Buzzsaw's Guildlife Life in Guild Survey Results!

[BuzzSaw]

The Following are the overall results from the Guildlife Life in Guild Survey!

Because of the way I am releasing the information, I will be adding to this thread as I cover it in my DDOCAST weekly segments. So check back Every Week where new wisdom will be shared to all who care.

A Big Thanks to everyone who took the time to give me a survey!

OK! Without any Further Ado... Here is the Guildlife Life in Guild DDO Survey Results.
Buzz

P.S. A HUGE Shout Out to Clankenbeard for the AWESOME Guildlife Buzz Graphic!!

[BuzzSaw]

Overall Results

Guild Life Guild Survey.

Number of Respondents: 79

Players: 26 (33%)
Officers: 20 (25%)
Leaders:33 (42%)

Due to the limited nature of the study, relying on forum response, leaving it up to the person themselves to decide if they would respond or not, we cannot say any of the findings of the study are 100% conclusive or typical of any one facet of life in a guild in Dungeons and Dragons On-line. What can be asserted is that these results are valid in providing general server and game attitudes towards the facets of life in a guild. As always, your results may vary…

Key Terms:

Player Consolation Ratio: This is the ratio of how many players place all their characters in one guild vs. spread them out. A Consolidation Ratio of 4:1 would mean for ever 4 players who place all their characters in one guild, you will find one who would prefer to spread out their characters across separate guilds.

Officer Number: The Number of Officers belonging to any one guild

Nesting: The process in which a player stops looking for a guild and finally settles into a guild that they like.

Results across All Servers

These results were arrived at by averaging or totalling responses across all servers to arrive at a “typical” baseline. Servers may, and generally do, have scores higher or lower then the baseline, but overall, across all servers, scores are as Follows;

The Typical Guild in DDO, irrespective of server where they reside, will have the following characteristics…

Guild “Average”

The typical guild in DDO will be comprised of 16-25 members. The average age of members to this guild will be 26-40 and be comprised of those from a professional background. (Almost to a ratio of 10:1). Of these guilds, they will have been in existence for 25 months and be lead by a leader who has succeeded one or more previous guild leaders (60% more likely) and current guild leaders have been running the guild for the last 17 months (60% of the total guild life span)

This leader will be spending about 7 hours a week running the guild outside the game and about 6 hours running the guild in game. The guild leader will be almost 50% more likely not to have run a guild before in any other MMO environment. He will have (on average) 9 officers appointed to help him creating an officer\member guild ratio of almost 2:1.

As for the members of the guild, before finally settling down in a guild that they like (i.e. nesting) they will have belonged to 2 other guilds before finding a guild they liked. Members of the guild play on average 22 hours a week. Of these guild members, they will be 6 times more likely to place all their characters into one guild rather then spread them out to other guilds as suits their needs.

These members can also expect to spend 78% of their entire time in DDO attached to one guild or another. Since the average respondent to this survey has indicated playing DDO for over 25 months on average, this translates to 19.5 months belonging to a guild throughout their time in Stormreach.

The respondents of the survey indicated the following are the best facets of life within a guild (Most Important -> Least Important)

1. New Friends \ Community
2. Quest Expertise
3. Raids
4. Availability of Loot
5. Web Site
6. Other


Guild Officer Responsibilities of this “average” guild are ranked in the following from most important to least important

1. Leading by Example
2. Upholding Guild Values
3. Mentoring
4. Respect of Peers
5. Supporting Guild Leader Initiatives
6. Raids

Officers, on average, Spend 2 hours outside of game assisting the Guild leader and 3 hours in game doing the same.

The Guild Leader of Guild “Average”, places the following importance on their responsibilities (From Greatest -> Least)

1. Leading By Example
2. Upholding Guild Values
3. Mentoring
4. Respect of Peers
5. Supporting Guild Leader Initiatives
6. Raids

It is interesting to note, that while the responsibilities of Leaders\Officers ranked the same, Guild leaders, overall, Scored “Leading by example” more highly than the officers and “Respect of peers” consistently lower than officer responses. With Both officer and leaders scoring “Upholding guild values” the same.


Question

How Long Have you been playing DDO? (In Months) 25.49
What Server do you play on?

Sarlona 16
Thelanis 17
Khyber 17
Argonnessen 14
Ghallanda 15

Since Joining DDO, How many guilds have you belonged to for your main character? 2.11
On Average, how many hours (per week) do you play DDO? 22.72
What is the Longest you have belonged to any one guild? 1573 19.91
DO you join all your characters to 1 guild? Or spread them about as suits your needs?

Same Guild 62
Spread Out 17

If you do not belong to a guild, how long have you been “un-guilded” 12.00
Best Benefits of belonging to a guild. Please rate the following in order of importance.

New Friends\Community 8.47
Quest Expertise 7.41
Availability of Loot 5.97
Web Site 5.67
Raids 6.65
Other: Specify 4.91

What is your Age?

0-18 3
19-25 8
26-40 56
41-60 12
60+ 0

What is your Profession?

Professional 50
Blue Collar 8
Self Employed 7
Military 7
Student 7

Current Membership of the Guild

0-5 2
6 to 15 9
16-25 30
26-50 21
50+ 15

How Many Officers 9.23
Does you guild have any alliances with any other guilds? 1.05

Is an Officer 20
]Is a Guild Leader 33
Repondant Player 26


Officer Response


How long have you been an officer in your present Guild? 18.35
Have you been an officer before in any other MMO Game?

Yes 6
No 14

How long were you a member of the guild (In Weeks) before you became an officer?11.05
How many hours per week do you give to officer tasks outside the game? i.e Visiting Guild Web site, Discussing Policy, etc 2.60
How many hours per week do you give in game performing your officer duties? 2.65
Please list the following list from most important to least important

Leading by example 8.25
Upholding Guild Values 7.50
Mentoring 6.85
Supporting Guild Leader Initiatives 5.80
Raids 4.70
Respect of Peers 6.25
Other: (Specify) 3.00

Guild Leader Responses


How long have you been The Leader for your Guild? 17.64
Did you succeed your last leader or are you the original Leader?

Founder 13
Inherited 19

How long has your guild been in existence? (In Months) 25.22
Have you been a leader before in any other MMO Game?

Yes 12
No 21

How many hours per week do you give in game to the running of your guild? 5.97
How many hours per week do you give to Guild Leader tasks outside the game? i.e. Visiting Guild Web site, Discussing Policy, event planning, etc6 7.15
Please list the following list from most important to least important as a guild leader

Leading by example 8.30
Upholding Guild Values 7.27
Mentoring 6.61
Supporting Guild Leader Initiatives 4.97
Raids 4.91
Respect of Peers 6.27
Other: (Specify) 3.67

[BuzzSaw]

Sarlona

Responses: 16
Player: 31%
Officer: 19%
Leader: 50%

Why do we guild?? To guild to Raid!!!!

Sarlona is an interesting server with players more likely then any other to settle quickly into a guild with the lowest number of “guilds belongs to” value of 1.5. Almost half of the server average. Indeed, players on Sarlona, find a guild that they like and stick with it until the bitter end. No quitters or cry babies here. Guild life until the end. Coupling this with the highest survey values of “longest time in guild” and it does not take the players on Sarlona long to find their home. The server’s player consolidation ratio of 3:1 is below average meaning that, although players pick a guild stay with it, they do tend to spread their players around to make sure contacts once made stay made.

Leading Indicators seem to show that for the players of Sarlona, the Raid is the reason why we guild. Sarlona leads all over servers in response to “Raid” for guild assets with it’s value almost overtaking “Quest Knowledge” as the server’s Number 2 response. Guild Leaders on Sarlona also ranked the “raid” more heavily than any other server.

This does not mean that guild leaders on Sarlona do not value “leading by example” or “Upholding guild values”. Indeed, they continue to be placed first and second in importance for the leaders of Sarlona (although these values are weighted well below game average), it’s just, for them, Raiding comes a close second. And one of the main assets a guild leader talks about when trying to recruit is to mention that they do, indeed, have a regular raiding schedule.

As far as the guild structure itself goes. Lack of player movement between guilds and server leading values for time in guild would indicate that guilds on Sarlona are more generalized, open and not very specific in theme or method. Life in guild on Sarlona is more of a family affair, with people belonging because they like the people they play with. Players on Sarlona have a high “nesting” instinct; setting down roots quickly in guild and working to make the guild better.

Officers on Sarlona tend to concentrate on Leading by example, Upholding guild values and mentoring, leaving Guild leader initiatives, raids and respect of peers at below average values. Guild Leaders, on the other hand, scored heavily on Raids and Respect of peers with all other values falling below survey average. It’s an interesting dichotomy, and one that I will leave to the reader to make of it what they will.

It should almost be noted that Sarlona also has the lowest number of officers per guild AND the highest amount of time waiting to become an officer (18 weeks – almost twice game average) of any of the servers. With an average officer values of 6.69 officers per guild, only 2/3’s of the game average of 9.38. Indeed, leadership on Sarlona is a very private affair with leaders picking officers they trust to help them run the guild. Officers do not exist in guild as a sign of anything other that they have the ability to lead and assist the leader. And as far as guild leader burn out is concerned, guild leaders on Sarlona are retaining their original leadership at a rate of 50%. 20% better than server average.

In summary, Sarlona might follow the typical model of guild more than any other server. Leaders in charge, officers small in number but there to lead, and in a general community that draws people in and keeps then there. The emphasis on raiding might be nothing more than a side effect of the leaders wanting to keep their respective guilds busy and doing something together, but guild leader’s indications seem to support the idea that a guild exists to raid. And Raiding is why we guild on Sarlona


Questions

How Long Have you been playing DDO? (In Months) 26.50
Since Joining DDO, How many guilds have you belonged to for your main character? 1.50
On Average, how many hours (per week) do you play DDO? 24.00
What is the Longest you have belonged to any one guild? 23.19
DO you join all your characters to 1 guild? Or spread them about as suits your needs?

Same Guild 12
Spread Out 4

If you do not belong to a guild, how long have you been “un-guilded” 0
Best Benefits of belonging to a guild. Please rate the following in order of importance.

New Friends\Community 8.19
Quest Expertise 7.38
Availability of Loot 5.81
Web Site 5.81
Raids 7.00
Other: Specify 4.81

What is your Age?

0-18 0
19-25 1
26-40 12
41-60 3
60+ 0

What is your Profession?

Professional 10
Blue Collar 2
Self Employed 1
Military 2
Student 1

Current Membership of the Guild

0-5 1
6 to 15 4
16-25 6
26-50 2
50+ 3

How Many Officers 6.69
Does you guild have any alliances with any other guilds? 1.19
Is an Officer 3
Is a Guild Leader 8
Respondent Player 5


Officer Response


How long have you been an officer in your present Guild? 9.00
Have you been an officer before in any other MMO Game?

Yes 1
No 2

How long were you a member of the guild (In Weeks) before you became an officer? 18.67
How many hours per week do you give to officer tasks outside the game? i.e Visiting Guild Web site, Discussing Policy, etc 3.33
How many hours per week do you give in game performing your officer duties? 1.67
Please list the following list from most important to least important

Leading by example 8.67
Upholding Guild Values 7.67
Mentoring 7.33
Supporting Guild Leader Initiatives 5.33
Raids 4.67
Respect of Peers 5.33
Other: (Specify) 3.00

Guild Leader Response


How long have you been The Leader for your Guild? 21.13
Did you succeed your last leader or are you the original Leader?

Founder 4
Inherited 4

How long has your guild been in existence? (In Months) 27.00
Have you been a leader before in any other MMO Game?

Yes 3
No 5

How many hours per week do you give in game to the running of your guild? 5.63
How many hours per week do you give to Guild Leader tasks outside the game? i.e. Visiting Guild Web site, Discussing Policy, event planning, etc 6.88
Please list the following list from most important to least important as a guild leader

Leading by example 7.88
Upholding Guild Values 6.75
Mentoring 6.25
Supporting Guild Leader Initiatives 4.75
Raids 5.38
Respect of Peers 6.50
Other: (Specify) 4.50

[BuzzSaw]

Thelanis

Responses: 17
Player: 24%
Officer: 24%
Leader: 52%

Welcome to the Community

Thelanis has the distinction as having the most players with the least amount of experience in game. Player time in game sits at 23.61 months. What does this have to do with the survey? Nothing. It’s not statistically significant at all. But I just wanted to mention what a bunch of noobs they all are…

With a player base which has a 1.89 player consolidation ratio, (second only to Sarlona) and a time in guild rating of 87.5% (also second only to Sarlona) Thelanis also exhibits the same player nesting behaviour as Sarlona. Players Pick a guild, and stick with it.

In fact the two servers of Sarlona and Thelanis are so similar, that it is, indeed, difficult to distinguish the two in terms of values and player wants… except for two factors…

Of all the Servers, the Thelanis player base scored highest for New friends\community (8.72 – where Sarlona scored the lowest 8.19) and Guild leaders scored lowest on guild raids (4.22 – where Sarlona scored the highest 5.38)

This does not mean that Thelanis does not value its raids nor doesn’t raid hard. It’s just, in the grand scheme of things; Raiding is NOT the reason for guilds to exist on Thelanis.

To contrast Thelanis against Sarlona;

Sarlona: Hey! Welcome to the Guild…LET’S RAID!!!!
Thelanis: Hi! Welcome! It is so good to meet you! Tell me all about you!!!!! Oh…ummm…theres a raid ? Sigh…But I was just getting to know the newbie!!! Bah! Come ron Newbie…we can chat while we raid…

Coupled with a second highest Player Consolidation ratio in the survey (8:1 – well above average) And Thelanis seems to view life in a guild to be one where you pick a home and then stay with that home, preferring to keep all their characters in one spot there. Guilds truly are a community serving the needs of the players, but due to such high community scores, the number one need of players on Thelanis is friends, not loot or raids.

Guild leadership also seems to back this up with Both Guild Leaders and officers on Thelanis scoring highest in Survey for “Respect of Peers”. Indeed, these values are so high, that it is almost at the expense of all other values and it does seem that the Guilds of Thelanis all just want to get along.

It’s also noteworthy that the leadership of Thelanis is not haphazard either, with Guild Officers scoring highest in out of game guild support of 5 hours\week, almost doubling the survey average for officers and Guild leaders also spending the most time in game, 8 hours\week (again, a survey highest at almost 25% more time than average in game) means that when the games goes off, the guild does not cease to exist and someone is minding the store between play sessions.

Oddly, though, although Officer ratios are lowest only to Sarlona (7.06 Officers per guild, almost 25% below average) “weeks to become an officer” is lowest of all scores recorded with officers just waiting 1.5 weeks for their position to come to them. These two factors would seem to indicate that Thelanis follows the traditional structural view of officers as leaders, but promotions are based upon ability rather than time in guild. It is still a very low value though, and one, I am sure, that would correct itself if the survey had more responses…

Overall, Thelanis seems to be the server best suited for those seeking a very human and tactile experience in game. Loners need not apply, on Thelanis the group is always stronger then the sum of its parts.

Survey Responses

How Long Have you been playing DDO? (In Months) 23.61
Since Joining DDO, How many guilds have you belonged to for your main character? 1.89
On Average, how many hours (per week) do you play DDO? 22.33
What is the Longest you have belonged to any one guild? 19.39
DO you join all your characters to 1 guild? Or spread them about as suits your needs?

Same Guild 16
Spread Out 2

Best Benefits of belonging to a guild. Please rate the following in order of importance.

New Friends\Community 8.72
Quest Expertise 7.61
Availability of Loot 5.89
Web Site 5.50
Raids 6.50
Other: Specify4.78

What is your Age?

0-18 1
19-25 1
26-40 13
41-60 3
60+ 0

What is your Profession?

Professional 9
Blue Collar 2
Self Employed 4
Military 2
Student 1

Current Membership of the Guild

0-5 1
6 to 15 3
16-25 9
26-50 4
50+ 1

How Many Officers 7.06
Does you guild have any alliances with any other guilds? 1.28

Officer Response

How long have you been an officer in your present Guild? 22.75
Have you been an officer before in any other MMO Game?

Yes 1
No 3

How long were you a member of the guild (In Weeks) before you became an officer? 1.50
How many hours per week do you give to officer tasks outside the game? i.e Visiting Guild Web site, Discussing Policy, etc 5.00
How many hours per week do you give in game performing your officer duties? 1.75
Please list the following list from most important to least important

Leading by example 8.00
Upholding Guild Values 7.50
Mentoring 6.00
Supporting Guild Leader Initiatives 7.00
Raids 5.25
Respect of Peers 7.75
Other: (Specify) 3.00

Guild Leader Responses

How long have you been The Leader for your Guild? 12.44
Did you succeed your last leader or are you the original Leader?

Founder 3
Inherited 5

How long has your guild been in existence? (In Months) 20.88
Have you been a leader before in any other MMO Game?

Yes 2
No 7

How many hours per week do you give in game to the running of your guild? 7.22
How many hours per week do you give to Guild Leader tasks outside the game? i.e. Visiting Guild Web site, Discussing Policy, event planning, etc 7.78
Please list the following list from most important to least important as a guild leader

Leading by example 8.22
Upholding Guild Values 7.33
Mentoring 6.89
Supporting Guild Leader Initiatives 5.00
Raids 4.22
Respect of Peers 7.11
Other: (Specify) 3.22

Thanks
Buzz

[BuzzSaw]

Khyber

Responses: 17
Player: 29%
Officer: 42%
Leader: 29%

This is our guild! There are many like it, but this one is MIINE!

Khyber scored the highest for most players who spread their characters around to different guilds as suits their needs. With a Player Consolidation Ratio score of a staging 1.4, indeed the players have wide choice of guilds to choose from and do take advantage of it by making sure they spread themselves all over to suit their play style for that day.

Interestingly, Khyber also leads to the survey in time spent by guild leadership running their respective guilds, while officers of guilds take a much less hand in day to day operations. Guild officers of Khyber typically spend less than half the server average in day to day support of their leader in game, while guild leaders are second only to Thelanis in how much time they spend in game running their guild. Khyber, as well, tops the survey in most oldest of guilds. This, combined with the 1.4 player consolidation ratio would indicate that that the guild leaders on Khyber plan their guilds, stick to their visions, and offer such compelling variety in play styles and communities that the players on the server simply can’t confine themselves to any one guild. It would also indicate that the guilds on Khyber are ultra specialized, each doing one thing extremely well and sticking to what they know. It is common for Khyber respondents of the survey to state that they were a “x” type of guild, clearly defining who and what they are, yet equally happy to share the player base amongst them to offer players to the server a varied player experience.

Khyber also scored the highest in Officers per guild at 12.29. Over 25% greater than any other guild, as well as highest in guilds represented in the 26-49 and 50+ players, actually outscoring the game average of 2:1.

That’s right, Khyber like’s its guilds large and in charge. Officer and Leader weighted scores also enforces this guild vision and purpose by scoring highest in “upholding guild values” across any of the 5 servers. Although this dedication also meant that other scores suffered in comparison. On Khyber, the guild is the thing. It’s how people define themselves, you belong to “x” guild to be such a way, and if you also belong to “y” guild then you are also displaying a different quality.

Not surprisingly, with guilds displaying such narrow focus and possessing such large time demands on their leaders, and said leader’s failure of to delegate to officers, guild leader burn out is also an issue for Khyber with only 20% of guild leaders still running the guilds they founded. This is also probably helped by the large number of “officers per guild” the server possesses. There is always someone available to assume the reins as guild leaders fall by the way side. Who cares who runs the guild??? The Guild is what is important. The guild will live on!

Yep, you heard me right, On Khyber, the guild seems to transcend it’s leaders and live on by support of it’s officers and rigid adherence in upholding guild values.

Survey Response

How Long Have you been playing DDO? (In Months) 26.65
Since Joining DDO, How many guilds have you belonged to for your main character? 2.29
On Average, how many hours (per week) do you play DDO? 22.29
What is the Longest you have belonged to any one guild? 20.82
DO you join all your characters to 1 guild? Or spread them about as suits your needs?

Same Guild 10
Spread Out 7

Best Benefits of belonging to a guild. Please rate the following in order of importance.

New Friends\Community 8.41
Quest Expertise 7.18
Availability of Loot 6.06
Web Site 5.65
Raids 6.47
Other: Specify 5.24

What is your Age?

0-18 0
19-25 3
26-40 12
41-60 2
60+ 0

What is your Profession?

Professional 12
Blue Collar 3
Self Employed 1
Military 0
Student 1

Current Membership of the Guild

0-5 0
6 to 15 0
16-25 3
26-50 7
50+ 6

How Many Officers 12.29
Does you guild have any alliances with any other guilds? 0.71

Officer Response

How long have you been an officer in your present Guild? 17.29
Have you been an officer before in any other MMO Game?

Yes 2
No 5

How long were you a member of the guild (In Weeks) before you became an officer? 11.00
How many hours per week do you give to officer tasks outside the game? i.e Visiting Guild Web site, Discussing Policy, etc 2.29
How many hours per week do you give in game performing your officer duties? 1.43
Please list the following list from most important to least important

Leading by example 8.14
Upholding Guild Values 7.86
Mentoring 6.71
Supporting Guild Leader Initiatives 5.71
Raids 4.14
Respect of Peers 6.00
Other: (Specify) 3.00

Guild Leader Response

How long have you been The Leader for your Guild? 22.00
Did you succeed your last leader or are you the original Leader?

Founder 1
Inherited 4

How long has your guild been in existence? (In Months) 30.00
Have you been a leader before in any other MMO Game?

Yes 1
No 4

How many hours per week do you give in game to the running of your guild? 7.00
How many hours per week do you give to Guild Leader tasks outside the game? i.e. Visiting Guild Web site, Discussing Policy, event planning, etc 7.80
Please list the following list from most important to least important as a guild leader

Leading by example 8.00
Upholding Guild Values 7.80
Mentoring 6.20
Supporting Guild Leader Initiatives 4.00
Raids 5.00
Respect of Peers 6.60
Other: (Specify) 4.40

Thanks All
Buzz

[BuzzSaw]

Ghallanda

Responses: 15
Player: 33%
Officer: 27%
Leader: 40%

Hey! How’s it going eh?

Of all servers surveyed, Ghallanda has the most free form definition of “guild”. Leading the survey’s lowest hours spent leading scores, both in and out of game, coupled with players on Ghallanda having the lowest score of “time in guild”, with higher than average “Player Character Concentration Ratios”. Couple this with the highest score in “Number of guilds belonged to”, lowest number of hours a week playing and one of the “highest time to wait until becoming an officer” seems to indicate that, overall, guilds are not something that the people of Ghallanda define themselves by.

Lets take a closer look shall we??

The players of Ghallanda have belonged to the most guilds of any other server with 2.53. 20% more then server average. The Player Consolidation ratio for the server is 4:1, 50% greater then survey average. Meaning that it would not be out of place for you to find someone who doesn’t place a lot of value in belonging to just one guild.
These players like to spread the love and join other guilds as suits their needs. Coupling this and the lowest score of “time in guild” 66%, means that migrations from one guild to another is, also, no unheard of, nor would it be out of place to see a lot of people without a guild at all.

Leadership wise, Ghallanda leads the survey in the lowest amount of time by guild leaders actually running the guild (5 hours\week outside and 4 hours\week in game – approximately 25% less than survey average) and this is reflected in their officers also spending the lowest amount of time out of game (1 hour\week – 50% less then average) assisting the guild leader. Clearly, what goes on in Ghallanda stays in Ghallanda and there is little need to worry about them once out of the game.

Original guild leader scores are also low on the server with just 1/3 of all guild leaders still with the guilds they founded. Guild Age, also, is lower than average which, coupled with the lowest scored across all servers for number of hours a week playing, would seem to indicate that guilds form and fall with some regularity. This would also be supported by the highest score for number of guilds belongs to by players on the server. Interestingly, Ghallanda scored second highest in Number of officers in guild with 10.64 AND also scored second highest in number of weeks before promoting to officer 14.75. This would indicate that officer-ship on Ghallanda is more a rank of a full time player rather than someone who assumes more formal responsibility in the day to day running of the guild. Basically, officers in a guild have the title because of their loyalty rather then their actual ability to lead. That is not to say that officers of Ghallanda cannot lead, but rather the title of Officer is more liberally granted than some other more highly regulated guilds on other servers.

As for guild value weights of Officers and Leaders, Ghallanda Leaders lead all other servers in “Leading by example” while their officers scored highest in “Mentoring”, but scored lowest across all servers for “Upholding guild values”. This would indicate a more relaxed guild environment on Ghallanda. A place where people come and play without much structure or demands imposed by the leadership on their players. The Guilds in Ghallanda come to play, not to lead. They come to have fun, not to impose.

Survey Results

How Long Have you been playing DDO? (In Months) 23.87
Since Joining DDO, How many guilds have you belonged to for your main character? 2.53
On Average, how many hours (per week) do you play DDO? 21.20
What is the Longest you have belonged to any one guild? 15.73
DO you join all your characters to 1 guild? Or spread them about as suits your needs?

Same Guild 12
Spread Out 3

If you do not belong to a guild, how long have you been “un-guilded” 12.00
Best Benefits of belonging to a guild. Please rate the following in order of importance.

New Friends\Community 8.53
Quest Expertise 7.53
Availability of Loot 6.27
Web Site 6.00
Raids 6.53
Other: Specify 4.53

What is your Age?

0-18 1
19-25 3
26-40 9
41-60 2
60+ 0

What is your Profession?

Professional 10
Blue Collar 0
Self Employed 0
Military 2
Student 3

Current Membership of the Guild

0-5 0
6 to 15 2
16-25 6
26-50 3
50+ 3

How Many Officers 10.64
Does you guild have any alliances with any other guilds? 0.93

Officer Responses

How long have you been an officer in your present Guild? 21.00
Have you been an officer before in any other MMO Game?

Yes 1
No 3

How long were you a member of the guild (In Weeks) before you became an officer? 14.75
How many hours per week do you give to officer tasks outside the game? i.e Visiting Guild Web site, Discussing Policy, etc 1.00
How many hours per week do you give in game performing your officer duties? 3.25
Please list the following list from most important to least important

Leading by example 7.75
Upholding Guild Values 7.00
Mentoring 7.50
Supporting Guild Leader Initiatives 4.50
Raids 5.50
Respect of Peers 6.75
Other: (Specify) 3.00

Guild Leader Response

How long have you been The Leader for your Guild? 10.83
Did you succeed your last leader or are you the original Leader?

Founder 2
Inherited 4

How long has your guild been in existence? (In Months) 24.67
Have you been a leader before in any other MMO Game?

Yes 2
No 4

How many hours per week do you give in game to the running of your guild? 4.50
How many hours per week do you give to Guild Leader tasks outside the game? i.e. Visiting Guild Web site, Discussing Policy, event planning, etc 5.83
Please list the following list from most important to least important as a guild leader

Leading by example 8.83
Upholding Guild Values 7.50
Mentoring 6.17
Supporting Guild Leader Initiatives 5.50
Raids 5.00
Respect of Peers 6.00
Other: (Specify) 3.00

[BuzzSaw]

Argonessen

Responses: 14
Player: 43%
Officer: 21%
Leader: 36%

It’s good to be king…

Argonessen is a statistical middle of the road server with Section A questionnaire responses coming straight down the middle. None of the responses indicated any extreme inclination towards any one activity or attitude. In fact, they are so middle-of-the-road that one might suspect there is nothing to see…move along…

But looking a little more closely, one can draw some interesting information from the responses….

Argonessen leads the survey in most players who have played the longest in DDO. 27.43 months compared to the server average of 25.61 months. Argonessen also leads the servers with its Player Consolidation Score by a whopping 13:1.

Remarkably, the players of Argonessen also shows one of the lowest “In guild” scores. With players expecting to spend close to 25% of their life in DDO unguided. But once they find a guild, it’s all characters in. This tendency to go “all in” with characters yet have such a low “Total time in guild” score seems to point to the players in Argonessen have a hesitancy to commit to a guild structure, as it exists in DDO, but once they do find something that they like, they fully commit to it, bringing all their characters in from the cold.

From a guild leadership standpoint, Argonessen also shows some interesting trends…

From a leadership point of view, Guild leaders scored slightly below average in time spent running the guild, both, inside and outside the game, but the guild officers are reporting the most time spent in game running the guild of all five servers surveyed, with officers spending over twice the server average, 7 hours a week, helping the guild leader.

Further to this comparison, Guild leaders are actually putting in less time running the guild then their officers. 5 hours\week for leaders vs 7 hours\week for officers. Coupling this with the fact that Argonessen Guild leaders scored “Mentoring” as one of their most important tasks, and it would seem to indicate that the guild leaders lead the guild, but only so far as telling their officers what they want and then letting the officers do their thing.

Factor in that Argonessen has the highest original guild leader values (60% - 50% higher than all server average) and it becomes clear that it is, indeed, good to be king on Argonessen. Leaders delegate, Officers perform, with most putting in 25% more hours than the leader running the guild. But, judging by the average age of guild for the server is 25 months. (average across all servers) this arrangement seems to working out fine for the guilds of Argonessen.

Argonessen’s middle of the road values combined with higher weekly play times, greater guild loyalty, original guild leader retention and higher than average Officer participation, would seem to rule out any extreme attitudes in leadership and point to a more “fun” and friendly approach to guild life on Argonessen. With People belonging to a guild because the people there are fun and good to be around, rather than belonging to a guild because of a goal needing to be reached irrespective of how they feel about their guild mates.

Survey Results

How Long Have you been playing DDO? (In Months) 27.43
Since Joining DDO, How many guilds have you belonged to for your main character? 2.36
On Average, how many hours (per week) do you play DDO? 23.36
What is the Longest you have belonged to any one guild? 20.93
DO you join all your characters to 1 guild? Or spread them about as suits your needs?

Same Guild 13
Spread Out 1

Best Benefits of belonging to a guild. Please rate the following in order of importance.

New Friends\Community 8.50
Quest Expertise 7.36
Availability of Loot 5.93
Web Site 5.43
Raids 6.64
Other: Specify 5.14

What is your Age?

0-18 1
19-25 0
26-40 11
41-60 2
60+ 0

What is your Profession?

Professional 10
Blue Collar 1
Self Employed 1
Military 1
Student 1

Current Membership of the Guild

0-5 0
6 to 15 0
16-25 6
26-50 5
50+ 3

How Many Officers 10.21
Does you guild have any alliances with any other guilds? 1.14

Officer Response

How long have you been an officer in your present Guild? 21.00
Have you been an officer before in any other MMO Game?

Yes 2
No 1

How long were you a member of the guild (In Weeks) before you became an officer? 8.00
How many hours per week do you give to officer tasks outside the game? i.e Visiting Guild Web site, Discussing Policy, etc 1.67
How many hours per week do you give in game performing your officer duties? 7.00
Please list the following list from most important to least important

Leading by example 8.00
Upholding Guild Values 7.00
Mentoring 6.00
Supporting Guild Leader Initiatives 7.33
Raids 4.67
Respect of Peers 6.00
Other: (Specify) 3.00

Guild Leader Response

How long have you been The Leader for your Guild? 25.20
Did you succeed your last leader or are you the original Leader?

Founder 3
Inherited 2

How long has your guild been in existence? (In Months) 25.20
Have you been a leader before in any other MMO Game?

Yes 4
No 1

How many hours per week do you give in game to the running of your guild? 5.00
How many hours per week do you give to Guild Leader tasks outside the game? i.e. Visiting Guild Web site, Discussing Policy, event planning, etc 7.40
Please list the following list from most important to least important as a guild leader

Leading by example 8.80
Upholding Guild Values 7.20
Mentoring 7.60
Supporting Guild Leader Initiatives 5.60
Raids 5.20
Respect of Peers 4.40
Other: (Specify) 3.20

[BuzzSaw]

Hey Hey All…

Well, time to wrap up the Guildlife Life in guild survey with some interesting server comparisons and then give my thoughts on the whole thing before I finally put the whole thing to bed once and for all.

OK, first thing we are gonna look at is Server Min\Max values. Numbers Highlighted in Red Represent Highest Score and Values in White represent Lowest Score.

Miscellaneous Facts

OK, Now my thoughts about the whole thing…Hey! After I released the results a couple of weeks back, one of the noobs on Thelanis actually wrote me a very thoughtful and intelligent letter that read as follows… (Don’t worry noob from Thelanis, I won’t mention you name in case you might loose your rep with the homies….)

I was trying to get at perception vs reality - under which I would include perception of how a population is viewed and of how a population views itself. As a guild leader perception is often more important than reality in the ability to successfully maintain a guild that has the reality we want. What I was wondering is if you had a feeling (across all the servers) about the results. Are they how reality is, how its wanted to be, how its wanted to be seen, is it representative, is it honest, etc.

Now that is a great question! At the time I wrote Noobie back and told him so and I would have to think about it. And I am still thinking about it. I mean, Perception vs. Reality, in any environment, very often is the same thing. And I just don’t have the time to dwell on that today…that is a hallway of razor blades that I just don’t want to go down today. But his second line about Perception of how a population is viewed vs how it views itself.

And if there is one thing I wanted to do going into this survey was, I felt anyways, none of the servers had a very good perception on how they were viewed or rated as it pertained to life in guild. And I was very careful here, because life in guild is NOT the same thing as life in server. Tolero already took care of that, and GOD I wish we could get another some day…

So for all of you guys who howled and brayed about some great server accomplishment totally missed the point. A server accomplishment has nothing to do with life in guild. You see, one is server related, the other is group related. It’s like you can pick your friends but not your family. Your friends are your guild. But your family is the server. What I wanted to write about was your friends and the circles that you formed.

So, I believe anyway, if we have any optic issues with my conclusions, I think a lot of confusion could be cleared up by simply reminding people that this survey did not define you as a server. It defined how people were doing with their relationships on the server.

As for the accuracy of the survey, I don’t know. I mean I would like to think the surveys were answered truthfully. But a close acquaintance of mine warned me before I stated that “people are going to lie. I don’t know why but they will…” And I can see that. Maybe a guild leader placing Mentoring ahead of Raids because that’s how he would like to be viewed as and make himself feel better when in truth the exact opposite is the reality. That’s not a sign of a bad person, that just a sign of an ego wrestling with ones morality. And we all do that everyday, Say on thing to make us feel better and look better to our peers while thinking the exact opposite. Hey! Welcome to the human race. But as it pertains to the survey, I believe they were, for the most part, answered as fairly and honestly as people could let themselves answer them.

In Canada, we are going to the polls in October to elect a new Prime Minster. A Survey last week polled 1,508 people Out of a country wide population of 30 million and they could say that the survey had a 5% margin of error 19 times our of 20. That is a pretty amazing thing. And it leads me to believe that, although my sample was small, maybe it wasn’t as out to lunch as might be first to be believed. What’s my margin of Error ? Well, without knowing server populations, I don’t know what my margin of error would be. I am sure it’s not 5% margin of error 19 / 20 times. But I also don’t think the results were garbage either. Alas, I simply cannot tell you my margin of error.

And this brings me to if I would ever do this again… I don’t know. I mean it was a ton of work, and took a lot of time out of my play time to make happen. If I were to do it again, I would set up a form on my web site that people could go to and enter there, that would make tabulations A LOT better and smoother. But if it were ever to happen again, I would definitely wait until I had at least 100 responses from each server. And they what happens if 1 or 2 servers never bothers to input more that 49 responses ? Then what do you do ? And how long to you keep the responses open? A month? 4 months? A year?

Look, I took a chance that this was something people were interested in knowing. I put something together, ran it up the flagpole and I stuck it out there, and I Asked you guys for some effort and this is what we came up with.

Maybe in the end, the number of responses I received tells the biggest story about the people who play Dungeons and Dragons on line. Or maybe not…make of it what you will.

And that is not just perception, that too is reality.

Thanks All
Buzz