This started out as a comment to Wyn’s post DKP is the Devil but it got to be too long, so I thought I’d post it here. You should read her post and the comments too before you read mine. I’ll wait for you.
I thought I’d follow up since Wyn quoted me regarding why I feel so strongly that biased officers shouldn’t be a factor for not using loot council and yet we don’t use a loot council. I do stand 100% behind what I said though, if your officers are biased, it will show up and weaken your guild in ways beyond your loot system. Am I perfect? Nope. Are there other ways to do things? Yep. Am I willing to listen to you? Sure. But I’m still steering this ship, if you really don’t trust me or my officers you won’t be happy here. Loot council or DKP it doesn’t matter, too much of leading a guild is subjective and difficult to define in black and white. If you could just set up rules and let it go, you wouldn’t need a GM, and I wouldn’t have a lot to write about.
For me, the DKP system is about setting expectations. Wyn’s statement that a DKP system measures objective things, but can’t measure skill or some other more subjective things is accurate. But I’d like to think the role of your officers in a DKP system is to handle those things outside of loot, basically my view is, if I used you for the boss kill and you didn’t wipe us in a spectacular way, then you probably have the skill we need to kill the boss. If you wipe us spectacularly repeatedly, well I’m probably not going to take you unless I don’t have a better option, and if I don’t have a better option for long enough, then you probably need gear.
Congratulating a player on gear that was essentially defaulted to them based on their accumulated points rings very hollow in comparison to congratulating a guildie who was awarded gear for their contribution to the latest group effort. The difference is the same as that of receiving a gift or buying the damn thing yourself.” I actually never thought about it this way, but then I thought about it again, and I think in a DKP system congratulating a guildmate who was awarded loot is like congratulating a new mother who just had a baby. Sure, she did “buy the damn thing herself” and it wasn’t a surprise but it was the result of the culmination of 9 months of preparation, effort and lugging it around. I think the congratulations is a moment of saying, “You’ve been here with us and you’ve earned that, congratulations for your effort paying off.” I think they both reflect a contribution to the group.
I think the largest flaw we’ve seen in our DKP system is that it encourages people to play games to ensure they get what they value most. This isn’t something we’ve been able to combat entirely, but public loot plans do help. “PointWhorder, I notice you’re tops for this item and it’s listed as your best in slot why are you passing?” Though we do get “Well playerX needs it more” and it’s difficult to argue with that. We honestly don’t worry about it too much unless something is going to rot if they don’t take it.
The advantage we’ve found in a loot system is EVERYONE thinks they are the most deserving of the loot on the floor. You can’t help but always notice when you do something cool or awesome, but you can miss what your peers are doing. Even in an unbiased system, when people are passed for loot, they will most likely feel they deserve it. By having a well thought out system, people can manage their expectations so when loot is on the floor people generally know who will get it. Also we can quickly get the loot out and move on to the next thing.
In addition, I think not every DKP system is created equal. Wyn’s made the very valid point that DKP systems measure the objective, but what objective thing would you like to measure? Attendance? Contribution to the guild bank? Recruitment of quality players? Researching strats? Forum posts? Farming materials the guild needs? DPS? All of these things can be measured and tracked. If you use a DKP system, think carefully about what your guild values and make sure your system reflects that. I guess my closing to this message is just a loot system can tell you a lot about what a guild values, make sure yours sends the right message.
PS - I told you I was too sick to be writing.
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