Guild Creation and Maintenance Tips

This page is still in its very early stages and in its brainstorming phase. Feel free to add ideas without worrying too much about structure and format. When in doubt, you should probably just add your description to a similar one instead of overwriting it - we can then condense them to the best phrasing in the end.

If you want to contribute here, you might also find this page's associated Talk page interesting!

About
See subheaders.

The plan is that in the end, everyone who creates a public guild (possibly also a private guild?) should be directed to this page and given a friendly nudge to actually read it.

Until then, the plan is that this wiki page should be linked to from the wiki Guilds page.

Guild Creation
Please add text here.

What are guilds?
Guilds are for people who share an idea, an ideal, a hobby, fellow fans, or have some other common ground and want to challenge others who share that passion. Members of a guild can create and share challenges with other guild members and have a forum discussing the guild's topic (and anything else).

Should I make a party instead?
Guilds cannot quest together; if you want to fight monsters with other people, you will need to form a party instead.

Who should make a public guild?
Someone who plans to stay active in Habitica for a while. It also helps a lot if you already more or less know your way around Habitica, know what features there are, and have seen some good examples of thriving guilds and bad examples of dead guilds.

Does such a public guild already exist? Should I create a similar public guild if one already exists?
Is there already a guild with either the same name (yes, that's technically possible), or the same topic, or a very similar topic, or a topic that already includes the one you have in mind? (Example: If you want to start a guid about crocheting, and there is already a guild about knitting, crocheting, stitching and similar needlework, then that guild already includes the topic you had in mind.)

If such a similar guild already exists, it usually isn't a good idea to start a duplicate one. Possible exceptions: Even if you think creating a similar guild is justified, you should never create a public guild with exactly the same name as an already existing public guild. (Or if you think there are special technical reasons why you should, you should definitely ask admin first.)
 * The existing guild is very popular and already overflowing with chat - so there is enough demand for several such guilds. (Example: There are currently at least two thriving book guilds.)
 * The existing guild has some problem that can't be solved within that guild. (Many problems can be solved within the guild though. Examples: If a guild leader is inactive, admins can transfer leadership to someone else if the old leader has been away for more than a year. If search terms are missing or there are other problems with the guild description, moderators can add search terms and change wording if the guild leader can't be contacted.)

How do I find out if a similar guild already exists?
You should always check if a guild exists. Thankfully, there is a complete list of public guilds on the Guilds Page. There is a search bar at the top of the page, and you can search for terms related to your topic.

The search is for exactly the text you type in. For example, if you type "school exam", the search doesn't find all guilds that include either the word "school" or the word "exam", nor even all guilds that contain both words, but only guilds that contain exactly the term "school exam". (A feature that fixes that has already been requested.) If you want to find all guilds that contain either the word "school" or the word "exam", you have to do separate searches for each word.

You might also find guilds with similar topics by looking at the Guilds Guide wiki page - but that page isn't complete.

Does my guild have a chance to survive with such a topic? How can I make an educated guess?
(add stuff. Topic not too narrow, not too vague)

If the topic is very narrow (for example: basket weaving), the guild is unlikely to survive. It's probably a good idea to look for a guild with a similar but broader topic (in this example: arts and crafts, crafting handmade things), and start talking about the topic there. (If you find very many people there who are interested in the topic, you can always ask them if they would like the topic to have its own guild.)

Additional examples : a guild about a certain activity in a certain language should be discussed in the guild about that language or in the guild of that activity in english (often is the widest) ; a guild focused on a place (university, town, small country) shouldn't be public, unless there was active information about Habitica in that place ; same goes for websites with small communities.

If the topic is too broad and vague though, the guild is unlikely to survive, too. (Example: Self improvement! Well, isn't most of Habitica about self improvement? What could people talk about in such a guild that they couldn't already talk about more specifically in other guilds?) In such a case, it would be a good idea to think about how you want that guild to be different from those that already exist, and narrow down the topic accordingly.

Additional examples : art in general should be divided into more specific art ; sciences can be divided into more specific subjects for more focused discussions ; communication is to be divided by mean of communication ; crafting can probably be separated depending on the raw material used or the goal.

You never know until you try! Actually, one good suggestion is to ask in the Tavern if people would be interested in a guild on your topic. If a few people think it's a good idea, go for it.

What do I need to get started?
Four gems and a good idea. (The reason guilds cost gems is to avoid people just randomly making guilds.)   The idea is much more important! If you don't have the gems, there are workarounds. (You can ask at the Pirate Cove if they currently have a "used guild" to give away for free. Or you can ask someone with gems if they can make a guild for you, then take their gems back from the guild bank via challenge, then make you guild leader there. Or if you already have a private guild, you can ask an admin to make it public.) But usually those workarounds involve at least one other person - so you'd better have a good idea what your new guild should be about, because they are much more likely to help you create one if they like your guild concept!

Guild name and descriptions?
Should really make clear what the guild is about. Include search terms! For goodness' sake, add all the right search terms, or no one will ever find it!

Guild logo?
Copyright is complicated. Pictures are pretty.

If you really want a logo, get a member to do you a pixel art, or do it yourself.

What is that speech bubble thingy for?
The official name of the speech bubble thingy is "Message from group leader". (To-Do: Add link to description of that feature on Guilds wiki page as soon as that description exists.)

The speech bubble is a good place to put additional information, helpful links, and temporary info about current events.

Markdown formatting in the speech bubble works and makes sense. (Excessive formatting and linking in the guild description itself will just show up messed-up in the guilds list at the moment - though that may change in the future?)

(For an example of a well-formatted speech bubble with links, maybe look at the one of the Guild Leaders & Challenge Creators?)

Note that if there's a leader change, the name of the new leader will appear over that speech bubble thingy, and it will look as if the new leader said what the old leader said, if they doesn't remember to change it. (No, wait that's unimportant for creation and should go somewhere under "leader change".)

Wait, there are settings? I can allow or forbid others to make challenges?
Advantages, disadvantages. Are there other settings?

Gems and Guild Bank
Which challenge draws its gem prize from where. How to get your gems back. If you have a good guild idea but no gems, see What do I need to get started?.

Please add more here, and write something about new guilds needing promotion to find members, and to please read that section, too.

Should I make my guild private instead? What are the differences, advantages, disadvantages?
[please add text]

Private (+ fit for very marginal subjects; - harder to find members (maybe by looking in other guilds) ; - have to invite members ; ... ) -> conclusion : great for large groups of friends, or secret societies, who want to stay accountable or as a private chat for certain members of a larger guild, but terrible for wider subjects.

Public (- Too many guilds kills guilds; - Trolls may come in (quite rarely though) ; - harder to keep track of members ; + members can flow in and out easily ; = can invite members; + can be revived by pirates (or plundered)) -> conclusion : great for general topic, bad for teams or restricted communities, or very marginal subjects, that are only partially present in other guilds.

Guild Promotion
is meant to attract members to the guild. Help them find and notice the guild (they'll find that useful), but don't spam!

Bulletin Board
A great place to share the news of your guild is The Bulletin Board 📌

Guilds Guide
bla and link

Awww, ya guild leaders know what more stuff to add here...
please add more such subheaders + text

Being active in the guild
As guild leader, it is good practice to look in on your guild as often as possible. Daily is ideal, but at least a couple of times a week is essential.

It is not necessary to post in your guild every day or even every week if the chat is flowing steadily. You will soon get used to the normal level of activity in the guild. Some guilds are very active with dozens of posts each day. Others tick over more slowly with just one or two posts per week. If conversation flags, try to post something of interest, respond to something a guild member has said, remind them of an ongoing challenge, etc. A successful guild will usually have one or two members who do this quite naturally, but as leader, it should be your responsibility to ensure that a guild doesn't die simply for the lack of a little input on your part.

Being contactable
It is possible to opt out of the Habitica private message system. However, if you are going to run a public guild and especially if you plan to run challenges in your guild, it is very important that your guild members can contact you if they have any queries about the guild or any challenges being run in it. If you don't feel comfortable accepting private messages, then perhaps running a public guild is not for you. If you have previously opted out of the private message system, please make sure you opt back in before creating your public guild. If you absolutely don't want to get involved in the Habitica inbox, provide an email as an alternative to contact you in your profile description. Also, please remember that the iOS and Android apps do not give access to your personal inbox. If you normally interact with Habitica by means of an app, you need to remember to log in using the browser to check your inbox at least once a week in case anyone has tried to contact you with a query.

Maybe something about moderation?
Most of the time, if you notice something that violates community guidelines, you will have to report it to a moderator. If you can, try to explain as well as you can why you report to the moderator. In that regard, you are not different from any other member. The real difference is actually that you have to be more present and more vigilant than the members. It is your role for example to prevent invasive advertising, to prevent spam and to report messages that violate the community guidelines even if you don't yourself feel offended by what was said.

You are also free to warn a member and to tell him to delete and rewrite his message, if you don't feel like it's intentionally bad. If the member does it, you've spared work to the mods, if not, it's not late to report to them anyway. Do not start an argument over this, though, only warn once and act if you are not obeyed.

Challenges:
Challenges are a great way to get some activity in your guild. one of the main barriers to the growth of a guild is people joining, saying hi and then getting stuck at the "now what?" stage. Having one or two interesting challenges can give new members an accessible next step.

Using challenges promote discussion can be helpful too. Having a task or two that requires posting in the chat can be a great way to liven up your guild. Be careful though, since too many of these can end up spamming the guild and drowning out meaningful conversation.

Uh, what else?
bla

Is it a way to refill the guild bank as a member ?

Transferring Guild Leadership to Someone Else / Guild Deletion / Guild Privatizing / Other "Guild End" Stuff
I don't have a clear idea how to structure this yet. Probably needs several headers or one good header and several subheaders.

But you can already add content here!
like this.

How do I find a new leader?
PM active members and ask if they would like to take over, or ask for volunteers in chat

How do I assign a new guild leader?
Pick one of the ones that show up/email mods (give address)

When should my guild be deleted, when privatized, and how do I do this?
bla

What happens if I just leave the guild?
bla

etc.