Guild Cohesion

Unless your guild is excessively massive, it is impossible to really operate numerous raid teams.  

I would speculate that for each raid team you add to a guild you multiply the complexity of difficulties and coordination exponentially.    My guild runs two raids as many guilds do.  We have a primary team and a casual / alts weekend raid.

I had a long-standing player in the guild wanting to create another leader-team because the leader-team is full and he failed to sign-up and the causal team wasn't advanced enough for his wants.

While, in practice, this sounds like a quite reasonable request.   Here are the problems another leading team can cause, if you cannot coordinate properly.

1. If the teams are on different schedules, you have doubled the competition within the guild for people wanting the schedule that is more to their liking.
2. If the teams are on the same schedules, you have decide how important it is to the guild that both teams advance equally.  If it's important you'll have to balance participants and people want to raid with friends.   It can't be about just numbers.
3. You have the potential that teams can compete for the "better players".

I'm not saying it can't be done.   I know there are more hard-core guilds that make this happen.  

I'm just saying that it has drawbacks, issues and more "work" to make it happen.

If your guild does this... what approach do you use?

Leader Moment: Don't be a douche

My guild may just not be your style.  I get it!   But my guild is over 250 people from all walks of life and a multitude of age ranges.   I have learned that each generation has it's own social tolerances of what is acceptable.   Usually the younger the generation the edgier.

I feel I am pretty progressive for a 50 year old southern boy living in the bible belt that I can take a lot of what I would call "aggressive banter".   Perhaps playing WoW has added "salt" to my diet.

Anyhow, last night, I was recruiting and I give my usual spiel about the guild and the the only really simple behavior rule I have.   Essentially it is just a simple "don't be a douche".

1. Don't bring up topics you know are going to get people all hot and bothered because if it gets you hot an bothered it will definitely do the same for others.
1. Politics
2. Gender, Gender inequalities
3. Sexual Orientation
4. Race, race relations
2. Swearing is allowed, but don't be lewd.   And, as a southern boy, this means using any term that's derogatory against women.   You JUST DON'T DO THAT!
3. Don't troll the trade channel.   Everyone that sees that will immediately think... their guild leader is also a douche because they allow this.

I personally don't think that's really asking too much.  I mean you have a full spectrum of topics to talk about and let's be realistic, 90% of what people talk about is the game anyhow.

And, I always tell folks that in smaller audiences... say like on voice chat, once you get to know the person you are talking to, the barriers will slack a little.

Now, why would have such a restrictive rule.   It is VERY SIMPLE.

Because:

• I don't want to deal with whispers of the offended.
• I don't want to deal with the overly emotional.  
• I don't want to clean up a mess that you could of avoided.

Hey, disagreements happen.  But most people here are here to play WoW.

Play nice!

Check out my write up with dealing with the "offensive".  I guess I need my write up on dealing with the "offended" as well.

Leader Moment: Present Leader

So many things about guild leadership can be delegated if you can find people that are equally dedicated to making a guild functional except for one thing.

Being present.

I believe that it's a responsibility of being the guild leader to be the "glue" or the "anchor" of the guild.  If you aren't present then the anchor is gone.

It isn't difficult to maintain a presence even if you aren't online all the time.

Ways to be omnipresent.

• Give the guild ways to contact you off-line - I give my personal phone number, e-mail, and they can use DiscordApp.com to contact me.   For the most part, even with my 250 person guild, people don't use it.   Just like you, they like to maintain some distance as well and will respect it.
• Participate in a little of everything - I like to be involved a little in everything so I understand the dynamics of the issues involved in those things.   Even if I don't raid with all the raid teams every time, occasionally making appearance is a great way to let the guild know you are hands-on!

Don't give your guild members a moment to wonder... where is everyone and is it time to start looking again.

Leader Moment: Just Chime Up Already

You may find you have a guild member that just never says what they want out loud.   They might mention it at first when they join the guild, but after that, they expect a personal invitation to everything or they feel snubbed.

There is nothing you can do to placate them.

My response is, don't accept that criticism.  Just respond quickly that it is not how you operate your guild.   If they want something, they must tell you and your job then, is to help them toward that goal.

They may not have what it takes to be the greatest Mythic raider or even a Rated-BG star, but that doesn't mean you cannot help them toward that goal.

But, I believe, it isn't the leads job to pull them off the sidelines if they aren't willing to meet you half way.

How to handle the "offensive" person

Occasionally I get a player that's a little "edgy" or "salty" as the current slang term is currently.  These are the kinds of players that go for the shock factor as "their thing".

You might also get a player that comes from a background where talking like a rapper is just how everyone does.

How do you deal with these kind of differences if it's a problem for you?

The first thing I do is try to understand why they are "showing out", as we say in the south.   I ask them if they feel like it's appropriate to talk/type that way and who they think might be offended by it and why?

If they have the mental capacity to understand that someone could and why they might be offended, that's negotiating grounds to bring them in line slowly.

The next thing is to explain to them that "Open Channels" such as "Trade Chat" or even "Guild Chat" are not necessarily the best places to talk about your privates or what favorite "positions" you like and why.   These type of conversations are really limited to close friends and its better to work toward being close friends and keep the touchier topics for a much much smaller audience ... say less than 5 people.

If you can't seem to get through to them.  You might have to give them options.  Options including submit, desist, or perhaps find another guild that is more like-minded.  Never cave, or you'll lose ground.

Leader Moment: Crunch Crunch

Okay, so a real-life friend is in my guild.  He doesn't play all the time, but I would call him a "less frequent" player.  He has a gross habit of eating while on voice chat and talking at the same time.  Yea, it's not the most pleasant thing to hear, but usually eating is pretty quick so what the heck.

However, I have a player who logs from voice and then gripes to me about it.  Do I do something?  Is it that important?  I ponder if that's really something worth doing anything about.   Sometimes, you just have to take people's pet peeves and say... grow up.    Always drama.

I guess my thought is that it is a failure on two parts.

1. Rude to eat on voice chat.
2. Rude to log out of chat
3. Rude to whine about it

"Maaaaa, he's picking his nose!"  "He's touching me"

I think the first thing is, if it is bothering you, just say so to them.  Why am I your heavy?  "Dude, I can hear you eatin' it's gross!"