guild-drama
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Breakfast Topic: The stealth /gquit and other lost art forms
If a guild mate logs in at an hour when most of the guild is sleeping (or simply nobody is around) and /gquits, is it a stealth /gquit?Amanna over at Adventures in Azeroth (who I have to wonder might be the first appliance-spec druid judging by the name) asks this question after having done this exact thing. Many times over the past couple of years I have been tempted to do this myself. There is always such a recoil when you leave a guild, even if you try to take the high road and make it as drama-free as possible. No matter how many people there may be that irritate you in any given guild, there are always two or three -- or twelve -- that really like you and don't want you to go. Thus, your planned drama-free departure is suddenly less drama-free.How can you get out of a guild and make a clean break? Have you ever performed the stealth /gquit personally? Was it successful?(And yes, I watched Mr. Deeds the other day, and it was foremost in my mind when I created the accompanying picture. Does it show?)
Guild drama, preventing the big three
Far be it from me to play guild expert, that's Scott's job, and he does it brilliantly. I am so far in need of guild advice that I take it wherever I can, and when I read the Priestly Endeavors article on Guild Issue Resolution, I found so much of worth for me personally I knew our readers should know about it. Yes, it was written a while ago, but good advice never goes stale. As Kirk puts it, there are three major complaints that players have when they talk about the guild drama they've encountered with their previous guilds. "I never get any loot," they say. "They waste my time," can be heard echoing off the guild bank walls. "No one ever helps me," the crowd bemoans. Each of these is a major sticking point with guild members, and if you as the Guild Leader can do anything to avoid these big three, you'll go a long way toward creating a content guild populace. The loot issues he suggests can be mostly resolved with a good loot distribution system, but not everything can be handled by organization.
Guildless: The saga continues
As you might remember, I made the decision a while back to try my hand at raiding, and for the first time ever /gquit. It was with a heavy heart that I applied to a friend's raiding guild, one that had previously accepted a few of my guild's members that wanted to get into raiding. It took a couple of weeks to be accepted in, mostly because my gear was so very shoddy in comparison, and they were looking toward TK and SSC. In addition to that, I had a friend in the guild who was fighting on my behalf with the guild master, and just about the time that talks opened up between the three of us, I shipped off to BlizzCon.So I came back from the convention with an absolute burning desire to play again, something I haven't had for a good long while. I messaged the Guild Master, eager to know the results of her discussions with the other officers. No answer. I messaged my friend, and was given the run around. Just about the time I thought I better throw in the towel, my answer came. It came in the form of a guild invite. I had managed to weasel my way in.
Dealing with younger players, both good and bad
We've covered this kind of thing a few times before (quite a while ago-- man I'm getting old), but it's an issue that I find perpetually interesting. Tviokh over at WoW Ladies had to deal with a bad kid in her guild-- he constantly requested help for stuff that was easy to do himself, and constantly bugging the guild to try and fight a world dragon that no one really had any interest in fighting. Finally, the kid blew up in whiny 10-year-old fashion, and /gquit... only to pester another guild with his whining and begging.Now, I should emphasize (since I am older, and have learned to be more and more patient over the years) that this is in fact a bad kid. While there are lots of younger players in Azeroth, not all of them are whiny beggars, and there are quite a few of them that are fun to have around. We've got a kid in our guild, and while he misses quite a few raids (because he has a little bit of a problem doing his homework sometimes-- his parents are in touch with our GM, and the fact that they keep him from playing when he shouldn't be only tells me that they're good parents), he's a fun guy to have around, and a respectable hunter.Yes, he sometimes bugs us (as level 70s) to run Sunken Temple with him because it's his favorite instance, but in general he's a good kid. So Tviokh's experience isn't necessarily the norm.Then again, there is part of me that still wants that adults only server, and I can definitely understand why some guilds don't allow younger players. But, as I'm sure WoW-playing parents will attest, not all kids are trouble.
Breakfast topic: Guild drama
The phrase "guild drama" is one that crops up a lot in WoW; the necessary consequence of a large group of individuals all working towards a few common goals seems to be tension, strife and disagreement. From personality clashes to mergers and alliances, you need to deal with a lot of other people's business to get far in the endgame. Even if you choose to bypass raiding and focus on your PvP, more politics come into play over rank and honour.I've had a pretty easy time of it so far -- my guild is reasonably small, so we're part of a larger alliance which is working out well for now. However, I'm well aware that the inevitable will happen; one day someone's goals will change, and the peace will shatter. Guild drama can't be avoided -- in fact, some guilds like to wear past problems like badges of honour on their sleeves, showing the world that they can stick together through thick and thin. Others stay mostly drama-free, through choice or design, but delve into even the quietest guilds and you may find more than you bargained for.Do you prefer life with the added complications of guild politics, or have you given up on the drama and gone for a quieter life elsewhere?
