Conservative Guild Questions

[ThePolarTitan.4025]

Hey folks Polar here,

So I have a big question. Are guilds built on political membership allowed? Let me better explain why. I have been in many guilds and honestly have been quiet about what i believe politically. Despite this, people still talk about politics in the guild and its mostly of the anti-conservative narrative. I play games to get away from politics and I have even joined guilds based on that premise. It was frustrating to me that there are no guilds conservative based so I can be with people with my opinion. I was then tempted to build a guild based on this.

• a guild based on free ideas among conservatives where we can discuss what we care about openly and have a place to chill.
• a guild that focuses on constructive views and does not criticize anyone with differing viewpoints.
• a guild that is teambased and has an active community/discord
• if someone demeans or attacks anyone then they are let go.

I am conservative. I just want a guild that respects values of everyone both liberal and conservative and if I can make a guild for conservatives then I feel that would be a great thing to accomplish. What are your thoughts? I haven't seen many 'political based' guilds and I wanted to check to see if this was allowed or if it was a faux pas in the game where it will result in banishment. Thanks!

If you comment, please be constructive! We are all human and lets keep the chatter polite and discussion based! Thanks folks! :D

[Game of Bones.8975]

I believe you may start a guild based on nearly any ideas. There are guilds that proclaim to be LGBT-friendly, so I can't imagine one that espouses another set of beliefs to be off limits. The company sets the rules and may change them at any time. It is their private game after all and if you want to play you must play by their rules.

Too many people judge based on what you describe your guild to be. Most people don't understand what "being conservative" is and will paint you and your guild with a broad brush that includes ideas of what "they think" belongs in the group as opposed to being for lower taxes, less government, personal responsibility, less regulation, and laws that don't single out people based on what they look like. Liberals are not as tolerant as conservatives toward many thing; freedom, free speech, and personal property.

Be prepared for some blow-back, possibly being blocked by players, and for some to enter your guild for the sole purpose of doing bad things under your banner name.

Guilds aren't what they used to be in GW1; a place to gather to battle head-to-head, enter alliances, and control cities.

[Khisanth.2948]

I don't see why that wouldn't be allowed but I would never join such a guild in any game.

[ThePolarTitan.4025]

@"Game of Bones.8975" said:I believe you may start a guild based on nearly any ideas. There are guilds that proclaim to be LGBT-friendly, so I can't imagine one that espouses another set of beliefs to be off limits. The company sets the rules and may change them at any time. It is their private game after all and if you want to play you must play by their rules.

Too many people judge based on what you describe your guild to be. Most people don't understand what "being conservative" is and will paint you and your guild with a broad brush that includes ideas of what "they think" belongs in the group as opposed to being for lower taxes, less government, personal responsibility, less regulation, and laws that don't single out people based on what they look like. Liberals are not as tolerant as conservatives toward many thing; freedom, free speech, and personal property.

Be prepared for some blow-back, possibly being blocked by players, and for some to enter your guild for the sole purpose of doing bad things under your banner name.

Guilds aren't what they used to be in GW1; a place to gather to battle head-to-head, enter alliances, and control cities.

Thanks for the comment and I know there will be blowback. I am just tired of it all and some of my friends feel the same way. I don't want politics to be a factor in how we play games because we play games to get away from stuff; but it seems like that is unavoidable so I just want to make a place for conservatives to chill and hang out and form relationships. Thanks for the comment!

[RoseofGilead.8907]

You can make a guild for most any group of people (outside of the truly gross and illegal stuff, of course). So, I don't see why a guild for those who lean to the conservative side of politics would go against anything. Just be prepared for the typical internet snark and possible hostility that tends to come with outing yourself as a conservative, liberal, LGBT, fan of Logan Thackeray, fan of onions, etc.

[Ashen.2907]

@RoseofGilead.8907 said:You can make a guild for most any group of people (outside of the truly gross and illegal stuff, of course). So, I don't see why a guild for those who lean to the conservative side of politics would go against anything. Just be prepared for the typical internet snark and possible hostility that tends to come with outing yourself as a conservative, liberal, LGBT, fan of Logan Thackeray, fan of onions, etc.

I knew it....you are one of those stinkin' onion lovers aintcha?!?

But yeah, these days it seems as if being in one group means hating on any others.

[SlippyCheeze.5483]

@"Game of Bones.8975" said:I believe you may start a guild based on nearly any ideas. There are guilds that proclaim to be LGBT-friendly, so I can't imagine one that espouses another set of beliefs to be off limits.

Guilds that violate the same basic rules that apply in chat, and to character names, are likely to wind up being ... well, treated the same way. So, a conservative guild in which people agree on the basic politics? Sure. A "conservative" guild that is really about some sort of discrimination? Probably not a great plan.

I'm sure the OP isn't one of the super annoying people who call themselves "conservatives" and make all the reasonable folks look bad these days, so this won't be an issue for them, of course.

@"ThePolarTitan.4025" said:Despite this, people still talk about politics in the guild and its mostly of the anti-conservative narrative.

As one of the very few games available that has LGBT representation, and that hasn't actively discriminated against people because of what they are along the way, you will probably find that GW2 leans heavily toward views other than the current US Republican views in general.

I play games to get away from politics and I have even joined guilds based on that premise. It was frustrating to me that there are no guilds conservative based so I can be with people with my opinion.

That isn't a guild where you "get away from politics", it is a guild where you get away from ideas that are different from yours. Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but you should be explicit about what you want to create, or you run the very real risk of confusing people.

My advice would be that you advertise your guild as a "safe space for conservative politics", so that people know what the goal is, and don't get a surprise about it.

I am conservative. I just want a guild that respects values of everyone both liberal and conservative and if I can make a guild for conservatives then I feel that would be a great thing to accomplish. What are your thoughts? I haven't seen many 'political based' guilds and I wanted to check to see if this was allowed or if it was a faux pas in the game where it will result in banishment. Thanks!

There is nothing inherently wrong with your idea. I fear that you are likely to have some pain and suffering as you attract the terrible people who also claim themselves to be "conservatives", and who will then be surprised that you are not actually a Daily Stormer subscriber or whatever, but shrug nothing in life is entirely free.

Good luck.

[Elothar.4382]

Most of the responses here have good information. Guilds are formed based on different affinities and I have not seen any accounts of them being shut down because they were inappropriate. Names of guilds...maybe a different matter, don't know.

I would offer this, though. Players in the game can be grouped (as well as other ways) by whether or not they care enough about these kinds of issues to even engage in a discussion. My experience (no data...just subjective observation) is that most people play the game and avoid these kinds of conflicts. I personally come to the game to get away from all the crap in real life. The last thing I want is to hear more of it in-game. Among those that do engage, though, I think they are just as likely to be on either side. I've seen flaming liberals and flaming conservatives. I am in a guild that has both and we all get along great. We just don't talk politics, religion, or sex. In the rare cases we do, nothing is solved, no minds are changed, and for the most part, few egos are bruised. In short, the discussions just don't seem to matter. On the other hand, we have some serious conversations about the best Mesmer or Necro builds...or whether Anet needs to put new effort into guild missions.

People who do care about these things, though, can be very, very passionate so don't expect rational, objective discussion. People believe what they believe. Most people who engage in these discussions already know what the other side believes just as the other side knows what they believe. So I'm not sure what the point of having the discussions is. If you are all in agreement, it's like an echo chamber. If you're not in agreement, well, most of us know exactly how that turns out.

If you want a conservative guild, though, ask in map chat or start one yourself.

[ugrakarma.9416]

Theres guilds that advertise that they do not want SJWs, so there u probably find your place. Guilds with nationalistic themes in the name or in description is also a good spot. However, do not expect to find very in-depth players in politics, in fact the political view says more about age. Older people tend to turn on the "I do not care, is all about same thing", and young people tend to carry anything on jokes. Particularly I get along with people who are good-humored.

[Game of Bones.8975]

I think most people join GW to play, not talk, regardless what the topic may be.

If you want to chat about politics, I'd find a forum more suited to your ends. I think the Internet has a couple of those. (sarcasm intended)

[Vayne.8563]

I'm not sure how you'd recruit for a guild like that without putting a target on your back. Too many people feel strong enough idealogically to go after people who feel differently idealogically. I have friends who are on the opposite side of the political divide from me. Doesn't mean we can't be friends. But the stronger someone feels about their politics, the more likely they'll see that sort of guild as a target. Same would be true for a left leaning guild.

I think you'd end up getting more conflict than you have now.

[Marleen.8549]

@Vayne.8563 said:I'm not sure how you'd recruit for a guild like that without putting a target on your back. Too many people feel strong enough idealogically to go after people who feel differently idealogically. I have friends who are on the opposite side of the political divide from me. Doesn't mean we can't be friends. But the stronger someone feels about their politics, the more likely they'll see that sort of guild as a target. Same would be true for a left leaning guild.

I think you'd end up getting more conflict than you have now.

This.

Why put out a politic banner in a game? It's not the place for it.I don't care if your left or right or somewhere in the middle.As long your playing the game without griefing others your beliefs are of no concern whatsoever

[Danikat.8537]

I agree with what basically everyone else has said - you can make a politically conservative guild and you can advertise it as such, just like you can make a guild for anything else which isn't against the User Agreement.

But you may have trouble getting across to people that you're looking for a 'safe space' where if politics does come up the conversation will be mainly right-wing leaning, but not actually looking to discuss politics regularly. You may also have to think carefully about how you phrase recruitment adverts so people (particularly hard-core left leaning people and those just looking for an argument on anything for any reason) don't see it as you taking a political stance and try to pick a fight.

It might actually be easiest if you start this guild with your like-minded friends and then recruit people on a 1 to 1 basis after getting to know them a bit, rather than going around spamming chat hoping to draw the attention of anyone who might fit. (Honestly I think selective recruitment is better anyway for almost any type of guild, unless you'll literally take anyone who accepts.)

(Also it might be worth specifying which country you're talking about when you say conservative politics. The UK Conservative Party is very different to the US Republican Party or the various French right-wing parties, and so on. So if you simply go around trying to recruit 'conservatives' in an international game you run the risk of ending up with a group who all use the same word to summarise their political views but still disagree on a lot of issues.)

[SlippyCheeze.5483]

@"Charrbeque.8729" said:Well........https://www.guildwars2.com/en/legal/guild-wars-2-rules-of-conduct/

12. You may not organize nor be a member of any pledges or groups within Guild Wars 2 that are based on or espouse any racist, sexist,anti-religious, anti-ethnic, anti-gay, or other hate mongering philosophies.

According to people with an opposing political ideology, this part of the rules of conduct is the very definition of conservatism and only applies to such ideology.

Nah, champ, it's the fact that people advancing those ideologies who also call themselves conservatives that are the problem there, not "conservative" full stop.

[alcopaul.2156]

i heard there is a secret society guild composed of offline players, online players and npcs roaming around.

[Dreamy Lu.3865]

My very personal opinion with no offense meant in any way: GW2 is a game. I come here to play, riding a giant rabbit and farming carrots. So for me, this thread is a bit like "Huh... What? ", as in out of subject. But that's me.Now if several players want to group together based on common opinions related to whatever political subjects, I have no problem with that at all, as long as it is kept inside the guild and does not spread out into public chats.

[Martimus.6027]

@Khisanth.2948 said:I don't see why that wouldn't be allowed but I would never join such a guild in any game.

Cool, thanks for telling us. We were all sitting wondering if you were.

[SkyShroud.2865]

i don't think there are any rules regarding that within guildshowever, the real problem is what you deem conservative may not deem so by others

regardless, good luck

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

@SlippyCheeze.5483 said:

@"Charrbeque.8729" said:Well........

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/legal/guild-wars-2-rules-of-conduct/

12. You may not organize nor be a member of any pledges or groups within Guild Wars 2 that are based on or espouse any racist, sexist,anti-religious, anti-ethnic, anti-gay, or other hate mongering philosophies.

According to people with an opposing political ideology, this part of the rules of conduct is the very definition of conservatism and only applies to such ideology.

Nah, champ, it's the fact that

people advancing those ideologies who also call themselves conservatives

that are the problem there, not "conservative" full stop.

It's a bit more complicated than that. I wrote about it at length in a previous post, but the short version is this: the different ideologies founding the Right and Left have different standards and definitions for every one of those terms. What the Right sees as reasonable stances and viewpoints is considered high heresy by the Left, and vice versa. This gets even more complicated when you start throwing in code words and conspiracies.

[Maikimaik.1974]

Keep in mind though that a guild declared as "conservative" WILL cause racists, sexists, homophobes etc. to join that guild. I'm not accusing you of being one of those hateful people, but i can guarantee you that it will happen and could easily get out of control. I can also guarantee you that a guild based solely on political views is not going to get you away from politics, obviously.

[SteepledHat.1345]

I don't see why not. I think I've seen some in the hall of the mists.

[Omega.6801]

I don't think that it would be against any rules. But if you start a guild with political ideals at the center, you will hardly get away from politics in your gaming time. Also, don't expect to find the chill and reasonable types filling up your ranks. No matter how reflected and open minded you might be, a guild like this would probably have lots of draw for the more extremist people, you can still kick them but it gets tedious. I'd rather make a "no politics, just game talk" guild if I wanted my playtime to be free from these issues.

[Kako.1930]

It's probably not breaking any rules but it might be better to just implement a guild rule where you can't talk about politics instead, otherwise you'll just attract all the crazies. If you give people an inch when it comes to politics, they'll oftentimes take a mile, and that'll be worse than having a normal guild with light left-leaning political banter.

[GDchiaScrub.3241]

If it means anything. Maguuma bashes both sides equally.

[Turkeyspit.3965]

I would prefer a more balanced approach, where the guild is encouraged to act like adults. Whether you are liberal, conservative, religious or atheist, whether you think Logan Thackery is dreamy or should have his head mounted as a trophy on Rytlocks wall, it shouldn't matter, and everyone should understand that it's ok to agree to disagree. The latter is the tricky part.