THINK YOU COULD BE RAH?

By Bravecat

I recently asked a bunch of former and current Rah's to sift through what they've learned from their experiences and to come up with five tips to share with the Furcadia Daily readers and anyone who has ever thought about creating their own guild. I gave them plenty of lead to do whatever they wanted - their advice could be general or specific, practical or philosophical, short, long - whatever.

Despite the wide-open parameters, I began to notice some common threads as the tips trickled in. Many Rahs felt it was important to understand that they must listen to the ideas of members and be original. Their responses reinforced a lot of what I've learned from being a Rah, and I also learned some new things. I learned some Rahs can't count, (the number five was subject to much creative interpretation). Spelling, I discovered, proved to be a similar challenge. Finally, when confronted with a problem, ask advice of some really smart - or smart-ass, as the case may be - Rah's, and they'll respond with elegant solutions.

With a total of 25 tips as varied as the Rahs themselves, hopefully you'll find something you can use to improve your own guild or help you get started.

Alexsi, Rah of Lost Lake:

Keep your guild open 24/7

Be there 12 to 15 hours a day

Be as friendly as possible

Keep your dream ever changing

Keep things loose and not too structured and ridged

Skirmish, Rah of Reverie Summit

Trust your help

Plan together and work together

Deside on rules together

Work as a team

Tray and find something new or interesting

Klass, Rah of Water City

Have patience. Spam advertisement is not needed.

Offer something unique. Furres don't want to see copies of things already existing. I makes the rah look unoriginal. Think of something only you can offer.

Be fair and just, furres won't want to spend time at a guild that favors certain types of people.

Consistancy. Furres like to know that each time they go to the dream it will pretty much be the same. Furres don't want to have to readjust every two weeks or so.

Attractions; this contradicts #4, but you need to add something new or something that will keep furres coming back to your dream

Leandria, Rah of the Circle

Participation.. members must participate in any guild in order for it to functioin. and they have to want to participate for the right reasons..

Cause or meaning.. weither it be help, socializing or RP a guild n eeds to have to some sort of purpose.. something for the members to believe in and associate with...

Comminucation between all members and whatever structure there is.. must be communication and it should be honest and open

Commitment..alot like participation,.. if members arent commited to help run the dream and the guild .. you have nothing A guild Is what its members make of it..

Comprimise.. there will be 40 millions ideals and personalities.. and all will need to blended and things comprimised on

NightShade III, Rah of The Wild Hut.

When I thought about these tips, I wanted to make being a Rah sound difficult and unrewarding, because that's what it is. Although many wouldn't admit it, furres usually start guilds for power and popularity. My first tip to you is don't bother if that's all you're doing it for, you'll loose more friends rather that gaining some and then, the only way you'll get more friends is if you involve yourself and the members a lot. I would also like to point out that the more "Popular" Rahs have worked their paws to the bone trying to get their guild established and recognised. From personal experience it took me about 7 months of hard work to get my guild where it is now and most of the furres around haven't even heard of it. You should be understanding, what's the point of being a Rah if your not a people person? You NEED to be involved, there are too many Rahs about that think that doing all the behind the scenes work, rarely showing in the dream and not talking to his/her members is good enough. Never (ever) think that you're better than your members and ALWAYS give 100% to them, whether its just chit chat or something very important like RL problems etc. If your members feel that they can open up to you without worries, then you've cracked being a Rah, any dedicated person can do the work, but not many can do the "people thing".

These are my 5 key words of good and successful Rahship. Care, Involvement, Equality, Hard work and Respect.

Some ideas to involve you and you members once your at a fair size and have some good, dedicated members would be to hold weekly/biweekly/triweekly or monthly (your preference) meetings, so all the furres can meet you and their fellow members. Plus you can talk about organising events/factions/parties etc. all together, which makes your members feel much more involved!

There are many other key factors that I would touch on, but I think I've helped with some of the most important ones.

I hope this article will help those who have their own guild and encouraged those who have ever imagined creating a guild. Please come back to read the update to this article which will include the tips of five more Rah'.

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