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I suppose I could write a post explaining, instead I’m just going to link this.

Lazy? Maybe.     Easy? Yes!

Suffice it to say it’s part of my blog improvement to do list.

 With all the seriousness abounding in blog posts everywhere, I figured it’s time for something a little light-hearted.  I actually wrote these parodies a few weeks ago but just didn’t get around to posting them.  I know not everyone is a fan of the  “oldies but goodies” but it’s stuff I grew up listening to.  I’ve linked the two songs below so you can enjoy the original and of course have music for the versions below!
     

 Loot Whore’s Lament

  I want that loot so I’ll cry if I want to
Cry if I want to, cry if I want to
I deserve that loot a whole lot more than you do! 

 I don’t know why my rolls are such shit
But I’m so good I should win
Why won’t they give me all of the loot
Don’t they know I’m a gift?

I want that loot so I’ll cry if I want to
Cry if I want to, cry if I want to
  I deserve that loot a whole lot more than you do!

My uber-leet damage is awesome I know
You’d all fail if it wasn’t for me
 So I don’t care who needs an upgrade
Only I deserve it, you see!

I want that loot so I’ll cry if I want to
Cry if I want to, cry if I want to
I deserve that loot a whole lot more than you do!

I’m not QQ’ing, I want you to know
It’s just a problem I see
About how unfair this loot system is
Cause I’m not getting loot weekly  

I want that loot so I’ll cry if I want to
Cry if I want to, cry if I want to
I deserve that loot a whole lot more than you do!

_____________________________________

 Guild Officer Response

‘Cause now, it’s time to get things straight
I’m done with tolerate, You’re gonna feel some hate
‘Cause Loot Whore’s QQ’d, too much to me  

When you sign up for that raid and then don’t show up
Or when you brag about your skills
You piss everyone in the raid off
Now you wonder why you get no heals

‘Cause now, it’s time to get things straight
I’m done with tolerate, You’re gonna feel some hate
‘Cause Loot Whore’s QQ’d, too much to me

 The loot system is good with everybody
No one thinks it’s uncool
Except for you and all of your bitching
You’re why we have all the rules

But now, it’s time to get things straight
I’m done with tolerate, You’re gonna feel some hate
‘Cause Loot Whore’s QQ’d, too much to me

So everyone is happy with the guild raids
You’re the only one to give lip
So let me help you make it easy
You’re more a curse than a gift

So now, it’s time to get things straight
I’m done with tolerate, You’re gonna feel some hate
Good Luck finding a guild, /gkick

How do guild officers balance the guild, its reputation, and its members? Clearly a good leader will say “people first”. Even though we are in the virtual world, you still need good leaders and good managers (yes, there is a difference) for a guild to be successful. One of the roles of guild leadership is that of disciplinarian. Yes yes, I know, we all pay $15/month (give or a take a few) and we play to have fun and sometimes just take a break from the hustle and bustle of rl. So who wants to log in and find a laundry list of rules to follow – or else? Certainly not I.

Our guild does not have a laundry list of rules, but we have some general standards for guild behavior to which we expect all members to adhere. The one line summary of those standards: Be the kind of player and the kind of person you want to group with. Is it basically the Golden Rule? Definitely. Think about it, when was the last time you heard someone say “oh man, I wish I could group with him. He ninja loots!”?

Each guild has its own identity, for better or for worse. Our guild strives to have a friendly environment, have fun, and progress through content without being hardcore, elitest pricks. For a casual raiding guild, we actually raid almost every night of the week. Between OS, Naxx, EoE, and Ulduar there is generally a group doing a raid of some sort each night. Our guild members are very generous and we work hard to gear and train are members that are interested in raiding, even if they have minimal to no raid experience. We’ve got a great group of people with us, and I know that the sum of potential of our members equates to great things.

So what happens when someone acts in a manner not acceptable to guild standards? Some occasions warrant an immediate /gkick, but most require just a conversation with the member. That middle is the grey area wherein the disciplinarian challenge lies. The officers of the guild set the tone. If we offer wrist slaps and nothing more, some people will inevitably challenge the authority until the system breaks. If we immediately /gkick people for any incident, most people will leave anyways because who wants to play in that kind of environment – a somewhat threatening environment at that.

What I’ve most closely associated to running a guild is working in the non-profit field. My biggest leadership challenge to this day – and I’ve had quite a list to choose from – remains organizing, managing, and motivating a volunteer workforce. The members of the guild are similar in that they all joined voluntarily and by joining they have implicitly agreed to follow the rules of the guild. They are also under no obligation to stay either.

Recently, our officers jointly decided to temporarily demote and issue a two week ban from raiding with the guild to five members for an incident that started with several of them griefing horde players trying to do Argent Tournament dailies and ended up with rather immature and further provocative posts on the WoW Realm Forum. We aren’t on a PvP server, but who’s going to lie and deny that occasionally being a pain in the ass to someone of the other faction isn’t a little fun? The difference is when it goes from fun to something much worse. To purposely prevent any players from completing dailies is completely unacceptable. To stay there for over an hour continually pulling mobs from any player is totally dick - horde or not, especially when you do not need the mobs for the daily. Dailies are a pain in the ass to do as it is, much less when you are purposely being hindered from being able to complete them. As far as the guild is concerned, it’s unacceptable behavior.

Was it a fair punishment? As far as I’m concerned absolutely. The people involved were active raiders and the ban is fitting considering the actions. Could we have done something else like have them farm mats for the guild bank? Sure, but is it really punishment if you can just buy things off the AH? There were a few people clearly angered over the decision, and even the people involved went so far as to ask “why punish the entire guild for our actions?”. Were we really punishing the entire guild? No, absolutely not. Did our Ulduar run get called for the evening? Absolutely. It was more important for myself and the other officers to hear everyone’s concerns and make sure we answered questions as appropriate regarding the incident. In addition, we reiterated a number of times to everyone that if they had suggestions for more fitting response aside from a raiding ban, please let us know. Though we had no intention of changing our course of action, we offered the opportunity for guild members to voice ideas that could be used in the future.

One thing that will cause unnecessary drama is a lack of communication within the guild, both up and down the rank structure. Taking immediate and decisive action as well as ensuring open communication with the rest of the guild did a number of things. First it sent a clear message that it was unacceptable behavior and would not be tolerated. Second, it reinforced the fact that our officers work together well as a team therefore anyone who tries to play one officer against another will be sadly disappointed with the results. I believe that it also demonstrated that we as a guild do not expect people to be perfect and /gkicks are not our first or preferred route of action. Finally, by taking the time to address individual concerns we showed that our members are more to us than just bodies for a raid.

We did have two members leave over the incident (only one was involved in the incident and under a ban). As non-banned member put it, we were punishing the guild for the incident and caring about the guild reputation over our own members. Because we did not reverse our decision on the two week ban, this somehow translated to us not addressing their concerns. Yet, when asked what alternate actions the officers could take the person only offered back “talk to them and trust them to not do it again”. Well for starters, the incident continued on the realm forum well AFTER our GM made a post apologizing on behalf of the guild as well as stating that (as far as our members were concerned) things should end there. Hmmm, way to piss off the GM even more right?  And just to reiterate here, it was a ban on them participating in guild raids.  They weren’t completely banished from guild, and could certainly pug raids if they felt so inclined.

This is the first time we’ve had something quite this extensive happen. Regardless of who was wrong or right initially, the continued posting and behavior in the forums was completely unacceptable. As far as the officers were concerned, there was no room to leave any doubt in the minds of guild members that we are serious about what we expect of our members. Above and beyond anything we’ve had to deal with since the start of the guild, we unequivocally agreed this situation warranted more than a conversation with the people involved. There’s a first for everything they say.

The funny thing about the whole incident is how the two week ban was perceived by a few as “punishing the guild”. While losing a few people for raids is not a good thing, we certainly did not cancel raiding for the guild as a whole. In addition, if those people would step to the other side of the fence, they would see that the actions of a few could actually be considered punishment for the entire guild as well. A few of the horde players involved created Alliance alts and spam whispered several guild members cussing and being crude in general. In addition, because of the poor and immature guild member responses on the realm forums many people, correctly or not, will automatically associate anyone with our guild tag to this incident and the lack of mature behavior exhibited.

So while we are apparently punishing the entire guild by restricting a few members from participating in guild raids, it was somehow okay for the actions of a few to potentially ruin the game experience for the other 70 members of the guild due to being guilty by association of having the same guild tag. Not to mention if we remotely condoned this behavior or did not take swift and decisive action to prevent future incidents, our ability to recruit good people in the future will be significantly impacted.

We care about our members, absolutely 100% and the well being of every one our members in game is indeed linked with the guild reputation. Ultimately, it is the job of the officers to make decisions that are best for the guild in the long run. The actions of a few can and will certainly impact the entire team. Guild officers need to have the confidence to clearly articulate why decisions are made and stick to their guns on those tough calls. (So if you are in the position to do so, make sure you are empowering your Officers!)  Remember that you won’t make everyone happy all the time, trying to do so will only net you all (more) grey hair, drama, and the unwanted desire to change servers.

Whoa! Apparently in my attempts to add some additional anti-spam security, I turned my comments anti-people in general. Everything should be back up and working as normal now. Thanks for the heads up!