Kree's World of Warcraft Guild Leader Blog: Guest Post

Showing posts with label Guest Post. Show all posts

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Guest Post: The Final Installment

Today is the third and final installment from our good friend Bobette on what it takes to be a guild leader from a members prospective. A reminder about our Fun Run for tomorrow night. Remember to get your Death Knight past the starting area before the raid time. Everyone is invited so ask your friends/guildies/roommates and join us for some fun. Brigwyn over at the Hunting Lodge has graciously offered their vent services for this event too! I look forward to seeing you there!

Extra-curricular activities. While the obvious events that your guild might want to participate in are raids, don't think that they are the only events that your guild members will want to participate in! You can help guild members feel more at home by having events outside the raid rooms. Host a steam-tonk tournament, play a game of find-a-guildy, Old World Raid Night, join Kree's Fun Run, RP events or a good old fashioned guild party. All of these events (and more!) foster friendships and guild cohesion and gives a nice change of pace for your guild members.

Comm check. Utilize communication tools, such as a guild website or a Ventrillo server for ease of communication. Just as a Ventrillo server will make your raiding communications easier, a website will help organize guild information and communications, showcase kills and achievements and document useful skills of guild members. If you can't quite get used to the new in-game calendar, you could try out Group Calendar as well, for scheduling guild events. Make sure everyone knows all the appropriate information, so they know when to show up to events.

Recruit. Recruiting can be a difficult task. Sifting through potential recruits can be hard work - but sometimes you are left searching high and low for recruits and can find no one. Be sure that your guild has the numbers for what you want to run, with some cushion just to be safe. If you find that your numbers are dropping a little, recruit. If you're having a hard time getting runs to go at all, it's past recruiting time. You don't want your guild runs to dry up and hardly be a trickle while you're hoping for recruits to show up. Recruit early, recruit often.

Officer on deck. Having officers appointed in your guild will help alleviate the pressures and duties that you have as a guild leader. Instead of trying to be a one-man-band you can be a 5-piece ensemble or even the equivalent of an orchestra, if your guild is big enough and requires that many officers. Appoint people who you know you can trust with the jobs they need to do, such as class leads, raid leaders, recruiting officer, guild bank/dkp manager, guild events officer, website manager. The list can go on to fit your guild's needs. They will assist you when you are online and they will help keep the guild ship shape when you're offline. These are your right hand men (and women).

Even though the items discussed in these posts are numerous and might seem daunting, they will become second nature to you if you're not doing them already - many are common sense, after all. Your experience as a guild leader might even bring up points that haven't been addressed here.

So, do you have what it takes?

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Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Guest Post: Be the Boss

Today is installment number two from our good friend Bobette on what it takes to be a guild leader from a members prospective. Before we delve into todays post a friendly reminder (yes I am going to continue to bug you until Friday) about our Fun Run. Everyone is invited so invite friends and join us for some fun. Brigwyn over at the Hunting Lodge has graciously offered their vent services for this event too!

Be the boss. You are the leader, after all. This directly relates to being active in your guild. No matter the size, a guild will need someone to get the ball rolling - that's you. And by you, I mean you doing it, not throwing the task to someone under you and basking in your shiny guild leader title glory. Scheduling runs, sorting the bank, keeping tabs on how the players are feeling/doing, all that sort of thing. However, for all that to work you need rules. I know, I know - everyone hates rules, but they really are there for a reason. It's better to lay down some ground rules to have a guideline than just saying, "The rules are - there are no rules!" and then having the guild explode. Usually they're basic things like be nice to others and don't steal loot, but they still need to be said. It'll be a help in the long run, trust me. And if the time comes when those rules are broken, stand behind your rules and enforce them.

Play fair. Another part of being a leader is being the mediator. Spats between guild members do come up and you will often be called upon to be the referee. Whether the warrior slighted the hunter's DPS or two priests are arguing over an offhand, you need to be there and you need to be unbiased. See both sides of the issue and do what is fair. Not the easy thing, not the spiteful thing - the reasonable thing. If it's an issue that a player has with the guild, be understanding of their position and needs. Sometimes if you offer to meet them in the middle it will clear things right up. But above all, do NOT be stubborn or immature. Your guild members will appreciate you being fair and just, even if you have to be a hardass sometimes. This also applies to rule enforcement.

Encourage reading. There are several sites to help with learning encounters and strategies, such as Bosskillers and Wowwiki. As the leader, you definitely need to be read up on whichever raid your guild is running, but you should also encourage your members to take a few minutes and watch a video of the encounter or read the strategy so they have some idea of what to expect. It's no fun to stand looking at a raid boss for 10 minutes as you try to explain the fight so that everyone understands it. There is nothing as embarrassing as a raid leader fumbling to read a strat as everyone buffs, hoping that he's got everything right. Proper Prior Planning. Learn it. Love it. Remember: educated guild members make a stong, confident, successful guild.

Have some class. While you have a main of a certain class and perhaps an alt of another and know how those classes work, you need to know a bit about all classes and specs to have things go smoothly and get the full value of your players. Each spec has something different to bring to a raid and also to their group members. You also need to know this to distribute the loot that bosses drop.

Don't get in over your head. Do you remember being a little kid at the swimming pool, and tip toeing towards the deep end, and all of a sudden you're under water and can't breathe? Know your limitations. By all means, aim high - just don't melt your wings. Know the abilities of your guild as a whole and don't lead them into something they're not ready for. Also, don't overestimate individual members. Maybe your tank buddy doesn't quite have the stats to be main tanking yet, maybe the mage doesn't have the DPS to help the group, maybe the priest isn't settled into his new spec yet. Challenge your members, don't set them up for failure.

Know when to quit. Perhaps the most sober of the advice here. Sometimes you just have to quit banging your head against the wall. If it really comes to this, you'll be grateful, your guild will be grateful. Live, learn, try it again later.

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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Guest Post: Do You Have What it Takes to be A Guild Leader?

Recently a Twitter friend of mine came to me and asked if they could anonymously guest write a post for me. I thought that it would be a great idea as this is a person who is not a GM nor an officer in their guild and can provide some insight to those of us who have a long background in guild leadership. It is always refreshing to see what the general member has to say. Over the next few days we will hear from this anonymous person (let's call her Bobette) about what it takes to be a guild leader, from a member's standpoint. I have decided to not add my commentary to these entries. Oh and before I go, remember we're running the Fun Run this Friday! Make sure to make your DK and get those quests done! See you there!

Do you have what it takes to be a guild leader?

Think about that for a minute. Many of the people who read this would probably say yes. In fact, lots of people DO say yes every day. They're the ones soliciting your signatures in all major cities and starting areas or splitting off from other guilds with their friends. Any person can start a guild and be the leader. But not everyone is able to lead.

Be a people person. The very essence of a guild is its members and if you can't get along with them, then the guild probably is going to take a downward turn, and quick. You need to be friendly to your members, promote cooperation and inspire your members to do better. If you're crabby and hate it when people send you tells asking a question about a quest, seeing if they can get something out of the guild bank, whether you're available to help them start an instance run or just talk about their problems, you're probably not ready to be a guild leader. I cannot stress this enough - if you have charisma, you can go a long way, even if you have to work on the other parts of this post.

Sincerely yours. Be earnest about your relationships with your members and officers, about the guild and it's direction. Successful guilds have leaders that are leaders full time, not just when they feel like it. If you're enthusiastic about your guild, your members pick up on that and take pride in the guild as well. Enthusiasm is infectious, and that kind of infection is good.

Be active within your guild. Anyone can log on and do things for their character as they please, but when you have a guild, there is always something to do with or for it. Run instances with your members, help that lowbie with that hard quest, farm some mats for the bank, chat in guild chat or Vent. You don't have to do them all every single day, but be present within your guild. Include everyone - even the shy quiet mage over in the corner. You chose to start a guild - be active in it.

Patience is a virtue. Dealing with people is tough sometimes. Players can make huge demands of their guild leaders. Even if every member only asks for one little thing, multiply that by every member in your guild. It adds up awfully quick. Try to keep a level head when things get to be more than your patience threshold can handle: count to 10 or even step away from the game for a bit if necessary. Patience can also be in short supply when your guild is learning a raid - sometimes it takes a few tries to get a strategy down.