How would you balance a guild perk system?

by **TheHidden01** Mon Sep 17, 2012 6:03 pm

If there's one frustration I have with gaming guilds in all the time I've led one, it's the expectation that they be huge. MMOs talk big about wanting a diverse playerbase and supporting a wide variety of players and guilds, but that's like saying you can wear any color as long as it's black. The reality is that small guilds are at a severe disadvantage in most MMO guild achievement systems because guilds are rewarded more for having warm bodies than for any particular skill or success

Guild Wars 2, for example, performs random attendance checks and doles out points based on guild activity. The more people you load into your guild, the more points you farm and perks and consumables you can buy. This creates a "rich get richer" scenario for guilds that are already "winning," and eventually, no one will join guilds that aren't maxed out and providing a steady stream of perks to help them "win" even more (as seen in World of Warcraft).

Why not go with Lord of the Rings Online's system, which bestows guild perks according to a guild's age rather than its recruiting binges? Should games keep rewarding guilds strictly for their size, or is there a better way? How would you design and balance an MMO guild achievement system?

TH