As you may recall, I proposed a hypothetical discussion revolving around guild management (back on July 6, located here). This is the first part of the continuation of that post, and I’ll add a listing of all sections at the end of each post in the series to find them easier.
(Hypothetical) Small Guilds and Progression: Part One
The First “Assignment:”
Present an idea for guild structure, specifying officer roles and reasons for needing those roles (includes responsibilities, how to pick officers, etc.).
Guild Structure (Chart)
Guild Structure (Explained)
Guild Master
The GM role can be filled a number of different ways, but more often than not it all starts with someone who decides to form a guild and see what happens. On some occasions it is the decision of a group of players together, and one emerges as a “natural” organizer and gets things moving. Regardless of the initial reasoning, very few guilds last long unless the GM (and by extension the way officers are chosen and utilized) is good at keeping a group together.
Assistant Guild Master
Arguably the most difficult position to fill, an Assistant GM helps in a number of ways: first, the GM is not always accessible, and having someone else available that has most of the same abilities means decision on controversial matters can be handled quicker than waiting for a single person to be online. In addition, and Assistant GM should be looked to by other guild members as someone capable of “taking the reins” in the event the GM needs to take a break or moves on to another game.
Treasurer
While not necessarily a vital position for a smaller guild, it helps immensely to have someone responsible for keeping guild resources organized (i.e. the guild bank). Further, a dedicated treasurer can also handle loot master duties, freeing up the other members of the guild administration to keep things moving in raids.
PvE Leader and PvP Leader
For guilds whose members enjoy diverse activities that span across all of World of Warcraft’s offerings, providing dedicated leaders for PvE and PvP content should not be underestimated. These officers will normally be responsible for scheduling events and ensuring fair participation by all who want to be involved, as well as serving to lead the events unless otherwise delegated to someone else.
Officer(s)
Officers are used for a variety of reasons, ranging from assuming the same responsibilities as the PvE and PvP leaders with regards to leading activities to becoming designated as “class officers” in guilds where such roles are needed. Generally speaking, officers most often are looked to when the guild administration desires to make some sort of change and wants to discuss options without taking the issue to the entire guild. Further, officers are widely used to provide resolution to relatively small conflicts that arise in guild, acting on behalf of the GM/Assistant GM when they are not available.
Raider(s)
Using a separate designation for raiders, at first glance, seems to elevate those players’ status within the guild over other members. This should not be the case. Using a separate rank allows the guild administration to provide a resource (by way of a designated bank tab) that is shared among raiders in an effort to foster aiding each other in the acquisition of consumables, materials for professions, or even gold donations. While all of these things are the raiders’ responsibility alone, creating an environment designed to promote each of the members’ helping each other creates a closer “family” of players embarking upon raids. The same could be done for a PvP-centric group using another designation. The rank can also be used as a way to reward players who contribute more than necessary, going above and beyond expectations. In such a case, the additional bank tab may be used to provide resources not provided to other members as such a reward.
Member(s)
Fairly self-explanatory, a guild cannot exist (beyond name only) without members.
Initiate(s)
Any guild that opens itself up to accepting players beyond a small, close-knit group should provide some way to protect itself against malicious intent. Typically this is done by providing limited or no access to the guild bank to newcomers, which is where an Initiate rank is a tremendous help. There should also be a clear path for transition to a fully recognized member of the guild, be it time-based or upon completion of some other task is entirely up to the guild administration.
Probation
A controversial rank for certain, but there should be some penalty for guild members who violate guild policies. Typically this type of rank would serve as a temporary tool, used until resolution of whatever incident transpired has occurred.
Series Contents:
- (Hypothetical) Small Guilds and Progression
- (Hypothetical) Guild Framework
- Are they knowledgeable on this particular class and spec/role?
- Are they consistently performing well, or are they relatively spotty with their performance?
- Do they meet my expectations of a good player?
- Are they open to feedback and trying new things if what they are currently doing just does not seem to cut it?
- Do others in the group trust them to fill that role?
- Be confident and firm. If you make a decision stick by that decision. Be mindful, however, that you may have to defend said decision strenuously.
- Follow the guidelines of the guild’s administration. If the stated goals are to be as fair as possible then work hard to be as fair as possible. If the stated goals are progression related then ensure your decisions reflect adherence to those principles.
- There are no exceptions. If there are rules they are to be followed by all. If the rules are not followed then appropriate action must be taken.
- Always do what you can to work with the members of your guild. There will be some who simply need a little nudge in the right direction to be stellar players. Others may not realize how their actions affect others. Even more may not realize they could do much better. No one is perfect, and no one will ever be the best, but we all can be good players.
- Captain
- XO
- Quartermaster
- Officer (Raid Leader) | Chief (PVP Leader)
- Raiders | PVPers | Members
- Inititates
- Objectivity.
- Should be looked to for leadership naturally.
- Willing to help guildmates develop their characters, skills, and abilities.
- Adaptive to situations and able to think quickly.
- Politically savvy1.
- Trustworthy.
- Be courteous to each other.
- Resolve differences privately or by enlisting the aid of the guild leadership. Do not use public channels to create drama.
- “Asshattery” and “douchebaggery,” although not technical terms, should be obvious to all guild members. Do not participate in any activity that would give <devnull> such a reputation.
- Follow proper raid and group etiquette, both in guild runs and in “PUGs.”
- Enjoy the game.
- Get 10 People to 80 without having burnout.
- Help players develop their skills (if they seem to want or need help).
- Run random achievement runs for breaks/fun.
- Pick encounters to do for no reason at all (i.e. solo Ony, 2-man BC heroics, etc.)
- Run L80 Dungeons, and possibly Heroics, until gear level is comfortable to enter 10-Man content.
- Arena Teams.
- Wintergrasp and associated raid.
- Obsidian Sanctum.
- Naxxramas.
- Is there a system that is similar that I like, and can base my ideas on?
- Is it too complex? Too simple?
- Do I really need this position, or this role?
- Who can I bounce these ideas off of and solicit feedback from?
- Is there a system that is similar that I like, and can base my ideas on?
Yes. The US Military (to an extent). - Is it too complex? Too simple?
Too complex, I need an extremely simplified version. - Do I really need this position, or this role?
- Guild Master – Yes
- High-Ranking Officer (like GM Backup) – Debatably
- Officers – Yes, one for organizing instances, one for PR/Recruitment
- Veteran Members – Not really, could be nice to provide incentives of some sort though.
- Members – Duh
- Inititates – Yes. I want a short “trial” period.
- Who can I bounce these ideas off of and solicit feedback from?
[Random Name] would be great to talk to about this! - Captain
- XO
- Quartermaster
- Officer (Raid Leader) | Chief (PVP Leader)
- Raiders | PVPers | Members
- Inititates
- Preserve a fun, casual atmosphere.
- Provide the challenges and rewarding experiences many of our members desire.
- Reward members who dedicate their time and show what is generally regarded to “raider” or “hardcore” traits.
- Ensure all guild activities are fair to all members.
- Promote guild events.
- Consistent 10-Man Raiding, twice weekly
- Consistent Heroic Runs, one to three weekly
- Battlegrounds / World PVP / Arenas (interest limited to a select few), TBD
- Get 10 People to 80 without having burnout.
- Help players develop their skills (if they seem to want or need help).
- Run random achievement runs for breaks/fun.
- Pick encounters to do for no reason at all (i.e. solo Ony, 2-man BC heroics, etc.)
- Run L80 Dungeons, and possibly Heroics, until gear level is comfortable to enter 10-Man content.
- Arena Teams.
- Wintergrasp and associated raid.
- Obsidian Sanctum.
- Naxxramas.
- Members can elect to be casual members or raiding members. Both groups can see the same content, be on the same runs, etc., raiders just get priority and a couple of perks.
- Guild Leadership (or a loot council if you will) determines who gets loot using guild progression and attendance as key factors, among other things.
- Main spec upgrades are first and foremost. Off-spec will be allowed after all raid members pass.
- To preserve the fun, casual atmosphere we all enjoy.
- To provide the challenges and rewarding experiences we all desire.
- To reward dedicated raiders and provide incentive to participate.
- To maintain complete fairness to all.
- To formalize devnull’s guild structure and promote guild events.
- Guild Master
- Executive Officer (XO)
- Treasurer
- Officer / Raider —– Officer
- Member / Raider —– Member
- Initiate
- Probation
- Guild progression will be a driving factor in deciding who receives upgrades first.
- Raiders will receive first priority on main spec upgrades.
- Members have full loot rights after raiders pass.
- In the event two raiders need the same piece of loot precedence will be given to the raider who has contributed more in attaining guild progression as determined by the guild leadership. Attendance will be one of many factors looked at for these determinations.
Forward: I have been giving a lot of thought to various styles of leadership, with regards to general guild implementation, raiding, battlegrounds, and social events. This is designed to be the first in a series that explores the ups and downs of each, and to generate discussion and ideas that any smaller guild can, hopefully, use to benefit their in-game experiences. This is planned as a community assignment of sorts, although no participation simply means I go through each of the topics myself without the benefit of others’ insight and hope that people find my comments useful.
Note: If you would like to participate but do not want to publicly provide any information please feel free to email me and state not to post who the information is from. Everyone has their right to remain anonymous!
The Goal:
Design a casual guild atmosphere that still provides serious raiding (2-3 nights a week, 3 or so hours a night), character development (as in helping others), and does not seem too “strict” to the average player. Assume 15 guild members.
The First “Assignment:”
Present an idea for guild structure, specifying officer roles and reasons for needing those roles (includes responsibilities, how to pick officers, etc.).
The Second “Assignment:”
Present the “guild rules.” This may be as simple as a handful of requirements for raiding, or even the one-liner “Have Fun!” The idea is to see how other smaller guilds are addressing guild organization and the underlying reasons.
The Third “Assignment:”
Focus on character development. How would you approach helping others become better players, or understand more about their class? (Note that saying “go read this website” is not what I’m looking for, I want to know how other guilds have addressed this issue themselves. Forum posts? Talking things over in vent/guild chat? Denying entry into instances until certain requirements are met?
The Fourth “Assignment:”
Focus on raiding. How do you establish who goes and who does not? Sign-ups? Are there requirements? How do you promote solid performance? Do you mark targets? Do you use crowd control? Basically, I want to know all about how other guilds approach raids from a high-level vantage point.
The Fifth “Assignment:”
Putting it all together. This is where I’ll take the best ideas presented, or the most popular, and pull together everything in the presentation of a guild charter/code of conduct/ruleset/guidelines… you get the idea.
As you can see, this project really does rely on participation from as many people as possible. I have the idea of starting up a new project that this may be related to (and no I do not mean starting a new guild somewhere, I’m content where I am) depending upon the level of interest out there. Hopefully I’ll garner a lot of input on these, and by all means if you want to participate and are unsure what I am after please ask for clarification. I’m going to try to wait two weeks to get the first “assignment” posted to allow enough time to get feedback to incorporate into the post, so spread the word!
In the Blog Azeroth chat today an interesting debate was brought forth, and it is one that many players feel very passionately about. It is also a topic which many officers find difficult to comment on, and one in which our guild has personally struggled with on occasion.
The original question revolved around healing styles and preferences, and for ease I’m paraphrasing the thought as: “How do you work with someone who you feel is not able to perform as well as they should in a role because of a refusal to use abilities their class possesses?”
In a way this topic presents two very distinct arguments. First, is this person fulfilling the role they are there to perform effectively, and second is this causing an undue burden on others trying to pick up any slack that may be present?
The best way I’ve found to answer any issues about a player’s spot in any group is relatively simple in theory: Do I trust person one to fill role one?
This is a very complicated question in practice though. Trusting someone to perform their role is very difficult, and relies on a large number of factors. These are the general criteria I go through:
Those questions are tough to quantify, especially if it is a new role or spec for someone. This will require some time to show that they can do what is necessary, often using heroics as a proving ground of sorts.
Overall, the driving point that really gets the most attention should be that person’s focus and ability to grow. We all start out rather horrible. Practice makes us better, but the only people who will ever get better are the ones who are willing to try something different.
Let’s go back to the original question now: “How do you work with someone who you feel is not able to perform as well as they should in a role because of a refusal to use abilities their class possesses?”
If the person is performing fine, and no one is under any undue stress because of having to pick up more slack than they should, then you accept the playstyle as a personal choice. Agreed with or not, that is the beauty of a lot of the classes in WoW. There are ways to play each class that are effective, even if not necessarily efficient. Everyone needs to have fun playing their character though, and this is one of the ways to achieve that goal. More importantly, if you trust them to fulfill their role, and so does the rest of the group, then there is no issue.
Things become more complicated when someone wants to assume a different role than that which they have been fulfilling, because the only way to qualify their skill level is to look at their performance in a different role, which is not entirely fair. This is where tension and frustration become introduced into the equation, and where tempers can flare. This is also where the trust factor weighs much, much more heavily, as there are always many more reasons to disprove someone without giving them a fair chance based on subpar performance in some other area, or because of inattention on raids, or personality flaws, or the color of their eyes, or an innate mistrust of a particular date and time in which the sun is in a specific location and they just happened to ask at that time… you get the point.
This is, in many ways, a very rambling-ish post. This is a very, very difficult subject, and one that is passionately defended in all manners across all style of players. Basically, the TLDR version is this: when faced with an apparent dilemma regarding any player choice, the best way to help determine any course of action is twofold. First, is that person a good player and second, do you trust that person to fill the role in which they sit/want?
Eventually every officer, every guild leader, every person who ever joins a guild, and more than likely even every person that simply chooses to play any MMO, will reach a point where they have to make a tough decision. The circumstances will vary, the results will be different for different groups, and some people will handle the situation so horribly that people will wonder if they are even human. This is one of those areas that I cannot tell you exactly how to handle, or what choices to make, but I can share some of the lessons I’ve learned.
The toughest decisions will involve people who are your friends, potentially your coworkers, maybe even your significant other. As humans we tend to be unable to separate one segment of the world, in this case a virtual world, from another. If for no other reason, this is specifically why you should always, always, always follow the established goals of the guild as a basis for making those decisions, and why those guidelines are so important to have in the first place.
Previous installments of this series have focused on the initial structuring of the guild, how to go about deciding what types of positions are needed, and how to start filling those roles. No system is ever perfect, however, and eventually some type of issue (i.e. drama) will arise. This may be extremely minor, or potentially something that could tear the guild apart. Knowing how to deal with such a situation and understanding basic “damage control” will go a long way toward ensuring the former.
Step One: Stop
I don’t mean to stop what you are doing, or to suddenly disband a group or halt a run. I mean take a moment not to say a word or respond. Wait. Think about what has happened or is being said. Mull it over. Pause. Ask for more information or clarification if you are not completely certain of what is meant.
Step Two: Pause a Moment Longer
Seriously, taking an extra moment to consider the situation or your response is often the step that keeps something minor from escalating into something much, much worse.
Step Three: The Investigation
This step can mean so many different things it is easily beyond the scope of this post. The basic idea, however, is to ensure you do not make a decision based off of one person’s interpretation of the issues. One of the most worst things one can possibly do is to act upon an issue, only to discover the facts were not as relayed originally.
This particular portion will take practice, and eventually a mistake will be made. Admit your mistakes, and do what you can to rectify them. One of the best traits a leader can possess is a combination of objectiveness and the ability to admit when wrong in order to lead through the mistake.
Step Four: Resolution and Preventative Measures
Not every issue can be resolved. Accept this first and foremost. There is not a point where everyone will ever be happy with the decisions made. The objective, instead, is to promote objectivity and fairness as best possible in these dealings, even when the end result is not necessarily fair.
For example, if a guild is founded with progression in mind many things can arise that will be unfair yet just for the sake of progression. It may be a loot drop that goes to someone who is not necessarily the person who needs it most, or a raid slot going to a person because of a better chance at completion, even though someone else was signed up for that slot already.
In the end, the guild purpose, and the reason the foundation should be quite clear to begin with, is what should guide your decisions. When an issue arises, however, be prepared to explain your actions or inactions as well. When the issue is resolved you should make note of how it was resolved, and if necessary make amendments to the guild’s founding documents in order to help preempt further issues from arising.
——–
I’m sorry this post was later than normal (if I even have a normal posting pattern, I’m not sure). I don’t think Sar has her next post up in the Casual Guilds Are Not Easy! series quite yet (though I do love the reasoning), but be sure to check it out (and I’ll update here when it is posted).
Just a reminder, be sure to take a look at a parallel series running over at Destructive Reach entitled Casual Guilds Are Not Easy!.
In my previous post I created an example guild that was comprised of the following ranking structure:
This brings us to what is perhaps the most important decision one can make as a guild leader: who to help develop and run the guild itself.
I want to emphasize, once again, that no one should attempt to tackle the responsibility of running a guild entirely on their own. Yes, it is quite possible to do. No, it should not be done. No. Remember that, repeat it. When you start to think “oh, this isn’t bad, I can do this,” I want you to slap yourself a few times and recite the following mantra:
“I am fooling myself. I should never, ever, ever, ever try to do this completely solo.
Now that we have gotten that out of the way, there are some very basic things that should be considered when choosing officers. The following criteria are my suggestions:
Some of these are very tough to gauge, especially when it is a person you have never actually met in the real world. Most likely you will make a mistake, which will eventually lead to drama. Go ahead and accept this as inevitable, and be prepared to handle it in a way that mitigates any possible damage to the guild. When you go into the situation expecting problems, or at least having an idea of how to handle a problem, it is much easier to overcome when it does happen.
There are many ways to determine who you are going to fill these positions with, or what process you’ll use. My preference is to get to know someone a little. Have some casual conversations. Talk about thoughts on how they would handle this situation or that situation. Watch their interactions with others. If they seem to personify the example you want to set, and especially if they seem to be willing to help others even if it takes away from their time to play, see what they think of being an officer.
When everything is said and done you’ll get to start the “fun” part of starting a guild: establishing a code of conduct and any policies that you expect members to abide by. The following code of conduct is the one we use in <devnull>:
<devnull> strives to create a strong family of members who truly enjoy playing World of Warcraft together, who present a strong, unified front to the entire player-base, and who will do everything possible to help each other grow both in-game and out. To that end these basic guidelines have been set forth:
We also have an assortment of policies based upon whether a member chooses to be more casual or more hardcore, as we do what we can to cater to both groups (and quite successfully I might add!). For a typical guild, especially a casual one, the code of conduct is probably the only piece you’ll really need to have written and available for reference.
As you can tell, there is a lot involved in actually running a successful guild. Sure, a group of people can get together and form a guild on a whim, but that guild will (typically) eventually flounder and disband. At this point, however, you should have a solid framework to build your guild upon. The key to making it successful lies in the members now, and your ability to lead effectively. The next post will start to delve more into leadership than these have, and should prove insightful to some (I hope).
1 Politically savvy, in this case, refers to someone’s ability to understand when to keep quiet versus stating what comes to mind, how to handle situations when tempers are flaring, and generally speaking how to be diplomatic until a resolution is reached.
One of the most difficult things any guild faces is the organization of the guild itself. Some approach this stage with a very strict hierarchy in mind, some take the casual “we’ll figure it out as we go” approach, and most fit somewhere in between. The way you’ll lay the foundation for your new guild will primarily be determined by the guild focus you have decided upon.
Let’s use my example plan from the previous post:
This seem pretty straightforward at first glance. The easiest approach would be something akin to what Blizzard provides in-game by default. Overall this would place the Guild Master ultimately responsible for all decisions, and would allow him or her to establish Officers to provide the much needed assistance that every leader should have.
Naturally, this can go very, very detailed if one wants (and many larger guilds do so). Examples of areas of responsibility range from class officers to raid leaders to pvp officers… the list can become practically endless.
With so many options, what makes a good foundation to build upon, and a solid structure for growth and stability?
There are a few very basic questions one should keep in mind during this stage:
No organizational structure is perfect. There will always be something that will need to be adjusted later, or something that doesn’t quite work in practice like it does in theory. These are things that require leaders be able to adapt to situations as they arise, and not focused on an extremely rigid mindset or hierarchy that provides no “wiggle” room.
Now, let’s take the questions above and see how they apply to our scenario here (basing the answers, of course, on what I have in mind):
Once this process is finished it is time to put the overall design on paper. This is where things start to really take shape for those groups who maintain guild websites, forums, etc. This outline is what will be used over time to draft everything you feel you need to successfully establish and maintain a guild, be it something you haphazardly toss together and run with or something that you take weeks to design. Either approach will work fine, as long as the same basic thought process occurs (and, of course, there are good people involved).
Using the prior examples, this is the overall guild design I’ll be using for the next post in the series:
The next post in this series will start to examine what to look for in filling these roles and how to grow into the plan set forth. In addition, I’ll provide examples of what the roles I have defined would be responsible for, and how they would all operate together.
Also, don’t forget to take a look at Saresa’s series on casual guilds over at Destructive Reach (part two is here)
One of the most difficult things for any group to really figure out is the direction and purpose they want to pursue in the World of Warcraft. Many guilds struggle because they have no clear path, and still others struggle because they have a clear path with an inability to progress in that direction.
As with any project or organization, the easiest way to approach establishing a guild focus is to list the things you want to achieve, and build from there. For example, we in <devnull> sat down and created this list:
What this has lead us to is a very different approach and structure than practically every other guild I know of. After careful consideration, it was obvious the only way we could achieve all of our stated goals was to create an environment that allowed members to choose which path to pursue, and to provide those opportunities for them.
After getting the highlights written, we looked at some more specific things that we wanted to accomplish (written from our month or so before Wrath discussions):
Sounds like a typical list, right? Generally speaking, yes. The problem we encounter, though, is that we either do not have enough people on a given night (due to real life concerns) to work on most of those goals. This is where the delicate balancing act between “casual” and “not so casual” comes into play.
As a guild leader you are going to have to decide how to approach this situation, how to make progress and work toward achieving the decided purpose of the guild, and how to balance the challenging arena of casual players and less casual players. Fortunately guilds generally attract members with similar mindsets and playstyles, which makes this much easier in practice than in theory.
Remember to keep your goals simple at first. The focus of the guild should be the underlying foundation that influences your decisions. You should have short-term and long-term goals, as well as an idea of how to keep things interesting when those goals are met. All of these things start to come together when you look at a sample “plan” that I’ve created (and simplified as goals):
Once the overall focus, and subsequently some very specific goals, are down the real fun begins. This is where it is time to start really structuring the guild, and deciding who you want, or can trust, to help.
The next section, focusing entirely on guild structure, will be up next week. I’m going to try to use Tuesdays for the continuation of this series, and hopefully establish a standard posting pattern. Once I actually have that figured out I’ll post it here too.
In the Blog Azeroth chat yesterday a post by Nibuca of Mystic Chicanery was brought up, and spawned a discussion that proved insightful. Not too long ago our guild went through a reorganization of sorts ourselves, and so the topic was one I thought I could also write about. You can view the post that spurned this one here: Evolution of a Loot System.
Part one provides a background on the guild, which is really necessary to see why we chose to start off the way we did. Part two describes how we used to handle loot, primarily because we haven’t had a chance to work with our new policies (they were implemented post 3.0). Finally, part three details where we plan to go from Wrath’s launch day forward.
Part One: Background
Devnull was originally founded by a handful of people who worked together. Over time the guild grew to include friends and family members of those founding fathers. Just recently a fellow guild of adventurers, whose principles match our own, elected to merge with us too, creating a very strong guild of like-minded individuals.
I came onboard late last year, returning from one of my longer hiatuses, and transferred my characters from Stormrage to Hellscream to join the guild. Since that time my position within the guild has grown to encompass a good many things, and I currently serve as an Assistant Raid Leader and Executive Officer.
Devnull was founded as a casual guild, and one of the challenges we have faced has been on how to best retain that casual, fun, friendly atmosphere while also fulfilling the desire to raid. Only a couple of months ago we finally decided on a path that, hopefully, suits our group best. This is what we came up with:
TLDR Version:
Full Version: PDF Of The Original Articles
Excerpt:
devnull: Articles of OrganizationPreface
“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.”
– Henri Louis BergesonWorld of Warcraft. The Burning Crusade. Wrath of the Lich King. Every iteration has brought with it new challenges, new adventures, and new directions. After careful consideration, these articles were drafted in order to provide a structure and organization that devnull members are not only proud of, but to include rewards and incentives for those whose dedication to the growth and development of the guild are displayed time and again.
Purpose
Guild Structure
Overview
Devnull members will be able to decide which of two paths to pursue. Both paths will provide similar benefits, though one will have extra perks due to requiring more investment from the player. The structure will, as a result, appear as follows:
Guild Leadership
Member Group —– Raider GroupRank Structure
Loot Policy
Although the “most needed upgrade” approach works well, with the implementation of these Articles of Organization some changes must be made to devnull’s loot system. The following guidelines will be utilized when the guild leadership passes out loot on raids:
There is an Addendum as well, and an accompanying email, but really I think that is far long enough of a post, even by my standards.
Part Two: How Has It All Played Out?
To be honest we really haven’t had a chance to put the revised policies in play, but it isn’t far off from how we were doing things before. Prior to these changes we took the same principles, but used a “least geared gets loot first” approach. With Wrath we knew this wouldn’t work nearly as well, because we wouldn’t have people over-geared on the raids to pull the lesser-geared folks through. Realistically, that was part of what prompted the changes (in addition to trying to find a way to provide an incentive to those who really showed dedication to progression and getting their own gear taken care of).
All said, it is quite doubtful we’ll have any issues. One of the benefits to having a small group (I think we have twenty-eight or so actives total) of people who have grown really close is, quite simply, that we all want the same things for each other. We all help out as much as we can, often at quite an expense to ourselves. In the long run this means we’ll do well together, as long as we don’t start any type of open recruitment (which we are all opposed to anyway).
Part Three: What Is Next?
We have a few people that have been around since launch, but most of our guys didn’t really play with the intent of getting into any end-game content. In a lot of ways expansions really help motivate people, because we all get, for the most part, a fresh start on an even playing field. With Wrath our goal is to consistently do end-game 10-Mans. I’m certain we’ll do some 25-mans, but honestly those are just a pain in the arse to organize and lead, and for a casual group of people it just gets old.
Devnull has a bright future layed out, and a framework set to grow and evolve to meet any challenges that come out way. As we get to really test our loot policies and see how, if at all, they need to be changed I’ll be sure to revisit this post. Until then, if you have any questions or thoughts please feel free to share.
With Wrath of the Lich King looming right around the corner, and with our decision as a guild to seriously push toward level 80 end-game raiding using Wrath as our starting point, I wanted to take a step back and provide some insight into what I feel (biased as I may be) makes our guild such a unique group of people. Hopefully some of those other guilds who have drama tear them apart will take note, or at the very least perhaps some guild masters will learn a thing or two about leading people.
Care and Concern.
There can be any number of reasons why a group of people will choose to form a guild. Some range from simply wanting a group of people to group with on occasion to actually having a group of people who know each other and want to progress together. In the end, however, unless the members of a guild actually care about each other enough to really work together and be successful, the guild will eventually fail.
In this area devnull has a huge advantage. The guild is comprised of real life friends (and friends of friends), making the bond between players that much stronger.
Never Openly Recruit.
Open recruitment, also known as “spamming the chat channels,” is an absolutely idiotic approach to guild growth. It can be semi-successful, but will always eventually lead to someone who brings in baggage of some sort. The horror stories of guild torn apart by opposing views, or by loot (how ridiculous can one be anyway?), or even simply by someone wanting to see drama unfold typically result from letting some unsavory character into the fold.
Alliances DO Work.
Guild Alliances do work. Anyone who attempts to say alliances never work is an absolute moron. They do require serious effort and guild leadership that truly believes in fairness and equality, which simply means alliances need to be crafted carefully.
Never Alone.
A single person cannot run a successful guild alone, or at least not without a lot of luck. Typically two people can work extremely well together, however a third should always be available either as another co-leader or as a mediator/tie-breaker.
A “leadership team” is always capable of more than a single person. Not only does one provide a means for leaders to privately air their frustrations, but also to bounce ideas off of and critique suggestions without seeming to be uncertain or shifty. This is invaluable, especially in a raid setting where hesitation to make decisions can be brutal.
Always Think Politically.
Even among close friends there is always the potential for something to be taken out of context or in a manner that could become detrimental to the guild as a whole. When speaking up or enforcing policies always be mindful of how things could be interpreted. There is no need to sugar coat anything, but there is also no need for looking like a complete ass.
Act As Though Life Depended On It.
World of Warcraft is just a game. However, it is also a forum for social interaction that goes well above and beyond what many people ever dreamed possible. As a leader one must make decisions that are both popular and unpopular. Being serious all the time is definitely not a way to go, but those decisions that affect everyone should also never be made lightly. Acting as though one’s life, whether thinking metaphorically or politically, depended upon the decision made things tend to be much more fair and balanced.
In the end there are no clear-cut answers for every situation. Personalities become involved, new members are brought into the fold, perception and interpretation royally screw with your perfect post… all of these things have to be taken in stride and dealt with. A guild that believes in its leadership and honestly cares about each other can achieve anything.
Direbrewfest
Argent Confessor
Kiss and Make Up (10 player)
Heroic: Trial of the Champion
