Council Chambers: Host Sweet Host

Council Chambers is all about the ins and outs of guild leadership in Star Wars: The Old Republic.  Each week, we’ll look at running and managing a guild through good times, bad times and everything in between.  

A couple weeks ago, we had some great questions and comments relating to the ending of the Guild Headquarters project (at least temporarily) through the official site at www.swtor.com, and what alternatives may be out there for guilds looking for site hosting options.

Specifically, Suro writes,

I’d be interested in an article describing TOR-specific or themed hosting sites, and the benefits and features of each. For WoW, sites like Guildzilla, Wowstead, and such all have differing features, costs, and quality levels. I’d be interested in knowing which sites feature TOR themes, good forums, and game integration (progression list? profession listings?)

What’s out there?

Thanks for the question, Suro! I definitely think this is on a lot of guild officers’ minds as they look for places to relocate their content by the end of the year. The good news is that there are a lot of options out there for guilds, from largely pre-configured templates for the non-tech savvy guild officers to do-it-yourself programs that allow complete control over your site.

Scoping Out the Project

The first thing you should think about before beginning the search for a guild hosting option is what you want to use your guild’s website for. If yours is a very low key, casual guild who is just looking to have people to chat with and level with in game, then you may not need a website or forums at all. On the other hand, if your guild is hoping to be a skilled and top-level operations group, then you will definitely want to include features such as forums, a calendar, and maybe even widgets for boss kills and the like. Websites can also make a big impact in recruiting; your guild’s home page is akin to its book cover, which means that yes, people will look at it and judge you by it. So the very first thing you and your officers will want to evaluate is what you want your website to provide for members.

Once you have a better sense of what your guild needs from a website, you will want to address its development and maintenance. If you do not already have a webmaster and are not computer-savvy yourself, this is a great time to see about appointing a webmaster to manage your guild’s online content. Once you have done that, you and your new web team can start planning out the new site. In order to figure out the best alternative for you and your guild, I would say the first two things to think about are:

1. What are your current webmaster’s capabilities (including time availability)?
2. What is your budget?

In the first case, you will need to determine who will be responsible for managing web content for your guild. This may be the guild leader, an officer who has some web background, or even a member volunteer who’s willing to pitch in. If not yourself, ask them about what their comfort level is with web design, and also how much time they have and are willing to devote to the guild’s website. Even if your webmaster is very skilled, building a site from scratch is very time consuming, and they may not have the availability to take on a project that large.

Budget is also something you will want to consider when researching web hosting options. While most pre-fabricated guild hosting sites do have a free option, these are usually very limited in terms of services included, and almost always include banner and/or flash advertisements on the site. Prices scale upwards, and are usually by the month with most sites granting a multi-month discount. A number of those sites that do have monthly fees will also provide PayPal functionality, so that you can include a button for members to click on and contribute, which would look something like this.

There are roughly three categories for web hosting: Guild Hosts (Pre-Fab), Content Management Systems (CMS), and Forums Only. I have included a number of options for each of these types below.

Guild Hosting Sites

Guild Hosting Sites offer the most in terms of pre-developed content. These services provide a wealth of options for add-ons, flashpoint and operations integration, TOR-themed backgrounds, banners, and artwork, calendars, and even integrated voice chat programs (usually for an additional fee). These come in the form of widgets, and all the webmasters need to do is select a template, then drag and drop whichever widgets they want into place from the admin panel. These services will allow you to get a very smooth-looking site posted in the shortest amount of time; the down side is, they’ll also generally cost more per month than the other options.

Enjin Theme Directory

I have listed some of the main sites below, in alphabetical order, along with a brief overview of what each provides for users and their pricing.  Ask A Jedi is sponsored through Enjin, though many guild hosting services provide comparable features.  I have perused the official forums’ guild recruitment threads to provide at least one example for each of the hosting services, as well. (Editor’s Note: Look for a full-featured review of Enjin specifically for Star Wars: The Old Republic guilds very soon!)

Clan Site Manager
Pricing: Free or $9.95 to $49.95 a month
Plans/Features: see here
Example Guild Sites:  Old Republic Dad’s Network

Dark Jedi Organization (DJO)
Pricing: Free
Plans/Features: see here
Example Guild Sites: Central Imperial Order

Enjin
Pricing: Free or $7.16 to $29.95 a month
Plans/Features: see here
Example Guild Sites: Malice, Sanctum of the Sith

Ejeet
Pricing: $8.97 a month
Plans/Features: see here
Example Guild Sites:  Brigade of Honor

Guild Website Hosting
Pricing: $9.88 to $19.88 a month (plus initial setup fee of $5)
Plans/Features: see here
Example Guild Sites: Servants of the Light

Guild Launch
Pricing: Free or $6.00 a month (+$1.00 a month for optional Rapid Raid System)
Plans/Features: see here
Example Guild Sites: Project Serenity, Dauntless

Guild Portal
Pricing: Free or $45 every 6 months
Plans/Features: see here
Example Guild Sites:  Section 13, Decadence

Shivtr
Pricing: Free or $8.99 a month
Plans/Features: see here
Example Guild Sites: Imperial Vanguard

Content Management Systems

The next type of guild webpage that you can opt for involves using a content management system (CMS). CMS are software packages that allow users with some web programming background or markup languages (such as HTML) to build more customized websites than the guild hosting options above. Generally, CMS provides a middle ground between writing the code from scratch and using a pre-fab hosting site, giving some basic functionality but also allowing for a wide range of customization in terms of features. If you opt for a CMS based system, you will also need to have a server for your web host, such as offered through GoDaddy, Bluhost, Site5, or other web hosting services.

Drupal – Example Guild Sites: Veritas

e107 – Example Guild Sites: Latalis

Joomla – Example Guild Sites: Reign

WordPress – Example Guild Sites: Frozen in Carbonite, Fuse

Forums

The third option is to develop your new website strictly around forums. Forums are generally the cornerstone of out of game guild communications, and an easy way to provide regular and in-depth conversations with your guildmates about operations, events, game notes, classes, or anything else you may want to discuss. For guilds that are just looking for a way to stay in touch out of game, or a short-term solution until the new Guild Headquarters opens up, forums may provide a great, low-cost alternative to a full guild hosting plan.

MyBB – Example Class Forums:  Sith Warrior Forums

phpBB – Example Guild Forums: Reign

vBulletin – Example Guild Forums: Champions of the Force

As you can see, there is a wide variety of options to peruse when researching where you will want to set up your guild’s website come January 3, 21012. Start by thinking about how active your guild has been or expects to be in the coming months out of game, what you intend to use the site for, and what your time and financial constraints are, and use that information as a guideline to narrow down the above lists. At this point, we still do not have much information on what will happen with the Guild Headquarters feature on the official website once it closes – so I would recommend considering any new website to which you move as a potentially permanent solution, rather than a short term one.

Wherever you decide to host your guild’s new home, you will want to make sure to provide a polished and professional look for the site. There are some great guides out there for how to design the look and feel of a site, how to avoid over-cluttering the negative space, using pleasing color schemes and even how to design for those who are colorblind or have other viewing needs. Most of the above hosting services also have active customer support forums, where you can read through to learn more or even post questions for issues you run into while designing your new site.  Good luck to all those who are beginning (or in progress with, as my guild is) a new, post-Guild Headquarters site effort!

Got a question for Council Chambers?  Drop a line to ladyoftherepublic@gmail.com or post a comment here, and you may see your guild questions answered in a future column.