Respect for some tower leaders has just faded away into this thread lol  

There are many ways to address situations like these, and others. One thing you have to remember is that most 1k hat chasing guilds today resurrected from older guilds that reached 1k/5k/10k a few years back. Brawl is one of those guilds.

Brawl comes from Azari, who reached their 1k a few years ago and retired after that. They basically converted into a hangout/family guild and just did whatever, whenever they liked. A few years later, people like Josh decide that since they have the members already, why not just lead another 1k guild and get that hat? They could start right now.

So guilds like Brawl recruit people who work their butts off helping them, and in the end the 1k is distributed to:
70% friends
15% boyfriends/girlfriends
10% people who buy the spots
5% people who actually helped

The fiends ratio is only higher because Brawl originated from Azari, and it would only feel "right" to give it to his closest friends. Why? Because since he got a 1k from them, they MUST get the 1k from him, too. And it's guilds like this that have poisoned towering for me. It's so difficult for new, fresh guilds to start towering these days because you have two guilds from the same 1k guild towering and making alliances with each other.

Unfortunately there is another percentage ratio as well. 75% of people who join want the hat, 15% percent of people who join don't expect the hat in that guild, but if they join now then they'll be sure to get it in the next one, and the other 10% of people who join sincerely want to help and work hard to gain a prize.

The second the reach 1k, it doesn't matter if they hold the tower anymore. The guild fades away because another one just takes it's place. And unfortunately for you Heartless, your friend was a victim of this.

Thallen

CoM is a guild that I actually thought was towering for the fun of it. But seriously? A building with 25 statues in it? It's people like Maeby who have managed to corrupt the guilds that actually don't hat chase. She's using her members to get to 20k. But for what? An imaginary prize? Is Maeby crazy? Well, yes, she is, but no, she's completely aware that there is no prize at 20k. But then what is she using and tricking her members for? And the answer is simple.

Fame

This is what has corrupted the guild who sincerely don't care about hats. The, "Can you help me lead a guild to 1k?" or "How did you get so many tower hours?" is what Maeby wants. She what's the attention, fame, really. She could deny it all she wants, but why else would she tell her guild that there is a fake prize once they reach 20k? She's basically telling them there's a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. And unfortunately, corrupted guilds have corrupted her members. They only see what they want to see. She could say "we may or may not get a building with 25 statues at 20k." Her members will only see "Prize at 20k." It's sad, really, to see how poisoned towers have poisoned members.

And while the topic was mainly focused on a silly guild and a silly hat which won't matter in 10 years, it's something that Rogue from PULSE was trying to tell me, now that I realize. The way we act here is how we probably act in real life. Are we going to be people who use their acquaintances for money or fame? Are we going to give raises/promotions only to our friends? It's these questions that frighten me. Who are we going to be in 10 years? Who are we right now?  

I agree with mostly everything you posted there. The only thing that I can really add is that it isn't necessarily wrong to want to be known in game or to have a desire to accomplish things. I thoroughly enjoy sparring, but a big motivating factor in continuing is because I'm competitive and I actually enjoy people thinking of me as one of the best or knowing who I am, etc.

It only becomes a problem when someone loses control of themselves and becomes desperate. I think it's giving poor tower guild leaders a break if we're trying to blame the towering rewards system itself for their behavior. At the end of the day, no one forces them to lie, cheat, or manipulate people. They do it out of their own selfishness and greed.

A guild is a material item that one person has as their property. Many people can contribute to it, but that guild leader knows that it's forever theirs if they want to keep it. Every minute that others pour into it is them pouring in time and effort into a material that one person owns and, in the long run, that one person will be looked at as responsible for its success. Some people are so weak and thirsty to want to be looked at as being the reason behind that success that they'll use and abuse people who have literally dedicated days, weeks, months of their time to contribute. Honestly, IDK how you anyone can even be that inconsiderate, even on a game.

You're right about the overpowering desire for fame, and it's kind of disgusting. It's why I ignore 90% of the PMs I receive, and people call me an asshole over it. I do that because I feel like that's the percentage of people who make an effort to talk to me and get to know me for selfish reasons. It's pretty annoying to talk to someone for two hours before they hit you with, "So can I join your guild?" or "Can you teach me to spar?" The more desperate cases extend to people "dating" others and pretending to "love" them just for some status in the game, or just for their help in some element in the game (such as towers). It's a game that uses five buttons. If you really want to get good at it and achieve things, you can just learn the game instead of doing things like that.  

I'm not saying that wanting to be well known is bad, but manipulating people and tricking them into doing things for you to become well known isn't ok

And yeah, I agree with pretty much everything you posted, too.  

Haha josh used to be in Voyage. Now he has a 1k guild? lol  

Maybe they could look into making Guild tags more functional or purpose full. As in making it so its more than just a marker that links you as part of a particular group or Guild and allow you to chat with other ppl in that guild.

What I mean is making it so guild tags could be used to keep track of stats for your activity while that particular guild tag is on.

So for example: I put my UFO guild tag on and it would show when I first joined,last time I logged on with that tag on,keep track of how many hours I have online while wearing that tag, Maybe how many tower hours where gained while wearing that tag. Idk that it would be that important but it could also keep track of Pks or Bks while wearing that tag as well. It could do this for every tag you ever use so when you click on that tag it would show you your stats while wearing that particular tag.

If they could do some thing like that it could help to distinguish who should get a reward or Hat as the case may be.  

Quite a few unpopular decisions need to be made in order for guild issues to be appropriately addressed. Controversial changes need to be eased in alongside positive expansions on guilds as an overall feature. If they aren't, changes won't last for very long given the volume of complaints that comes with it and we've seen that happen already.  

It should be treated like a tumor. Nasty and painful to remove, yet the benefits of keeping it from growing are far greater.  

Posted by Rufus

Quite a few unpopular decisions need to be made in order for guild issues to be appropriately addressed. Controversial changes need to be eased in alongside positive expansions on guilds as an overall feature. If they aren't, changes won't last for very long given the volume of complaints that comes with it and we've seen that happen already.

^I agree with Rufus on this one.  

1000 hour prizes should be changed to 2000 hours, and though many will hate it, and riot, those people should be ignored because that's just pointing out who are really just in it for a hat.  

20 hats>1 mount  

Another system I thought of was a points system. Basically all new members start with on point. Over time they can either gain or lose points. To gain points the leader(s) would have to see them online helping, not starting guild drama or fights, acting like a leader whether or not they aren't a leader, and so on. They would lose points by doing the opposite of all these things. So when a guild would reach 1k, the top 24 people with the most points would receive the hat. That way people who join at 800 hours have a lesser chance of receiving the hat, since lots of other people would already have lots of points.  

Posted by CM CM

Another system I thought of was a points system. Basically all new members start with on point. Over time they can either gain or lose points. To gain points the leader(s) would have to see them online helping, not starting guild drama or fights, acting like a leader whether or not they aren't a leader, and so on. They would lose points by doing the opposite of all these things. So when a guild would reach 1k, the top 24 people with the most points would receive the hat. That way people who join at 800 hours have a lesser chance of receiving the hat, since lots of other people would already have lots of points.

I like the idea of a point system, but not for individual members rather the guild as a whole. Instead of giving out hats as a prize anymore, why not give scores to guilds who can hold towers for the longest amounts of time and double the points for having multiple towers? Points would be reset monthly, and all logs of hourly scores will be kept. But guilds would no longer compete to reach 1k for a hat then start all over. Guilds would compete to see who can have the most amount of points for the month. It would create competition, and the prize is significance.

Why do people even want hats in the first place? Is it because they're good? No, most of the hats are awful in my opinion and perhaps you too can think of at least one 1k hat in particular you despise. Then why wear it? Significance. This is a simple and easy solution to meet the need for significance without encouraging a culture of disposing of guilds for some symbolic token. No, rather this would encourage the opposite for guilds to all fight to see who can come out on top, and you would see more consistency on leadership. People won't have to throw away their guilds to start all over anymore when they can build off what they have.

Now this way, you wont feel discouraged to compete with the colossal elder guilds that have massive amounts of hours to put your guild at the top for the month, who have dominated the franchise for years perhaps. But now, it gives every guild an equal opportunity to come out on top in at least one other area in towering aside from hours. Yes, such an idea would create turmoil and unrest in the short term, but think long term. Once the storm has settled and the waves have died down this will open up a magnificent sunshine of opportunities never thought to have come before. We need change. It hurts to rub alcohol in the wound, but the overrall result is our good health.  

Posted by Ryan

1000 hour prizes should be changed to 2000 hours, and though many will hate it, and riot, those people should be ignored because that's just pointing out who are really just in it for a hat.

Yeah... No thanks.  

Posted by Blueh

I like the idea of a point system, but not for individual members rather the guild as a whole. Instead of giving out hats as a prize anymore, why not give scores to guilds who can hold towers for the longest amounts of time and double the points for having multiple towers? Points would be reset monthly, and all logs of hourly scores will be kept. But guilds would no longer compete to reach 1k for a hat then start all over. Guilds would compete to see who can have the most amount of points for the month. It would create competition, and the prize is significance.

Why do people even want hats in the first place? Is it because they're good? No, most of the hats are awful in my opinion and perhaps you too can think of at least one 1k hat in particular you despise. Then why wear it? Significance. This is a simple and easy solution to meet the need for significance without encouraging a culture of disposing of guilds for some symbolic token. No, rather this would encourage the opposite for guilds to all fight to see who can come out on top, and you would see more consistency on leadership. People won't have to throw away their guilds to start all over anymore when they can build off what they have.

Now this way, you wont feel discouraged to compete with the colossal elder guilds that have massive amounts of hours to put your guild at the top for the month, who have dominated the franchise for years perhaps. But now, it gives every guild an equal opportunity to come out on top in at least one other area in towering aside from hours. Yes, such an idea would create turmoil and unrest in the short term, but think long term. Once the storm has settled and the waves have died down this will open up a magnificent sunshine of opportunities never thought to have come before. We need change. It hurts to rub alcohol in the wound, but the overrall result is our good health.

+rep for making points about significance that I didn't make in my earlier posts. I like this whole points system thing but wouldn't people starting asking for some kind of prize if they get the most points? I mean yes, they usually only want the 1k hat for significance, but they want something to show their significance after the guild is reset, because if the points for a guild are just reset then they will feel like they won't have anything to show everyone what they accomplished. This is why lots of people start 1k guilds, to get the hat and then show everyone what they have done. But let's say a guild gets the most points at the end of the month. They would be praised yes, but I think they would be upset that:
1) All of their hard earned points are going to waste by just being reset.
2) No prize to show what they accomplished.

Yes they will have significance, but a year later nobody will remember if they got the most points or not. And this is why so many people want a 1k hat, because they want to show everyone proof of how they are significant.