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The Guild Counsel: How do you get your son to log off? Grief him!
If there's one deplorable aspect about online gaming, it's the raw underside of the clash between parent and child that often occurs (sometimes all too publicly) when said child has stayed on too long. Everyone under the age of 40 has no doubt heard the words "get off that computer now!" at some point in his or her development. And for those under the age of 15, there's a fair chance that those words were uploaded to YouTube for all the world to hear. I'm often in a weird position because I play games for a living, and yet I fight the daily struggle to make sure my kids grow up with a moderated experience in their gaming career. I'm not hoping to raise the next MLG pro; I just want to see them have fun both in game and out as they grow up. But just when I think I've heard it all, along comes a story about a dad, his adult unemployed son, and the most unusual method ever of forcing his son to stop playing online games. Instead of battling out-of-game, one father in China decided to fight the battle in-game and hire players to hunt down and kill his son's avatar. It's an amazing story, but did it work? And what can we learn from this? (There has to be a lesson in there somewhere right?) Let's take a look!
Officers' Quarters: An overhealing intervention
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. Healing can be a tricky thing to evaluate, but crazy overhealing combined with mana problems makes for an easy diagnosis. This week, an officer wonders how she can approach the problem in a guild where constructive criticism isn't always welcome. Hi Scott: I am an officer and raid healer in a casual raiding guild that has a 10-man team attempting current content. We aren't progressing fast ... but everyone feels good about where we are. Except for me. Don't get me wrong. I am never frustrated with the group as a whole for our attempts. Most of us are parents with full time jobs and there are only a few who have the time to even hit VP cap during the week. Some are (rightfully) terrified of LFR. But almost everyone gives 110 percent. My issue is with my co-healer, who handles tank healing. This person is a good sport and a good player. They contribute to raid materials, are always willing to help gear folks, and they are always at raid on time and ready – three big wins in any officer's book. The issue is that they are a really bad healer. They are constantly overhealing encounters by 20 to 60 percent of total healing and are out of mana before the encounter is half over – after cooldowns. They are always on the top of the healing charts, but their effective healing (total healing minus overhealing) is way low.
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.
Officers' Quarters: 3 resolutions to improve your guild in 2013
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. If your guild has been struggling during the last weeks of 2012, now is the time to take steps that ensure a better 2013. Here are three ways you could get the New Year started off right. 1. Add fresh blood to the officer ranks. Are your current officers pushing themselves too hard? Or are they doing barely anything at all? If so, then it's high time you took a look at what needs to be done around the guild and who's actually doing it. You may have some lame-duck officers who shouldn't be officers anymore, and some hard-working regular members who deserve a promotion. Adding new officers -- and/or culling useless ones -- can energize your leadership corps. Having more hands to man the ship can spread the work around and ease burnout symptoms. New officers also means new ideas that can spark new guild activities or better approaches to old ones. New officers can also inject some much-needed enthusiasm as they seek to make their mark and prove to the vets that they are worthy of the rank. If your guild has been stagnating lately, a new officer or two can liven things up.
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.
Officers' Quarters: Three questions from a raid leader
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. Today's email comes from a raid leader with three different questions regarding raid comps, bank mats, and problem raiders. Let's jump right into it! Hello Scott, I am currently a high officer in a a new 25 raiding guild, MT and fairly new raid leader. ... Recently, after a pug for MV, 4 new raiders decided to join our roster, enabling for us to have a full raid group. The issue comes then, in to parts: Since the problems we've had finding raiders, we were "forced" to take those 4 new guild mates, making a core group not as efficient due to lack of variety, therefore buffs, abilities, cooldowns, etc. How inconvenient truely is this composition with repeated classes? Furthermore, I would ask you for advice on how to encourage members to contribute with mats, Golden Lotus for example, to the gbank such as other raiding comodities? Nevertheless, the main reason I was willing to write to you, is the fact that we have two of those new raiders too close-minded.
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.
Officers' Quarters: Too much Stormstout ale
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. Adult raiders are free to enjoy a few adult beverages while they raid. This week, a guild leader wonders what to do when a raider has a few too many and ruins a night of raiding. (He also asks about raid scheduling, which isn't nearly as interesting, but we'll talk about it anyway.) Hi Scott, Yes, it's me again, Apocalyptic GM, sorry to be bothering you again, but you did such a good job last time of giving advice, that i felt the need to come to you again, especially now that two further large problems have arisen within my guild. Firstly, the issue of raiding days. Currently i work shifts of 4 on 4 off at night time, which means i am only available for every 4 out of 8 days. We raided fine with this for the last 6 months ... but recently there has been some descent among the ranks, and complaints that people aren't happy with the current raiding days set up, and this hampering our time raiding. Now I could easily change to a fixed raiding days, but that would leave me frequently absent from raids, which is not something i would prefer. And this leaves me in a pickle as to what to do. As guild master and raid leader I feel I should be able to set up raids to suit me, but then I also feel I should better accomodate my guild.
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.
Officers' Quarters: My rant about raid roles
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. It's been a long time since my last rant, but I read something today that really irked me, and now I feel compelled to write this column. I don't want to quote the email because the person involved asked a question that had nothing to do with this topic, and he was really just an innocent bystander getting hit with the shrapnel of a raid team willfully blowing itself up. The part of his email that set me off was essentially this: "Our realm has very few healers, and we haven't been able to recruit one for months. As a result, our raid team is disbanding, and the raiders are going their separate ways. Our guild might lose every single officer except me." To this I respond: What a bunch of selfish jerks.
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.
Officers' Quarters: When the old guard returns
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. Officers come and go. Real life intervenes, burnout sets in, interest wanes -- these things happen, and officers disappear for months or even years. But sometimes they come back. This week, one officer asks, what then? Hi Scott, I'm officer and raid leader of an intense 2/week 10-man raiding guild that's been running in one shape or another since TBC. Due to some old timers coming back we're now in a situation where our raid consists of 50% officers – and only 3 of them by function. We've always steered closer to adhocracy than bureaucracy, so the title is secondary to most of us – my main concern is that so much communication is now happening within the officer-circle that we're alienating our crucial core raiders for no apparent reason.
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.
Officers' Quarters: 10 tips for successful guild events
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. Guild events outside of the usual raiding and PvP activities can help break up the monotony and get people excited about their guild. This week's email comes from an "event officer" who wants to know, how do you get people to show up? I am an officer in my guild, and we have been re-evaluating our roles. I am considering becoming the Social Event Coordinator, and I am looking for some advice to get things started. ... My ideas include scheduling nights to do scenarios/dungeons for achievements, old school raids, and probably a pet battle league once people aren't as focused on gearing up for raids. My questions are: Do you have any suggestions on how to communicate to guildies that aren't around much that these events are being planned? Do you have suggestions on how to determine interest before scheduling? Do you have suggestions on how to encourage participation? Do you have other event ideas that have worked for you?
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.
Officers' Quarters: Elegon, the Raidslayer
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. Oh, Elegon, you magnificently annoying Titan-created celestial Internet dragon. You are far from the hardest boss Blizzard has ever designed, but you require precision in all phases in order to win. One mistake by any member can botch the whole attempt. You are part of the tradition of unforgiving first-tier bosses such as Magtheridon and Blackwing Descent's Nefarian. It's no surprise to me, then, that some guilds are struggling with you. This week, one raid leader is questioning what he can do to improve his chances before his entire team falls apart. hello Scott, i really need some advice here. i am a officer and raid leader in a progression guild. i run two raid teams - the second and third for our guild. when i joined here, i came to be with friends, and with the understanding that there was no raid spot for me in the primary team, so to raid i would have to start my own progression group. that was almost a year ago. I already had a group that i raid my primary alt with, a casual fun group that i love, and now this progression group for my main. Both groups joined the guild with me. so, in a nutshell, here's the problem: I'm not much good at raid leading.
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!
