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Sites to help guilds create and customize their own website. |
Guild hosting services[]
Guild Hosting is provided by companies that tailored web applications to gamers. Their hosting plans typically offer out of the box functionality with popular functionality such as content management, forums, rosters, polls, and image galleries. Some services offer game specific features and DKP. These services range from free, to ad supported, to ad free service on a monthly, quarterly, or yearly charge.
| Name | Cost/Month | Ads | Technology | Difficulty | Flexibility | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BattleStandards [1] | Free | No | Ruby on Rails | Easy | Full | |
 www.battlestandards.com
Best part? It's free! Join here: BattleStandards | ||||||
| DKPSystem.com [2] | starts at $10.00/mo | No | Custom CMS in PHP | You decide | (See below) | |
 www.dkpsystem.com
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| Guild Solutions (GildenDKP) [3] | ? | No | PHP | Easy | High | |
  www.guild-solutions.com
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| Guildomatic [4] | ? | Yes (with Free package) | Proprietary plus phpBB | Easy | Medium | |
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| Guildtag [5] | Free | No Ads | VueJS | Easy | High | |
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| Shivtr [6] | Free up to $15.99/mo | - | - | Easy | Very | |
 www.shivtr.com
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Content management systems[]
A CMS is most commonly known as a forum engine, but just a forum is not enough for most guilds anymore. Galleries, news items, managed articles, downloads, uploads, and other utilities are often in high demand. Most CMSs support themes to change how they look and feel to better fit your guild's personality.
| Name | Cost/Month | Ads | Technology | Difficulty | Flexibility | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DragonflyCMS [7] | Free | - | php, mysql | Medium | High | |
| DragonflyCMS is similar to phpnuke but offers many performance enhancements and optimizations to make it faster and much more secure. Modules included with the base install are forums, photo gallery, News. You are able to upgrade the News and Forums with pro versions that offer an array of optimizations that will suite any site. Third party modules for WoW include native ports of WoWRoster, ItemStats and Guild Application. Other third party modules include BBCode Hacks. | ||||||
| Nuke - | Free | - | php, mysql | Medium | High | |
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There are many flavors of Nuke out there, and I will do my best to link Nuke sites that are popular and stable. I am not as familiar with this system, but I know it is a popular one. I know it supports forums, but I am not sure what else. There are many WoW related modules for the Nuke systems. | ||||||
| DotNetNuke [8] | Free | - | .NET (VB.NET or C#), SQL Server (either Express or full version) | Medium | High | |
| DotNetNuke (DNN) is an open-source CMS built on the .NET Framework [9]. The portal has its roots on the ASP IBuySpy sample project, which spawned several CMS communities. DNN builds on the ASP.NET framework to allow module development and skin creation. Modules and skins are available both free from the DNN community or for purchase via either Snowcovered or the DNN Marketplace, both DNN module clearinghouses.
One of the larger appeals of using DNN is the large number of modules produced by the DNN core team that are included and maintained by core team members [10]. Modules of interest to WoW guild webmasters include: The v4.5.x release of DNN adds AJAX capabilities via ASP.NET AJAX (formerly known as 'Atlas') to allow for more interactive experiences for page browsers, and the ability to do partial rendering, which allows for one module to perform an AJAX refresh without having all modules on a page refresh. | ||||||
| e107 [11] | Free | - | php, mysql | Medium | High | |
| e107 has a full offering of forums, a calendar, news, articles, uploads/downloads. It also has a very robust permissions system that will allow tons of flexibility in allowing your guild to contribute things to the website. This is the engine I have chosen for my guild to use. AddOns and Mods are also readily available for this engine, as well as easily developed. | ||||||
| Joomla [12] | Free | - | php, mysql | Medium | High | |
| Joomla! is one of the most powerful Open Source Content Management Systems on the planet. It is used all over the world for everything from simple websites to complex corporate applications. Joomla! is easy to install, simple to manage, and reliable. There is huge support on the internet for Joomla, and there are hundreds of addons. Integration with armory, EQDKP, and SMF (popular forum software) or PhpBB is a snap. | ||||||
| Joomla Extensions [13] | Free-8€ (No subscription) | - | - | Medium | High | |
| rootarea.de offers most flexible and advanced WoW extensions for Joomla 1.0.x, 1.5.x and the new Joomla 1.7.x.
It offers the following really flexible modules / components for your guild website based on Joomla:
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| Mambo [14] | Free | - | php, mysql | Medium | High | |
| Mambo is a full featured CMS engine. | ||||||
| Drupal [15] | Free | - | php, mysql | Medium | High | |
| Drupal is a free software package that allows an individual or a community of users to easily publish, manage and organize a wide variety of content on a website. Too many features to list here. Drupal, benefits from a wide range of addon modules. Check website for details. | ||||||
| Wordpress [16] | Free | - | php, mysql | Simple | Medium | |
| A very straight forward tool, this is more intended for blogging, but some people prefer it. It's power comes from the various plug-ins available for the user. There are dozens of themes also available to skin your wordpress site the way you like it. A WoW skin is in the works as of this edit. | ||||||
| phpWebSite [17] | Free | Yes | - | - | - | |
| An open source web site content management system intended for community websites. It is run by Appalachian State University. Although not designed for gaming, the features are similiar to what many will find on guild website hosting services. | ||||||
Raid management and DKP[]
Raid management is a common requirement for guilds participating in most MMOs which have heavy PVE content. World of Warcraft is a prime example with its rich PVE encounters which are heavy on commitment and time requirements. Raid Managers are now available which speed up the process of managing raiding. DKP (Dragon Kill Points) is a way of fairly sharing loot based on effort/commitment.
| Name | Cost/Month | Ads | Technology | Difficulty | Flexibility | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EQDKP Plus [18] | no | no | php, mysql | low | High | |
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Forums systems[]
| Name | Cost/Month | Ads | Technology | Difficulty | Flexibility
| |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| phpBB3 [19] | free | no | php, mysql | Medium | High | |
Since its creation in 2000, phpBB™ has become the most widely used Open Source forum solution. Like its predecessors, phpBB™ 3.0 “Olympus” has an easy to use administration panel and a user friendly installation process, which allows you to have a forum set up in minutes. With a large and highly customisable set of key features coupled with a standards compliant interface, phpBB™ will grow with, and complement your website. With millions of installations worldwide, it is no wonder phpBB™ is one of the most popular ways to create and support a community.
A Dragon Kill system Mod for your phpBB3 Bulletin board. It evolved from Eqdkp to help guilds in MMORPGs (Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games) track guild members attendance, item purchases and other statistics. It updates and brings together the Dkp/game managment facilites of EQdkp, and integrates them with phpBB3's facilites. This means your users gain single sign on to dkp and phpbb, and you as an administrator or raidleader gain a clean interface, robust admin facilities and less integration headaches. The framework supports multiple games : World of Warcraft, The Lord of the Rings Online, Dark Age of Camelot, Vanguard - Saga of Heroes, EverQuest I/II, Warhammer Online, Final Fantasy XI, AION.
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| vBulletin [20] | not free | ? | php, mysql | Medium | High | |
More advanced than phpBB this software is not free, but well worth the price if you have some funding available. One of the most customizable web forums available today includes build in calendars customizable user profiles and themes with built in editor.
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| Simple Machines [21] | ? | ? | php, mysql | Easy | High | |
| It's more flexible than phpBB though theming can be a little trickier. No portal system, but a few of the more popular portal systems like Mambo/Joomla, Xoops etc have scripts (bridges) built for you to integrate the forum with the portal.
There's also a very simple but effective portal for SMF called TinyPortal (website http://www.tinyportal.net).
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| Snitz Forums [22] | ? | ? | ? | Easy | Medium | |
| Most of the features are simple, however, when dealing with detailed tasks, it may become a bit tricky. Easy to setup, good support, and endless add-ons. The add-ons get more complicated but the basic forums are easy. | ||||||
| Burning Board [23] | Not free | None | ? | Easy | Medium | |
| An inexpensive piece of software with moderate flexibility. Though lacking in functions maintained by phpbb and InvisionFree, it does have customizable skins and an incredible ease of use. There are no ads for the service. | ||||||
| InvisionFree [24] | Free | Banner | php, CMS, mysql | Easy | High | |
| A customizable web forum. InvisionFree is owned by Invision, which recently merged with MindSet. It is freely hosted on InvisionFree's servers. It includes a built-in calendar, support tickets, news portals, and a warn system. It also includes customizable skins, images, smilies, and a logo. It has the ability to maintain and integrate mods and addons that allow for multiple skin selections, games, etc. Unlike vBulletin and phpbb, InvisionFree has a built-in multi-moderation system, which is a quick way to perform several moderation functions with a single click. Though easy to set up, it lacks extreme functionality and a complex interface. You also have the ability to upgrade your webforum into an Invision forum (which allows for editing almost every detail of the forum for a fee), though your forum will not be hosted by their free servers when this process is complete. | ||||||
Web utilities[]
| Name | Cost/Month | Ads | Technology | Difficulty | Flexibility | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guild emblem tabard generator [25] | free | no | none | Very Easy | High | |
| Create a guild emblem based on your guilds current in-game tabard design. This is 100% automatically. Just enter your guild name and see the result. Can be used as signature or on your guilds website. | ||||||
| PHP WoW Battle.net Armory API [26] | free | no | php | Very Easy | High | |
| This is a complete API to access World of Warcraft armory at battle.net. This also includes cache control, so you can keep below the daily request limit. Can also generate guild emblems png matching your guild tabard. Extremely easy to use. | ||||||
| Axho WoW Feeds [27] | free | no | php, jquery, html, css | Very Easy | High | |
| Feeds for your guild / portal website! Easy to implement. Guild Roster / Guild Activity / Realm Status / Service Status and more available in JSON, XML and raw HTML feeds. | ||||||
| WoW Signature Generator [28] | free | no | php, jquery | Very Easy | High | |
| Featuring over 70+ visually distinct styles to choose from, real-time character signature previews with dynamic style & color selection. Configure 6 stats. Signatures update every 24 hours. | ||||||
| Warcraft Signature Maker [29] | free | no | jquery | Very Easy | High | |
| Over 90 stats to pick from, upload your own backgrounds, pick your own colors and more. No watermark. | ||||||
| WoW Signature Generator [30] | free | Yes | php, mysql | Very Easy | High | |
| Offers a tool to create Hi-Quality Image Signatures for World of Warcraft guild & community forums. | ||||||
| Guild Reviews [31] | free | No | php, mysql | Very Easy | High | |
| Are you looking for a Guild, but have no idea where to start? Are you sick of apping and then figuring out that the GM is a control freak and you won't have loot for 6mos? Tell us your stories!
Guild Reviews. | ||||||
| Recruit Gamers [32] | free | Yes | php, mysql | Very Easy | High | |
 RG - Recruitment Simplified World of Warcraft Recruitment Redefined! Tired of recruitment forums? Are you a guild recruitment officer who has to search through forums every day to look for apps? Do you spend 30minutes every day bumping your recruitment post?
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| RPG Outfitter [33] | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
| They've got all the usual stuff: recipes, quests, inventory, vault, mail, bank requests. Remote Services (integrating their data into your web site so there's only one log in) is in beta, Character Pics (so you can see your character pic on your profile there) and they're playing around with sigs (you just need to add the image tag in your sig) but they're not customizable, yet. You can use the Uniuploader executable which will keep your character profile up to date automatically. | ||||||
| LookingForGuild.net [34] | free | ? | php, mysql | ? | ? | |
A 100% free guild recruitment tool. Our advanced search engine makes "looking for guild forums" obsolete. No more bumping threads, or digging through posts hoping to find what you need. We have a huge listing of guilds that are recruiting right now, or you can place your own ad, and lets guilds fight over you. Every one of our ads are searchable by: | ||||||
| WoW Roster [35] | free | no? | php5, mysql | medium | high | |
| An open source project for guild and character management this project has moved to be more like a guild CMS. They have a very active group of developers building both the basic system as well as many Mods and AddOns. They have solutions for Guild Banks, reputation, crafting lists, etc. They use a rebuilt and updated Profiler, as well and blizzard api support for updating guilds and characters. UniUploader as well as a Java version, jUniUploader, are available for this utility. | ||||||
| DotNetWarcraft: WoW Guild Roster [36] | Free | None | ASP.NET, SQL Server | Low | Medium | |
| An open source project for guild/character profiling, built to use with the DotNetNuke (DNN) CMS system. The project consists of multiple assemblies (DLLs) that allow it to be repurposed and extended to run on any .NET-based application (either web or desktop-based). Currently, only the DNN module is currently available - packaged as a standard DNN-public assembly (PA), which can be uploaded and installed. Configuration includes adding your guild into the module control panel, configuring the module display (which view type and which guilds to show), and setting up the polling service (no coding/customization required).
The project allows a DNN-based guild portal to gather/store/display one or multiple guilds/characters/stats/reputations. Information is downloaded from the WoW Armory server (via the WoW Armory Parser project). The code also includes a DNN service, to allow the guild portal to pull and update it's information from the WoW Armory on a regular basis (e.g., every 6-12 hours) to keep your guild roster up to date for you. Out of the box, the code provides the ability to display guild characters by class, profession, guild rank, and reputation. On top of the groupings, the module allows for tagging of alt and main characters (and linking them to DNN users) so that the lists can show 'only mains' (for lists such as 'here are the guild officers', where you don't want to display all of the officer alts). The current release of the code allows for the gathering and storage of the guild information in a database. To increase performance, the code uses custom caching to store the data, and uses AJAX for the user experience (Javascript and web services are used to eliminate postbacks and provide immediate feedback, as well as providing 'tooltip' on-hover boxes to show character information). Plans are to expand the functionality of the codebase post-release to include guild bank and guild calendar. | ||||||
| CTProfile [37] | ? | ? | Hosted | low | medium | |
| Build a roster of your guild characters with all their gear, skills and talents. Also useful to demonstrate specific builds with gear to provide as examples for up and coming guild members.
Currently unavailable. | ||||||
| WoW Character Info Generator [38] | ? | ? | iframe | low | low | |
| A widget allowing players to show detailed information about their characters, using data from World of Warcraft's armory. Your characters stats, talents, professions, gear and pvp stats are all included. The widget is compact and runs from an iframe, making it easy to embed on your website, blog or online profile. | ||||||
| Wow Web Stats [39] | some free | ? | php | ? | ? | |
| WoW Web Stats lets you generate rich raid statistics from Combat Logs, that you can host on your forum and discuss after the raid for improving fighting techniques and player's specs. | ||||||
| phpRaider [40] | ? | ? | php, mysql | ? | ? | |
| phpRaider is a calendar version of phpRaid which allows you to create, edit, and then sign up for raids. It includes, among other things, icon and SQL table setups for Alliance, Horde, or both. With it, you're able to link the authentication options for almost all of the content management systems stated above and then some. Completely customizable and stable, it's only shortcoming is the limited support from the developers and a slight learning curve. Do not try this if you don't have at least basic knowledge of adding SQL databases/tables or editing PHP files. There isn't a lot of editing right out of the box but if you require assistance, expect the only help to come from the user base. | ||||||
| Alt5 [41] | free | ? | HTML iframes | low | medium | |
| Alt5 (public beta) offers widgets that can be inserted into guild websites as iframes. Widget functionality includes web-based DKP, tradeskill/crafting/profession search, raid/event planning, and messaging (email and text messaging). Alt5 supports the RPGO guild and character profiler addons for easy upload of guild rosters and character info (such as recipes and bank items). Alt5 can also be used as a stand-alone solution for guilds that do not have their own website. | ||||||
| DKP for DotNetNuke [42] | Free | None | ASP.NET, SQL Server | Low | Medium | |
| A DKP module for the DotNetNuke Content Management system has finally arrived. The module emphasizes providing a simple user interface that packs a punch. The module interfaces with WoW Armory and WoW Head to make setting up Instances, Mobs, Items, and Drops a breeze. Nearly a year in the making, the module boosts a proven track record of success. The development team is always open to suggestions for how to improve the module, and is fairly responsive to the community's needs. This DKP system also supports multiple DKP systems running in the same work space for those guilds that prefer to use content based DKP systems. | ||||||
| WowPhpToolsWebService [43] | free | None | HTML javascript | low | high | |
| This service offers JSONP access to the Armory and WoW Heroes. In normal language this means that it is possible to use Armory and Wow Heroes features by just using javascript, no serverside coding is required. There are two example Javascript Widgets available one for the Armory and one for Wow Heroes which both show a guild roster listing. | ||||||
| LFGuild [44] | Free | None | PHP, MySQL | Very Easy | High | |
 LFGuild features Stop searching. Start finding. The recruitment process in World of Warcraft can at times be one of the most testing aspects of the game. It makes and breaks guilds on a daily basis and is a time drain for both guilds seeking new players and players seeking new guilds. LFGuild was built with the aim of easing the burden of recruitment by providing the most comprehensive set of tools available. Our tools allow for both guilds and players to manage the entire recruitment process from start to finish on the site, while automating as much of the process as possible. LFGuild is constantly evolving to meet the needs of our users by refining and expanding our tools and features to further tame the recruitment process. We aim to the be the best destination for WoW recruitment. Key features::
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| PB-Roster [45] | free | None | PHP, MYSQL, Joomla | low | high | |
PB-Roster http://pixelbyte.dk
 PB-Roster
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| WoW Activity Feed [46] | free | None | RSS | low | high | |
| WoW Activity Feed http://wowactivity.kimptoc.net/
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Wikis[]
- Main article: Wikis