What Do You Do.....

What do you do as a guildmaster, when you have spent 2+ years building a guild/community that everyone enjoys... and then the game looses its luster. Back b4 the release of WoTLK my guild had a split, it was a stressful time for me in game, so i told everyone i was going to take a break for a while and was gone over a month... as i was away, my co-worker/officer told me that the guild was falling apart... Since then alot of the key members that left during that split have come back, beacuse they missed the community that i had created.

My heart just isnt in world of warcraft anymore, and have been thinking of quitting, but at the same time i do not want to destroy a community of friends. I know that alot of them are in the guild beacuse of me and the type of leader i am, and if i leave... then what happens?

I still play a bit, now and then, but i can see a time in the future where im not going to want to pay for this game anymore...

I guess im looking for opinions from you all, my officers are good officers, but they are not leaders, cept maybe one, but not as many people repsect him as i do, and if i made him leader it wouldnt be good.

All comments would be appreciated...

Thanks

thats sad to say, i hope it gets better
i had a...phase like that but...we always get sucked back in

zombie3000 wrote:

they missed the community that i had created.

One person doesn't make a community, no matter what your role is. Sounds like you are carrying people's enjoyment of the game on your shoulders. It shouldn't be like that. People come and go, just like real life friends come and go. Priorities change, life goes on. Just focus on who is with you enjoying time together today, and make the most of it.

Reference to RL:
ive been in my school for 9 years now and only 1 person is still remaining with me since back then
so i have seen about all of my classes/friends go until about 5 or 4 years ago when that number went down

This is a good discussion point and I know exactly where Zombie is coming from here. I will say some more on this tonight when I have some time, but for now I need to be off and wanted to register my interest in this thread,

Emeny.

Stompalina wrote:

zombie3000 wrote:

they missed the community that i had created.

One person doesn't make a community, no matter what your role is. Sounds like you are carrying people's enjoyment of the game on your shoulders. It shouldn't be like that. People come and go, just like real life friends come and go. Priorities change, life goes on. Just focus on who is with you enjoying time together today, and make the most of it.

...it does take more than one person to make a community, but it takes 1 strong leader hold it together...and i feel that none of my officers can handle it... there good "Officers" but not "GLeaders"

Maybe you need a sexy druid and hard-edged death knight. Just saying...

Stompalina wrote:

Maybe you need a sexy druid and hard-edged death knight. Just saying...

lolz yes... that would help but yea...like today for example..i logged in b4 work to do my cooking daily and as soon as i log in, im spammed with raid stress.... (raid stress = people bitching about raid times, not getting invites, this guy wants to do 10s, this guy wants to do 25s...) Im not even the raid leader... its this kind of shit thats pushing me out of the game...


I realize this is the life of a GM... and i have accepted this... at least it doesnt come from, what i like to call "The Core" of the guild, wich are the closest friends i have in the game, and have been playing with for years.


And yes Stomp.. you and Haf can come join anytime... tho i dont think were hardcore enough for ya

i guess i just needed a place to vent, and get some input, i cant do it to the guys in the guys in the guild, in fear of starting drama...OMG! SANGS QUITTING!! THE GUILD IS GONNA DIE!!! lol... <--that kinda shit

Finding the right officers/raid leaders to field that kind of crap is important. And, the footmen should consider rank before bitching at the general.

zombie3000 wrote:

lolz yes... that would help but yea...like today for example..i logged in b4 work to do my cooking daily and as soon as i log in, im spammed with raid stress.... (raid stress = people bitching about raid times, not getting invites, this guy wants to do 10s, this guy wants to do 25s...) Im not even the raid leader... its this kind of shit thats pushing me out of the game...

While I'm no guild/raid leader, I do think that voicing this kind of displeasure to your officers might give them the kick in the pants they seem to need to step up. If people are bitching about raids, the raid leader needs to be made aware of the issues. If they don't care or don't wish to address the issue, they need to be replaced.

You've got one foot out the door already. At this stage of the game, you've got nothing to lose by getting those who are supposed to be supporting the guild to actually support it.

The Rokk wrote:

zombie3000 wrote:

lolz yes... that would help but yea...like today for example..i logged in b4 work to do my cooking daily and as soon as i log in, im spammed with raid stress.... (raid stress = people bitching about raid times, not getting invites, this guy wants to do 10s, this guy wants to do 25s...) Im not even the raid leader... its this kind of shit thats pushing me out of the game...

While I'm no guild/raid leader, I do think that voicing this kind of displeasure to your officers might give them the kick in the pants they seem to need to step up. If people are bitching about raids, the raid leader needs to be made aware of the issues. If they don't care or don't wish to address the issue, they need to be replaced.

You've got one foot out the door already. At this stage of the game, you've got nothing to lose by getting those who are supposed to be supporting the guild to actually support it.

Nice.... Good point, Rokk

zombie3000 wrote:

The Rokk wrote:

zombie3000 wrote:

lolz yes... that would help but yea...like today for example..i logged in b4 work to do my cooking daily and as soon as i log in, im spammed with raid stress.... (raid stress = people bitching about raid times, not getting invites, this guy wants to do 10s, this guy wants to do 25s...) Im not even the raid leader... its this kind of shit thats pushing me out of the game...

While I'm no guild/raid leader, I do think that voicing this kind of displeasure to your officers might give them the kick in the pants they seem to need to step up. If people are bitching about raids, the raid leader needs to be made aware of the issues. If they don't care or don't wish to address the issue, they need to be replaced.

You've got one foot out the door already. At this stage of the game, you've got nothing to lose by getting those who are supposed to be supporting the guild to actually support it.

Nice.... Good point, Rokk

Excellent point. If you have a good guild management system in place, your role as a GL should be one of a CEO who gets status reports from the field and delegates.

Emeny wrote:

This is a good discussion point and I know exactly where Zombie is coming from here. I will say some more on this tonight when I have some time, but for now I need to be off and wanted to register my interest in this thread,

Emeny.

*Still waits for Emeny's opinion*

Hey, Yeah sorry for the late reply but I didn't end up with time last night, but here I am bright and early sat at work with an hour to kill

So yeah as I was saying I sympathise with your position Zombie because I've dwelled on it myself a number of times and none more so than of late.

It's difficult being a guild leader, it was something I was hoping to get into a little more in episode 20 but I think it'd be worth bringing up in its own episode some day (with Zom on as a guest too hint hint!!) and something that I was looking to compare it to is the game kerplunk.

If you don't know what Kerplunk is then go google it

Essentially as the guild leader you're the one straw that holds everything in place. It's precarious and if removed you do run a genuine risk of the whole structure collapsing in on itself! Obviously this applies a lot of pressure to that individual but its important to remember that there is support around you that helps keep the network together.

You've already mentioned your 'core' and I would assume that this core of players are the ones that make up the management of your guild. So put your concerns to them and discuss what direction you want to take the guild. Do this away from the guild as a whole and ask that people be discreet and spend some time really considering where you want to be in a months time, a few months time and so on.

You may find a common feeling of apathy and you may decide its time to draw a close to your adventures in WoW, but that doesn't mean the community has to fall apart and disappear. You could relocate to another game, not necessarily another MMO but maybe something else. For example, a lot of guildmates of mine have picked up Left4Dead so I know I could always jump into games with them and we'd maintain that interaction we have in WoW.

You may decide to rebrand your guild, maybe there's some stock in dropping your schedule to the ten man stuff. Trim the 'fat' of the guild and bring back that tight knit, core community feeling you enjoyed a while ago.

There is potentially a few troublemakers in your guild that might not be enough to pull the guild down altogether but whose efforts make it a chore to log in for you and maybe others. See if you can identify them as a group and act on it...

I don't wish to sound entirely nagative in my post and I hope I haven't come across as such. If you were to decide to bow out of the game then I would stress that it is possible to work out a way to stay in touch with core members of the guild. Knowing that I can still log into a game, or onto Vent and chat to people I consider good friends has eased my concerns about the inevitable day when WoW does end, be that in a few months or years down the line.

It's right that as one man you don't make the community but I totally understand that as one man you keep it together. I've also had similar things put to me with guildies informing me that if it wasn't for me making decisions then they would likely have left or torn someones throat out! It's an unusual pressure to find yourself under but as Stomp has already said, it won't be the end of the world if you really do have to step down.

As long as you feel that you can maintain good relations with the core you play the game with, and you plan a strategy to do so then I think you'll feel more comfortable stepping down. Or stick with it and take decisive action to turn the guild around and direct it into something you enjoy running again!

Apologies for the waffle, I do like to run on with my train of thought

Emeny.

Well i appreciate everyones words of wisdom... and i have some things to contemplate, but something has fallen in my lap that may re-ignite my interested in the game... we shall see... time shall tell...

Thanks guys
& Gal