This is part of a series of posts about guild management and related topics.
The G in MMORPG stands for game; and games are played to be won. Historically most video games are intended to be played by 1 player. This is a concept that many of us grew up on. We all want to be the best and will do what we must to achieve that goal.
With MMORPGs however the idea of who is best is muddy at the very least. You can have the best gear but still get destroyed by a player with more skill in PvP. You can be the best at your class while having substandard gear. Those who measure their quality by progression and gear have to assimilate a new mentality about how one becomes the best. You cannot achieve the very best gear in most MMORPGs without joining a guild and participating in raid content.
From a guild management perspective I liken this to the pursuit of the ‘American Dream’. Everyone wants a nice job that meets their individual needs as well as perhaps a small family. They want a house with a two and a half car garage, a dog named Sparky and a second mortgage. Well… maybe not the second mortgage.
In MMO games there are basically three types of players with respect to their goals and time commitment. First there are players who only have the time to level characters but can’t fathom the idea of committing to more than 2 hours of game play. These people for the most part aren’t part of this conversation. The other two types are called casual or hard core raiders. These players recognize that they cannot progress further without the help of others and eventually join a guild and begin raiding.
The challenge to a Guild Master is how to establish the ‘we, not me’ mentality in those new members. With the rare exception, players join guilds for their own personal gain. They join guilds that are on content that they feel that they can immediately participate in and they do so with the desire to reap rewards. there is nothing wrong with this necesarily. It is this mentality that drives the very existence of guilds however this mentality is also part of the downfall of nearly every guild that has ever failed.
So how does a Guild Master take the selfish little devils and turn them into valuable, contributing members of their little society? There are a number of ways that they can try. The most successful ways are to take the focus off of loot all together. Place the focus on the ‘brotherhood’ of the guild and how that brotherhood will provide progression which will, as a side effect, get people the gear they so desperately want.
In this post, I wrote about a couple different ways to manage a guild. One of two I highlighted was the ‘Focus on the people’ mentality. This style of leadership supports the idea of a brotherhood, or close knit guild. Mature players who see a guild is investing in them will feel not just obligated but a desire to do what they must for the sake of the many. This breeds stability and will result, in most cases, in progression and ultimately, more loot.
Rules and policies that promote fairness to all but reward those that make commitments to the guild are also essential to maintaining this ‘we, not me’ idea. If players see that others are rewarded when they make commitments and sacrifices for the guild they will be more inclined to do so as well, even if the core reason is self-serving.