October 23 Meeting
Date and Time: 6pm server on Thursday, October 23, 2008
Location: Farstrider Lodge in Loch Modan
Ventrilo Server: voice58.dallasxtreme.com port 4047, password "stranded"
Meeting Agenda
Let's see if we can get some conversation going about the following topics. Feel free to add to the list!
- Guild Charter. What do we want to see in a guild? Feel free to add your own thoughts to our Guild Charter page.
- Leadership/management structure. This depends on what you want in a guild, and the best way to provide it. Do you think people will want to "progress" in the guild, where rank is used to help recognize people but is otherwise mostly meaningless (like in original SC)? Or where everyone is the same rank? Will officers be needed, and what would they do? Could all members of the guild be responsible to uphold guild expectations on their own, implying that almost everyone has the ability to kick, invite, add/withdraw from bank, etc.?
- Leaders/managers. What leadership do we need to fulfill that structure, and who would be best for it?
- Website. Kerry can donate a host, website name would be easy to get, and Mareyn is interested in creating a website using Python. Any website designers out there? All we'd need is a photoshop mock-up at least to start.
- Guild name. Lots of ideas around already, any others? Feel free to add your own to the Guild Name Ideas page.
Meeting Notes
Overall, we had a great meeting; everyone seems really excited about starting a new guild.
We went over some of the items in our in-progress Guild Charter.
Mori mentioned that one thing that she'd really like to see in a new guild is a mentor program. She particularly liked the idea of having a system in place for bringing people in and investing in them as they enter the guild, rather than at some other time, such as when they join a raid group. When Katruned mentioned that she doesn't like there being people in the guild that she doesn't know well, Mori replied that one role of mentors could be to introduce their mentees to the rest of the guild. Marwyn added that guild nights are also excellent occasions to meet new members. Mareyn also brought up the idea of there being "metrics" for the guild's inclination towards growth, such as a weekly poll asking guildies if they wanted to keep growing. Mori suggested a similar kind of measurement could be made by asking mentors how many trainees they were willing to sponsor/mentor: "that way growth is a direct reflection of the time that people have and how many people they can afford to invest [in] it." Mori also mentioned that one of the excellent features of a guild her and Locheart saw was a regular member spotlight on the website that helped guildies get to know each other better.
Katruned said that she wanted guildies to feel like they "owned a share of the guild", and that the guild is "Something they can be proud of. It's not just a tag over our head...it's a badge of honor. Something that instills pride."
Galli also emphasized that the qualities of being a good community member should also extend outside the guild--for instance, being good citizens of the SGA.
Karin brought up a question of what the scope of the guild should be: do we intend it to be a "world-class" guild, much in the same way that the original Sleeper Cartel was formed, which ambitiously seeks to improve the game experience for others and gain a reputation as one of the best communities across the World of Warcraft? Or is it more of a refuge from those who don't currently have a guild or are dissatisfied with the one they're in? Or a combination of both, or something else entirely? Following are some responses:
- Mareyn expressed interest in being a world-class guild, with the exception that he doesn't have an enormous amount of free time.
- Marwyn said that she wasn't content to "just sit" but also wanted to be involved in events and things.
- Katruned expressed interest in participating in being active and involved in something she could be proud of.
Mori brought up the issue of what the new guild's stance on raiding should be. Specifically, she wanted to have a home where raiding would be supported, rather than merely tolerated. Marwyn expressed an interest to be supportive of whatever aspect of the game guild members like. Mori mentioned that she liked the idea of raid charters. In light of some limitations of the SGA, such as the ability to only recruit team members from SGA guilds and the fact that many SGA runs aren't very family-friendly, Karin said that it would be good to support multiple options for raiding (e.g., SGA and raid charters). Tarrazu and Marwyn didn't see raiding requirements as something that the new guild would be doing, and this seemed to be the consensus.
In regards to contributing the guild website: Karin, Mareyn, Chaotique, and Galli expressed interest in coding; Marwyn enjoys doing photoshop work; and Mori can help with writing.
In regards to a guild name, Tarrazu liked Proudmoore Privateers, while Mori and Marwyn really liked Consensus.
At the end, Charyse brought up the issue of a timeline, and Karin said that he thought it would be prudent to form the guild sooner rather than later, so that the guild itself could serve as a great "blank slate" that our community could help shape, as opposed to e.g. coming up with all the rules before forming the guild. Everyone seemed to agree strongly with this sentiment.
