Guilds & Clans

[The Observer]

What is the difference between guilds and clans? What would define a guild over a clan?

 

Something for you World of Warcraft players out there as well. :wink:

[Nobody]

I don't see any real difference between guilds and clans, it's really a matter of what name you want to use. They all mean basically the same thing.

[Ankit]

Aren't they the same thing? People who come together to do something they love?

[The Observer]

I'm not really sure. I never played World of Warcraft but I hear people who say "it's not a clan, it's a guild!" Which seems kind of weird.

[Jack]

Guild:

1. an organization of persons with related interests, goals, etc., esp. one formed for mutual aid or protection. (Other 2 bullet points completely irrelevant)

 

Clan:

1 .a group of families or households, as among the Scottish Highlanders, the heads of which claim descent from a common ancestor: the Mackenzie clan.

2. a group of people of common descent; family: Our whole clan got together for thanksgiving.

3. a group of people, as a clique, set, society, or party, esp. as united by some common trait, characteristic, or interest: a clan of actors and directors.

 

Taken from dictionary.com. Doesn't really explain it in the context we're talking about, and I wouldn't really know but I think a clan is more of a commuity than a guild which seems to me from this definition is just a lot of people joined together for a certain interest. Some could argue that's what a RuneScape clan is about, to a certain extent I'd agree, however there's dozens more reasons why people join clans, such as friend making, socialising, etc, whereas I think it's for one sole reasons people would join a Guild, which is kinda more niche in it's aims, or to some extent a Vendetta. Not sure though lol.

[gballa2]

I rather say clan then guild. Guild sounds bad.

[Laikrob]

I guess I should comment here. :razz: (Ref: The Slayers Guild)

 

For us the difference is that we as a guild offer more things to our members than we request from them, if that makes sense.

No mandatory events or trips, but we do arrange some of them. We have 4 Slayer competitions a year, which again are voluntary. Guides and other knowledge are all written by members and for members, and we have forums to request team members for various activities (right now the "it" thing is Dungeoneering of course) and the clan chat is used actively for anything from daily chatting to lending items and grave blessing - all between members. If people choose to go inactive for a month or five, or two years, they can return with the same priviledges that they used to have. A lot of our members are already in warring/pking clans or teams, and they join specifically to get motivated to train Slayer or they enjoy the community. While we don't arrange pk trips, it does happen that members have some fun in groups.

 

We have been lucky to have succeeded pretty well, but the downfall of a guild compared to a clan is that there are no mandatory events, or sign ins, forum attendance or similar. That means they have a higher death rate than clans, and they hardly ever rebuild.

They are very much depending on loyal members or offering good "services" (such as guides and a good network, get out of the gutter here... :unsure: ), which again means attracting the right contributing members from the start.

 

Clans in general have more loyal members, they meet more often in game and they have more active forums. All these things make them more likely to form common bonds, create internal jokes and much more. :thumbup: A downside is that not everyone enjoys mandatory events, or being pestered about wars everytime they log on.

 

There are a lot of differences, and they both have pros and cons.

[Danny_TeamDan]

This topic is dumb. This is clan discussions not idk what the difference between these two words are so define it for me.

 

Seriously just do a little research and you could easily come up with a conclusion.

[Laikrob]

How is it dumb when half the people here don't know the difference?

[Danny_TeamDan]

Makes more sense to be put up in debates, not clan discussion.

[The Observer]

There is no debate section, and I thought it was interesting, plus it wasn't really discussed before. As for looking at what the words mean, it's not really something that can be looked up in a dictionary. In case you haven't noticed, it's fairly inaccurate. :P

 

@ Laikrob, so I'm supposing another word would be between a clan and a community?

[Danny_TeamDan]

There is no debate section

Orly? no debate section? You don't say...

 

 

Guild:

1. an organization of persons with related interests, goals, etc., esp. one formed for mutual aid or protection. (Other 2 bullet points completely irrelevant)

 

Clan:

1 .a group of families or households, as among the Scottish Highlanders, the heads of which claim descent from a common ancestor: the Mackenzie clan.

2. a group of people of common descent; family: Our whole clan got together for thanksgiving.

3. a group of people, as a clique, set, society, or party, esp. as united by some common trait, characteristic, or interest: a clan of actors and directors.

 

With these two definitions anyone could come up with their own conclusion as to what the differences are, so to call them inaccurate is wrong.

 

I said "Seriously just do a little research and you could easily come up with a conclusion. "

 

With the internet loaded with information you could easily have gotten the answer to your question. If you wanted to debate peoples stand points on the differences that would belong in Debates section imo.

 

Not only does it not fit in Clan discussion you will also get biased responses in Clan discussion, you'd get much better debates/answers over in debates.

[The Observer]

Still don't see the real harm in it though :P

 

But thanks I got my answer, feel free to lock. Starting to fall off topic already.

[Laikrob]

The Debate section is closed per the latest announced forum changes, thus last topic there is from January. (Just do a little research, Dan... *cough* :razz: )

 

This is the appropriate place for the discussion, and especially as people seem to have different definitions ot it. Personally I have had a few discussions about it in the clan chat today, and not all had the same definition as me. Clans and guilds in the clan world are different than clans and guilds in the dictionary, and both terms change over time. Just think about how a clan meant the one and only group you stuck with before - now it's more acceptable to also be a part of several communities or specialised teams.

[CruelKiller]

well i dont really know the difference probably depending on the first one to use that word :P

[TeamDan_danbadgy]

I always thought a guild of a more laid-back version of a clan where people are closer together and do more co-op rather than PvP, as opposed to a clan which is more based off of being competitive.

 

Of course I have no idea if I'm right or wrong.

[obfuscator]

Dan got owned :P

 

As much as I agree this doesn't much merit a topic, I've always felt "Same [cabbage], different game". Admittedly Laikrob's post made me reconsider that somewhat.

[Laikrob]

I always thought a guild of a more laid-back version of a clan where people are closer together and do more co-op rather than PvP, as opposed to a clan which is more based off of being competitive.

 

Of course I have no idea if I'm right or wrong.

That's a nice tl;dr version, actually.