It can be very frustrating finding a quality guild that fits your playstyle when starting to play in a new massively multiplayer online game. Here are nine tips that will help you find a game guild right for you. (Please note that the word "guild" in this article also means "clan", "corporation", "supergroup" or whatever guild-type player groups exist in your game.)
Keep a firm idea of what you want, and are willing to contribute, in a guild.
Before joining a guild, make sure their goals are the same, or very similar, to yours. For example, in the MMORPG Eve Online there are guilds (actually called corporations) whose focus is solely on making money from mining. Other Eve corporations are pirate groups, preying on other players for sweet, sweet loot. Then there's Eve corporations that are almost purely social with little emphasis on what the player does in the game. So keep in mind what you like to do in an online game, be it from running merchants to ganking players, and look for a guild with similar interests.
Remember you most probably will be expected to contribute to the guild somehow, be it in-game money, looted items, or your time doing guild duties like gathering resources. Decide for yourself roughly how much time you want to dedicate to furthering your guild and not necessarily your character. In the online game City of Heroes/City of Villains, your character can remain in "supergroup mode" and help further the supergroup, not themselves. So if you're playing in City of Heroes/Villains, for example, decide how many hours you will remain in supergroup mode.
Another thing to keep in mind is how large, or small, of a guild you wish to join. Some players love being in a huge guild, while others prefer a medium or small guild. Find out from a prospective guild how many members they have and how big the guild wishes to grow.
Keep your options open by NOT immediately joining a guild when starting a game.
In some online games, new players are considered fresh meat and many guilds will approach you, or even pester you, to join. It may seem obvious, but don't jump into the first guild that invites you. You may get frustrated by that guild's playstyle, and if you quit that guild other guilds may not invite you to join them due to guild rivalry.
In some games like World of Warcraft, many players will want you to sign their guild charter but not actually join their guild. Don't bother with these time-wasters, they're just looking to further their own goals. And be careful in games where guild members can attack each other; this author once got burned badly by joining a guild on Ultima Online and getting immediately attacked, killed, and looted by the so-called "guild" leader. Yup, I was an idiot. So be careful out there.
Find the populated common areas/chat channels of the game.
All online games have common areas where many players hang out. Often such a place is a major city like World of Warcraft or the Trammel bank in Ultima Online. Go to those areas and listen for anyone recruiting for their guild. These recruiters will almost always (if they're any good) state some facts about their guild. Listen carefully to a few of these recruiters to see if their guild's goals match with yours.
A good way to get a handle on a guild's maturity is by listening to these recruiters. If the recruiters are spamming ads full of misspellings and you're looking for a mature guild, you probably don't want to talk to that particular recruiter.
Remember too that often very good guilds will rarely, if ever, advertise in this manner. So ask around a bit on your game server for the names of some good guilds. If you wish to join a guild that isn't actively recruiting, you can often get an invitation to join that guild by starting a conversation with a guild member. Make friends with that person, don't be impatient to join, and more than likely you'll get an invitation.
Find the guild recruitment channel, if it exists in your game.
In games like EVE Online there are recruitment chat channels. Recruiters on these channels will state the goals of their guilds and other facts about their organization. Find out the recruiting channels on your server and join them. Monitor these channels for a few hours at least before deciding on approaching a recruiter to join. You can also ask that recruiter in private chat your questions about the guild, and if they respond to you politely and don't seem in a rush to get you to join, there's a good chance that's a worthy guild to join.
