[kstenerud]

I saw the exact opposite. The guilds that performed the best, got first kill, turned the newest content into farm status the quickest, were guilds that had one man at the top.

He would have officers to whom he would delegate most of the operations, and with whom he would confer as the guild was tackling new content, but in the end his word was final. And it worked wonderfully until eventually the leader left without appointing someone competent enough to fill his shoes.

It was the complete opposite with "committee" based guilds. Everything there was about your standing in the council, who you could bring to "your side", infighting, inertia, analysis paralysis, cliques, rifts, you name it. It was a mess, and most raid nights were spent dying in very stupid and careless ways. DKP hoarding and loot cockblocking would become commonplace. Morale would plummet, the good players would leave, and eventually the guild would fold, be absorbed, or just wallow in suckiness.

[Shenglong]

The most organized guild I've been in, as an example, did not really have a governance structure. There was no such thing as DKP, and when a boss was down'd, everyone's immediate first question was "who needs this most?" - or rather, "who would bring the most benefit by taking this?" Raids were super smooth. In fact, on vent, we'd barely talk, other than to make jokes and tell stories.

Siege wars went well too. 40 of us vs over 200 people every time, and no one raged, and we never lost. This guild won siege for over 8 months straight without a single loss. I actually do have proof of this in the form of a 1gb video. I can upload it if you like. :P

Games now (I notice you mentioned Rifts) are different. I find most players now tend to be 30-50 year olds. I'm not sure why the shift in demographic...