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The Guild Counsel: There are no bad players, only bad guild matches
If you had to pinpoint the source of what causes most guild drama, it almost always comes down to the guild's screening process. We've certainly looked at recruiting before and how important it is to create a system that effectively matches up your guild with like-minded players, but all too often, when there is a problem with a new member, the frustration boils over and the finger pointing begins. Is it the player's fault for being a bad seed, or the guild's fault for poor management and vision? Guild leaders and players often hold long-standing resentment, and you can see it in the comments section here at Massively as well, but it's time for a change. In this week's Guild Counsel, we'll look at why even the "worst" player has a good guild match out there and why popular thinking needs to change when it comes to judging who is "bad" and who is "good."
The 9 people you need to avoid in WoW
Almost five years ago, I wrote an article titled The 10 people you need to know in WoW. For some reason it never occurred to me to write a counterpart on the people you need to avoid. While I think these unpleasant folks are less important and influential than the people you actually want to have around, there's no denying that, once present, they can do a lot of damage to your ingame experience. If you haven't had at least one supremely frustrating experience yet as a result of the douche-nugget brigade, you are fortunate indeed. For the rest of us, some of the following players will be all too familiar.
The Soapbox: Be as bad as you like
There are a lot of reasons I love MMOs, but one of the reasons is the fact that there are so many possible goals in any given game and so many different reasons to pursue them. Even in games with more limitations, you've still got a surfeit of character options, moreso than in almost any other genre. I love to roleplay a character who wouldn't normally be the main character of a story, explore what makes her tick, and give her space and the ability to be heroic and skilled as she deserves. What I'm less enthusiastic about is when someone asks why in the world I'm playing a particular race and class combination because obviously my character is now sub-optimal. There's an emphasis on optimization in most MMOs, a push to create the best possible version of a character in gameplay terms that I'm not entirely on-board with. It's one with comprehensible origins, but it's unfortunately taken on a lot of ugly dimensions that sometimes short-change what MMOs can be.
The Summoner's Guidebook: Getting out of Elo hell
"Elo hell" is a term that gets thrown around a lot in League of Legends. If you're actively working to improve your skill at the game, either you've been in Elo hell or you are still there. The term comes from the Elo rating system that League of Legends uses for its matchmaking. Because matchmaking has to deal with three or five players on each side, there's a lot of potential for a bad match. In Elo hell, this is exacerbated by players who have inflated ratings due to wins they probably didn't deserve. At the higher ratings, matches tend to improve in overall quality despite the smaller pool of players. It is virtually impossible to maintain 1600 Elo or above (top 10%) without being somewhat decent at the game. While weaker players can occur in any matchmaking level, they are still two advanced players who know the game. At 1300 Elo (top 50%), there's a very large chance that a matchup inequality is an intermediate player battling an opponent who has no clue what he is doing. Elo hell is extremely frustrating because nothing worse is having your chance at winning taken out of your hands and put in the hands of a terrible player.
The Daily Grind: What game do you play even though you suck?
"Bad players." It's a label thrown around quite a lot in global chats, Vent channels, and forums nowadays. With the influx of warm bodies to the online gaming space, there's bound to be some separation (whether it's perceived or actual) between the wheat and the chaff. The funny thing is, a lot of us know that we "suck" in advance of the reminders from folks who feel the need to constantly point it out. What a few of the more vocal "bad players" trolls fail to realize is that enjoyment derived from MMORPGs isn't limited to a game's competitive aspects. As an example, Global Agenda would have to qualify as one of my favorite MMOs from the last half decade, but judging by my ASM score, I'm one of the worst Robos on the North American shard. That doesn't stop me from logging in and thoroughly enjoying myself on a daily basis, though. What about you, Massively readers? What game(s) do you consistently (proudly?) play at a less than proficient level? [Thanks to the Massively IRC channel for inspiring the topic!] Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Daily Grind: What do you do when someone just doesn't get it?
Tackling the endgame rush in any game can be a difficult proposition, whether it's the brutality of Final Fantasy XI or the staggered progression of World of Warcraft. It's always made more difficult, however, when someone doesn't understand what he's supposed to be doing. Sometimes, even instructional videos, pseudo-Gregorian chants, and screaming epithets over ventrilo will all fail to get someone to realize that he needs to stay put during Flame Wreath. And there are only so many times a group can take failure when there's an obvious weak link in the chain. On the one hand, we've all had one or two things that we know we ought to do, but we're just not quite capable of doing reliably. On the other, there comes a point when the rest of the group is paying for one person's persistent mistakes. So how do you handle that one guy who can't seem to get what he's supposed to be doing? Do you try and get him kicked out? Kick yourself out pre-emptively? Or do you just resort to blaming him for any and all failures?
Officers' Quarters: Neros and zeros
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.I can't take credit for the column name -- it was a turn of phrase used by the writer of this week's reader e-mail. It's a fitting expression, as you'll see. He wonders just how to get people to care again when a guild is faltering. Hey Scott, Thank you for this column, hopefully you and the comment crowd can help me. Over the last few days I've had to watch my beloved guild start to unravel. Our problem is, apart from a few select officers and members, we have too many Neros, content to fiddle as our guild burns, and Zeros, members who don't really contribute anything but a raid spot. Nobody seems to care enough to even sign up for our website. We have had trouble with our loot system, suicide kings, and raid scheduling, and it has caused some key members to seek other guilding opportunities.
