PEOPLE TO TALK WITH:
This is an online game a lot of the time you don’t actually need to directly interact with them on the regular. That is, in and of itself, all right. You don’t always need to be buddied up with everyone on your server. But sometimes it can get kind of lonely when you log in and haven’t got a single person to actually interact with.
Guilds change that. Sure, there’s still going to be times where no one is online, or the people who you really want to talk with isn’t around. But you actually have better-than-zero odds of having a friend online who you can talk with, and you’re more likely to make friends you can connect with in the future. That’s an obvious benefit.
NECESSARY GUIDANCE:
You will be lost sometimes. You will not know how to do a quest. You will not be sure how to play your class/job/builds. You will need guidance. And having a guild means that odds are good you either have access to that guidance or have people there who can point you in the right direction. Or — and this is also good — it will give you motivation to be that guidance for other people in the future.
CONTENT PUSHING:
We all tend to fall into certain ruts of content. There are things we all do on a regular basis almost instinctively and left to our own devices it would be easy to assume that this is what everyone does. It’s easy to queue up for the same content and join the same sort of premade groups while looking at outside content as “well, no one does that.”
Join even a small guild, and there will be at least one person who enjoys content you do not. Join a big one, and you will find groups of dedicated players for that content. And that forces you to have a larger perspective, to realize that something you don’t care about might be something that a lot of other players are looking forward to. Perhaps even the majority.
That doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily want to take part, but it does mean you know people who can help you get into it. It nudges you out of your comfort zone. That’s a good thing, really.
This maybe the biggest reason for a guild.
A REASON TO LOG IN:
On one level, this might seem to be more of a benefit to the designers than the player. Having a group of people who know you, like you, and expect to see you on a regular basis keeps you playing and logging in. Designers obviously want that; that way you keep playing and (presumably) paying.
But if you take a step back, you realize that it’s your benefit too. Online interactions are, in many ways, just as real as the interactions we have in our day-to-day lives. The people you know and speak with are just as real, and sometimes they provide you a perspective you might not otherwise have. It’s like having your favorite bar, except you don’t have to be sloshed out of your mind and you can get there from anywhere that’s got an Internet connection.
I know from personal experience that there are times when the real world is unpleasant. Being able to slip into a world with people you like seeing, companions and friends? That’s a good thing, and that’s a benefit. And having a guild full of people who are happy to see you reminds you of just how many people out there are happy to see you.
So, there are lots of reasons to be in a guild. And sure, that also means you’ll have to deal with some unnecessary drama and nonsense, but that’s not all you get out of the exchange. That’s important to remember over the long term.