreements with. I get to make all the  tough, cut-throat  decisions regarding guild progress, well-being, and  direction. It falls  upon me to be impartial judge and jury, to lay the  law, and to enforce  final judgment.<\/p>\n<p>Officers &#8211; Second in Command<br \/>\nBRL Officers are  in charge of many things, ranging from guild health,  to paperwork.  Generally I recognize that everyone has their own special  ability, and I  try to play upon individual strengths for each officers  assigned  duties.<\/p>\n<p>All Officers are in charge of discipline, member moral,  keeping on  top of their class responsibilities (loot rotations, specs,  resistance  gear requirements, etc..)and are required to be familiar with  all boss  fights and the related strategies. They are required to lead  raids,  settle disputes fairly and firmly, as well as be aware of any   member-to-member altercations\/infractions.<\/p>\n<p>Specialized duties are  assigned based on an Officers strength, such  as my Warrior Officer&#8217;s  ability to lead raids very efficiently and  effectively. My Rogue Officer  isn&#8217;t quite as effective leading raids,  but every guild member  recognizes he is the best person to bring  member-to-member problems to.  The Warlock Officer is very good at  speaking up &#8220;for the little guy&#8221; and  representing some of the more  minority members&#8217; concerns (I swear he  just likes to contradict me  sometimes!) My Shaman Officer was a gold  farmer in his other life and  he&#8217;s particularly good at getting the guild  to provide the right pots  and flasks needed for any specific raid.  While that&#8217;s all going on, the  Mage Officer is behind the scenes in  PM&#8217;s. I&#8217;m pretty sure he carries a  whip, because he is particularly  effective in pointing out raid  slackers and getting them to reform their  bad behaviors.<\/p>\n<p>Class Lead &#8211; In Command when Officer is Absent<br \/>\nWe have two Class  Leads at this time, but will eventually fill out  their ranks. Right now  CL&#8217;s are in charge of loot distribution when an  Officer isn&#8217;t on the  raid. I haven&#8217;t planned much else for them, except  to be mini-officers  when one isn&#8217;t around. They do have some  disciplinary power, though  Officer approval would be required for  drastic measures.<\/p>\n<p>Raiders &#8211; Specialized Rank for &#8220;A Team&#8221; Members<br \/>\nThis  rank is a special, highly-sought after position within BRL. It  will be  limited to a certain number per class, and is not to exceed  that number  without a prior vote and authorization. Members who wish to  obtain this  position must prove they deserve all the benefits  befitting a raider,  which include:<br \/>\nPrime raid spots<br \/>\nLoot priority<br \/>\nRaid consumables<\/p>\n<p>Raiders will be expected to follow the strict regulations of their elevated status at all times, including, but not limited to:<br \/>\n1. Above 70% of 40 man raid attendance.<br \/>\n2. Specing for optimized raid ability<br \/>\n3. Exceeding the minimum required resistance gear for their class<br \/>\n4. Always on time for raids<br \/>\n5. Researching boss fights and new content<\/p>\n<p>Officers  will submit bi-weekly performance reviews and updates for  all Raiders.  Raider spots can be rescinded at any time for lack of  responsibility  and\/or sub-par performance.<\/p>\n<p>Members &#8211; We &lt;3 Them!<br \/>\nThis is  just about everyone else, and they have no real responsibility  except to  get the required resistance gear, provide mats for anything  they want  made, and to in general, not be a$$hats.<\/p>\n<p>Alts &#8211; Baby Toons<br \/>\nThis is a rank for every alt, as well as members who&#8217;re not 60 yet.<\/p>\n<p>Inactive &#8211; You&#8217;ve Been WHERE!?<br \/>\nAnyone  gone for more then two weeks is put on Inactive status. More  then three  weeks unannounced, and they are removed from the guild.<\/p>\n<p>Initiate &#8211; So You&#8217;re Trying Out, Huh?<br \/>\nNew guys! There are restrictive policies about their raid attendance requirements and loot intake.<\/p>\n<p>5.  (See above) There is one Officer per class, and an Officer I call  a  &#8220;floating&#8221; Officer. He was the former GM of a guild we merged with  and  has limited time on-line, so his duties are not defined.<\/p>\n<p>6. We  basically picked the people who&#8217;re always on-line for raids,  who help  their guildmates out, who provide flasks\/potions\/health stones  for the  raids, and who&#8217;re more or less, the best of their class. These  people  were awarded Raider rank. Other then becoming a CL or an  Officer, there  isn&#8217;t much higher you can get without my explicit  approval.<\/p>\n<p>Whew! Anything I left unanswered? <img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Very Happy\" src=\"..\/forum\/images\/smilies\/icon_e_biggrin.gif\" alt=\":D\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>Foreseit<br \/>\nLevel 60 Tauren Shaman<br \/>\nGuild: TheHate<br \/>\nRealm: Anetheron<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/thehateguild.com\/rank\">http:\/\/thehateguild.com\/rank<\/a> &#8211; lists our rank guide.<\/p>\n<p>1. Ranks seem to mean a lot to people for some reason. I see it as a means to motivate people to contribute to the guild.<\/p>\n<p>2.  We have a lot of alts, so the ranks are divided a such: Initiate,   Member, Alt (of initiates &amp; members), veteran, veteran-alt,  officer,  officer-alt, bank, twink, GM.<\/p>\n<p>3. Our guild is about 70 accounts  currently, and we&#8217;re semi casual.  We&#8217;re just breaking into raiding  content, and we&#8217;re fairly tight knit.  WE don&#8217;t seem to have issues with  people attending our guild-wide  events (including raids) as we have a  pretty strong tradition in that  department. We had lots of alts so we  needed away to keep track of them  all, and we all wanted our alts to  have the same priviledges of our  mains. Except twinks which have the  same rights as members.<\/p>\n<p>4. What are the descriptions\/responsibilities of each rank? <a href=\"http:\/\/thehateguild.com\/rank\">http:\/\/thehateguild.com\/rank<\/a> says it all.<\/p>\n<p>5.  Inside the officer hierarchy, there is an unspoken hieracrhy  where the  older officers have more pull than the newer ones. While  veterans are  higher ranked than members &amp; have priviledges, they  seem to have the  same say in guild management as a member.<\/p>\n<p>6. Please see above.  We&#8217;re still working out how to advance people  regularly, but basically  it seems rather hap-hazard right now. We&#8217;re  toying with addressing this  issue on a monthly basis.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>Gertrudis<br \/>\nLevel 4 Troll Priest<br \/>\nRealm: Feathermoon<\/p>\n<p>We  have a &#8216;naughty chair&#8217; no privileges rank for members who are  under the  influence or wreaking havoc in the guild. Those folks get  locked out of  Vent and the boards till we get a chance to deal with  their situation  appropriately.<\/p>\n<p>We have an intiate rank, a non-raider rank, and an  alt rank. Each  has limited privileges. Initates and non-raiders can  become full  members only after a voting process and feedback from the  class leads.<\/p>\n<p>We have regular members, who all have the same  rights and  privileges. No one above the rank of member gets any special  raid or  resource privilege due to rank or role.<\/p>\n<p>We have class leads, who give class orders in raids and various other tasks.<\/p>\n<p>We  have officers, who have specifically assigned roles (boards,  banks,  DKP, training, recruiting, raids, etc). There&#8217;s also an advisory  rank  equivalent to officer for those whose input is helpful but who  can no  longer devote the time to be an officer.<\/p>\n<p>We have a GM, whose job is to sit in IF apparently idle for hour upon hour, doing aaaaabsoooolutely nothing. Or so rumor has it.<\/p>\n<p>We don&#8217;t have cute names for our ranks. Always wanted them; never could make them work with the guild name.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n<div>Wytch<br \/>\nLevel 60 Troll Priest<br \/>\nGuild: Resurrection<br \/>\nRealm: SkywallSo here is how Resurrections ranks play out:<\/p>\n<p>Main Blame &#8211; Yeah that&#8217;s really what it is called an that would be me <img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Wink\" src=\"..\/forum\/images\/smilies\/icon_e_wink.gif\" alt=\";)\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Council &#8211; Guild officers<\/p>\n<p>Honor  Guard &#8211; these guys have been with us for a hwile and have gone  above  and beyond in helping the guild. If we are going to do major  policy  revisions or need new policies these guys get first stab at  seeing it  and helping to write it.<\/p>\n<p>Incarnate &#8211; the core raiding group.  These are our consisten raiders  who have been with us a while. We do  have nore incarnates than raid  slots simply because we are a causal  guild and require a higher number  paf players ot assemble a class  balanced raid group. Being an Incarnate  gives you one advantage &#8211; when  40 man raid invites go out the first 15  mins are Incarnate rank and  higher only. It does not change your DKP,  it does not change ay loot  priority it does not allow you to get  anything extra, it simply allows  them priority in joining a 40 man  raid.<\/p>\n<p>Member &#8211; Our standard  rank. We promote all new players into this  rank and look to this rank to  promote to Incarnate from. This rank  allows us to continue to bring new  people into the guild when we do not  have any raid slots open. One of  the hardest things to do in a causal  tupe guild is to turn people away  that have really killer personalities  and would fit into the guild so  well just because we have no raid  slot. When we interview people and  there is no open raid slot, we let  them know this and we let them know  we do not know how often they may  get to raid. One we have passed to 15  min time period for the  Incarnate+ invites we open the raid up to all  except alts. Everyone in  the raidparty is treated as equals &#8211; again the  only difference between  this rank and Incarnate is the 15 minute  priority invite for  Incarnates.<\/p>\n<p>Intiates &#8211; 2 week trial period  membership &#8211; this rank has access to  all the members do with the  exception of being able to guild an alt and  loot\/DKP distribution.<\/p>\n<p>Alts &#8211; alts of guild members<\/p>\n<p>For  the 15 min raid priority &#8211; Honor Gaurds and the Council also  have the  15 min invite priority though many of us are more than happy  to step out  of someone wishes to come. The raid inite prioroty is only  applicable  for 40 man runs. 20 man and below are always open invites.<\/p>\n<p>We  struggled with the seperation of the ranks for raid purposes for a  while  as segregation can be perceived in a negative fashion. When they  idea  came up we were looking for a way to solve the issue of growing  the  group while not alienating those long term players we had. Raid  invites  were statritng to be an issue &#8211; even though we had told the new  peple  coming in that their raiding my be limited, there was no way to  quickly  sort through who had been told that and who had been added to  the core  group. Thus the rank of &#8220;member&#8221; was created.<\/p>\n<p>We never want the  rank to be perceived as a &#8220;these guys are better  than you&#8221; rank &#8211; that  has never been what we are about &#8211; all our  players are special or they  would not be with us in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>Elorah<br \/>\nLevel 36 Night Elf Druid<br \/>\nGuild: Divine Illusion<br \/>\nRealm: ThunderhornOur  rank structure is fairly simple. If anything, it&#8217;s used to  differ who  has what job and who is apart of the deciding council for  the guild.<\/p>\n<p>We have:<\/p>\n<p>Head Chancellor<br \/>\nHigh Chancellor<br \/>\nChancellor(s)<br \/>\nAdvisor(s)<br \/>\nVeteran(s)<br \/>\nMember(s)<br \/>\nRecruit(s)<\/p>\n<p>The  Head and High Chancellor are basically the same thing. The ONLY   difference is that the Head Chancellor is technically the guild leader   as far as the game goes. (But in our guild..that&#8217;s my husband and  fixing  stuff by using his account, really isn&#8217;t difficult.)<\/p>\n<p>The  Chancellor(s) are people that my husband I really trust. They  have been  incredibly loyal, faithful and have stuck out as leaders from  day one.  Slowly, they have been promoted to this rank and are trusted  to handle  problems in our absence.<\/p>\n<p>Advisor(s)&#8230;Well, they are what they  sound like. They are apart of  the High Council along with the Head &amp;  High Chancellor and other  Chancellors. They have vote on who should be  promoted and well&#8230;give  advice on different aspects of the guild.  Basically, it&#8217;s just another  level of leadership.<\/p>\n<p>Veteran(s) have  changed a bit over time. Originally, Veterans were  made Veterans  because of how long they have been in the guild. A way to  sort of say  thank you for being loyal from the beginning. It has since  become a  little of that, and a way to slowly promote other members  that stick out  as leaders to see how they handle the &#8220;Oooo and Aaaah&#8221;  of having a  special title. In other words&#8230;to see if they go power  hungry before we  work on promoting them any higher.<\/p>\n<p>Then of course..Members. That probabaly doesn&#8217;t need explaining. They make up the core of the guild.<\/p>\n<p>Recruits&#8230;These  are new people to the guild and they remain  recruits for a minimum of 7  days (sometimes more if the recruit joins  the guild and doesn&#8217;t log on  for 5 of those days lol). Basically, it&#8217;s  there so we can get to know  them, they can get to know us and we can  both decide if Divine Illusion  is the right place for them to be.<\/p>\n<p>I hope that helps some. I&#8217;m  sure other guilds have other reasons for  creating the ranks that they  do..but this is what works well for us.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>Fey<br \/>\nLevel 60 Night Elf Rogue<br \/>\nGuild: Tyana<br \/>\nRealm: Moonrunner<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m  in a casual raiding guild named Tyana on Moonrunner. Tyana was  the name  of a city in ancient Rome, so when we recently decided to  revamp our  Guild Ranks we did so with a Roman theme:<\/p>\n<p>10. Guild Council (Guild Leadership).<\/p>\n<p>9. Senator (Guild Officers).<\/p>\n<p>8. Hero (anyone who qualifies for title #6 &#8220;Elder&#8221; who must reduced their WoW play time will be named &#8220;Hero&#8221;).<\/p>\n<p>7.  Gladiator (optional title available to anyone with title &#8220;Elder&#8221;  who  has also achieved one of the following: PvP Rank of 7, lifetime  earned  DKP of 400, or full Tier 0.5 set).<\/p>\n<p>6. Elder (member in good standing for no less than 3 months).<\/p>\n<p>5. Centurion (member in good standing for no less than 2 months).<\/p>\n<p>4. Citizen (member in good standing for no less than 1 month).<\/p>\n<p>3. Applicant (new members)<\/p>\n<p>2. and 1. are for Guild Utillity (Bank, etc).<\/p>\n<p>Because  we are casual we wanted the &#8220;Gladiator&#8221; rank to be  achievable via PvP,  Raiding, and Questing. The response from the guild  members has been  wholly positive.<\/p>\n<p>Regards,<br \/>\nFey<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>Alaij<br \/>\nLevel 60 Human Rogue<br \/>\nGuild: Dragon Keeper<br \/>\nRealm: Kael&#8217;thas<\/p>\n<p>Our  ranks pretty much focus on how long someone has been in the  guild and  on helpfulness\/participation. We lean more on the casual side  of &#8220;casual  raiding&#8221; so we&#8217;ve tried to keep things as simple as  possible. What  we&#8217;ve gone with is:<\/p>\n<p>Hatchling: new recruit, 0-7 days in guild<br \/>\nWhelpling: Guildie in one-month trial period<br \/>\nDragon: Regular member<br \/>\nWyrm: &#8220;Veteran&#8221;\/&#8221;Mentor&#8221; rank, member who has proven to be especially helpful to and involved with the guild<br \/>\nWyrm Commander: Officer, only rank besides GM with invite privileges<br \/>\nGreat Wyrm: GM<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re  also trying out a new idea within the next week or so. We&#8217;re  creating  two ranks&#8230;haven&#8217;t thought of creative dragon-y names for  them yet, but  they&#8217;re basically &#8220;Acting GM&#8221; and &#8220;Acting Officer&#8221;. For  about two weeks  we&#8217;re having the guild elect temporary officers and  granting them most  of the regular officer privileges (other than  potential nightmares such  as \/gkick) while the regular officers kick  back (though we&#8217;ll be on  standby in case something goes awry). If this  turns out to be a success  it may be something we do every couple of  months or so to get some fresh  perspectives and give non-officers more  of a feeling of involvement in  the guild.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>Mumtaz<br \/>\nLevel 31 Troll Shaman<br \/>\nRealm: Scarlet CrusadeBack  when I ran my own guild I had these ranks (forgive me if I  leave out  any, its been about a year since I had my guild, my memory  isnt that  great!)<\/p>\n<p>Guild Leader-Can you guess what that was? =P<br \/>\nCo-Leader-My husband<br \/>\nOfficers-All officers were in this rank<br \/>\nSpecial  contributer-Not an officer, but someone who dontated so much  time,  help, and items they needed to be recognized. They got to read  and talk  in officer chat to share in guiding the guild.<br \/>\nContributer-Someone who contributed time, help, and materials so much they needed to be recognized.<br \/>\nMembers-Rank and file.<br \/>\nInitiates-Rank for guild and possible future member to see if we fit.<br \/>\nAlt-We were 3\/4 alts lol! Very much the Altaholics guild.<\/p>\n<p>I  would list the names we had but I honestly only remember two of  them.  Lady was my rank, and my members were Emerald Dreamers (Eve Night   Dreamers was my guild name).<\/p>\n<p>I have to say I have learned a lot  about guilds and the running  there of since then. I was guilty of to  many officers. While I tried to  have them actually have duties and  roles, it became a sort of club,  and the officers gradually became a  clique of their own, which in a way  led to the demise of my guild.<\/p>\n<p>But!  I hope that helped some. I must say I was fond of my  contributers rank.  Allowing those who invest a lot into the guild a  chance to have that  noticed, but not with an officership (which may not  be warrented. The  person who achieved this rank was wonderful,  helpful, sent so much to  the guild bank, but would have clashed if he  had been an officer. I  think he was happy to just have been  acknowledged as we did.)<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>Vuelhering<br \/>\nLevel 60 Gnome Warlock<br \/>\nRealm: Icecrown<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s how I set my ranks, although the names are changed:<\/p>\n<p>* GL (there can be only one&#8230;)<br \/>\n* GL also&#8230; 2nd rank with same privs as GL, for other founders.  Same name, even, so it&#8217;s indistinguishable from the actual GL.<br \/>\n* Officer: ability to invite\/boot, see\/change officer notes, talk in \/officer and \/guild chat<br \/>\n* Member: can set public notes (yes, they can be annoying to  others but  rarely happens), talk in \/guild chat, and LISTEN to officer  chat.<br \/>\n* Mute: Same privs as a Recruit, but cannot talk in \/g.<br \/>\n* Recruit: default new member, can participate in \/g, listen to \/officer, cannot change public notes.<\/p>\n<p>The  idea is that \/officer can be used as an announcement channel,  which  comes out in a different color than guildchat. Makes it less  likely to  be missed, and gives some recognition to new members that  it&#8217;s an  officer sending an announcment. The officers just use a private  channel  for the &#8220;real&#8221; officer chat, and \/g for normal guild chat.<\/p>\n<p>Member  and recruit are similar ranks, the only difference is that  members can  set public notes. Unfortunately, this means they can set  ANYONE&#8217;s public  note, not just their own.<\/p>\n<p>The Mute rank is when someone is  getting out of line in guildchat  and needs a time-out. Rarely used  except as a joke, and then only for a  few minutes while you talk to  them. Muting someone when they&#8217;re out of  line (typically used when  someone is angry and ranting in \/g) will  often get him to \/gquit, but if  they aren&#8217;t following the GL&#8217;s rules  for guildchat it&#8217;s no loss. This  should not be the lowest rank, as new  recruits could be unintentionally  muted since \/ginvites assign the  lowest rank by default.<\/p>\n<p>My actual names are King, King, Bridgekeeper, Kniggit, Newt, Squire. (She turned me into a newt!)<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve  toyed with the idea of another rank, between officer and  member, for  &#8220;raider&#8221;. As in, those in this group will get raid invites  first, and  people will move in\/out of this group as their attendance  and  performance change. The only reason I haven&#8217;t done it is I need a  solid  system of when you get promoted to a raider, and when you lose  that  status.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>Ashling<br \/>\nLevel 60 Night Elf Warrior<br \/>\nGuild: Pay it Forward<br \/>\nRealm: GreymanePlease  see our about page for ranks and descriptions. I&#8217;ll try to do  the best I  can (as far as what I think) with the questions, but we are  far from  established. Thanks for putting this together! I couldn&#8217;t  find much when  I looked into doing\/compiling mine, and am always  looking for good  material to use.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.guildportal.com\/Guild.aspx?GuildID=75159&amp;TabID=721378\">http:\/\/www.guildportal.com\/Guild.aspx?G &#8230; bID=721378<\/a><\/p>\n<p>1. What makes an effective rank system &#8211; room for advancement, reward ranks, or something else?<\/p>\n<p>I  think to be effective, the ranks need to be defined, as to  requirements  to get a rank, tasks the rank is responsible for, and  expectations. I  haven&#8217;t yet figured out how to &#8220;reward&#8221; members, and I  think\/hope most  of our members aren&#8217;t looking for recognition- I know  it is very much  appreciated when it is given.<\/p>\n<p>2. What types of ranks do you have &#8211; how many &#8220;new member&#8221; ranks, how many &#8220;regular&#8221; ranks, how many officer ranks?<\/p>\n<p>Again-  see the   website-http:\/\/www.guildportal.com\/Guild.aspx?GuildID=75159&amp;TabID=721378   &#8211; we have probation (x), recruit (x), member(x), veteran (x), officer   (x), events team (3), members services (2), and guild master (2)<\/p>\n<p>3. Why do you have this system? What about your guild size, guild goals, etc. makes this work for you?<\/p>\n<p>I  am a casual player, and not military orientated. I like structure.  I  like people I can trust. This is the way I thought I could  distinguish  responsibilities between the members, and have a home for  the members  that want to lead their own activities w\/i the guild. I&#8217;ve  found good  examples with the knights who say Ni, and the guild Advent  for their  ranks &amp; charter. I believe that we&#8217;re all equal, but as a  GM and  someone who wants to play- that I need the officer positions in  order to  distribute guild administrational activities and event  plannings. We  are small and focus on recruiting quality people that  work hard and are  good team players.<\/p>\n<p>4. What are the descriptions\/responsibilities of each rank? &#8211; see web page, though it&#8217;s always being &#8220;tweaked&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>5.  Particularly with officer ranks, how do you handle delegation? Do   officers have specific tasks\/areas of responsibility? Or do they all   share responsibility for all the regular maintenance of a guild? &#8211;Roles   for Big Dog officers to fill PVP\/ BG Coordinator, Recruiter, Bank?,   Raid Leader, Spotlight Reporter, webmaster.<\/p>\n<p>6. How do you handle  advancement? We have set requirements time,  ethics, &amp; website  participation- for each rank to fill in order to  move to veteran status.  Officers have a few more requirements to fill.  Each officer needs to  have a designated &#8216;project&#8217; to work on (why they  want to be an officer)  as all of our members are courteous and helpful.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Copied from the original posted by Aenea Creating Useful Guild Ranks: a FAQ a.k.a. What Do I Do With Ten Rank Slots?! This is a compilation of responses to a thread started on the old forums about why and how &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.acheron-guild.com\/zosima\/guild-relations-archive\/guild-creation-activities-and-leadership-guides\/creating-useful-guild-ranks\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":95,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-105","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P1BWJo-1H","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.acheron-guild.com\/zosima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.acheron-guild.com\/zosima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.acheron-guild.com\/zosima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.acheron-guild.com\/zosima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.acheron-guild.com\/zosima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.acheron-guild.com\/zosima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223,"href":"http:\/\/www.acheron-guild.com\/zosima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/105\/revisions\/223"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.acheron-guild.com\/zosima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/95"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.acheron-guild.com\/zosima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}