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The Guild Counsel: Proof that it's more than just a game
I'll admit, last week's poll was a surprise for me. For those of you who missed it, I asked which philosophy describes each reader's playstyle: "the brotherhood" or "the game." The former won with a fairly large margin of victory, which I didn't expect given that our community here is one that tends to focus on games as the main topic of conversation. As it turns out, almost 60% of the Massively community loves MMOs but also loves the bonds that come from them. Looking back over the past year, I think there were actually many stories that highlighted the player behind the pixel and reaffirmed our belief that we are indeed part of a brotherhood even if we don't always see it in our MMOs. This week's Guild Counsel is a recap of some of those gaming stories, and I believe even the most die-hard "game-focused" player will agree that there are moments when it really is more than just a game.
The Guild Counsel: How reader replies identify larger issues in MMOs
Each week in The Guild Counsel column, I try to take a common issue or newsworthy topic that's related to online communities and look at it in depth. Often, the reader discussion that follows has led to some very valuable insight into guild leadership and has even spawned new topics for columns. This week, I'd like to look at three noteworthy topics that have often popped up among reader comments: nostalgia in MMOs, the clash between "the brotherhood" and "the game," and why guild leadership often feels like a thankless task. Let's look at a few reader responses to these topics and consider the larger issues with MMOs and guild leadership today.
The Guild Counsel: Cutting back on wasted time
If there's one thing that every guild has trouble with, it's making the best use of everyone's time. When someone's soloing, she's free to play at any pace, any time. But when you're trying to coordinate groups and raids, it's a lot more complicated. Not only are there overall guild goals, but each individual has different needs and goals as well, and it's not always possible to nail them all at once. Wasted time is a quiet problem, but the worse it gets, the more likely it can be a potential guild-breaker. In this week's Guild Counsel, let's look at a few ways that players' time gets wasted and examine some options to prevent it.
The Guild Counsel: Should guests get an equal shot at raid loot?
In last week's Guild Counsel, we looked at how to rebuild a guild, and one suggestion I made was to use PUG groups and even raids as a way of advertising your guild and screening for new members at the same time. However, that does bring up a tricky situation when it comes to loot. On one hand, it's better to keep loot within the guild; after all, the better geared your raid is, the easier it will be to tackle raid content and progression. On the other, it's not really fair to bring non-members along and then not give them a fair shot at the loot. So what should a raid leader do? Let's explore this problem in this week's Guild Counsel.
The Guild Counsel: Making rebuilding less painful
One of the toughest times in a guild's life is when a guild has to face the prospect of rebuilding. Every guild has some extent of attrition, but there are times when roster numbers dip so low that it puts the future of the guild in jeopardy. For a guild leader, it might be tempting to just close up shop and move on, but there are some things that make the tough task of rebuilding more manageable. Let's look at a few options in this week's Guild Counsel.
The Guild Counsel: How many guild officers do you need?
One piece of advice you often see in guild advice write-ups is that you should delegate tasks to officers, not try to handle everything on your own. It makes sense because running a guild requires many layers of leadership, and it's impossible for one person to successfully handle everything. But at what point do you start to reach critical mass -- when you have too many people involved in the guild's management? There's no magic number, but there are a few things to consider when sharing the duties. Let's look at some key factors in this week's Guild Counsel.
The Guild Counsel: Guild-friendly features for which to be thankful
If you're reading this, it's probably well into Thanksgiving Day, which makes me wonder why you are reading this -- it's Thanksgiving Day! Perhaps you're playing catch-up while you finish up that slice of pumpkin pie. Or maybe you're back home, raiding the fridge for a late night turkey snack and a quick MMO update. Whatever your reason, there are many things that we can be thankful for when it comes to our MMOs. We've come a long way when it comes to guild-friendly features, and it's worth taking a look at in this week's Guild Counsel.
The Guild Counsel: Can guilds and lone wolves coexist?
There are some things in life that naturally go together. Peanut butter and chocolate, peas and carrots, peaches and cream, the Captain and Tennille. But two groups that tend to not mix are guilds and shy players. I was inspired to write this column after seeing the comments in last week's column by reader McGuffin, who pointed out that not everyone wants to socialize in guild chat and share stories about life outside the game. He's right, but it raises the question of why such a someone would want to join a guild, since guilds are usually thought of as a social network of sorts. Many MMOs now have looking-for-group tools (and some even have raid finders), so in theory, there would be no need to join a guild at all if you aren't into the social side of it. But there actually are good reasons for guilds and shy players to team up, and in this week's Guild Counsel, we'll look at a few or those plus some ways for both groups to co-exist happily.
The Guild Counsel: How to make a happy guild
Right now, half of you are unhappy. As I'm writing this, the polls for President and local elections are still closing, but based on the early reports, it's as tight a race as ever. We might know who will lead the country by the time this column goes to print, but it isn't looking like a landslide. Whatever the call, it's certain that about half of the population here in the U.S. will be unhappy with the results. If you're a guild leader, you will undoubtedly run into unhappy members (although hopefully it's not half of the roster!). And while the country might be polarized for the foreseeable future, it is possible to keep and maintain a happy guild atmosphere. Let's look at a few ways in today's Guild Counsel.
The Guild Counsel: Looking at loneliness in guild leadership
Last week at SOE Live, one of the most interesting player panels was the one on guild leadership. As I mentioned in last week's write up, the advice given was helpful, but what was really valuable was just the opportunity for guild leaders to meet face to face and openly discuss a variety of issues. The panel lasted for an hour, and yet it felt like it went by in just a few minutes. The speakers had to roam from their slide presentation several times to answer questions, which isn't surprising because for many there, it was probably the first time they could actually do that. Running a guild is unusually lonely. If you look at other roles that involve leadership skills, like coaching, running a business, or teaching a class, there are lots of resources and opportunities to meet with peers and share advice. For guild leaders, there are a few places to seek counsel, but given the number of games, and the massive number of guilds overall (and when I use guild, I'm using it as a catchall for online communities like clans, corps, etc.), there just aren't many outlets that share tips on guild management. In this week's Guild Counsel, we'll look at some reasons why guild leaders live such an isolated life, and take a look at a few ways to help break down the walls.
The Guild Counsel: What I learned at the SOE Live player panels
It was easy to overlook, but hidden among the mountains of new announcements and game panels at this year's SOE Live were several panels that were organized and run by the players themselves. Players were asked to submit ideas for panels across a wide spectrum of game topics. They came up with some terrific ideas, and Linda "The Brasse" Carlson, SOE's Global Director of Community Relations, used every tool at her disposal to fit in as many as possible in the lineup. Thanks to my time-turner necklace, I was able to catch several of these player panels in addition to the regular game panels, and I've summed them up below. There were some great moments from each of these panels, and if you missed them, you'll want to check out the highlights below!
The Guild Counsel: Damion Schubert remembers Meridian 59 at GDC
Last week was the final GDC Online, as the yearly convention moves out to Los Angeles next year under the new name GDC Next. Coincidentally, developers gave several postmortem talks about some of the classic MMOs of years ago. Among those was Meridian 59, and BioWare's Damion Schubert took us back in time to look at what it was like as the game prepped for launch and the first few years. What stands out are the incredible stories that came from player interaction and guild rivalries. Whether you're long-time fan or someone who wasn't even born yet when those early games emerged, this trip through the time machine is definitely worth a look!
The Guild Counsel: The ethics of gaming
As I head to GDC Online for its final hurrah in Austin, I can't help but think about the many panels each year that talk about things like monetization, marketing, and mechanics, and I wonder whether the industry somehow veered off course. Because the developers are speaking to one another, you usually get a much more candid look at what goes on behind the curtain, and lately it reminds me of Jurassic Park. There's a scene in the film where Ian Malcom questions the rationale behind cloning extinct species of dinosaurs and then building a theme park to make a fortune. As he points out, you spent so much time figuring out whether you could that you didn't stop to think whether you should. In other words, the ethical questions of Jurassic Park weren't addressed until the last boat left the dock and Newman had corrupted the system and was hopelessly lost in the jungle with a shaving cream can of dino DNA. When it comes to MMOs, there are ethical questions that the industry needs to consider, and some of them are questions that MMO guilds also need to address. In this week's Guild Counsel, we'll look at the ethics of gaming in MMOs, before there's a Jurassic Park catastrophe.
The Guild Counsel: What to do when the old guild leader returns
So often, a guild's success revolves around a good guild leader. In fact, we've talked before about how a guild tend to take on the personality of the person who's running it and that when a great leader leaves, there's a risk that the entire guild will break up afterward. But what if a guild leader leaves and then returns to see that his guild is doing fine or that it's even better than when he left it? Apart from the obvious "awkward" moment, let's consider a few potential issues in this scenario, from the perspective of both the returning guild leader and the guild as a whole. Power struggle or cause for celebration? This week's Guild Counsel will tackle the subject!
The Guild Counsel: Dealing with returning members at the dawn of a new expansion
The launch of an expansion is always an exciting time. There's new content to explore, new features to check out, and for guilds, a sudden influx of new and returning players. Some of those fresh faces were once on your roster, and it's not that surprising that they're suddenly showing up on your doorstep again, ready and willing to get back into things. On the surface, the sudden roster boost might seem like a welcome scenario, especially for raiding guilds. But in reality, it can turn into a disruption that has the potential to add drama and headaches for the guild leader. In this week's Guild Counsel, we'll look at a few things to be mindful of when you're faced with a sudden influx of returning members.
The Guild Counsel: Can guilds save the economy?
Wait! Before you hit that comment button about the absurdity of the title above, hear me out! A few weeks ago, I stumbled on a video that touched on this very topic, and I felt it was a perfect discussion point for this column. The video is actually titled How World of Warcraft could save your Business and the Economy, and it's a commentary by John Seely Brown that's part of a series called Big Think. What Seely Brown argues is that he'd prefer to hire an expert World of Warcraft player over someone who graduated from Harvard with an MBA, and he goes on to explain why businesses can learn from the way top players and guilds function in game. It might sound crazy, but it's worth considering, and in this week's Guild Counsel, we'll look at the topic both from Brown's WoW point of view and from a broader view of MMOs in general.
The Guild Counsel: Dealing with the Backseat Driver
Lots of MMOs these days have handy tutorials, pop-up tip windows, and highlighted marks to show you where to go and what to stab. Unfortunately, there are no advice windows that show up when you have to make a tough decision as a guild leader (although that would be a great addon!). Instead, leaders have to rely on past experience and a little bit of gut instinct and then hope for the best. Of course, if you're faced with two paths, and you choose path A, you can pretty much guarantee that someone will voice his support for path B, and that can lead to no end of headaches and potential drama. Let's take a look this week at identifying and handling the "Backseat Driver."
The Guild Counsel: Help, other games are stealing my members!
I have to start off this week's column with a hearty show of sympathy for current guild leaders because in some ways, it's much harder to manage a guild now than it was a decade ago when MMOs were just in their infancy. When I first created a guild in EverQuest with a friend, we had the luxury of knowing that "our way or the highway" really did apply. If you got booted or chose to leave, your choice was to join another guild (which was pretty hard to do if you were a problem because word got around) or basically hang up your MMO hat for good. Now, there are more MMOs to choose from than ever before, and with the flurry of game launches over the past year, it's sometimes hard to manage the ebb and flow of guild members on the roster. Guild departures are a fairly common problem, but what if the reason for the departure isn't a "grass is greener" guild but a "grass is greener" game? In this week's Guild Counsel, we'll look at what to consider when treating the issue.
The Guild Counsel: Lessons from you
Each week, I tip-toe to the sidewalk and plant my soapbox to pontificate on the trials and tribulations of guild life. I'm a little biased, obviously, but I really enjoy the social side of MMOs, and apart from a few brief months when I first started gaming back in 1999 (trying to figure out what the heck it was all about), I have always been involved with guilds. For every frustrating moment, drama-filled clash, and annoyance of management, I can cite 10 moments when being a part of a guild has made MMO gaming more enjoyable and satisfying for me. But each weekly topic has brought a wide variety of opinions from all of you, and while not everyone agrees, there have been some valuable comments. In this week's Guild Counsel, we'll look back at some of the hotbutton topics of the past and highlight some of the advice and commentary that the Massively readers have had when it comes to guild management and guild life in general. The soapbox is all yours!
The Guild Council: Why you should diversify your guild roster
More than once in this column, I've tried to hammer home the point that it's important to recruit players who match up well with your guild. So much guild drama spawns from a situation in which one player just doesn't fit in with the culture of the guild. But you don't want to lead a bunch of sheep, either, and while there are certain traits that you want to see match up (like playtimes, game style in general, and chat preference), it's worth it to carry a roster with some diversity. In the past, we've looked at a few good player types to seek out, but in this week's Guild Counsel, I'd like to look more closely at some of the more subtle personalities that are good to have on board.
