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Are Guilds a Thing of the Past?


brynchilla

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Years ago, plenty of people used guilds. They were like a hub of communication for plenty of people. Someone was always advertising for one or wanting to be in one. There were guilds for every subject under the sun!

But now that Neopets is dying, it seems that guilds are slowly slipping away with it.

Don't get me wrong, I love the guild I'm in, it just seems... different.

What do you guys think?

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I am in an awesome guild called "The Kindness Project" http://www.neopets.com/guilds/guild.phtml?id=4176228 Feel free to check it out.

"At the TKP we are spreading joy all over Neopia! Our guild was created when 2 people were sharing our visions of helping other neopet players achieve their dreams. We have always found joy in helping others and a guild could help us to do that so much more effectively. We seek out to grant 1 large wish and several small wishes for randomly chosen Neopian's monthly."

My guild is pretty new and very active.

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Guilds have been dead long before Neopets took a dive and I think the culprit is social media. You can meet on places like TDN, tumblr or reddit and speak more freely with a larger group of players. Additionally guilds are quite restricting in what they can do whereas if you post on social media, you can conduct giveaways or activities for your peers without risk of anyone getting in trouble via the guild.

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I was in a guild - Purkle Couch - an 18+ guild which was EXTREMELY active, doing RL meet-ups and gift exchanges and all sorts. I participated in 2 gift exchanges myself, despite being on the other side of the Atlantic from everyone else, the other side of the WORLD from the lady in Australia. I enjoyed the guild very much, but joining that guild was the indirect cause of me drifting away from Neo, and my experience is one reason at least for guild inactivity these days...

I'm talking about 2004 or so here, active on Neo on my original account - jellysundae, which I subsequently lost access to - a bunch of the ladies in the guild had discovered avatar sites and were signing up for a bunch of them. I was slow to jump on this bandwagon and they'd all been active on Gaia, Zantarni, Menewsha etc. for a while before I caved in and made a Gaia account at the end of January 2005. I basically didn't bother with the Neo guild after that.

Avatar sites were FUN, but the immediate BIG improvement over Neo was the total revelation of having a FORUM to post on, separate threads...for each conversation?! It was like a MIRACLE! So a Purkle Couch guild was created on Gaia, and a whole bunch of us migrated over there and conducted the guild there instead, and I didn't miss the Neo guild one bit, and because avatar sites are a lot of fun, and so much easily to socialise on, I lost interest in Neo after discovering them.

For guilds to be worthwhile again now, I believe they'd have to follow a forum set up, and then they'd have to be moderated, and pigs will fly before JS does anything like that, because it would be a huge amount of work and it's not an area of the site that can be monetized to make that viable, and, as hrtbrk says, the rules would be SO restrictive that it wouldn't be a whole lot of fun, either. But the system as it is is so out of date that it's no surprise at all that only a few use it.

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i was in a guild from 2000-2003 ... then another one from 2003-2006 ... (a bunch of us left the old guild when the guild owner passed away and we created our own guild) ........ then my account got frozen and i quit neopets for 2 years .. i started playing again in 2008 and rejoined my old guild but it was already dead ... although i was on the council (was it a council? i dont remember) but the most active member had grown up and was in highschool now so she kinda lost interest in Neo ... i left the guild in early 2009 and never looked back .. i miss my old friends there though ...

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Is it weird that I treat TDN as sort of a Guild, but now that I joined TKP, I feel like I'm split between the 2 places. I "ran" a Pal-entine Event at TKP for everyone to get a small gift of friendship for being a Pal but did a BD Blitz Event for Obelisk Thread TDN members before that. Anyway, I see both places as having great friends and I enjoy thinking of different things to do. Definitely indicates an obsession of some sorts, I guess. :arrowhead:

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I'm in a really good guild called Zapping & Giving: http://www.neopets.com/guilds/guild.phtml?id=4171319

I joined because they seemed really active, even though it's kind of a lab ray themed guild and I don't have one.

There are active members, messages, free auctions, giveaways and an adoption agency.

I post if I blow all of my NP, or if I need a quest item and someone always supports me, it's kind of kept me coming back to neopets. Most of the members are in their 20's it seems.

Anyway, I think there are less active guilds, but the active ones are really the place to be. You should find a guild you like that is active (especially on the message boards) and you'll have a much better experience!

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The Harry Potter guild I'm on right now is pretty active. New posts, events, quiz, even homeworks & tests every day :o 

I agree, the very sad thing about Neopets guild is that message board which seem stuck in the Y2K-ish era :( 

During CC, they mentioned that "The donation will help build our new Community Hall!" I hope that's not only for Neoboards but also for the guilds.

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I miss the guilds of the past, I loved making guilds. I learned how to make layouts and Code because of guilds. Sadly they are not as popular as they once were, I think it is because Neo has more adults now but is still so child centered so it is hard to really interact on the site. I'd love to make a new active guild, they were always so fun and rewarding back in the day.

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I don't agree that Neopets is dying. It's not as popular as it once was and it would be nice if TNT figured out better security and customer support, but people are joining all the time and a lot of people who used to be on are coming back. All considered, I still think it's a great site. Anyway, as for guilds, I was last on one in 2009. I posted a couple of times and realized the guild style in general is not my thing. I didn't know guilds are not as active nowadays because I was never that involved in the one I joined. I think it is the case overall, though I will view lookups advertising guilds that are still active, so some are kept up.

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On 2/16/2017 at 6:03 PM, hrtbrk said:

Guilds have been dead long before Neopets took a dive and I think the culprit is social media. You can meet on places like TDN, tumblr or reddit and speak more freely with a larger group of players. Additionally guilds are quite restricting in what they can do whereas if you post on social media, you can conduct giveaways or activities for your peers without risk of anyone getting in trouble via the guild.

 
 

That's very true. Other social media sites don't have the restrictions that Neopets has, which means that players can interact more freely with each other.

Neopets really needs to get with the itmes!

--

@jellysundae That guild sounds like a lot of fun! I'm happy you were able to find a place that suits all of you!

You are right, Neopets needs give Guilds a face lift, but I don't think they would be willing to even try ):

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@life_eclectic Neopets is still nice, but it is slowly dying. But that doesn't mean we can't enjoy it!

--

 

 

I was late to the guild party.

I was asked to join my current guild years back, when they (and the HC) were still fairly active. I wish I had!

 

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26 minutes ago, brynchilla said:

 

@jellysundae That guild sounds like a lot of fun! I'm happy you were able to find a place that suits all of you!

You are right, Neopets needs give Guilds a face lift, but I don't think they would be willing to even try ):

@life_eclectic

 

 

It was loads of fun! They played Survivor too, do you know the game I mean? I was only brave enough to sign up a couple of times and I got "killed" really quickly both times, and I can't remember a single thing about how it was played now! But I know it was a lot of fun!

I bet it's something we could run games of on here if people know how to play it and were willing to run it.

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9 minutes ago, jellysundae said:

It was loads of fun! They played Survivor too, do you know the game I mean? I was only brave enough to sign up a couple of times and I got "killed" really quickly both times, and I can't remember a single thing about how it was played now! But I know it was a lot of fun!

I bet it's something we could run games of on here if people know how to play it and were willing to run it.

 

Oh gosh, I loved Avatar suvivor! And avatar simon, too!

I used to be really active on the avatar chat years back, and I played those games all the time!

It is tricky getting someone to run it. It can get a bit messy.

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57 minutes ago, brynchilla said:

 It can get a bit messy.

Understatement of the CENTURY :laugh:

I remember now that one of the reasons it took me a long time to be brave enough to participate was the MASSIVE drama that kicked off when people got voted out, oy! :rolleyes:

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  • 1 year later...

Giveaways and contests are against the rules on 

Neopet's.

I lost interest in being in a Guild.

I owned Teens_hangout.From 2000-2002 it was the biggest 

guild on Neopet's with over 1 million users :).

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2 hours ago, xoxlexox01 said:

Giveaways and contests are against the rules on 

Neopet's.

I lost interest in being in a Guild.

I owned Teens_hangout.From 2000-2002 it was the biggest 

guild on Neopet's with over 1 million users :).

Giveaways are not against the rules.  Asking to be given something is.

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I'm in OPON24/7. An offshoot of the Original Guild, OPON that started as friends who met on the neoboards that became a guild. There was a split during a time I was on hiatus from the site. Eventually remaining members of BOTH factions merged back into this guild. Sadly, we've lost guildies to freezings, quittings, and most tragically, deaths. It was a shock and very sad when I got back into the game and found out some were no longer "among us". I keep in touch with some of those who left the game on FB.

Our guild was once pretty active. You had to be sponsored and voted on to permanently join. It was an attempt to cut out a lot of the DRAMA that was infecting the neoboards at the time.

We solved the Mystery Pic and Lenny Conundrum numerous times. I was better at the MP than the LC. We sometimes did gifts on birthdays, and tried doing in-guild Secret Santa. lol I also brought in my (budget)battling experience to help members with battling for DoN and plots. Game advice too sometimes, depending on the game. ;) It was great having people with many different skills when site-plots came out.

For those wondering, OPON = Older People On Neopets. LOL A shame we've only got a few actives left. I try to keep the guild message page in a tab, just in case someone pops in to say "hi" or something.

I like it here at TDNF, it's a nice community here and the people are friendly. Plus I like to help others when I can.

It would be nice if JS could figure a way to reinvigorate Neopets. I'd hate to lose my peophin and all of the work I've put into him. I'm sure there are a lot of you who feel the same about your pet(s)!

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I've tried to be active in many guilds over the years but never saw the point... A community is nice I guess but it was always just the new members and a select few admins that did anything. Maybe I was a member of the wrong guilds but I certainly feel the activity has moved elsewhere...

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question number 8

http://www.neopets.com/ntimes/index.phtml?section=editorial&week=269

 

there are multiple editirials stating anounced giveaways are against the rules.Giving a NF a gift isn't.

 

another editorial question .

question number 5.

 

http://www.neopets.com/ntimes/index.phtml?section=editorial&week=294

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Hmm, thinking back, I think there was a tightening of rules regarding guilds and that basically struck the death knell for the Purkle Couch guild that I was/am in on my original account. They used to play games - Survivor and so on - and the strangle-hold of the new rules stopped them from being able to play that, and a lot of other guild activity too.

Some guilds are still very active, @midnight_spell360 and @kayahtik have both mentioned being in busy guilds. There's not going to be anywhere near as many now but that stands to reason as Neopets was ENORMOUS  in its heyday and there wasn't today's amount of social media available to compete for people's attention and offer an easier way to communicate. So guilds would have been many and very busy.

So I'd say the fact that there are still active guilds, despite there being many WAY easier way for people to communicate now shows that guilds are still a viable option, but they could sure do with a serious functionality overhaul. >_<

 

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Oh boy, am I late to this party! I don't know how I missed this thread when it first started.

Like @jellysundae said, I'm a member of an active, five-year-old account improvement guild. I never participated in guilds until I joined this one about a year ago, so I can't really speak to the differences between now and before Neo's decline. However, I can wholeheartedly recommend them based on my experience! I've made some really excellent friends, and it's been extremely motivating for me to do things that I usually get lazy about, like restocking or entering the BC, thanks to the (friendly) competitive spirit. It's not a huge group (we usually hover around 30 members), but there are enough of us that there's almost always someone around to chat with. 

I will completely agree that the general UI of the guild system is pretty terrible. In my guild, we actually chat on a regular neoboard instead of the guild board because it's just way easier. The actual guild page isn't used for much either, since it's not very customizable and doesn't have a lot of space. Instead we use petpages to share information about activities and stuff. It's definitely more complicated than it should be, and the overall system could use a revamp. But I really like the concept and have nothing but good things to say about my fellow members! :D 

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On ‎2‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 1:47 AM, life_eclectic said:

I don't agree that Neopets is dying. It's not as popular as it once was and it would be nice if TNT figured out better security and customer support, but people are joining all the time and a lot of people who used to be on are coming back. All considered, I still think it's a great site. Anyway, as for guilds, I was last on one in 2009. I posted a couple of times and realized the guild style in general is not my thing. I didn't know guilds are not as active nowadays because I was never that involved in the one I joined. I think it is the case overall, though I will view lookups advertising guilds that are still active, so some are kept up.

I agree with you!  I don't think NPs is dying either.  Here at TDNF, on the welcome page, I see so many people coming back to NPs.  I do agree with you that their security and customer support needs some attention however.  The rate at which they freeze accounts has a LOT to do with why they are losing players.  I also think it's time to revamp their Premium.  I would leave the perks they have now, but I would also add some new ones.  Like what?  Well sheesh, you want me to think of everything.  Gosh!  LOL.  But seriously though, maybe a faerie quest fortune cookie or another random fortune cookie every 3 months.  A gift box where the user opens it up and it could be ANYTHING from (well, I was going to say a junk item, but scratch that because THAT'S what it would be ALL THE TIME- LOL) a coupon for a certain number of NPs to use at the HT that CAN be used with the % discount if you have it or on discount day, OR a coupon with NPs to use at user's shops, a coupon to use at the NC mall, whatever.  I think they would get a LOT more premium members.  But that's my opinion.

On ‎3‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 9:07 PM, balloongal247 said:

Giveaways are not against the rules.  Asking to be given something is.

You are COMPLETELY RIGHT!!!!

On ‎3‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 1:04 PM, xoxlexox01 said:

 

question number 8

http://www.neopets.com/ntimes/index.phtml?section=editorial&week=269

 

there are multiple editirials stating anounced giveaways are against the rules.Giving a NF a gift isn't.

 

another editorial question .

question number 5.

 

http://www.neopets.com/ntimes/index.phtml?section=editorial&week=294

I mean no disrespect, but you are misunderstanding TNT's responses.  In the first response to question #8, they specifically say "What's not allowed is going on the boards and requesting that a user do or say something in order to "win" a prize or be given an item, or posting to ask who wants free items or Neopoints and the like. There are many scams that involve things like this (that we won't explain since we don't want to give people ideas), so we've had to ban them completely. Besides, if someone really wanted to give gifts to random people, there are tons of users posting and lots of usernames to choose from" .  

In the second one they say, "giving gifts to your friends is totally fine. We definitely don't want to discourage that. What is against the rules are outright contests where a user has to do something/donate something/join something/etc. in order to enter" while in the first response (I didn't add the part where they said it) they do specifically say NEOfriends, this response specifically says friends.  You can have friends who are not your NFs.  I have plenty of friends in my guild who are not my NFs and vice versa.  Regardless, they are specifically saying that what is against the rules is when it is being asked for someone to donate, give something, or sign up for something in order to get/win something in return.  This for that type of thing.  It is not against the rules to give things to people, it's against the rules to say that you will give them things in exchange for something else.

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