The Guild Counsel

Summer is coming. With the arrival of sunny skies, warm temperatures, no more school, and vacation days to spend, it's inevitable that things will slow down in your guild. Summer is usually a slow time for games as well, since expansions and game updates tend to arrive later in the year.

On the surface, summer can be a dangerous time for your guild, with the possibility of frustrated members causing drama or even leaving the guild entirely. But you can make summer work in your favor and keep your guild happy as well. We've explored this before, but let's look at some additional ways to avoid the summer slowdown in this week's Guild Counsel.

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Whether you're leading a raid or running an in-game event, it's a real challenge to pull it off smoothly. Leading a large group of players in game is a combination of teacher and coach, minus the ability to be face to face. In effect, you're flying blind, but you still need to communicate, coordinate, and motivate in order to be successful.

We've gone over some basics of leading groups of players before, but in this week's Guild Counsel, I'd like to offer up some finer points that often get overlooked but can make a big difference in making your raid successful (and also fun). While most of these are about raid leadership, they could be used for PvP or player-run events as well.

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Apologies to the Beliebers, but good old Justin hasn't exactly had a banner year. He's been in the news a lot lately, just not for his dulcet tones or his fancy dance moves. But his behavior can actually remind guild leaders of a few important things not to do.

Can a brash pop star really provide tips on guild leadership? Let's take a lighthearted look in this week's Guild Counsel.

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I'm a Red Sox fan, and if there's ever a team that can exemplify the ups and downs of running a guild, it's the Red Sox. This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the team, and yet they're near the top of the standings, only a game and a half behind the Team that Shall Not be Named. Managing a guild is also very often about handling the peaks and valleys of day to day life. It's as if the whole guild were manic depressive: You need to downplay the peaks and minimize the valleys.

We've looked at the valleys quite a bit in this column because valleys represent a more urgent problem, but in this week's Guild Counsel, let's look at how to handle the peaks.

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When I was a kid, I loved the Red Sox, but I was dying to get a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball cap. It's not that I was a fan of the team; I just loved the unusual look of the hat, with its pillbox shape, gold stripes, and most importantly, rows and rows of gold stars. Those stars were called Stargell stars and were the creative genius of Hall of Famer Willie Stargell.

It might seem strange to be talking baseball in a guild column, but those Stargell stars played a key role in the Pirates' success, and they serve as a great example of successful guild management. Can a little embroidered star really make a difference? Let's take a look in this week's Guild Counsel.

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It's hard enough for any guild leader to enforce rules and take on problem players. But it's even harder for guild leaders who have stepped up to take over for one who has retired. Comparisons are made between how the old leader did things and how the new one is handling it, and some members might challenge a new leader's authority in order to "test" him.

This week's column is a reply to one Massively reader, who wrote,

My main commander has retired from the game, and I am struggling filling his role. Our biggest issue is dealing with discipline, either in Teamspeak or in following commands. I read your column on managing mistakes, but I am still finding it hard without being the bad guy. I know it's part of who I am; I am not an aggressive or "Bad Cop" guy. Is there a way I can develop discipline without having to totally change my personality and relationship with the guild?

This is a great topic because it's a situation that many new leaders find themselves in almost immediately after taking on the role. In this week's Guild Counsel, let's look at some ways to deal with the challenge.

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I have to admit, I read the recent article by Ramin Shokrizade on the pre-endgame economy of Guild Wars 2 and shrugged. He made a lot of great points, but the problems with GW2's economy are really not that unique. One of the biggest dilemmas is the fact that dropped items, like weapons and armor, really don't have any value prior to the endgame. As in many MMOs, the broker or auction house is flooded with pre-endgame armor and weapons and there's just no demand for it.

There are several design flaws that play a role in why dropped items, and virtual economies in general, feel stagnant. Let's look at a few common problems in MMOs today and see why broken economies actually hurt guilds as well.

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Guild leadership is challenging, but as I've written before, sometimes guild leaders shoulder the burden of extraneous responsibilities and make the role harder than it should be. You'll often hear players referring to the leadership role as a job, meaning that it's work rather than fun.

But while running a guild can be tricky at times, it shouldn't be a job, and there are some important differences between the two that are helpful reminders for guild leaders. In this week's Guild Counsel, let's look why the role of guild leader should remain distinctly separate from that of an employer.

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One of the things that always makes me grumpy about MMOs is the number of game-imposed barriers to players doing things together. Levels, gear, skill points, group and raid caps, and prerequisites are just a handful of common game designs that make it hard to be social. MMOs are getting a little better at removing those hurdles, but one they can't address is the reality of conflicting playtimes. Everyone has real life responsibilities, and that means we sometimes can't be online when our friends are.

For some players, this is a constant challenge because their work, school, or family responsibilities allow them to log in only during off-peak playtimes. Last week, Massively reader Barachiel1976 brought up this very topic, and it's actually surprisingly common. So in this week's Guild Counsel, let's look at a few options for players who want to be part of a guild but can't play during peak playtimes.

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It's a classic scenario that's all too common: A guild builds up a solid roster, with enthusiastic members, and decides to make the leap from casual to hardcore. But that leap can sometimes become a free-fall spiral and a potential guild-breaker.

How does a guild shift gears and go from easygoing to endgame? Let's look at a few ways to make it work and avoid the growing pains in the process.

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Despite what some folks say, running a multi-party event (raiding, PvPing, dynamic events) is hard. There are the logistical issues of trying to coordinate many players who are scattered all around the world and rely on only voice chat and typed text to communicate. There's the need to instantly react to changes during the course of battle, and the larger the party, the slower the reaction time. And there are even nuances in how individuals approach various situations, which has a ripple effect on the others. Tank Bob might prefer to pull a boss to a different spot than Tank Susie. Or Sniper Sally might be used to peeling away and taking up a position in a tree while Captain Pete prefers to charge in as one force.

Suffice it to say, there are plenty of mistakes that happen any time large numbers of players get together, and it's often difficult to sort out which ones warrant a player's removal from the force and which ones don't. Let's take a look at how to handle mistakes in this week's Guild Counsel.

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How many times have you found yourself asking, "Why won't the devs just listen?!" For any loyal MMO fan, it can be extremely frustrating to see feedback seemingly get ignored, and sometimes it feels as if there's a huge wall separating the fans from the developers.

Linda Carlson, SOE's Director of Global Community Relations, spoke with Massively at this year's PAX East to talk about SOE's efforts to break down that wall and improve the relationship between players and developers into something that's more collaborative, rather than contentious. Whether you're the most loyal SOE fan or someone who's vowed never to play another SOE game, you might be surprised at what she has to say.

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"Does anyone have any suggestions?"

If there's one question that a guild leader should never ask, it's that one. Don't get me wrong; I believe feedback is an essential part of running a successful guild. But there's a right and a wrong way to solicit it, and having the equivalent of a "suggestion box" is not the best way to get the feedback you need.

In today's Guild Counsel, let's look at how the concept of a suggestion box (or holding open-ended discussions for player feedback) can make guild leadership difficult. And we'll look at some ways to get the suggestions you need to keep things running smoothly in guild.

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We've all had moments of frustration in MMOs, but if you're part of a guild, that frustration can have a ripple effect that causes real tension. Class balance issues, game nerfs, slow content updates, and game bugs are just a few ways in which MMOs annoy us. Add to that the challenges of being in a guild with other players, and it's no wonder that some players reach their boiling point.

Frustration is normal, but when does it reach a point that it's time to take a break? In this week's Guild Counsel, let's look at when it might be time for a player to consider taking a little hiatus from either the guild or the game.

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Whether she's an in-your-face, type A general or a laid-back denmother, no guild leader enjoys dealing with disruptive players. There's enough to manage as it is, and problem members can put the leader in a very difficult position. But if not handled correctly, that member can cause no end of problems in the guild and potentially even destroy it.

It's easy to say, "kick 'em!" but that could backfire and cause even more drama. Dealing with problem players is complicated but not impossible. In today's Guild Counsel, let's look at a few things to consider.

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