/officerchat

I’m sorry sir, but we’ve all taken a vote and have come to the conclusion that you are no longer in charge of this guild.  We are prepared to offer you a handful of options to ease this transition:

1. Promote a member of our choice to GM and play under his/her rule.
   
2. Simply quit the guild and leave it to us.
3. We’ll all quit out from under you and create a new guild (bringing all your members in the process)

We know you’ve worked hard on your guild, and we appreciate that.  Things simply are not working out to our liking, as we enjoy having things go our way.  Simply put, you aren’t in charge anymore.  We are.

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(Today’s “Ask Sedge” is a post taken directly from Reztheweak.wordpress.com from a GM struggling with guild members crying out, “FAVORITES!!”)

Weds. , September 22nd, 2009 at 3:52 pm

I’ve mentioned before that my guild is ran by 3 people, Delinia, Dariar, and myself.  Dariar is on a break due to work and that leaves his wife, Delinia, very busy with IRL.  Leaving me in charge is not a good idea, that’s for sure.  I lead raids.  I yell at people.  I’m not so good on the social aspects of taking care of others.

Someone comes to me with a problem and I try to relate it to raiding.  That way it sounds profound (I hope) and not like I have no clue WTF they are talking about.  It isn’t often that I’m the cause of a problem (haha, who am I kidding?)

I logged in this morning and found out I had angered some people.  What what?

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Would you consider yourself a registered nanny?  Do you enjoy whining, crying, and bickering?  Perhaps you have children of your own, and just LOVE it so much that your /gchat holds a special place in your heart due to resembling loud children.  Or maybe, and I know I’m going out on a limb here, just maybe, you’re ready to pull out your hair in large clumps while engaging a /gkick spree that would make even Luis Garavito jealous.

All in all, while you shoulder a long list of responsibilities to the guild, babysitting your members should not be one of them.  Hell, setting up raids and recruiting new members should not be either, but that’s another opinionated story of mine.  Some day we may see that post, but not today.  For now, we’ll focus on the rowdy daycare that has become of your former respectable, mild mannered guild.  Whether it be unchecked complaining in guild chat, or manipulation of your officers by the members who know what they can get away with, solutions are needed to curb and prevent such behavior from occurring.  I hope you brought your supply of pacifiers…

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When it comes time to step up to the plate, one must do whatever is necessary to move their guild forward. The dedication that members show within their guild throughout the months, even years, can grant them the possibility of an Officer title. The promotion to such an honorable title is an achievement in itself if the member is able to handle the challenge which awaits him or her. What I have found during my MMO roller coaster ride was that becoming an Officer was more than just having experience, knowledge and showing respect towards other members. It was the dedication I gave to my guild. Being loyal can greatly increase your value as a member beyond anything else.

Unfortunately, this may not always act in your favor. You see, for me, being dedicated and loyal actually cost my rank to a clan I wanted to help succeed in every way possible. The rank was taken away from me by another Officer of the clan. This is where many might argue that a sense of leadership was taken more as a threat, than as a blessing.

This is my Officer Mishap:

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Guild Merges are horrible. If you take anything at all away from this entire post, take that.

Two guilds, each unable to fulfill their goals on their own, combine in attempts to create something epic. More often than not, however, it falls apart in a heap of fail, leaving a terrible taste in the mouths of everyone involved. Oh guild merge, why must you tempt me with your sweet scent, yet taint my taste buds with your rotten secretions. We are just two guilds who want to raid and shower in the purple rain. It seems that due to leadership greed, selfishness, and power struggling, the members are the ones who truly suffer. Poor members, I shed a tear for you.

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Ah, I just had this fall on top of me, so why not make a post about it.  The drama bomb went off. I couldn’t sleep one night, so I logged in to four mails and I was immediately pulled into a party with, “Sola, we need to talk!”

I knew hot milk was going to be a better idea.

While I was gone for the night, two members who did not like each other had a fight.  One had left the guild, the other was leaving the guild as soon as he spoke to me.  ‘They just cannot… be around one another! anymore!’

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It comes that time again, my devoted guild leaders/officers.  As dreadful as it has become, the moment approaches with every tick of the clock.  The time of stress; The time of arguing; The time of pouring mace into a spork and repeatedly stabbing at your eye sockets.  Yes, school season is upon us, in all it’s wondrous glory.

New to guild leadership?  I feel for you, I really do, and because of that, I’m going to let you in on a little secret.  *leans close*  Your raids are about to get thrown up into the air.  Members have to wake up early, do homework at night, socialize on weekends, and oh, the most desirable aspect of all, veterans of your guild with new schedules won’t be happy to be passed up in “guild standings”.  The nightmare ensues, continue reading if you dare.

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As a GM and an officer, people are going to come to you with all kinds of complaints. Everything from your loot distribution rules, to your raid times, to personal conflicts with others.

It’s tempting to want to handle everything handed to you as a genuine problem but there are things you shouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole.

I was reading on the Guild Relations forums the other day about a GM who was seriously concerned about two of his members getting married in game. Apparently one of the members was also married in real life, and GM thought the whole thing was a load of nonsense, and they had possibly lost their minds (paraphrasing, naturally). The whole deal made him uncomfortable in a million little ways.

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Remember back to the young days of your guild?  When a 10 man raid consisted of 85% of your guild and you took it however you could get it?  Decisions were easy, drama was near non-existant, and all the important news traveled via word of mouth?  Stop daydreaming, Sally.  Those days are long gone; All we can do is dream about the times when we’d log on and be showered with rose petals, singing, and 99 virgins.  Today’s raiding guild consists of a delicate balance of officers, members, and strong decision making skills.  If you’re lacking on one of those three, well, you’ve got your work cut out for you.

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(Salt Grain Goes Here:  I know men have problems running guilds.  I know all of these things are not female specific.  However, I’m focusing on things that I see happening to female GMs in large numbers.  So if your dog’s former owner’s cousin’s girlfriend’s brother was totally talked dirty to by some girl on WoW, I believe you, but that’s not the focus on this post.  It’s for the ladies.)

Warning! There are two off color words ahead!  Don’t clicky if you don’t like strong language.

Girls run guilds.  We run them very well.  We are not playing because our partners made us play.  No one handed us our epics.  We don’t all want a bunny and a pink glitter armor set (though I totally ran around in the Bloodscale plate set on my pally shouting, “I’m pally Barbie!  Math is hard!”)  I have the distinct pleasure of being one of a trifecta of female run guilds on my server.  We are all at about the same level of progression and we are good friends.  However, on most other servers I have played on, this is not the case.  Girls are scarce, being a female gamer can be a very isolating experience and it’s to say, “Man, screw this!”  There are a lot of things a female GM has to deal with that only other female GMs will deal with on a regular basis.  Here’s how I get through it with at least a little grace.

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A true conundrum for any guild leader in the midst of a raiding guild.  Do you start 10/25 man progression raids with your core, or put the emphasis on 25 man farm raids to gear up those behind the curve?  On one hand, you’ve put in your time and are excited to start learning and gearing up with new boss encounters.  On the other, you have at a MINIMUM of 15 other people who want to join your level of expertise and experience new content themselves.  Not to mention those who ARE ready to venture into newer pastures, yet can’t fit into a nightly 10 man group.  With whispers from all sides finding their way to your ear, how can you possibly find a solution to keep people happy and from looking for alternate guilds to meet their demands?
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“Um, excuse me, are you the GM of your guild?  Oh, good.  Um, I just wanted to let you know that one of your members, PLAYER X, awarded himself ITEM Y in RAID Z earlier today.  I know we don’t tolerate that kind of stuff in my guild, and wouldn’t want to see your guild’s reputation on the server become ruined because of INCIDENT XYZ.  Just thought I’d let you know.”

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