@danawhitaker "I fully disagree with the recommendation to remove inactive players from the roster. It's disconcerting to returning players to find they've been removed from a guild. They don't need a reminder of how small the guild has become, they already seem to be aware of it and simply don't care. As a guild member in that position, I'd find booting inactive members more offensive than recruiting."

You're not doing anyone any good by keeping inactive members in a guild. Every 6-7 months, my membership officer and I go through the list. If you have not been on in that amount of time and have not communicated to anyone, either me or an officer, about your play status, you're gone. Names, just for the sake of numbers, do not reflect well on your guild. Who wants to join a guild where there are names that haven't been played in months and no one knows if those people are coming back. There are rare cases where real life prevents someone from letting people know someone isn't playing but will be back. I have had, in 4 years, 3 people come back after 9 months and being booted.

Announce to the guild there will be a membership purge and if you know any of the people who have not logged on in 6-7 months, please contact them. Most of those who haven't logged on in 6-7 months aren't coming back. Get inactive people out of the guild. You know, then, how many toons you have to work with.

The OP doesn't say if his guild is raiding any content. Don't go into current content. Run something else, like, say Naxx. Maybe people are afraid of raiding. It comes with a lot of expectations, both real and imagined. You can easily do Naxx 10-man with 5 people. See how people like it. You said you dragged them kicking and screaming into 5-mans. It's possible they are scared of the raid environment. Doing something easier will help you judge whether these people can handle what's needed in a raid.

Get yourself into the LFR. While you are working within your guild to expand horizons, you should be taking advantage of what Blizzard offers you. Mind you, think about whether you are ready for the raid leadership position because that's what you're setting yourself up for.

Once you see how people handle the raiding atmosphere, you'll know whether raiding is even an option for your guild. Maybe you and those who want to raid will have to use the LFR. That's not a bad option for you if you want to stay within your guild. Answer any calls in Trade or General chat for people to run something that's forming. It will satisfy your desire to raid while staying within your guild.

Lastly, I think this is a very big point. Social guilds generally don't raid. Raiding guilds can act socially. There is a difference. If the people in the guild would rather log on to run around with their in-game friends, you have a social guild and getting them to actively raid is going to be nearly impossible. The requirements of raiding are not what these people want.

Until you can figure out if current members can and want to raid, I wouldn't look at recruiting. You'll only bring people into an unsure situation and no one wants that.

Reply