Deserted Guilds?

On most of them nothing happens; the guild leader is more active on the Neopets Boards advertising his (or her) guild than doing things on the guild itself.

Of course, if there aren't any members, nobody will join your conversation on the Message Board and nobody will participate in nice things you set up in your guild.

And the same the other way around; if you don't do anything fun in your guild, no one joins. Who wants to join a guild where nothing happens?

How to get your own guild started, then?

Being a guild leader myself for almost two years now, and having answered loads of questions about new guilds, I thought it would be handy to write down my tips for you, new guild leaders. Loads of people start their own guild. With so many guilds, it becomes more and more difficult to start one for yourself, and the most important part is to make sure your guild has some members. The first thing to think about is if you really have the time for it. On this one, I went wrong. I’m very lucky I have nice people to help me in my guild. Are you someone who holds on to things or someone who lets them slip if they are too difficult? If you want to create a nice guild, you have to put a lot of your time into it.

Still want to become a guild leader? Here are my tips for you.

To make things easier for you, I will put my ideas for you in a list.

1. The layout of your guild.

The first thing people who could probably join your guild see is the layout.

So this means that if your layout looks very attractive, your guild itself gets more attractive to join. The easiest thing to do, of course, is just typing some text of what your guild is about and leaving it that way. This doesn't makes your guild look nice, so it's not a good idea.

Another easy thing to do is getting a layout that is already made by someone else from some site. Your guild will look very professional and it will have loads of nice pictures on.

I think some of you won't agree with me, but I personally don't like those layouts. (Let's call those layouts 'pre-mades'.) Often they are stuffed with pictures and places to write your things in, but there is so much to see in one time that it is difficult to really find what you need. Of course, pictures are very nice, but too much is too much. Another complaint is that everyone can see that you didn't made this yourself. It isn't original at all.

I think the best thing you can use for a layout is something you made yourself. Read the HTML-guide or ask questions to other Neopians; I'm sure you'll manage - if you really try, that is. You'll be surprised how nice your guild can look with some nice colours and pictures.

Try some different colours or pictures together; you could even use shop-blogs!

2. The theme.

There is an enormous amount of guilds on Neopets, so you have to make sure your theme is not an average one. You have to be a bit special. Find something you like, and base your guild on that. Perhaps you love collecting stamps on Neopets; start a guild for stamp-collectors!

People who like to do the same thing as you won't think your guild is just average; it now has something in it they sure like. It's also nice to have members who like the same things. You can help each other. When you have picked a theme for your guild, making its layout also becomes a lot easier. When you have an Illusen-guild for example (like mine!) you can put Illusen pictures on the layout. The background colours I use are some different green colours. I think those fit in the best with my Illusen theme. If you have decided to make a guild for stamp-collectors, you could put up pictures with the newest stamps.

3. Text

Something I also see very much on guilds, and which looks very bad on a nice guild: writing text, but writing words completely wrong, or using messenger-language.

This is definitely a DON'T for people who make guilds.

If you aren’t used to writing normal words on your PC, practise. It is much nicer to read. Maybe this sounds a bit odd, but if your writing is mostly in messenger-language or your words are spelled wrong, people won’t take you that serious as a guild leader.

4. Activities

Nice, a guild, but very boring when there is nothing to do. Make sure you check your guild often to post messages or set up nice things your members can participate in. When there is something to do, people will come back to check if there's something new, or post messages. And, mostly when starting a guild, this is what you want!

Talk with your guild members; this way more and more people will join the conversation.

Another good thing about that is that you know better what is going on in your guild (which is very important!) and that you get to know what your guild members think and want. This way you know what you have to change about your guild and what they like. It is very satisfying to get some compliments after all of that work.

5. Be yourself.

What does this have to do with having a guild?

By 'being yourself' I mean do what you want to do, and not what people might want who might join your guild.

You'll enjoy your guild much more.

6. Listen to what your members say. Your guild isn't only for your own fun. It is very satisfying to have a running guild with happy guild members. :) Listen to tips from other Neopians; they might be right sometimes.

Now I'll stop bothering you.

Good luck in your guild, and maybe you'll find out you like being a guild member better than being a guild leader.

The most important thing is that you have fun on Neopets!