Elder Scrolls Online, like any other MMORPG, allows players to form large social structures called guilds. However, the guild system is slightly different than in other games. Guilds are associations of players rather than characters. When players are part of a guild, all their characters on that account are in the guild. The guild members can see the player’s name and on which character they are online at the moment. Guilds are not alliance locked. Players from different alliances can be members of the same guild. A guild can adhere to an alliance when it begins a campaign. Another difference is that a player can join up to five different guilds. The guild interface will show all the guilds a player is part of at the time. Players can switch guild channels using the /g1, /g2 to /g5 command. The numbers are allocated based on join order. So /g1 will be the chat channel of the first guild the player joined, /g2 is for the second one, and so on.

Guild ranks decide what permissions the members have. There are 10 ranks. The guild leader can customize the ranks and choose an icon for them. A guild that has more than 10 members unlocks a feature called heraldry. This unlocks the customized tabards option. The guild leader can create a unique guild tabard by choosing from more than 250 colors and 130 crests. The heraldry is displayed on the tabards worn by the guild members. Guilds also have guild banks.

Player trading is another guild related feature. When a guild has more than 50 members, it unlocks a feature called guild store. This can be used by members to sell and buy Elder Scrolls Online gold/ items between themselves. Merchant guilds are large Elder Scrolls Online guilds for people who want to sell items. Guild traders are NPCs that will sell items to players outside the guild. Most capital cities have guild traders. A guild trader is rented for one week so a guild cannot have monopoly over the game’s economy.