Forming a solo guild, or teaming up with a microguild
by Mike Schramm 
Jul 17th 2007 at 1:31PM
Chailya on WoW Ladies did something cool that I'd bet quite a few players have done-- she formed what you might call a "microguild." In her case, it's just a guild with all of her alts in it, but there are all kinds of tiny little guilds for all different reasons-- in Guildwatch the other week, we featured a guild that had only three 60s in it, that were running around doing all the old content. And in the comments of Chailya's post, there are all kinds of fun stories-- people who formed a guild with just them and their significant other, solo roleplaying guilds, and even guilds created just for comedy value (one guy called his solo guild "Attorney at Law").My story's a little stranger-- one day I randomly got invited to a guild on one of my alts, a gnome mage. Just to see what the deal was, I accepted the invite, and the guy who invited me /gquit immediately, leaving me as the only person in the guild. For a few days, I thought it was funny, having a guild all to myself. But eventually I passed it on to another person, and I don't know what happened to it after that. I'd look it up on the Armory, but to tell the truth I don't even remember the name.
Have you ever started up or been a part of a micro- or sologuild? It can be a lonely experience, I'm sure, but being in a guild is a huge part of identity in the game, and people who do this (as I said, there are probably more than you think) are simply choosing their own identity rather than joining in with a big group. As a guy who likes bigger guilds, I'd think you're missing out on a lot by staying in a tiny guild or a guild with just yourself. But there are probably plenty of benefits to doing it as well.
Filed under: Virtual selves, Guilds, Odds and ends
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
jess Jul 17th 2007 1:42PM
I think micro guilds are really fun when you're leveling with some friends or doing pvp together. Let's face it a lot of guilds that recruit at lower levels are either ghost towns or full of uberidiots who do nothing but ask for help doing easy quests or link purples. I used to get invites for such guilds over and over (sometimes without any preamble of "hey want to join my guild" just soemone send me an invite to their guild) and so a micro guild is a good way to get those kinds of people to leave you alone so you can focus on doing stuff with just your buddies.
However once you get to the endgame if you want to do non solo stuff it makes more sense to join a larger guild.
Coherent Jul 17th 2007 1:47PM
Welcome to the World of Warcraft, Ric Romero! :)
But seriously, this has been the practice for a long time. There have ALWAYS been microguilds around. I've had alts and even mains holding down several since I started playing WoW (about a month after launch) You get to wear your own cool tabard and talk on your own /guild channel. My alt-holding microguild even has it's own forums, although mostly just for me to post notes to myself about useful WoW links for addons and helpful hints.
Unfortunately, microguilds provide no functionality other than the tabard and a guild name over your head. It would be cool if guilds provided SOME usefulness other than endgame raids and a chat channel.
Dongyrn Jul 17th 2007 1:49PM
Out of curiosity, how on earth do you create a guild where only your own alts are in it? How does that work? Don't you have to send a live invite, meaning you have to be logged in to both characters at the same time? Sorry if I'm being dense about this...
Palsyclaus Jul 17th 2007 1:52PM
I just started a micro guild for my r/l friends. We all have 70 mains in large guilds, doing regular heroic runs, and the occasional Kara invite. But I had an idea, to form an all mage PVP group. So I conviced them all to roll mage and created 'Glass Cannon' We're on our way up to 70 now and it really is a lot of fun knowing there's a purpose and a concept behind the guild relating to just our small group.
Thanks my take anyways.
Arisanna Jul 17th 2007 1:51PM
@3
I was just about to ask the same thing. I thought you had to have 10 unique sigs on a charter first? Maybe things have changed?
Kahja Jul 17th 2007 1:51PM
To be honest my former big raiding guild... I was never actually in it. I just knew the people in it and went on all their raids. I was always in my own guild or guildless when I would raid. I supposed technically I was in their guild (being on all their raids and basically an officer (set up raid times and managed guild website/vent), but never officially.
I just liked the peace and quiet.
MadMup Jul 17th 2007 1:55PM
@3 & 4 - I have the exact same question. Any help from anyone? How do I get my alts in the guild I have on one of my characters?
Shadowisp Jul 17th 2007 1:59PM
@3,4 & 7.
Get a friend (or loved one) or a second account to be in your guild, they invite your characters.
Signing the charter, thats what all those yellers in chat are asking for signatures. They dont have 10 friends, so they will pay 10 people to sign and quit quick
killerDJMW Jul 17th 2007 2:05PM
I'm currently between guilds, and decided to make my own. My main is a Gnome Warrior, so my guild is called .
Its pretty fun, I've been fake recruiting the past 2 days. Feel free to join if you are Alliance on Thunderlord (US).
Sylythn Jul 17th 2007 2:03PM
All you have to do is get enough people to sign the charter to allow you to create the guild. Then either those people become your micro-guild...or more commonly, you've given them a gold a piece to sign the charter and then they /gquit leaving you with your own guild. In order to get your alts in, just invite someone else, give them invite power, and log onto your alts to have them join.
Mark Jul 17th 2007 2:04PM
I have built a few guilds for alts that just sit around and serve just as a way to keep from getting guild invites and having a cool tabard. When I first started, I got invited to a guild and then the leader quit, leaving me in much the same situation as the OP. Took me a week to find how to /gdisband. I was the laughing stock of my friends for months after. Since then I only join guilds that I actually put some thought into.
@3 All you have to do is go to a low level place, have some guys sign your charter, have them ginvite your alts and then gkick everyone else. Not the nicest thing to do but still gets the job done. In compensation, you can usually keep them happy by giving them a bit of money.
killerDJMW Jul 17th 2007 2:07PM
er, guild is called
is the Gnome Pwner...
ben1778 Jul 17th 2007 2:16PM
My AH mule is part of a microguild called . Just a couple bank-ah alts from random people on the server. Its actually kinda fun talking to other high-volume AH people.
ben1778 Jul 17th 2007 2:17PM
forgot to add it is also a reference to a "bottom shelf" hard acohol company.
ben1778 Jul 17th 2007 2:25PM
er... called Banker's Club. We're also alcoholics. :-)
Jack Kelly Jul 17th 2007 2:27PM
I started a guild on my old server.
I was the only one in it. I was only leveling an alt for fun.
Super Guest Man 9000 Jul 17th 2007 2:36PM
I had a second account at one point and was rolling horde and was quite content to just play by myself, eventually by my mid 40's (still guildless) I couldn't stand the "hay u want 2 join mah guildz?" or just spamming guild invites, any longer and made my own guild called "Leave Me Alone"
Pingmeister Jul 17th 2007 3:08PM
Should start a Guild called just so I can be guilded and stop getting Guild invites from random people.
I have a few high-level toons unguilded and it gets pretty annoying when it happens over and over.
Pingmeister Jul 17th 2007 3:09PM
Re previous comment: I named the guild but I guess codes took it out. was called *Please Stop Inviting Me*
spellproof Jul 17th 2007 3:31PM
I'm in a "microguild" of all real-life friends. We have mostly leveled up together, but now that some of us are hitting 70, we're at a bit of a crossroads. I'm not sure what we'll do next, but it's been a great, fun experience having our own little guild these last few months. No big-guild drama, and only members that you know you actually like as real-life people. Bliss.