Frequently I will see forum arguments and blog posts about how players don’t normally make rational choices about which MMO they like. They simply “remember their first” as the best and always stick to that. I’m honestly not sure I buy the argument. This is especially true for me since people frequently explain away my zealous EQ devotion as “first MMO syndrome” regardless of how many times I point out it wasn’t my first rodeo. Before EQ I played a lot of Ultima Online and, prior to that, I played on MUDs. I was no stranger to massive online games when I first stepped into Norrath. EQ was just something different and special.

I remember being in a gaming store with Dresden talking about UO. The clerk overheard us and explained this “first person” MMO that we had to try. It almost sounded impossible but we went out and got it. EverQuest was a real “wow” moment for me in computer gaming and things have been different ever sense. I became an MMO gamer then and have yet to slow down.

These days I don’t really look at EQ1 as my favorite MMO. Everquest 2 has taken that title and holds onto it tightly. There is just something about the EverQuests that pull me in and hold my attention. They don’t seem to cater to the “players are morons” and “everything has to be extremely easy and totally explained” trends that some developers are currently hitching their wagon to. I also loved EQ1 for the fact that the attitude of “we can’t let players do that” or “we have to follow these design rules” didn’t exist. EQ developers would make crazy decisions that sometimes turned out to be huge mistakes. Sometimes those crazy decisions would turn into the most amazing features, though. Developers, like players, lived by “risk vs reward” then. These days it just seems like nobody wants to take the risks and I believe that is why these MMOs don’t resonate with me as much.

That leads me to ask the question, “Is your favorite MMO your first?” Is it your favorite because it was your first or because of something else? What makes you love your MMO?

Consider discussing “Your first MMO is your favorite?” on the Epic Slant Forum!

Don’t forget to participate in the 2009 MMO blogging alliance charity drive! Every little bit helps!

For Epic Slant I’ve selected Child’s Play as my 2009 charity to sponsor. This charity is the brain child of the gentlemen behind Penny Arcade and has been going strong since 2003. I’m a big believer that children need to have comfort, a little magic, and joy. Being ill and in a hospital can make those things rather tough to achieve but this charity tries to make those situations a bit more bearable. From the Child’s Play website:

Since 2003, over 100,000 gamers worldwide have banded together through Child’s Play, a community based charity grown and nurtured from the game culture and industry. Over 3.5 million dollars in donations of toys, games, books and cash for sick kids in children’s hospitals across North America and the world have been collected since our inception.

Child’s Play runs all year long but really focuses on the holiday season to bring a little bit of cheer to an otherwise difficult situation. The charity takes donations of toys, games and money to send to various children’s hospitals around the world. Any donation is greatly appreciated and you can give directly to the charity by clicking the button to the right. You don’t need a Paypal account to donate, it just makes it easier for the charity to accept your funds. Please note that you are donating to the Child’s Play paypal account and that neither Epic Slant nor the MBA will handle the money directly. If you prefer to send an actual toy or game check out the Child’s Play website for the restrictions and best practices. Certain toys are not right for a hospital and it would be sad for a heartfelt gift to be unsuitable.

You can also donate toys and games directly to the specific hospitals involved via the Amazon.com wish list system. This was just brought to my attention and I think it is awesome. Check out the main page for Child’s Play and you can pick a wish list specific to an area near you.

If you’d like to donate to a different charity than Child’s Play many of my blogging peers have selected other options for you. Please check out these posts by other MBA charity drive members and consider donating to their causes. A little help really does go a long way.

Ysharros from Stylish Corpse notes that it is good to give!

Spinks of Spinksville has selected Shelter to sponsor. It is a UK based charity that helps the homeless.

Psychochild is supporting Tabby’s Place. They offer a cage-free sanctuary for our feline friends in need.

Slurms from Multiplaying is supporting Child’s Play this year. Child’s play gives toys and money to children in hospitals around the world.

Stabs of Stabbed Up has decided to support Amnesty International this year. AI supports human rights around the world!

Syp has thrown Bio Break’s support behind Susan G. Komen for the Cure (breast cancer).

Youngblood from Incoming Pull has decided to support Child’s Play!

Ardua is supporting Child’s Play on his blog Echoes of Nonsense. Check out his post!

Consider discussing “MMO Blog Alliance 2009 Charity Drive” on the Epic Slant Forum!

The raid leader outranks everyone!

Once selected, the person leading a raid should be in total command and make all final decisions. I’ve seen far too many raids go south when some well meaning officer decided to publicly question a “lower ranked” member while he or she was leading a raid. Nothing is more disruptive and disheartening than that. To all you well meaning guild leaders and officers: shut up for the duration of the raid. If you picked someone other than yourself to lead your raid then you need to let them do it. If they make a tactical mistake, violate a rule, or screw up in your eyes, wait until after the raid is over to bring it up and do it in private. Otherwise you’re disrupting your own raid and reducing your chance at success. If the issue is an emergency, send a tell and keep it quiet. Let it look like the raid leader made the decision to change something. This will build the confidence of your raid leader, increase their respect for you, and ensure that the members are comfortable with him or her leading. If you question the leader, even if you out rank that person, your members will too. Set a good example and keep your mouth shut!

Know the raid’s vital stats before you bring the guild out

Preparation goes a long way when it comes to MMO raiding. Five minutes before an encounter is the absolute worst time to be looking at the intel for it. Raid leaders should study all relevant materials to the raid they intend to lead at least an hour prior. It is important to know what abilities the mob has, what the group make up should look like, if there are any special item needs, and generally anything else relevant to the encounter before you get there. The raid leader should have notes and be able to clearly explain them to the raiders. Appear knowledgeable and confident while answering any questions and concerns BEFORE you engage the first time. A sloppy raid shows and members will put less faith in you. If you’re testing a new raid for the first time, try to have a general understanding of what may happen and take good notes as it does.

Keep voice chat clear of Chatty Cathy

Human beings are social animals who all fit on a sliding scale of how often they want to share. Some know when it is appropriate to be quiet and others seem to be unable to deal with silence. If your voice channel is filled with inane banter about poop, breasts, and Youtube your raid stands a far greater chance to fail. Members are not focused on the task at hand (no matter how much they claim to be) and the raid leader should never have to shout over others. In my experience what worked best for me and pissed members off to no end was to create a muted channel and only give voice to the necessary people. Your players will hate it but it gets the job done. Other guilds have had success by leaving the channel open for anyone to bring up emergency information but punishing those who use it for anything else. Use what works best for you but be aware that an out of control voice channel is basically broadcasting failure.

Know your loot rules before you start

This may sound like a no brainer but for some reason a lot of raids get started without fully covering the loot rules. In established guilds with written rules this isn’t much of an issue. For pick up raids and more free wheeling organizations it tends to be a big problem. Be sure that everyone absolutely understands each detail before you get going because nothing derails a raid faster than loot drama. Issuing loot slows down the pace of a raid in general and arguing about it turns people off. Don’t fall victim to something that is easily avoided.

Don’t slap together groups

The art of building well balanced and effective groups is becoming rarer these days. Spend some time learning about the abilities that each class has to offer and how they interact with other classes. Build groups that promote a certain activity, like melee dps, and then put melee players in it. A few hours of research can greatly increase your chance of success. Review certain specializations and find what works best for your raiders. For the main tank group, no matter how much others will complain about it, you need to use your best tank, best healers and best support members. Only change people out when the encounter is one of the easier ones. In raiding success for the group is more important than stroking individual egos.

Handle problems with maturity

Regardless of how good a raid leader you are, you’re always going to run into a Scrappy Doo or two. Some yahoo is going to want you to try a different strategy, group set up, or anything else because he heard that Iniquity did it on Oasis. Remind players that they need to submit all these things to you before or after the raid, not during. Drastically changing strategies in the middle of a raid (unless you’re massively not succeeding) only confuses your raiders. Stick to the plan and take all the suggestions in as feedback. If the information has merit and is minor, adjust immediately. If it is a complete overhaul save it for the next raid. Just ensure that you never dismiss a suggestion as “stupid” or “ignorant.” You’ll turn members off and might miss out on some great insight.

Don’t exploit to win

I’m not going to go too deep into this other than to say any win is not alawys a win. I am sure there are tons of guilds out there that think exploiting is fine because, “the game let me do it.” Let me clue you in to something. That is the most ignorant and idiotic sentence you can utter as a raid leader. Software is imperfect and will allow things to happen just as real life does. There are ways to cheat in real life but more people don’t because they feel bad. Don’t say “It is just a game” because it isn’t. We’re talking about your integrity, reputation, and honor. That might mean jack to a lot of people but to others it is everything. You might lose quality raiders over it because they want to win legitimately. A slip here or there might be allowable but using any tactic to ensure a win is just pathetic.

Don’t expect any thanks

As a raid leader you will put in a lot of effort and a lot of time. No matter how successful you are and how great a job you do you will get at least five complaints to every one compliment. Raiders rarely recognize success and are always critical of failure. Do not take it to heart. They do appreciate you in a way but they will rarely say it. Your only reward is a dead mob and knowing you made that happen. Others will try to undervalue your contribution but a good leader can pull less than skilled players through more than they imagine. Enjoy the success, expect no gratitude and check your ego at the door.

Enter raid data swiftly

If you’re using a point based system, don’t make everyone wait for the raid results. The sooner your data is updated the better since another raid is right around the corner. Out dated information is your greatest enemy and will cause loot drama. We’ve covered why that is bad so get those updates in as soon as you can. If you’re falling behind find a system to speed it up!

Ferrel is always right

I’m just kidding about that. I absolutely was not always right but I did actually enjoy a lot of success. Everything above might not work for you but don’t dismiss it immediately. These are some good practices to follow and they’re all designed to make your life easier.

Consider discussing “How to lead a raid Ferrel style” on the Epic Slant Forum!

The organization of the guild leadership role has both a physical and logical component to it. Numerous MMOs only allow one character to physically hold the title of guild leader. In most cases no other member can usurp this tag without customer service intervention or the willing surrender of the player who wields it. This is important to state because many players do not consider just how much power is retained within the role. No matter how you write your rule documents and state that three people are the guild leader, the person with physical control of the tag is always the final authority of the guild’s user interface. This single leader condition will also have the side effect that everyone external to the guild will view him or her as the guild leader in the singular sense. They will not read your rules before trying to contact the leader. Assumptions will be made and that is to be expected.

Logically speaking, a guild’s leader role can be organized in any way that the founding members see fit. Should the founders decide that they would like five equal guild leaders operating in a council, that is fine. In general a single leader will be more efficient but a group of leaders will be more effective. It is advisable that the number always remain odd to avoid a deadlock or so that a specific councilor will have the power to break a tie. This logical design must also be clearly detailed in writing and made available to all members. The member who holds the leadership flag should act as an equal to the others in the council and show that the rules do hold power. With that in mind, however, there are two important points that must be reinforced.

The buck stops here: No matter how meticulous and well documented a guild’s logical structure is, the physical structure cannot be changed. All responsibility is ultimately placed on the member with the leader flag. If a fellow “leader” is going on a tirade and removing members, his logical rank will not save him from the leader’s physical rank. The final decision rests in those hands: Remove or don’t. Demote or Promote. Disband the guild or allow it to live. Only the physical leader may do this and that is why it is so important to select the correct person to hold the flag.

Ambassador to the people: It is important to state once more that no matter what a guild’s logical structure looks like, outsiders will always view the person with the leader flag as higher than anyone else. He or she will be the person to whom other guilds come if they have a member complaint. Your physical leader will also be the one who interacts with employees of the MMO when dealing with an issue. There are ways to minimize this but it is important to be mindful that your physical leader is the default point of contact.

These are all points to consider when deciding on the logical structure of a guild and will hopefully give founders at least a moments pause in doing so. Many guilds form up first and deal with these issues later. But, once that is done the physical flag is already in someone’s hands and power can be hard to release. Assuming that a structure is in place, it is time to answer the second question, “What criteria should we have for picking a leader?” Here are some questions the founders should ask:

Is this person qualified? Does the founder in question have any leadership experience in life or MMOs? If they do, is it applicable to your situation? Can they compromise and change their style a bit? Will they?
Can this person speak well? Does the candidate speak well in voice chat and express themselves effectively without profanity? How is their writing? Do they communicate eloquently? These may sound like cruel questions but it matters a lot when dealing with other guilds, potential recruits and MMO employees.
Does this person agree completely with the founders? Do they? Do you want them to or do you want someone who will play the devils advocate? Having a yes man leader can be a dangerous thing but that might be the intent.

It is important to understand why these are the questions to ask. The first question should be fairly obvious. If someone is a bit immature, has never led anyone and is un-trainable, they’re probably not a good choice for guild leader. On the other hand if you find someone willing and eager to learn you can overlook a lack of practical experience. The second question might seem less clear, however. It is important because if your leader cannot express their opinions and ideas appropriately, they will not fair well against (a carefully chosen word) the members. This will be compounded if your member base is mature and educated. Few people will follow someone they perceive as ignorant or foolish. Even a genius can be viewed as a poor leader if they writ lik an epileptic muppet from aza. Shy players can also suffer as leaders. They might be timid and passive. While they can be a great administrator, they may be a poor line officer. Finally, an unnecessarily rude leader can only go so far in the guild motivation department.

The most complex of the questions was the third one. Does a guild want a “yes man” or a devil’s advocate for a leader? It is something to really think about. Many people do not like disagreement or strife but often times the best decisions are made out of a compromise. Tunnel vision and group think are both dangerous things and it is best to find someone who can break out of the mold a little bit. To what degree they do that is up to the founders.

These questions are all important to ask and will help founders pick who should be their guild leader or who should replace the previous one. There is one more piece of parting advice when it comes to selecting a leader. Just because a member is the best (insert class name) on the face of the planet, don’t assume they’ll be a qualified leader. In fact it can often be the exact opposite. A player’s skill rarely equates and translates to management potential. Remember that well when making a decision.

Consider discussing “The Guild Leader Revised” on the Epic Slant Forum!

MMO Antiquities – Plate Healers is Ferrel’s way of trying to remind the industry that the cleric has been around a long time and needs to make a return. It is okay to put a primary healer in plate!

No more talent trees please! was Ferrel’s attempt to shake the normal acceptable practice of dull trees that claim to allow players to specialize. What is the flavor of the month again for DPS paladins?

Single & Council Assignment is one of many loot system articles that Ferrel put together. There is actually some useful information here.

Warning! Old posts may contain typos!

I could write huge volumes about why and how guilds fall but for the sake of today we’re only going to look at one example and how to deal with the situation. How do you deal with the impending doom of a guild you’ve loved, nurtured, and spent a lot of time building? The short answer is of course, “this ain’t easy!” There are ways to help guild officers cope and make the best of the situation.

Recognize the signs

Kingdom of Sky was a really good time for Iniquity in EverQuest 2. Our guild had suffered some dreadful losses in Desert of Flames and was on the mend for most of that expansion. We still managed to get the server firsts, dominate the contested mobs and complete all of the content besides the Djinn Master (only six or so guilds ever defeated him before the new expansion anyway). In KoS we did far more than limp along. We hit the ground running and really chewed up encounters left and right. Contested mobs were locked down, progression was quickly made and we finished everything notable before the competition. Then we went into farm mode.

Farm mode can be a rough time for a raid guild. The challenge of the encounters are gone, the thrill of seeing new loot has left and you’re pretty much just stuck doing the same thing over and over. This took a heavy toll on Iniquity and our attendance numbers began to slip. With attendance we also lost attention to detail. Our members didn’t take encounters seriously and something that we could kill in one attempt a month ago with worse gear would take us six. At the same time we had a lot of “Scrappy Doos” in the guild claiming how to do things better. Finally, and this is key, the officer corps was burnt out and experienced a lot of change in life. We were graduating college, some getting married, entering the work force and spending 60+ hours a week leading a guild seemed silly. All these things are signs of the end.

Come up with a plan

If you’ve recognized the signs and have decided that you no longer wish to pursue the role of guild leader, it is time to make a plan. It is far easier to just let things go and watch the explosion from afar but you’ll always regret it. A lot of effort and time goes into a guild and it always deserves better than a dramastrophy. What do you want the outcome to be? There is always the option to hand it over to another leader but for the sake of this exercise we’re assuming that isn’t an option. What is the best way to shut things down?

In Iniquity it started as a quiet conversation between myself and Thax. We talked about not sticking around. We brought in Starla, who didn’t seem too keen on the idea of taking over the reigns and was pretty worn out too. Tages, the final senior officer, had been spotty with his connection for the last month or so and was pretty much on board. The junior officers felt about the same and we agreed that we wanted to retire the guild before the decline that we saw coming. We weren’t sure if we could compete in Echos of Faydwer and didn’t want to find out we couldn’t. It was our plan that we’d hold a guild meeting, announce that the guild was retiring and that we wouldn’t be handing it over. In short, “You don’t have to quit EQ2 but you can’t stay here.” We now had our plan but the hard part was still to come.

Executing the plan

When it comes to guilds everyone feels like they own a part of it. Iniquity members were no different. They would get fiercely offended if you questioned the fact that it belonged to them. It was, in a way, nightmarish to get in front of them all at a guild meeting and tell them that they would be de-guilded. Stripping someone of their hard won guild tag is a huge insult. My emotions were mixed too. Part of me didn’t want to let go and I was quite sad. At the same time part of me soared with the thought of being unchained.

It is important to note that when you execute the plan you will be analyzed. Are you sad enough? Are you positive enough? I had to appear sadder than I am normally accustomed. I don’t show a lot of emotion so I didn’t want to come off as unfeeling. I had to push that a bit. It is important at this stage to remain unswayed, though. Do not half execute your plan and change your mind. Once it is in motion it is best to carry it out. Stay on message, stay positive and get it done. I encouraged the members who wanted to remain playing to form their own guild and start a new chapter. They did just that.

The aftermath

The real trick to letting a guild go is what to do next. Your best bet, at least in the immediate future, is to disappear for at least some time. Roll an alt that nobody knows, take a break, or try a different game. You need to let your emotions cool and avoid being pulled back in. My members tried to include me in their new guild and I told them I couldn’t do that. You must be careful with all your actions because it will effect your reputation in the long term and most of us want to keep playing MMOs.

I made a great mistake in the aftermath. Unlike Thax, who smartly put some distance between EQ2 and himself, I sent an email. My motives were pretty pure. There were some members I absolutely loved. I sent them a letter to tell them that and to thank them for all the support. I told them that sooner or later I would be playing something and that they were welcome to do so too. Unfortunately, one of those people wasn’t really that loyal to me and gave the letter to everyone else who took it quite wrong. Anyone who didn’t get the letter assumed I disliked them (not the case) and it was drama after the fact. The point I’m trying to make here is that it is better to just make some distance and then approach individuals later on.

What now?

Eventually the feeling of loss will fade. All of the bad will seem less bad and you’ll have wonderful good memories of your guild. You’ll learn a whole lot and realize that you can probably do it again and far better. I lead a smaller and far more casual guild through a series of games accomplishing nothing but enjoying the company. With each game I’ve reduced my “officership” and tried to be more of a peer. It has honestly let me enjoy MMOs far more. One day I might want to lead again but that isn’t any day soon. My point is, no matter how bad it seems when you lose your guild, it can be for the best. We learn through pain, failure and mistakes. If your guild is going to fall, make sure it retires classy instead of turning into a huge flame on some forum somewhere.

Consider discussing “When a Guild Falls” on the Epic Slant Forum!

As you can see in the title, I’m going to talk about cheaters. I’m not talking about the ones that bring the milk on Sunday while your out at church with the kids and your wife is sick with the “H1N1″ flu. The only thing she is sick of is you and the kids. I’m talking about a guild of people that exploit games to “beat” it or be the first to do something. Don’t worry they will be caught. Cheaters never prosper, unless your the milkman looking for jugs.

Any game you play is going to have some low life cheater in it. Game cheaters date back to the days of Pong. My sister used to kick me when ever she started losing. Today, cheaters band together and form guilds to be reconized or make money on illegal leveling/gold selling websites. Not all cheaters band together but, just like the mob, cheaters get more stuff whacked out in a group. I don’t mean group “whacking”, dirty minded readers. So, what do these cheaters do?

Terrain exploits are a big part of cheating. I remember when I was playing Dark Age of Camlot (DAoC) and a friend of mine told me I could stand on a ledge in a cave as a Spiritmaster and AoE all the monsters in the cave without being hit. All I had to do was send my pet out all around the cave and when he died, the monsters would come for me. I just had to stand on the ledge and AoE. I must have gotten 5 levels out of doing that until a Game Master pushed my character off the ledge and warned that he would ban me. I was so scared, I didn’t enter that cave ever again. That was my first brush with terrain exploits and I felt horrible for doing it. That was an example of a newb solo player using exploits, but there are guilds out there that hunt for these type of things. They sometimes say they accidently discovered the exploit or didn’t know. Does it make it right to continue exploiting the terrain if you accidently trip on it? What about guilds that come later and know about the exploit, should they get more strict punishments for their cheating? Should there be a standard game punishment or leave it to the developers? Just like the milkman says, ” I was delivering the milk, tripped, and fell on your wife. I figured I was there, so I took off my clothes and poured some milk.”

One of the most common games for exploits is… Drum roll… Guild Wars. You thought I was going to say WoW, didn’t you? Don’t worry WoW is a close second. I don’t play GW, but I have read lots of horror stories. Is it because of the odd layout of the terrain in GW or the free to play aspect? WoW has it’s fair share of exploits because it is so huge. Most guilds exploit boss fights to get world firsts now. Back before the achievement system, it was mainly exploited for gold services or PvP points. Most of the time the guilds/people are banned and the world first title removed. Sometimes their accounts are closed for good. The exploits are soon patched from WoW, but in GW it could take months to be fixed. I guess you get what you pay for? There are many other games exploited out there, but I wanted to give two examples of 2 different kinds of MMOs.

While I’m finishing up some of Ferrel’s Epic turkey and Koolaid he left me in the fridge, I would like to hear what you think about cheaters. Why do they do it? What does cheating accomplish, it is just a game? Do they get paid to cheat? Is banning enough or should they be fined from the companies? How would they fine them, anyways? Do you drink milk? What punishment would you give them? Oh crap, I spilt red Koolaid on Ferrel’s Epic white bearskin rug. Don’t tell him I was naked on his rug drinking juice. I got to clean up this mess before he gets back from D-World. Thanks for reading!

I’m going to Disney World (but not Disney Land)! I’ll be riding rides, buying unnecessary trinkets and stumbling around Epcot during the 2009 Wine and Food Expo. If anyone else will be in the area feel free to drop me a note via comment, email or twitter. Otherwise I’ll see everyone when I return refreshed, renewed and hopefully only a little sun burned. Perhaps I’ll pitch a Disney MMO to a random costumed character! Only time will tell.

Chatty Cathy

Everyone has had the misfortune of being on voice chat with Chatty Cathy. She is an evil, sinful player who fills the channel with anything and everything that crosses her mind. Chatty Cathy knows no gender but certainly has a mouth full of useless information. Guild members who come across this demon generally pray for death and will quickly make an excuse to get off voice chat to avoid hearing about the minute by minute activities of Cathy’s cat, children or a butterfly that happens by. On a raid these spawn can distract players, have them miss important information because their headset is off, or just cause chaos by speaking over someone who needs to be speaking (aka me).

Chatty Cathy can be hard to deal with since she genuinely seems nice. On the surface you see a bright and happy little creature that would never intentionally hurt a fly. It is best to approach them with kindness and a hug. Explain that on voice chat we have to “take turns” and “share.” It is also important to note that Mr. Silence needs to get a turn too. In a more structured environment, like a raid, I recommend a muted channel with the important roles given voice. This should hold Chatty Cathy at bay unless she happens to be in an important role! If that is the case consider another occupation.

Snappy Smurf

Snappy Smurf can also cause a bit of a problem in voice chat. You see he always has another raid to get to, a different instance he would rather do or something else going on and you should consider yourself lucky that he is even there. Snappy Smurf always seems to be cranky even if he is at that other raid or where he wants to be. Unlike Chatty Cathy, who is more of an annoyance, Snappy Smurf attacks the morale of members. He makes everyone else wish they weren’t there and can do great amounts of damage over time.

It can be difficult to deal with Snappy Smurf depending on how important he is to your guild. A good approach is to privately mention to him that he is being negative and it would be better to keep those thoughts in tells to the leadership. If the behavior continues, it might be time to consider being more stern. It would be a good idea to remind Snappy that right now he is here and that this event should be his focus. Should all of this fail the best place for a morale sucking Snappy Smurf is in another guild.

Scrappy Doo

Scrappy Doo is what we called a “Backseat Officer” in Iniquity. You see Scrappy Doo knows how to do every encounter, defeat every raid mob, lead the guild, resurrect Christ and has all the awesome strategies that he came up with himself (he actually just gets them from other guilds). He can do all this, even though he has never been in another raid guild, hasn’t been an officer, has only been playing MMOs for two months and feasts on nothing but Peeps and Dew. He is the bane of every officer and sometimes a champion to the dim witted members who believe you can change reality with positive thinking!

There is no right way to deal with Scrappy Doo. He will keep on plugging along interrupting raids with his awesome ideas. His level of frustration and anger will grow as you reject 99 out of every 100 brilliant tactics. Sometimes he will be belligerent and other times he will be depressed; it is hard to tell which Doo you will inherit. Try to remind him that you have a broader view than he does. His situation might help the guild for five minutes but ultimately weaken it for months. Encourage him to keep the comments in tells to you and other officers. Listen to what he has to say since that 1 out of 100 tactic might be amazing. Just be certain you get him out of voice chat!

Captain Hammer

Captain Hammer can take the guise of any of your members. He is usually a main tank but he can also be an officer, a lead healer, a puller or any other one of the headlining roles in a raid. You see Captain Hammer believes that the sun rises from his crotch and sets between his cheeks. Nothing can be done without him and he is the reason that a guild is successful. It isn’t enough for him to believe it, either, since he wants to be sure that everyone else knows. The Captain can seem quite useful when things are going smoothly and he feels his ego is being stroked. When he disagrees with you, however, you’re in for a huge headache. He will take on some of Scrappy Doo’s tendencies and explain why he isn’t happy to the whole group, raid or guild. He honestly believes that you cannot succeed without him and thus has no fear of removal.

The issue with dealing with Captain Hammer is that they are always in an important and visible role. It can truly demoralize your guild to lose their hero and they’ll tell you to accept his eccentricities. That, however, is the worst possible thing you can do. The only way to deal with Hammer is to be firm and ensure he knows who the alpha dog is. I always recommend that do this privately at first. Explain to him that despite his thoughts the guild will run without him and that nobody is irreplaceable. Urge him to bring his concerns to you instead of just voicing them in voice chat. If that doesn’t work, subtly show him your fangs. If he is main tank, switch up a few raids and let the secondary tank be main. If he is a healer, bench him and bring in the young rookie eager to prove himself. There are polite ways to handle these things. As a final note, if Captain Hammer isn’t replaceable, you might as well just make him guild leader!

The Horror

Before the hate mail rolls in I want to say that I’ve intentionally exaggerated some of these “demons” for the sake of humor. Don’t make a mistake though; they are real and they will match this article pretty well. If you read this an it hits home then you might be one of these folks and that is something to work on. Hopefully you had a good laugh and hopefully this will help someone out!

Consider discussing “The Dark Side of Voice Chat” on the spooky Epic Slant Forum!

The topics that were covered were skill based MMOs, characters as intellectual property, and the growth of micro-transactions in our society. There was some solid discussion and I thought each subject was covered quite well. We shared some laughs and got along wonderfully. I really encourage you to listen to the podcast and check out their archive. I want to thank Darren and Karen for having me out and my co-guest Michael for his insights.