Need input - what to do with your guild's gold?

[wesden]

Hello,
I'm working on guilds and forums here at Gaia, and I need your help. I understand that guilds gather up quite a bit of gold (from donations and fees) but you can't do too much with them (buy sub-forums).

What would be the best way to use the guild gold? I'm looking to get ideas for specific features or functionality. What would you want to do most?

Please let me know in your reply if you are a guild OWNER, CAPTAIN, CO-CAP, CREW or MEMBER.

Thanks! I look forward to reading your ideas!

[Incinerella]

Buying prizes for winners of guild competitions would be great and would save having to set up a guild mule, though I'm not sure how you'd stop some guild Captains donating prizes to themselves or their mules to sell, effectively leaching the funds? (ro a seperate prize fund that members could donate to?)

Perhaps we could have a 'Guild Mascot' (could just be a seperate guild avatar that the owner could buy items for out of guild funds.
Maybe you could also buy features for the guild like a guild aquarium?
IDK whether these would be possible or popular - just occured to me whilst I was writing!

Member/Owner maybe one day

x

[Pilotslover]

Guild Captain, Moderator, Crew (Too many guilds ... xD)

1 - The ability to pay a fee to use Mass PM's, this would be a God send like you wouldn't believe.

2 - To use Guild gold as contest prizes rather then out of the crews pockets.

That's all I can think of right now ...

PL

[GamesTesterJan]

I would like to have a guild/clan bank where members can donate to and the captain could transfer this gold to either his/her account or to another member. This way the gold could be used for clan hosted competitions or fees for services.

We maintain a "CIS = Clan Information Signature" banner it's more of a zOMG HUD which displays a users details and which zOMG rings they use and the CL etc. The HUD itself is free for rank ups but some members like to change theirs often so we charge 2,500g for an upgrade which goes into a mule account, it would be much more convenient if they could pay this fee into the clan bank as a donation and entitle the donation so it is logged. That way rather then me having to confirm with the artist if the transfer was completed the artist could access the donations roster and see the user entitled donation as "CIS Upgrade" with amount and process the order quicker.


If the captain could transfer the gold from the guild/clan bank it could be used for clan/guild events which would make communities more fun and exciting. I would like to see a transfer log much like a trade log so people can view who donated what and their reason. I could also stop maintaining a donation mule, we have given out over 500k in prizes it would be nice to display this information somehow too using the clan/guild bank.

[Indecisive]

[The Indecisive Color]

Member/Crew/Owner/Captain

It would be nice to be able to give gifts/prizes via the guild account, without a gold transfer from guild to captain.

Edit; Another thing that would be interesting, to say the least, is a guild private world, a part of towns only able to be accessed by guild members.

[/The Indecisive Color]

[WindowOpener]

(I'm an owner and crew in a few guilds)

On the grander end of the spectrum, the first ideas in my head for guild gold are those mentioned at a convention a few years ago - something called "Guild Halls" was talked about. It probably never got off the ground and would take a long time to start up, but I believe it was intended to integrate guilds with Towns (like a massive Home that belongs to a whole guild). That would definitely be a feature deserving of gold investment by guilds.

There could be a range of avatar items that can only be obtained when a captain buys them with guild gold (for all guild members). That sounds dodgy, but it's an idea. You guys could probably design it cleverly. whee It leads to the idea of a sort of guild shop.

There are also layouts, which people have been wanting to customise for a while. I'm personally not a fan of the idea of captains changing the colour schemes of their forum pages, but even just home pages could be good. If the home page is redesigned similar to profiles, this becomes moot. But if it's redesigned a little differently, perhaps guild gold could purchase "widgets" for it. Everybody loves widgets these days...

Definitely some kind of contest system that facilitates a secure 'prize' bank that can be fairly distributed at the end would be great.

One comment I'd like to repeat here is that I'd prefer that administrative features (subforums, mass PMs) don't cost gold under the new system. While many guilds are sitting on mountains of gold that they don't know what to do with, we've even seen captains go overboard with subforums. But if that gold could be used to buy more novel things, such as layouts or Halls or items, all that 'spare' gold won't be floating around (and nor should it). It would be good if administrative decisions were separate from economical ones, imo.

[shall she sail seas]

1. Option of disabling donations
   Not entirely related... but important. I know that a lot of people are preventing members from donating directly to the guilds. Instead, they request that donations be sent to a guild mule so that it could be used for competitions and events. In my case, I find that guild donations are completely useless because I have sufficient funds for making subforums and we don't have any events taking place. If captains/v.captains are able to disable donations when they are not needed, it would take away a lot of the hassle of telling members if it's appropriate to donate or not.
   
   
2. Option/obligation of transparency
   Some captains/v.captains may want to make sure that all members are on the same page in terms of guild finances. I personally made a subforum in my own guild specifically for that purpose. No surprises, no claims of cheating/scamming, no "omgwtf did you do to my money?". I keep a public log of who donated how much and when. No matter what you develop in terms of expanding guild account usage, people are going to use it creatively, possibly in ways that you don't expect and ways that may be difficult to control. This may be particularly useful for making sure that guild funds are being used honestly.
   
   
3. Prize distribution
   Well... no duh. A lot of people seem to like hosting competitions and events in their guilds. The ability for captains to distribute gold to winners through the guild account is pretty much vital at this point in the evolution of guilds. If possible, a guild inventory for items would be a great addition for things like Secret Santa. I am NOT for transferring guild gold to a specific member account though.
   
   
4. Ability to refund
   I've personally never heard of stories about members/ex-members asking to refund a guild donation, but it seems likely to happen. An "undo" option may come in handy if the captain/v.captain finds it unnecessary to have donations or if there are any money disputes that can be resolved quickly with a simple refund.
   
   
5. Auto distribution
   This is for contests based on luck or even post-count. I've seen threads in the main forum where contests are based on dice-rolling, whoever reaches the millionth post, etc. For captains/v.captains with more coding background (which I'm sure are many), the ability for them to code when a prize needs to be distributed would take away a lot of the hassle of having to check each post to identify the winner.

I advocate the first 3 points most strongly. The rest are kinda add-ons.
I'm a captain, v.captain and member of a few different guilds.

[T3h Antek]

Captain of 3 Guilds.

Owner of "Guild updates" Petition Guild Updates Petition

I've only taken out ideas to do with gold, if in future you would like some more ideas
please go over the thread and it's ideas posted up by users, some of them are on
the front page but MANY are still just in the thread so take 30 min and read
over it when you have time, cut out anything you see worth taking interest in.


Some ideas that pop up in the thread about what to do with the gold :

Lexenos the Bard

I sign.
I also have an idea for suggestions. The guild gold, make it so the captain can withdraw from the guild's account as prizes for any guild competitions, or something. It gets useless pretty fast when it's just sitting there and you already have 10 subforums. (Original idea by The Almighty Spoot.)

coldheartedangel

Hmm i can't remember if i signed this or not so if i haven't i will.
Also with the guild gold.
If that could be used to help fund contests and things that are run in guilds. Cause as a Crew member in a large guild alot of the time the problem falls to me and other Crew members to fund it out of our own pockets. We don't mind doing this but there is some 200k sitting in the guild account and we are not planning on having anymore subs.

coldheartedangel

I also think that the guild gold should be able to be used to run contests and other things that alot of guilds run.I know when we run them it cost us Crew a small fortune to fund it, which i don't mind but we have several hundred k sitting on our account doing nothing.We have no need for more subs.

Monster Bouquet

Sign me please

And guilds shoud, as a whole, receive bi-monthly wages.
[Prices are negotiable]
Guild Owner:
A sum larger than the rest of the guild as they've invested the most. 10k every two weeks.
Guild Crew:
Building up from 500k, they would receive 10 gold more with every 2 weeks gone.
They can earn up to 5k bi-monthly.
Guildees:
Beginning with 100 gold, they will receive 10 gold more as each two weeks pass. They can earn up tp 2k bi-monthly.

However--to ensure that poeple don't start inactive guilds soley for the purpose of making money, the guild will have to have a minimum of 100 members for the gold distribution to begin.
Also, a minimum of 30 posts must be made per day.
If someone were to leave a guild and join a new one, the amount of money they earn would begin again--start over.

Lokumun

I sign. GGN needs an update badly.

Many of your ideas on the front page are great. The guild calendar, guild announcements, organizing guild members (near impossible to actually find someone as it is now), adjustable crew/member powers, Guild NPC... all of those ideas are great.

Personally, I'd like to have adjustable member titles, which each member can set for themselves, and it would be shown under their name.

I'd also really appreciate THE ABILITY TO TURN OFF GUILD DONATIONS!!!!! Many guilds (such as my own) get so much more money than they could possibly spend, and all that money goes to waste. I'd like the ability to plainly turn off the ability to donate, or more things to buy with guild revenue.

And like Dranzer said, a 'users currently viewing' thing would be great, not only for guilds, but for all of Gaia.

Good luck!

Sher!ock

[[guild gold]]
Furthermore, it's bothersome that if someone donates to the guild,
you can only use it to buy subforums, that I know of.
You can't take it out to use as prizes or anything like that.
So I think there should be guild storage accessible to Captain & Vices,
where you can keep gold or items to be used for the guild.
A lot of mules have been made to store those guild prizes.

Ebony the Peacian Vampire

I definitely sign! An update in the GGN is not only exciting, but desperately needed.

I just have two suggestions to add up there, that I think would be very, very efficient.

1. Under Guild Gold--& I think that the guild captain deserves to have access to the guild treasury. As we all know, guild donations go down a bottomless toilet if they're not needed for subforums and stuff. But sometimes, people lose valuable gold thinking that they're donating to a good cause that will actually benefit the guild, but in reality, the guild may have no need for the gold. But it's already too late, because no one has access to the treasury. I think that the captain should have access to the treasury, and can have only two options as to where the gold can go: to the treasury, to stay and benefit the guild, or back to the original owner of the gold. The captain should be able to use individual pieces of gold; meaning, if only about 2OO gold is needed for a new subforum, but someone's donated 1,OOO, the captain should be able to give back the 8OO gold to its donor or keep it in the treasury.

Other Ideas :
1. Able to use the gold as wages for jobs done on the guild by members.
2. Use the gold to buy a home for the guild or an entire village in towns
3. A guild aquarium that can be stocked by the guilds gold
4. Guild items, a shop that sells items only to guild captains so we can give them
to our members in contests or whatever.
5. Using the gold to pay a Gaian NPC to advertise a guild/clan, I really like this idea
as it would take gold out of the economy and also help guild's advertise, the advertisement
could be random around Gaia forums, maybe the guild would be able to chose in which area
of Gaia they would like their advertising to pop up.
6. Let us design a Guild Logo that we can wear on T-shirts, one simple T-shirt
with thousands of different designs and patters that guild owners can chose and buy to
give to members. Like in WoW for guilds.










This one I'm just adding as it's to do with currency not necessarily gold in the guild bank
but maybe it gives an idea that you can use.

hehaku tokuo

I will sign of course.

This is a suggestion for roleplaying guilds mainly. Though it will be a pretty big jump to actually have it, but this is simply a suggestion.

[ To possibly have a money system as a choice to have in the guild. This money would be separate than the normal Gaian gold that members have. This could useful in some roleplays because instead of having to 'count lines,' 'calculate the amount of what you get,' it would automatically be set from the Captain of the guild. This could be set so members would only gain that money in certain sub-forums. ]

Like I said having this in a guild would probably be a long ways away and would be a big jump as an update for a guilds.

[too2sweet]

I'm captain, VC, and crew on several guilds and a clan.

Being able to use the gold to fund guild contests would really awesome. Also maybe make an incentive system that gives out extra gold to members for being active in your guilds, or a recruiting incentive- the amount could be set by the Captian based on what was available in the account.

I also liked the suggestion that was already made about using the gold to pay for a mass PM type feature (though I do understand the other main issues on that). Not sure if us paying for it would help that or not.

I also like the idea of being able to use the gold to buy special guild items or to be able to have extra customizations for the guild's layout.

biggrin

[one_shav3d_leg]

1. As a guild owner/ captain/vice-captain, I think it would be WONDERFUL if there were a way to use the guild's gold to give away as prize(s) instead of having to come "out of pocket";
2. There should be a way that the guild pays for the use of banners, etc.;
3. an area designated for prize(s) whichh are to be won from a contest w/in said guild- kind of like the "post action" sequence for "display inventory" when posting to a thread;
4. the ability to re-arrange the guild's member names, and add a description (such as: guild captain/ vice captain/ head of finances/ art director/ etc., etc.;
5. guild logo buttons/ badges- when/ if a guild wishes to have a banner, the ability to include a badge of some sort to keep track of past winners from the specified guild.
6. AND, how about a way to notify the captain/ vice-captain/ mod. of new posts? Not just that there WAS a new post, but, also WHERE it was posted? All and all, this would make getting to the posts easier- inn case of "emergency edits.

[Pilotslover]

I don't think I like the idea of wages ...

Strikes me as a waste of funds since chances are if you're a crew member of a guild you don't NEED to be paid to be there.

[Lord Barric Darragh]

Ohaye, I can understand why regular Crew shouldn't be paid on wages, but, I gave my idea in the New Captain's Guild, though I'm not sure Wesden was paying attention to that. =_,O

Okay, here's a way to uplift any unfair wages from being output:

----------

Specific jobs for Crew - Have members of the Crew area take on specific, official roles to be paid.

Set a certain allowance for these roles - Put up a menu in a guild's Moderator Panel for Captains and Vice Captains to set wages for each individual Crew every time a Crew member does what their role calls for.

Keep wages from being handed out to inactive Crew members - Specific enough, but it calls for the previous point above.

Individual wages for Crew - The ability to set individual wages for individual Crew members.

Guilds that aren't as bad as others - Some guilds are naturally well without things such as spammers or what have you, making wages basically useless. This can be fixed in that, all a Captain or Vice Captain needs to do is set Crew member's wages to a lower standard.

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These wages will not only give Guilds something more to do with their gold accounts, but also help most people with basic business techniques, like managing a business with employees, the responsibility of being an employee, and the hardships of bankruptcy! =D Well, that last part won't be very fun, but it will keep things like the economic problems of today happening with the voices and minds of tomorrow (no matter how stupid many of them may seem).


These factors of setting more things needed to use for gold may, however, get rid of many of the poorer guilds run by basic members. This could be good, but can also set a hard setback to most users, because more than half don't seem to realize just how easy it is to get gold without begging for it. =_,O

[Pilotslover]

You haven't said anything that convinces me that wages are a good idea ...

Why would guild crew need wages?

We've already chosen to be crew, why would we need to be paid to do it? I'm sorry, I guess I don't understand what the motivation would be behind giving people money for something they're doing out of fun.

[momo_mania]

I think the Captain and Co-Captain should be able to take money out and put money in so it can be used for contests and auctions and stuff like that.