The thing that I liked the most about POTCO guilds (and I guess you can say this about 'all' guilds in general for games) is that they allow each of us to understand the very type of leaders we ought to try to be in life.
On POTCO, I upheld the GM status for a very long time and although I would have liked to have created for my own self a guild on the game which was both effective and "memorable" (both my 'recruitment' and log-in time on POTCO was few and far between), I feel that everything worked out as it should have because I quickly began to understand that the biggest temptation certain GM's on POTCO were subjecting themselves to (wrongly) was the thinking that the purpose behind the guild itself was to serve the self-interests and/or needs of that particular GM.
From my own experiences and understanding, I have learned that true leadership begins not with the desire of wanting others to blindly follow you but rather, to assist others to the point to where they were "empowered" to change - and change for the better.
*It's the difference between wanting to hold on v.s. letting go, of the "title" of becoming a pirate lord/GM...
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Guilds had to be my favorite part of pirates online.