What do Guilds actually do and why are people spending up to $100k on them?

So what do Guilds actually do?

We get this question a lot and this article aims to go into more detail around how Guilds actually work in Guild of Guardians. Which, is kind of important!

Why Guilds?

Have you ever played a game because of friends? Or kept playing because of the group you were playing with?

We strongly believe that games are more fun with friends, and the people you meet through games can have a positive impact on your gaming experience.

This is why Guilds are a central part of Guild of Guardians. We want to embody the social cooperative aspect of games that make them so fun. We want Guild of Guardians to be a game you play for years, and which you want to keep playing because of the people you meet in your Guild as well as the wider community.

Play together. Earn together.

How do Guilds work in Guild of Guardians?

Let’s start at the beginning. The way to create NFT items in Guild of Guardians is through Guild Crafting. We (developers) do not sell items.

This makes Guild Crafting important as the primary play-to-earn mechanism. Players who are part of a guild will contribute resources to the Guild ‘treasury’ which can be used to craft various items. Everyone who contributes will earn a pay-out when the crafted NFT item is sold on the marketplace.

The only way to participate in Guild Crafting is to be in a Guild, and the only way to own a Guild is to buy one. Given the importance of this role, Guild Leaders will also receive the first cut of crafting sales before it gets distributed among all members.

Being in a Guild also allows each player to participate in other Guild-based game modes in the future. As an example only — Guild Raids.

What is the difference between the guilds?

There are four types of Guilds, with the primary differences being the number of members and % first cut of guild crafting sales that goes to the guild leader.

• Adventurers Guild: 20 members, 1% of guild crafting sales
• Warriors Guild: 30 members, 2.5% of guild crafting sales
• Legends Guild: 40 members, 5% of guild crafting sales
• Mythic Guild: 50 members, 10% of guild crafting sales

We also plan to have Guild ranking or leaderboard competitions with NFT or token prizes for the top Guilds. Some of these will be free for all, and others will only be for Guilds within the same tier (e.g. “Adventurers Division”). Ultimately this serves as another play-to-earn mechanism and allows us to distribute player token rewards to players who are actively growing the game.

There may be other features in the future. In principle, we don’t want guilds to give individuals any progression advantage, but we do want to incentivise or reward those who are in larger or ‘higher performing’ guilds.

How will Guilds work in practice?

We believe that the difference between Guilds don’t come from their statistical differences but rather, in how players choose to interact with them.

First off — being a Guild leader is prestigious and important. And leading a Legends or a Mythic Guild comes with a lot of responsibilities! Being in a Guild is typically also desirable, and we expect the ‘best’ players will be attracted to play in the bigger guilds, who together compete with other top guilds. We’re already beginning to see this with DAO’s like Yield Guild Games and Blackpool purchasing Mythic Guilds and recruiting for their teams.

At the same time, players aren’t going to want to join just any Guild. They want to have fun and enjoy the game, so they will likely want to join well organised guilds who have built up a strong community and are welcoming to new players. The social-cooperative nature of the game should create a positive experience for everyone. Some groups may also purposely play in smaller but more ‘elite’ Guilds, or just social guilds — it’s completely up to you!

At the beginning of the game no NFT items will exist. None at all. Players will be working together to create items, experimenting with strategies, and cooperating to earn. Guilds which have more members will likely be the first to craft the ‘best’ NFT items in the game (all else being equal), which will be limited and in-demand.

As the game progresses the ‘race’ will be on and we’ll begin to see Guilds specialising and competing in different areas. Guilds will also be competing for leaderboard rewards (another reason why they might want to buy items)! This won’t be limited to just Mythic guilds either, as we will likely introduce bracketing to ensure a balanced playing field (e.g. Having prizes for an “Adventurers Only” division).

So why are people spending $100k on a Guild?

Principally, Mythic (or other large) Guilds are NOT designed to create an uneven playing field for gameplay or progression.

Instead, they have metagame and economic implications purely because of how players will socially interact with them, because of how important items are in the Guild of Guardians player-owned economy and due to any Guild-based leaderboard rewards.

You can make your own conclusions about how this affects play-and-earn.

Oh, and of course, Mythic Guilds are also awesome, prestigious, scarce and tradable!

Other frequently asked questions

1. Will there be more guilds in the future?

We hope so! Once the game gets much bigger we anticipate there to be too much demand for Guilds and not enough supply. Which is a great problem to have. We plan to release more Guilds but the mechanism won’t be determined for a long time. E.g. Whether via sale, airdrop to existing owners, in-game earning, or a mix of all. We will likely get community input on this important decision.

2. Can Guild owners delegate to someone else?

Currently we plan to allow Guild owners to set ‘officers’ for their Guild. These officers can help run the Guild, recruit or management members as well as decide what items to be crafting. Delegating ownership of a Guild is possible though — we’re sure some third party is going to build this as a service one day if we don’t do it ourselves!

3. Will there be any other Guild features in the future?

Probably. We plan to keep building and improving Guild of Guardians, which includes how Guilds work. Examples might include crafting recipes as a “drop”, community governance for Guild owners, access to VIP events, Guild vs Guild competitions, cosmetic NFTs etc. As always — we are open to suggestions!

Do you want to get involved?

Join more than 135,000 (!) other Guardians who have pre-registered:

• Sign-up your email on our website: www.guildofguardians.com
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