I was on a rant with (maybe at)  Matticus about WowInsider (Matt gets all my WI rants since he has allied himself with the devil). Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good resource and if they called me up and said “Yo Auz write for us” I’d be there, but some things really really irk me. My rant with Matt after I got past the poor proofreading (yeah I have typos but no one pays me for this, I think they should be more professional) rant that started me going, came back to one post that Scott Andrews, author of Officer’s Quarters wrote. I apologize in advance for the rant-y nature of this post, but this rant has sat buried inside me since January and Matt gave me permission/encouragement to let it all out.

I read this post (it’s actually two posts) and I VEHEMENTLY disagreed. I’m not sure I can stress VEHEMENTLY enough. Maybe bold-ing it and adding a striking font color will work?

VEHEMENTLY!

Silliness aside, Mr. Andrews writes a good series, but if I agreed with everything he said there would be no need for me to write, I could just put up a big link to his series and be done with it. Really Mr. Andrews’ post and my VEHEMENT disagreement with it is part of what convinced me that there was room for me to share my opinions in a guild leadership focused blog, so you have Mr. Andrews to thank or curse for my blog.

For those of you too lazy or too enthralled by the bright colors on my site to read what Mr. Andrews wrote, I’ll sum it up for you.

Mr. Andrews made a two part post covering the “right stuff” for an officer and the “wrong stuff” for an officer. Stuff translates to personality traits and/or qualities.

His “right stuff” list:

• Maturity
• Generosity
• Good Communication Skills
• Emotional Intelligence
• Game Knowledge

His “Wrong Stuff” List:

• The Player Who Really, Really Wants to Be an Officer
• The Player Who Plays for Unhealthy Amounts of Time
• The Player Who Shares Way Too Much Personal Information
• The Player Who Never Plays Sober

Now on the surface I could see how this could be good advice. I can really see why you don’t want a feral druid* who doesn’t understand what threat, babbling incoherently while he drools on his keyboard and tugs at your arm every 30 seconds saying “I wanna be an officer” to be an officer.

*I picked feral druid because they do after all, tank with their face.

But truly I have beef. I have large amounts of grade A sirloin beef. Below is my list of beef:

• The traits your officers need depends largely on the goals and focus of your guild,
• My officers have different personalities and character traits
• Some of the bad things can be good
• Some One of the good things is bad

So in an attempt to provide structure to this rant, I’ll tackle my beef on topic at a time.

Traits are dependent on the needs of your guild: I lead a progression focused raiding guild. I don’t lead a solely progression focused guild, my guild struggles very hard to straddle the line between progression and people. Some of my posts are largely impacted by this bias, for example, my analysis on the struggle of raiding guilds or my perspectives on taking back previous members. All of my posts are somewhat impacted by this bias, but I try my best to make my posts accessible to the general GM, as far as my experience will allow me. Often you’ll hear me state that you know your guild better than I do and my solutions may not work for you.

I’ve been in several types of guilds in the 10 years I’ve played online guilds. Heck, I lead one guild with the same name and same basic principles as the guild I currently lead, that was VASTLY different from the guild I currently lead. What makes a good officer in one guild may not translate into another guild, in fact it rarely does. On my server there is a guild of 15 people who have many alts and raid casually and there is a guild with 247 alliance accounts and an equally large number of whorde horde accounts who have many alts and raid casually. There is no way the officers for those two guilds share the same experience.

So my advice is don’t take other people’s lists at all. Put that away and make your own lists:

• Take your ideal guildmate, someone who goes above and beyond and think about the traits they have.
• Take the responsibilities and needs you see the potential officer filling and think about the traits that would make a person successful at accomplishing these things.
• Think about the things that are simply not acceptable for your guild or things you wouldn’t want other people to emulate.
• Take a look at your existing leadership structure (Hint: If you’re starting a new guild, this is you) and think about what strengths and weaknesses this structure has. Make a list of traits that will help shore up the weaknesses and play well against your strengths (Example: I’m a soft spoken, My Co-GM is louder. In raids I calm people down when they are upset, and he fires them up to kill a boss)
• Finally take a look at your guild and see how those things match up and find the best fit. You aren’t going to find someone perfect. I am not perfect, I have yet to meet someone who is (though I’ve met a few that think they are). My officers aren’t perfect, and you know what, I like them better for their imperfection.

My officers have different traits - and it’s a good thing. If there was such a thing as a master list of traits that an officer needed then guilds would have very similar officers. Even stipulating that guilds have different needs officers within guilds would be very similar. That simply isn’t what I’ve seen in my online play. Different characteristics and personalities make for a strong leadership core.

I have an officer who:

• Has been in the military and tells it exactly like it is (much to my occasional dismay).
• Is an absent minded professor, very gregarious not likely to remember what he promised he’d do.
• I think of as “dad” he’ll take you aside and gently reprimand you or listen calmly while you pour out your heart.
• Is anal retentive and remembers every detail about everything. people who speak to him often walk away overwhelmed by the amount information he provided them.
• Shares too much, but in a way that often finds my members sharing too much right back at her.

My point is, my officer core is strong because these different personalities play against each other and with each other to hash our our battle plans. (The anal retentive one gentle reminding my absent minded professor of what he has forgotten, etc). Also my members can relate to at least one of these different personalities when they have something to discuss. It’s a hodgepodge, it’s a mess, but it’s my hodgepodge mess and my guild wouldn’t be the same without it.

Some of the bad things can be good - or at least not deal breakers.

I mentioned my officer who shares way too much personal information. - She’s personable and charming. Yes I do know what color her dildo is, but you know she also knows about mine. (No I won’t tell you.) She has a way of talking to people and accurately reading people’s comfort levels. When people are feeling overwhelmed or had a bad day, guess who they talk to? They can tell her anything, they trust her because they know so much about her. Is it always a good thing? Certainly not, without her high emotional intelligence and ability to read people it would be detrimental.

Why does the player who plays unhealthy amounts of time play so much? - I know one person who’s in a wheelchair and on disability because they are fighting cancer, they have a healthy disposition and if you didn’t really get close to them. they would never tell you why they were on so much. WoW is their social outlet; it is their way of smelling the flowers. Certainly someone in a similar circumstance could use WoW in an unhealthy way or take our their bitterness about being trapped in their wheelchair fighting cancer on their in game socialization. What about the stay at home mom who’s kids are growing up, but still need their mom more than she can provide if she were working? There are many people who may play more than you but not for unhealthy reasons. If you can find one of them they can make for great officers with the time to accomplish more than you can and the high accessibility to members.

The person who really, really wants to be an officer - This is another why question. Some people know they have something to give that the guild needs and they care enough about the guild to want to give it. Some talents you can share with a guild without being an officer. To give you an example I have two players that came to me wanting to share their time and talents. One volunteered their time to run our WWS reports and another volunteered to take over auction housing our raid items and investing gold in items they saw fluctuating on the Auction House. Neither one of these guys is an officer, but both did take initiative to come to me and offer their services. Some talents require being a part of the planning process or authority to carry out. For example a role leader needs the authority to approach someone who is under performing to share their knowledge with assurance that they won’t be blown off. Some people think officership is just fun and power, but those are generally people who haven’t been officers before. Always consider the motivation, before you blow off someone that approaches you about being an officer, Ask them why they want to be one and what they have to offer.

Always drunk - I’m going to agree here, this is pretty much not going to work. Though in the interest of argument, some people use my absent minded professor as a venting source because they are relatively sure he won’t remember or take significant action. Perhaps this could be stretched into some argument, but that’s not a limb I really feel the need to climb.

One of good things is bad - I have one really really major disagreement here, though the list is mostly a good starting ground.

Generosity - Now granted Mr. Andrews gets Auz points for focusing on time and not items. But overly generous officers can coddle their members and foster dependence. I’m all for helping my teammates, but help them help themselves. When I picked up a druid (Hai Rita) that I loved from moonkin to resto because I saw great resto potential in her, I didn’t sit down with her and teach her spell rotations and stuff. I asked her to make a gear plan and then I reviewed it with her, I made a list of web resources that had great druid information on them and emailed it to her. I put the work on her. Not because I’m lazy or mean, but because it made her independent. She needed to think for herself and she needed the skill to make herself great. I was never more proud of her then when she came to me to talk about an article she had read and why she disagreed with it. That druid now owns her class, I didn’t give it to her, I only pointed the way. If I were more generous with my time I could have coddled her and done everything for her. She might still be a great druid but she would be dependent on me for how she thinks about the druid class and how it heals. She’s much stronger having earned it on her own and having made her own decisions. Moral of the story, she’s stronger because I gave her less time. In addition to that, a leader’s job is never over. It’s okay to be generous, but unchecked a guild will eat through all of your available time and ask for seconds, instead of generous I’ll take smart time management skills. Decide how much time you can give as an leader and then use that time wisely.

I don’t have such giant beef with the others as I do with generosity except to say they aren’t all necessarily required. My 15 year old brother (Hi Brudar!) lead a guild in WoW called the “Lollipop Kids.” To be in this guild you had to be a dwarf or gnome. They never raided. They never even hit max level. But you know what? He and his friends had a lot of fun. I love my little brother but he’s not terribly mature (what, Jim, you aren’t =P) or able to theorycraft on the ins or outs of his class. His emotional intelligence and communication skills are slightly above average for a 15 year old boy. He was the perfect GM for his guild. They flourished under his leadership and had a blast together, right until they decided that gaming on an xbox was way cooler than on the computer.

Long post, short - Don’t create strict rules or boxes for your leadership. Some of the best leadership is done outside of conventional thinking and wisdom. To quote myself; “If you do what everyone else is doing, you’ll end up where everyone else is.”

When I have the spare time, I frequently chat with Matt and Wyn about all things holy priest. Sometimes when we’re talking Matt says; “you should post that.” My response is typically; “that’s not the focus on my blog. The neophyte and seasoned priests can go to your world for priesting.” That being said, I spend a lot of time thinking about and talking about healing. I have to. Aside from guild leading, I wear the healing role lead hat for my guild. I build our healing strats and I evaluate, recruit, and coach our healers. Beyond that, I just enjoy it. So when Matt came to me and said “Auz, what do you think about a new healing community?” I said “YES! Sign me up.” PlusHeal.com is that community. It’s intended as a gathering spot for healers of all levels of experience; from the new wow player, to the gee I wanna make an alt, to the we’re working on Kil’jaden and everything in between.

As far as bloggers go, Matt has tapped the healing think tank. I’m frankly honored to be collaborating with such intelligent, talented people to help form this community. The roster includes:
Matticus of World of Matticus
Wyn of World of Matticus
Siha of Banana Shoulders
Anna of Too Many Annas
Lume of Lume the Mad and
Nuetralise of Spirit is Your Friend

EDIT: Just when I thought it couldn’t get better it did! Phae from Resto 4 Life has joined the team!

Matt blew the lid off our NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement for you kids who aren’t hip to the lingo - have I mentioned I’m taking a lot of medicine?) in his announcement post today. At this point, all we’re really missing is you. Even if you aren’t a healer, I encourage you to pop in. As a leader, it’s always helpful to get a perspective from a different raid role.

PS - To the English language and all who study it, I sincerely apologize for my abuse of colons and semicolons. I’d like to say it won’t happen again. I’d like to say that if you teach me the rules I’ll follow them. That fact is, I won’t. I am irreverent in my use of these misunderstood punctuation marks. I can’t help myself. Please know that while I am unwilling to renounce my sins against my mother tongue, I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering I have caused.

After WAY too many disconnects holding us up on a recent raid night, I’ve written the following letter to send to my ISPs customer service center. It amused me enough I’ve decided to share it with you guys too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Internet Service Provider,
We’ve been together for 6 years now but recently your instability is endangering our relationship. I’ve always relied on you to protect my data as you take me all around the world (wide web). We’ve shared interests, games and even some more private moments. We’ve connected with friends and family. You’ve taken me to places I’ve never seen before and shown me things beyond my imagination.

Recently, you’ve been dropping out on me when I need you most. You’ve embarrassed me in front of my friends, and you’ve made me appear like someone they can’t count on. You laugh it off and say; “It’s only for a moment.” “What about all those other times I’ve been there for you?” “It’s not a big deal.” But it is a big deal. People DIE when I disconnect. I lose documents I’m in the middle of -

…..

- writing. Worst of all, every time it happens, I lose a little faith in you.

I know you’re going to tell me you can change. After everything we’ve been through together, I really hope we can make this work. But I think it’s fair to tell you there is a new guy in town. His name is FiOS and I’ve heard that he’s a real lady-pleaser. I’m sorry. I do care about you. However, if this instability continues, I might have to see if there’s an opportunity to make a connection with him.

Sincerely,

Auzara

Chick GM

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PS. Chick GM has now been viewed in 49 of the 50 states plus DC! Quick someone fetch me a reader from Wyoming!

I’ve been blog surfing lately, to see what other WoW bloggers are discussing. One almost universal thing I’ve hit upon is that everyone seems to be blogging about what is wrong with WoW, what they’d like to see added or removed from the game. As a long time MMORPG player, I can tell you that I have a laundry list of things that I think could be done to improve WoW. You aren’t going to see that laundry list here.

Blizzard developers aren’t wandering by my blog to see what I think about game mechanics and how much I want a little instanced house of my own. Blizzard has a suggestions/feedback forum, and, while the CM presence on WoW forums leaves much to be desired, it’s your best chance of being heard by someone who can make a difference.

I find bitching into the wind to be a waste of time. As players we need to realize that Blizzard is making decisions that give them the largest profit margin. They are making decisions that make their game accessible to the lowest common denominator. It’s what they should do, that’s capitalism. You time would be better spent, and you would be a happier person, if you just figured out how to best operate within the game mechanics.

Your class has been nerfed to oblivion, roll a new class, or figure out how to work around it. Last night my guild had the following classes on top of the dps meter at one point last night, Enhancement Shaman, Fury Warrior, Ret Pallidan. But Auz, Enhancment Shaman is a support class! Yeah, tell that to my enchancement shaman, cause he’s putting his mace in your face. But Auz, Ret Pallies aren’t worth a raid slot! Mine is. But Auz, don’t you have rogues, Why yes, yes we do. To be fair, this was one snapshot in a raid with many factors that I didn’t explain, but I’m willing to bet it’s a snapshot that doesn’t happen often. Most players have accepted their class is a support class and they aren’t competing on the damage meters. My guys, well you can’t tell them to go sit in their support corner, it only makes them fight harder.

Blizzard makes it hard to be nice and progress in raids. Yeah, it is hard, but if it’s worth it to you, you can make it happen. As you can tell in my previous post, we do struggle to maintain a balance, but the fact is, we maintain that balance. Something that’s worth doing, is worth doing even if it’s hard. Furthermore, “nice” isn’t something legislated in game mechanics. It’s about respect and dignity. Sure Blizzard doesn’t reward these things in game, but they have their own intrinsic rewards. My guild does kick ass, and it does it with the kind of people I WANT to be spending 20 hours a week with. I’m a very happy raider. Blizzard didn’t give that to me, I did.

People should help each other in WoW. Some people are helpful some people aren’t. You’re not struggling against Blizzard here, you’re struggling against human nature. Did you sleep in a nice warm bed last night and is your tummy full of good food while you read this? Someone else in your city slept outside last night, and is hungry right now. Do you help them? As human beings we’re just wired not to care about what we don’t see, and not to care as much about strangers as we do about people who are close to us. It takes effort to see and care about the needs of others. This is going to show itself in our leisure time activities just as poignantly as it does in real life.

So that’s my rant. It’s probably also a waste of time, because I doubt the other Bloggers are reading my blog any more than the game developers are reading theirs. What can I say, this hypocrite suit brings out my eyes.

Two unrelated topics; one post! It’s like getting two malformed rambles for the price of one!

We beat Illidan last night. It felt not so epic. Our guild took longer to learn Leo than Illidan. He’s the final boss. He singlehandedly brought the well of eternity back. He’s ILLIDAN and he’s a pussy.

Beating Illidan:
Step 1) Listen to Lorelol (Akama is a pussy)
Step 2) Find tank able to shield block on command (<3 Mikedabutcha)
Step 3) Kill Parasites
Step 4) Find 2 tanks able to dodge lasers (No Mr. Bond, I expect you to stand very still while these lasers come slowly towards you)
Step 5) Spread out (Don’t stand next to Illidan)
Step 6) Kill Demons
Step 7) Listen to Lorelol (I hate Maiv)
Step Collect loot

On the other hand, the whole thing made me kinda sentimental. My Co-gm and I have been through a lot together. I was there for his first Rag kill and he helped me through my first AV. We built this guild that went from Kara to Illidan in a little less than 9 months.

When we killed him we had 10 of our original raiders from Kara still raiding with us. In our 9 month together we’ve seen people get married, had a baby born, had a new job, get fired from a job, be hospitalized, raid from the hospital, graduate college, fall in love, break up, get hit by a car (and raided that night), move out of their mom’s house, move into their mom’s house, move across the country, lose a grandparent, lose a best friend and lose a pet. We’ve seen people come and go, but through it all, this guild has remained something that I’m very proud to be a part of. So we beat wow, just in time for 2.4 to come out. I’m looking forward to conquering those new challenges together.

On the other topic, yesterday I had a stranger whisper me. She told me I was an inspiration to her as a female GM. That I was a role model for female gamers. For some reason I was very put off by this.

I’ve been playing online video games for almost a decade (I’m about to turn 26 and I started when I was 16) and in that time I’ve never really had a role model in a video game. Certainly I’ve met some people along the way that have taught me some game mechanics and some things about leadership. I’ve always been observant about social mechanics of the games I played. When I first played I quickly discovered female gamers were a rarity and, if I didn’t want to draw attention to myself, I should leave my gender a mystery to all but those that knew me very well. As time has gone by and female gamers have become a much larger percentage of gamers, and I no longer mask my gender.

I believe I approach GMing differently because of my gender, and that’s part of why I write here. But, I’m not trying to be a role model for female gamers and certainly not a part of some sort of feminist movement online. If you want a feminist role model take up with Marie Curie, Susan B. Anthony, or Amber Reeves.

Female gamers, you want to look up to me as some sort of role model, this is my advice. Stop looking at other people and start looking at yourself. Go, play your game. Play it well or suck at it. Carry yourself with dignity. Demand to be evaluated for who you are and how you play, not your possession of tits. Ignore people that can’t or won’t get over your gender. Oh, and if you whore yourself out for pixels, you’re still a whore. I hope the pixelated loot can comfort your damaged dignity. As for, I’m going to keep doing what I do. If you wanna respect that, go right ahead, but I’d rather you go do something you can respect yourself for.