This is the first of what I’d like to make a series of interviews with online leaders. If you’re interested in telling your story please use the “Leadership Interviews” link in the right hand column of the homepage to contact me. Thank you very much Sydera for bearing with me through this learning process.
About Sydera
Tell us about your gaming background.
My exposure to video games as a child was occasional and usually second-hand. Eventually some games moved me to try them myself, and I played through the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, up until the Fire Temple proved too hard. Until my mid-twenties, I thought of video games as a neat pastime for people who had great hand-eye coordination. However, Neverwinter Nights changed everything. That was the first game I finished on my own, and I became more and more interested in story and roleplaying-oriented games.
In 2005, my boyfriend’s cousin got a job at Blizzard, and he told us all about this cool game called World of Warcraft. The rest, they say, is history. I got my feet wet in the endgame with my first character, a holy paladin, at 60, but I only became a serious raider in BC with my resto druid.
How did you become a leader of an online organization?
My position of officer was given to me rather suddenly. I had been a longtime member of a casual guild, Random Acts, and the GMs elevated both my boyfriend and I to officer positions right before they left for a more progressed guild. At this point, we were just about ready to start Karazhan. The remaining guild officers worked to rebuild our team to the point that we could clear the instance. We forged an alliance with another guild and started running Gruul’s Lair. During this process, more officers left, and I found myself the new GM of Random Acts by default. Along with two other officers, I decided to start the process of merging with our allied guild. It took about eight weeks to put the merger together. We negotiated every point of the charter and guild rules as carefully as one would negotiate a business contract, all the while continuing to run allied 25-mans and Kara. On Jan. 1, 2008, we officially formed Collateral Damage, with all of the officers who had worked on the merger as co-GMs. The official title rotates among us on the first of every month. We are all equals, but we have different jobs. I do recruitment and guild publicity, and other officers take care of raid leading, website design, loot system management, attendance, etc.
What strengths do you bring to the role of recruitment/publicity officer?
In my real life, I am transitioning from graduate student to college professor. My career has given me an ability to read critically, to write well, and to research any topic. When I took on the role of recruiting officer, the first thing I did was read lots of recruitment posts and guild websites to find out what other people do. I adopted the techniques I liked and made adjustments of my own. Moreover, when I write a recruitment post or talk to a potential recruit, I tap into the genial professor tone. I have information to share, and I do so clearly and calmly in a way that makes sense to my audience. I have also trained myself to be a thoughtful listener. I often take notes during a recruitment talk—just as I would in class—so that I can process the information later.
Your boyfriend also has a leadership position within your guild. How does that impact your relationship both in and out of game? Do you find the impact positive or negative?
Briolante and I have been together a long time, and we are very stable. That does not mean that we always agree. We have often taken opposite points of view in officer meetings, particularly about matters like the loot system or recruitment. Our core goal, however—progress in raiding—is the same, and when a critical decision needs to be made, we tend to work together. The lesson of compromise is a critical one for any relationship. I like the sense of working together on a project, and the guild gives us an endless source of conversation. However, sometimes we struggle to get out of the WoWspace because we are both so involved. We have both just finished dissertations, and that means we’ve spent a lot of time together in our living room working, writing, and playing the game over the last couple of years. That certainly can lead to frustration! We really need our daytrips and weekend getaways from time to time—sometimes we’ll even go on a walk and ban WoW as a topic of conversation.
How much time do you spend completing your in game responsibilities a week?
Probably more than I need to, but I’m a grad student and have all the time I could want. I would say 3 hours for the officer meeting plus any little chats we have between them, and another 3 for participating in our active website. I also count my raiding hours as part of my responsibilities—as we’re a raiding guild, it is important that the officers raid actively. 20 hours total seems about right. Any time I am in game, I am leading my guild, and there’s no kicking back and shutting off the world.
What tool couldn’t you lead without?
I couldn’t lead without my long list of WoW blogs. I try to learn from other people’s experiences, and I love to read and research. I research guild organization and leadership in addition to my class and raid role. I think that any problem can be solved through reading.
About Collateral Damage
Your guild has an interesting leadership structure, can you tell me more about how this came to be, and how the logistics work out?
Our guild is the result of a merge between two casual guilds. Going into the merger, each officer who wanted to participate had an equal say in the proceedings. This quite simply worked for us. Our meetings were often long, but the process of coming to consensus was an illuminating one. We decided to continue this democratic structure. Just by personal preferences, we tend to represent different demographics within the guild. I see the eight of us as a small congress, with the position of speaker rotating every month. In terms of perception, most of our members see our raid leader as the most powerful officer. However, in guild meetings, it is usually others who take the lead. Thankfully, none of us has a big ego. No one is actually interested in the credit for leadership—what we want is progression raiding on our terms, and we’ve got that.
What are you current guild goals and focus?
Right now Collateral Damage is focusing on T6 content. We worked our way through all of T5, downing Vashj and Kael several times each, even though attunements had been removed by the time we were ready to work on Kael. In T6, we are 4/5 and 4/9, and our main goal is to dance on Illidan’s corpse by the end of the summer.
What makes your guild unique on your server?
Collateral Damage came late to the end-game, so we cannot be called innovators in the sense of progression. However, compared to many who came before us, we are uniquely thoughtful and member-oriented. We carefully craft guild policy so that the terms are fair for everyone. The fact that the officers have equal power means that we have had some epic meetings to decide guild policy.
We also take a “work smarter, not harder” approach to progression. We only raid between 10 and 13 hours per week, and we kill most bosses in a very short amount of time. My guild is full of intelligent people, and I cannot emphasize enough how much this fact helps progression. If something can be defeated by intense research and planning, that is how we will do it. I have a belief that all boss fights are won or lost before the pull. Success depends on preparation—each person’s research of her class and the fight, combined with the raid leader’s strategy.
In addition, we are a bit older than most guilds, with an average age of about 30, which differentiates us from the stereotypical raiding guild. Many of us bring the skills we learned in the workplace to the table at the raids, and as such, the tone of our events is respectful and cooperative. We might be called carebears, but it hasn’t hurt us yet.
How does your guild measure success?
Our success can best be measured in group stability. Sure, we down lots of bosses, but I find guild organization to be the bigger challenge. We have managed to make steady progress while keeping people more or less happy. I never have to wonder if the BT raids will fill. I know they will, and I also know that win or lose, we’ll have a good time.
What is your guild’s greatest success story?
I credit Lady Vashj for making Collateral Damage what it is today. It took us three and a half nights of serious teamwork to take her down for the first time, and I think I’m still deaf in my left ear from all the cheering on Vent when she finally died.
What is an officer’s greatest learning opportunity?
Guild organization itself is a constant challenge. We essentially arrange the recreational hours for 30 other people, and we have often made the wrong move with the best intentions. For example, when the guild first formed, the officers wanted an attendance requirement. So many of our raiders expressed concern about this (even those whose attendance has turned out to be upwards of 80%) that we never put one in. Officers have to interact with the real guild they have, and not the image of an Ideal Raiding Guild. It is a constant challenge to understand the members and their perceptions.
What is the guild’s biggest current challenge?
Black Temple challenges guilds with a relatively light raiding schedule like ours. It’s huge and full of trash—so large in fact that we may have to add a fourth raid night on a permanent basis. I would like to see us improve the efficiency of our raids, such that we can raid a forgiving schedule and still down Illidan.
What is you best guild quote?
“Peanut butter.”
We used to have a very verbose raider who would talk and talk until we all forgot what we were supposed to be doing. The officers decided to institute a “safe word” for this player, something neutral that would tell him when to shut up. “Peanut butter” has become a catchall term to apply for anyone who is, er, oversharing (or threatening the PG-13 vent rating) during a raid.
Are you recruiting?
We’ve had an influx of summer raiders and we are not short on bodies to fill slots right now—in fact, quite the opposite. We are looking for an enchancment shaman. Also, if there’s an excellent shadow priest out there, geared and ready for the content we are doing, there might be an opportunity. In addition, we always welcome applications from exceptional candidates. There are likely to be more spaces as well when school starts again.
Wrapping Up
What advice do you have for a new online leader?
Don’t be afraid to be active. The worst thing a guild leader can do is let the guild stagnate. Always have a project, and let this project suit your guild. Not all guilds are the same, but every one of them can have events that the members will enjoy. When you decide what your guild’s project will be, think about your members. What will they be satisfied with? What do they like doing now? And then design a project that fits that, but pushes your members a little bit beyond. Your job as leader is to be the visionary. This is what I told myself when I first started doing—if you want to be a leader, then lead. Don’t coast.
How can someone get in touch with you to find out more about your guild?
Go to www.cdvekguild.com, make an account, and send a PM to Sydera. Alternately, you can also talk to me in-game on Vek-nilash, Alliance-side, on Sydera or my alt Isidora. Unless we’re raiding, I’ve always got time.
Have any shout outs?
My fellow officers, Briolante, Bruug, Carluta, Camelita, Steelbrick, Fandame, and Catal—who make the whole bother of guild organization worth it.
and they are very supportive and offer a lot of help. Still, I can’t help but be overwhelmed by the stress and I often feel that I bring nothing to the table as a GM– people tell me an idea, and I don’t know how to approach the idea because I am bad at making decisions so I usually just approve it right off the bat. I don’t think this will be good in the long run.
There is always something to do - I have never logged in and wondered what I should do today. Something is always waiting.
