There's lots of different reasons. Here's a few:

ANSWER #1: YOU CAN CHOOSE YOUR OWN POWER LEVEL.

If you choose to play without some kind of limit on the amount of power you claim your character has, you'll find that not all players are willing to grant you credibility and play along with you. You might choose to be in a specific Guild because its members are willing to grant your character a higher power level than the Furre! rules describe. Conversely, you might not like interacting with characters who possess certain powers, and choose a low power Guild. Or, you might be very happy with the Furre! power level, Only a Chartered Guild can communicate and enforce its power level.

ANSWER #2: YOU CAN CHOOSE HOW COMPLICATED OR SIMPLE YOU WANT YOUR PLAY.

Furcadia defaults to being *very* easy and simple wherever it can, but it does provide "online dice" for resolving conflicts in an organized way. Guilds for players who are comfortable with paper/dice RPG's may choose an existing game system as their Guild standard. They may write their own, or they may use Furre! rules.

ANSWER #3: YOU CAN PARTICIPATE IN AN ESTABLISHED CONTINUITY

Guild Continuities don't affect one another. It's as if each Guild had its own universe under its control. This is why a Chartered Guild normally includes both its good-guys and its bad-guys. To avoid confusion, we strongly recommend that players only attempt to Roleplay conflicts with players in their own Guild.

How much power the Rah and the Guild have over the Continuity varies from Guild to Guild. As a default, the Guild has the power to rewrite In Character events and expect all its members to play by the revision. For example, suppose a character named Boof murders another character with a dozen other players as witness. The truth comes out that yesterday, two other players were involved in a scene in which Boof was clearly killed. The Guild can rule that Boof is dead, and today's victim is actually unhurt because today's scene just simply did not happen (a "Retcon"). NOTE: For reasons like this, we encourage Guild leaders to have some reliable method of communication with players, either through ICQ or email.

ANSWER #4: YOU CAN CHOOSE YOUR OWN STANDARDS

The leader (Rah) of each Chartered Guild sets up the community standards and play style in the Charter. Furcadia's public areas are rated "PG" and No Combat. It's also purely Consentual. Your Guild may ban behavior or plot types in its Charter. For example, a Charter might forbid roleplaying out things that are crimes in real life.

Chartered Guilds are not limited to regulating IC (in-character) actions. The Charter may have a rule that bans asking another player their RL gender, for instance. If we feel the Guild's rules are discriminatory or otherwise unethical, we may refuse to "grant Charter".

On a happier note, the acts of constructing, reading and agreeing to the Charter strongly encourages and inspires players to do things other members like. A Chartered Guild might give promotions for keeping a common Guild Dream up and running. Rank within the Guild can give OOC power over the Guild's running, or it can result in IC prestige, if that is how the Guild wishes to run.

(Assistance in constructing a Charter)

Furcadia is about YOU, and through participation in a Chartered Guild, YOU make and keep the rules that you want.