Saturday 2 January 2010

The End

After 12 months of posts I've decided to pack in blogging on Leading A Guild as hinted at in the Introduction. I've had a tonne of support from fellow writers and guild leaders, alongside a load of wikis plugging the site. Thank you everyone and you're always free to e-mail me if you'd like to get in touch.

Furthermore, specific plugs go to The Pink Pigtail Inn, Leet Games Blog and Greedy Goblin who have all helped me directly in one form or another. Also check out both the recommended links on the sidebar and also don't be afraid to click on the ads (>>).

Peace to all those people I sourced pictures from!

Finally, remember that simply by reading Leading A Guild you're on the way to success. Taking time out to learn management theory and then putting it into practice is the greatest way to improve. The blog will remain around so you're welcome to come back and review at any time.

Pierre Goldbloom

Friday 1 January 2010

Being The Guild Master

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. This is the penultimate post on Leading A Guild and I aim to articulate everything required of a guild's leader in it. This is something that's taken months to thoroughly cover, but it's always worth having a decent recap.

You

Let's start with the basics. What are you like? Mature? Cool? Calm? Confident? Great! Even if you lack one or more of these attributes, there's always room to change. What's more important is that you remain smooth and in control - especially when managing some sort of strenuous group activity. If you have a tendency to lose your rag, then don't even consider guild leading. You may be the most natural 'alpha' in the world, but if you turn hysterical at the slightest hint of a stressful situation then no one is going to put up with that.

Officers

Be confident in all the decisions you make, but don't be afraid to talk through policy changes with your officers. Surround yourself with individuals who you trust and tolerate. Remember my post on being either an administrator or leader and appoint someone to the secondary role (depending on which you think you are). Bare in mind that officers are there to take some of the weight off your shoulders and can raise morale solely on their own if they do their job/s properly. However, ambitious folks may undermine your authority if you don't live up to expectations. Keep tabs on their activities but do so moderately. Don't be an authoritarian arsehole because officers are supposed to be people you trust.



Members

Two things are important here: The peoples' respect for you and their respect for each other. Respect is acquired naturally over time by working together successfully as a team and fulfilling one's role to the fullest. Building attachments is important and means guildies will stick around even when the going gets tough. You should never abuse the network of friendship that forms between comrades. This is the ultimate faux pas and I assure you a bad reputation will rightly follow. Just do stuff with your little gang. Raid an enemy capital. Hi-jack a zeppelin. Hold a circle jerk. I don't care what you do, so long as it architects relationships between the people around you.



And Finally...

Enjoy yourself and make sure everyone else is enjoying themselves. I'll never contest that it takes a tonne of hard work to get somewhere, but if you are passionate for what you're doing then it'll reflect positively on the guild's standing.

To summarise:

  • Read the rest of the bloody blog!

[Got mah pix from here and here!]