Welcome back for another issue of Tough Call. This week I want to go over a topic that sets the baseline for a lot of what we do and how we can go about building the most efficient raid without imploding the guild.  Before we can get to that, however, I think I need to … [Read more of this article]

“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” I realize not many readers understand Latin. It basically translates to “Who guards the guards themselves?”. During one of my earlier years in university, we studied up a bit on Plato’s The Republic (ethics and government stuff). Who protects the people against the protectors? Plato responds by saying they have to … [Read more of this article]

I am not happy. To be frank, I’m really annoyed. There’s a player I know who is distraught with another player. They’re both able to work together, but that’s not the issue at hand. The behavior of one player irritates the other. There are two problems. Those of you who are or who have been … [Read more of this article]

Deciding who raids and who sits out on any given night is the second-most unpleasant task any raid leader or organizer has to face. (The most unpleasant, of course, will always be loot distribution). From a player’s perspective, it really sucks to ride the pine pony when you had been expecting to raid. However, maintaining … [Read more of this article]

Guy Kawasaki tweeted a link to an article that caught my eye. It was a psychology blog called PsyBlog. Long time readers know that after WoW and tech blogs, I frequently read psychology, blogging and personal development blogs. So what exactly did I read? 7 Reasons Leaders Fail is the original post. Already you can … [Read more of this article]

A number of guilds are beginning to have their members approach level 80. Now they’re stuck at a cross roads. Do I raid 10s or 25s? Setting a raid to Normal difficulty allows only 10 players to enter. Toggling it to Heroic allows 25. First question GMs need to answer is what kind of raiding … [Read more of this article]

Mages. They used to be a dime a dozen. Our second highest level Mage is Stop (clocking in at a health level 4!) There’s generally two places to recruit players from: On server: This is the typical route most guilds will go through. Off server: A little tougher and a little rarer. Players that transfer … [Read more of this article]

Let it be known that to me, GM does not stand for Guild Master. I prefer to think of it as General Manager. Sports terms work a lot better for me and it’s something I can handle (though I suppose it is more of a business term). Yesterday afternoon, I lit up a simple tweet: … [Read more of this article]

New guilds tend to start out in an idealistic mode. Guild masters and officers alike make ambitious plans–possibly including world and server domination–and they put in the kind of policies that they believe will get them to their goal. However, sometimes plans go awry. In my experience, guild rules fail for two primary reasons. 1. … [Read more of this article]

Successful guild masters and officers are always attentive to the concerns of their membership. It is your job to understand your guild’s psychological makeup and status. If your raiders are happy and enthusiastic, you’re probably aware of it, as people tend to be demonstrative about positive emotions. However, little worries and concerns can bubble below … [Read more of this article]