Yes the world has ended, yes I’ve been playing and enjoying the new Azeroth a lot. No, it’s not what I want to talk to you about. I want to touch a bit on guild drama today. I was scouring my list of blogs to find out other bloggers reactions to the new content when I found out about some guild drama in Zelmaru (Murloc Parliement) guild. Following the linkage I uncovered a sad story of a guild having to deal with a member having different opinions about how raiding should be handled. It’s a classic story and it’s one I’ve been part of way too often. It’s also why I’ve made Walk the Plank but more on that later.
The game of expectations
So you have this guild who started raiding one day. It was fun and glorious at first but quickly they encountered the same problem every raiding guild has, failure. The guild search for answers and solutions, implement them and then the real problem of raiding guild rears its ugly head.
Not every member is on the same page when it comes to raiding.
Seriously, no matter how you twist and turn things, nearly every single guild problem when it comes to raiding boils down to a member not having the same idea about how to raid. Someone has different ideas about how, when, what to raid and problems appears. Maybe he or she thinks 3 days are too much, maybe she wants the leadership to be harder with the raiders, maybe he disagrees with the strategy. Whatever the reason, things are not going the way he or she thinks they need to go.
If its a member, they may leave. An officer, big drama ahead. A guild leader?.. bye-bye guild.
And I believe it gets to this point because most guild who are raiding are about success and not about the members. If you keep repeating to everyone that every rule is there in order to succeed at raiding then they will expect success. When success is not coming the rules will often be the first suspected cause of failure.
Recruited bad players? You need to change recruiting rules.
People not having enchanted gear? Change the requirements.
Progress is not fast enough? Add raid days
Group composition is not working? Change raid invite rules.
Every step of the way, we remove the individual human being from the process so that in the end it becomes a very mathematical process. We figure that if we have the right rules, success will come. However every time you change the rules you create more opportunities for someone to disagree with them. Eventually it becomes a simple process for the players:
If rules equals success: Stay.
If rules doesn’t equal success: Change rules.
If rules doesn’t change: Leave guild for success in another guild.
So when I hear that we are loosing human relationships in guilds it’s simply because we made our guilds about success first and people second. We made it so that no success means no guild.
My experiment
I’ll admit, I’m a bit uncomfortable with the word “experiment”, for me it’s not so much a question of deliberately experimenting but rather an idea I’m trying. So what’s that crazy idea? Making a guild where the explicit goal is to prioritize the human player and not measure the successes in raids or bgs.
In short, I want to have fun playing with my fellow guildies, not because we just killed Arthas but because it was fun doing something with them and being with them. I want to log in because I want to chat and play with Kaozz, MMOGeecee and the others, not because I have to or else I’ll lose my spot or be kicked out of the guild.
And I want the same to be true for them. I want them to log in just because they enjoy being there. I don’t want them to feel pressured to log in. When I see a member online, it’s because he or she genuinely wants to be there.
I don’t know if it will work or even if it’s viable. Maybe we’re bound for a spectacular failure or we’re doomed to remain a small guild. Doesn’t matter. What matter is that with only the 4 or 5 of us in there right now I’m already making friends and connections that I enjoy more than any boss kill I’ve ever been a part of. And that is happening right now, not in some long-lost golden age way back when.
So once more I’m going to extend an invitation to all of you looking for a place to hang out, hide from your guild for a few hours or if you just want to say hello. Just look for a Walk the Plank member on Silvermoon (US) and we’ll give you an invite right away.
Honestly, I could never be part of a guild where raiding is seen as anything more than a social activity. Don’t get me wrong, I think being motivated by loot or the achievement itself is perfectly acceptable play style, but I personally would prefer a more casual and friendlier setting. Hence I’m glad of the direction you’re planning to take Walk The Plank.
Glad you approve! Now we only need to get your husband to speak up and we’re golden!
He’s not as antisocial as he appears
His problem is that once he gets into something, he fails to notice everything else, like the chat window for instance. He does that to me too!
This is what we have worked hard to establish in my guild. We have very few “rules”, and those are simply loot distribution ones. Our one real rule is “don’t be a jerk.” We raid, and our goal is to complete end game content, but we don’t have a timeline. Although we’ve been in the top 20 on our server since our inception — it just kind of happens if people enjoy raiding together. We just completed a survey of people’s plans in Cata — we haven’t had a single member express a desire to leave the guild, and almost everyone is eager to start raiding again. Our only losses have been people who are simply quitting the game and now is a good time before they get invested again. At the end of the day, raiding with people you enjoy far outweighs raiding “for success.” Our Lich King kill was one of my favorite memories. We were all dead and lying on the floor, and my first thought was “I’m so glad I did it with my friends.”
I also read the article regarding the guild drama you referenced — I’ve been there before with guilds, and I told my GM this morning that I’m so glad we haven’t had to deal with anything like that in a LONG time.
Welcome to the monkey pit! I would love to get to that point one day where we can raid, pvp and do all the fun stuff while having the “human first” attitude. Big kudos on making it happen!
Like I was saying my first goal is what I described above and I won’t sacrifice it for anything. If it happens it happens but I’m not pushing. I’ve been the success oriented type before and it never really worked out.
Grats again.
Rules are a very useful servant and a very bad master. A good rule set applied by wise officers will help you keep putting people first. It lets people know up front what behavior is required, what behavior is permitted and what behavior is forbidden.
Think of it this way: say you are, for whatever reason, raidless this week and have an urge to go join some other guild’s raid. Would you prefer to have them state loot rules up front, or hand it out seemingly randomly, then state that they are “trying to think of the players first”?
I think your goal is excellent and should be the goal of most small social guilds, but don’t diss rules just because they’re rules.
“Rules are a very useful servant and a very bad master”
very well said. Couldn’t have said it better.
When I wrote this I had not loot rules in mind obviously. My aim is also not to diss rules for the fun of dissing them and I realize it does come across that way rereading this.
Anyway, welcome and I hope you enjoy your stay!
Very well said Lono.
And yes, we need more friendly faces around! Our plan to take over Silvermoon… Oh wait.. wrong plan.
You’re guild is Horde, correct? I’ve been telling Kaozz I was going to move a Horde toon to Silvermoon, at this point I’m unsure which one. It’s a toss-up between my 80 Priest and my 71 Paladin.
If BOA gear could be sent to different servers I would have already rolled a toon there.
yah! it`s horde and and your more than welcome!