by Guest 8th January 2018, 12:37 pmTL;DR -- Join guilds. Don't be guildless. Don't treat guilds like Naruto villages.
An issue I see flaring up every so often is the subject of guilds. This has been brought to me so many times, that I thought I would address it in my own personal mini-rant.
As per the title, a guild is NOT a home for the character. It is not like a clan, a tribe, a village that they must be undyingly loyal to. Though the canon shows a lot of very guild-enthusiastic people, and those types definitely exist in roleplay, a true guild does not demand the undying loyalty and participation of a person.
The definition--
To best understand what I’m writing, here is the dictionary definition of the word ‘guild’, followed by the Fairy Tail Wiki definition.
As you can see, the two are very similar.
A guild is simply an organization, or association, of individuals in a specific trade. In Medieval Times, there were trade groups of artisans, merchants, musicians, etc. In Fiore, they include magic as a trade.
In the opening narration of Fairy Tail, the narrator mentions “magical guilds”, groups of wizards coming together to find work and gain advice and help from one another.
Problem #1: “No guild fits my character!”
It has been noted that on this site, that, contrary to the definition, Guilds are taken up a notch, almost to an extreme. The pursuit of a common goal is emphasized, and many guilds tend to ‘specialize’ in something. For some examples, Infinity Hydra focuses on killing evil mages and taking out criminals; the vigilante magical guild. Lamia Scale focuses on the eradication of monsters. Fairy Tail is now known as a guild of mercenaries for hire. Black Sails focuses on being pirates in disguise.
Everyone makes unique characters that they come to love and cherish greatly. However, when it comes to picking a guild for their character, or changing guilds after one goes in the way of the dodo, they become stuck. “No guild fits my character!”
This leads to something of a problem for a roleplayer who simply cannot find a guild that “fits” their character. When the roleplayer sees no guild that best fits their character, they tend to stick to the guildless category, or make plans on making their own guild. It is fine to have goals, but in a way, the enormous amount of guildless mages does unbalance the site to a small degree. This is not the main issue, however, and is one I will discuss later.
The Solution: Just because a guild has a theme or goal, it does not mean that your character MUST be a pirate, a monster hunter, or a dark mage killer. A guild is simply an association. In-Character, a magician joins a guild so they have access to a job board, so they can get paid and carve out a living. Not every magician has to get super involved with their guild’s politics, wars, ideals, and OOC, plots. Guilds exist to benefit mages, and they benefit the roleplayers who play in guilds simply by offering an active atmosphere to find RP partners, an EXP bonus when one goes on jobs with guildmates, etc.
The simple solution is not taking a guild’s theme as the indisputable essence of the guild. You can work somewhere but not completely agree with a job or guild’s beliefs and ideals (naturally, if you do not share guild ideals, achieving an ace position becomes harder, but that should never be the goal for joining a guild). Find a guild that is more relaxed with their ideals, and is not in your face about being a pirate or bloodthirsty killer, and join that one. This will give you all the advantages a guild has to offer, and possibly many opportunities for plot.
Problem #2: “I cannot be separated from my ship/close friend/teammate IC!”
That is where you are wrong. Think about guilds like a day job; you go to work at the Walmart Deli, then you come home at night to be with your spouse who spent their day working at Petsmart. This brings up the point of the topic title; a guild is NOT your home. Some guilds, such as back in Medieval Times, would offer lodging and maybe have a place to eat, but generally, people go home at night to their own house or apartment or inn.
The guild is the place a magician goes to to find work and to make a living. Why quit your job at McDonald’s to go work at Wendy’s just because your best friend or spouse works there? Chances are, if you loved your guild both OOC and IC, and chose to hop to another out of some feeling of loyalty, you will find yourself not having as much fun, and possibly somewhat miserable-- I have observed this happen over and over to various members. IC, it also does not make sense to jump guilds out of loyalty either, even if your character is one of those extremely loyal types. The character will see them on their days off, on missions they take together, on their off-hours, etc. If your character is the extremist who will jump, just keep this in mind, and make sure you are fully on board for the guild hop.
On a similar subject, undying guild loyalty can be fun too, but it is very close to just being extremely passionate about the sports team you are on, or some school club. Canon Fairy Tail’s obsessive loyalty and friendship and family is funny and cute, yet it is more or less what made them more unique than other canon guilds-- it was their shtick. Not every guild is as demanding of loyalty (unless it’s one of those oppressive agreement or stay in the guild or die themes/ideas).
The Solution: Do not leave a guild you are happy with. Only if plot circumstances are extreme and you are no longer having fun in the one you are in, should you think about leaving. Never allow yourself to be OOC peer pressured into guildhopping too, for a ship, a friendship, family members, etc.
Problem #3: “My character is distant/hates everyone/untrusting/etc!”
Excuses! Just kidding. The title of the problem pretty much explains itself. The solution is simple.
Even the most reserved and untrusting characters need to make a living and earn an income. Being guildless is an option, yes, but if you are having trouble finding RP partners(and thus your character is having trouble finding missions to go on), you are best off joining a guild. The most untrusting person understands they need to do something to put food on the table, and can join a guild to get out of it. They need not completely trust their guildmates or the GM, or even the guild and its ideals, but they can use the guild for what it was created for-- providing mages with aid, resources, and work.
Problem #4: The problem with Guildless in general.
I often receive complaints from guildless mages who are unable to locate RP and job partners due to having no quick ability to connect with other roleplayers. In a guild, it is not too uncommon to see someone ask “Who wants to do a B rank job with me?”, and within the day, they get at least one response. A guildless member has a much harder time doing this; roleplay threads will not come as easily. It is fine if you wish to stick it out and do your best, but if not, joining a guild is the better option. If you do wish to hardmode through ranking up as a guildless mage, do not complain about finding no RP partners nor about not receiving guild benefits.
Another smaller problem on a site wide scale is just guild imbalance. The more guildless characters there are, the less active guilds there will be. My personal belief is that no magician should be guildless unless the roleplayer truly wishes for them to solo the journey for power, and only have them meet people along the way, while never sticking around for long. If a character can at least join a relaxed ideal guild, they should, unless the character has a very good IC(yes, not OOC), reason for avoiding all guilds, and the member is willing to put up with the lack of ease and benefits.
Disclaimer: This ‘vent’ is my own personal opinion on guilds, and does not reflect the views or ideas of the administration, staff, and development team.
This has been a mini-rant brought to you by Izayuki
. If you have any corrections, clarifications, or invalid points you see, please bring them to me via PM/DM, and not on this thread. If you have points you wish to add, you may contact me as well, and I may or may not add them. If you feel something really must be debated, I would prefer it over DM for ease. Otherwise, you may post any other thoughts here if you wish.
An issue I see flaring up every so often is the subject of guilds. This has been brought to me so many times, that I thought I would address it in my own personal mini-rant.
As per the title, a guild is NOT a home for the character. It is not like a clan, a tribe, a village that they must be undyingly loyal to. Though the canon shows a lot of very guild-enthusiastic people, and those types definitely exist in roleplay, a true guild does not demand the undying loyalty and participation of a person.
The definition--
To best understand what I’m writing, here is the dictionary definition of the word ‘guild’, followed by the Fairy Tail Wiki definition.
noun: guild; plural noun: guilds; noun: gild; plural noun: gilds
a medieval association of craftsmen or merchants, often having considerable power.
• an association of people for mutual aid or the pursuit of a common goal.
synonyms: association, society, union, league, organization, company, cooperative, fellowship, club, order, lodge, brotherhood, fraternity, sisterhood, sorority
"the copper craftsmen have formed a guild"
A Guild (ギルド Girudo) is a type of organization in Fiore, characterised by a member base and common trade. The purpose of a guild is to obtain and disseminate job requests to the members of the guild.
As you can see, the two are very similar.
A guild is simply an organization, or association, of individuals in a specific trade. In Medieval Times, there were trade groups of artisans, merchants, musicians, etc. In Fiore, they include magic as a trade.
In the opening narration of Fairy Tail, the narrator mentions “magical guilds”, groups of wizards coming together to find work and gain advice and help from one another.
Problem #1: “No guild fits my character!”
It has been noted that on this site, that, contrary to the definition, Guilds are taken up a notch, almost to an extreme. The pursuit of a common goal is emphasized, and many guilds tend to ‘specialize’ in something. For some examples, Infinity Hydra focuses on killing evil mages and taking out criminals; the vigilante magical guild. Lamia Scale focuses on the eradication of monsters. Fairy Tail is now known as a guild of mercenaries for hire. Black Sails focuses on being pirates in disguise.
Everyone makes unique characters that they come to love and cherish greatly. However, when it comes to picking a guild for their character, or changing guilds after one goes in the way of the dodo, they become stuck. “No guild fits my character!”
This leads to something of a problem for a roleplayer who simply cannot find a guild that “fits” their character. When the roleplayer sees no guild that best fits their character, they tend to stick to the guildless category, or make plans on making their own guild. It is fine to have goals, but in a way, the enormous amount of guildless mages does unbalance the site to a small degree. This is not the main issue, however, and is one I will discuss later.
The Solution: Just because a guild has a theme or goal, it does not mean that your character MUST be a pirate, a monster hunter, or a dark mage killer. A guild is simply an association. In-Character, a magician joins a guild so they have access to a job board, so they can get paid and carve out a living. Not every magician has to get super involved with their guild’s politics, wars, ideals, and OOC, plots. Guilds exist to benefit mages, and they benefit the roleplayers who play in guilds simply by offering an active atmosphere to find RP partners, an EXP bonus when one goes on jobs with guildmates, etc.
The simple solution is not taking a guild’s theme as the indisputable essence of the guild. You can work somewhere but not completely agree with a job or guild’s beliefs and ideals (naturally, if you do not share guild ideals, achieving an ace position becomes harder, but that should never be the goal for joining a guild). Find a guild that is more relaxed with their ideals, and is not in your face about being a pirate or bloodthirsty killer, and join that one. This will give you all the advantages a guild has to offer, and possibly many opportunities for plot.
Problem #2: “I cannot be separated from my ship/close friend/teammate IC!”
That is where you are wrong. Think about guilds like a day job; you go to work at the Walmart Deli, then you come home at night to be with your spouse who spent their day working at Petsmart. This brings up the point of the topic title; a guild is NOT your home. Some guilds, such as back in Medieval Times, would offer lodging and maybe have a place to eat, but generally, people go home at night to their own house or apartment or inn.
The guild is the place a magician goes to to find work and to make a living. Why quit your job at McDonald’s to go work at Wendy’s just because your best friend or spouse works there? Chances are, if you loved your guild both OOC and IC, and chose to hop to another out of some feeling of loyalty, you will find yourself not having as much fun, and possibly somewhat miserable-- I have observed this happen over and over to various members. IC, it also does not make sense to jump guilds out of loyalty either, even if your character is one of those extremely loyal types. The character will see them on their days off, on missions they take together, on their off-hours, etc. If your character is the extremist who will jump, just keep this in mind, and make sure you are fully on board for the guild hop.
On a similar subject, undying guild loyalty can be fun too, but it is very close to just being extremely passionate about the sports team you are on, or some school club. Canon Fairy Tail’s obsessive loyalty and friendship and family is funny and cute, yet it is more or less what made them more unique than other canon guilds-- it was their shtick. Not every guild is as demanding of loyalty (unless it’s one of those oppressive agreement or stay in the guild or die themes/ideas).
The Solution: Do not leave a guild you are happy with. Only if plot circumstances are extreme and you are no longer having fun in the one you are in, should you think about leaving. Never allow yourself to be OOC peer pressured into guildhopping too, for a ship, a friendship, family members, etc.
Problem #3: “My character is distant/hates everyone/untrusting/etc!”
Excuses! Just kidding. The title of the problem pretty much explains itself. The solution is simple.
Even the most reserved and untrusting characters need to make a living and earn an income. Being guildless is an option, yes, but if you are having trouble finding RP partners(and thus your character is having trouble finding missions to go on), you are best off joining a guild. The most untrusting person understands they need to do something to put food on the table, and can join a guild to get out of it. They need not completely trust their guildmates or the GM, or even the guild and its ideals, but they can use the guild for what it was created for-- providing mages with aid, resources, and work.
Problem #4: The problem with Guildless in general.
I often receive complaints from guildless mages who are unable to locate RP and job partners due to having no quick ability to connect with other roleplayers. In a guild, it is not too uncommon to see someone ask “Who wants to do a B rank job with me?”, and within the day, they get at least one response. A guildless member has a much harder time doing this; roleplay threads will not come as easily. It is fine if you wish to stick it out and do your best, but if not, joining a guild is the better option. If you do wish to hardmode through ranking up as a guildless mage, do not complain about finding no RP partners nor about not receiving guild benefits.
Another smaller problem on a site wide scale is just guild imbalance. The more guildless characters there are, the less active guilds there will be. My personal belief is that no magician should be guildless unless the roleplayer truly wishes for them to solo the journey for power, and only have them meet people along the way, while never sticking around for long. If a character can at least join a relaxed ideal guild, they should, unless the character has a very good IC(yes, not OOC), reason for avoiding all guilds, and the member is willing to put up with the lack of ease and benefits.
Disclaimer: This ‘vent’ is my own personal opinion on guilds, and does not reflect the views or ideas of the administration, staff, and development team.
This has been a mini-rant brought to you by Izayuki
. If you have any corrections, clarifications, or invalid points you see, please bring them to me via PM/DM, and not on this thread. If you have points you wish to add, you may contact me as well, and I may or may not add them. If you feel something really must be debated, I would prefer it over DM for ease. Otherwise, you may post any other thoughts here if you wish.
