The Dambusters

Whatsapp chat groups revolutionised this guild’s communication network. The decision to initially create a ‘Dambusters Leadership’ Whatsapp chat group was the ultimate in round-the-clock officer discussion availability at a time when some significant adjustments were being pushed through at the top of the guild.

The 24 hour officer channel really gave birth to a social explosion within the guild that allowed us to operate while offline, discuss and have things done while offline and also provided an opportunity to troll each other with silly jokes, pictures and general mindless spam which is occasionally barely palatable. You take the rough with the smooth when there’s people like Devilslotus, Diputs and the unconscionable ballbreaker that is the Spyrot enigma!

In all seriousness tho, plenty of valuable collaboration has been a mainstay in that chat group, which is of course it’s primary purpose. Obviously old asshat Bigticket sometimes decides (did I really just refer to myself in the 3rd person again???!) that something must be done without discussion and that’s the right of the guild leader. There are times when the officers and guild just have to accept my decision, discuss as necessary to clarify the matter and then move the heck on. One example of this was my decision to halt guild raid team members from pugging personal progression with other teams/guilds and although that decision was very controversial, look where we are now!

Generally, that officer chat is great for bouncing ideas and opinions around. Such as decisions on who to promote, who is doing well and who needs either an arm around em or a kick up the butt to get them into shape as a Dambuster.

This strikingly simple chat channel had a flaw however in that all this fun, debate and all-round team building had been going on behind closed doors, away from the masses of the guild. There were a few people in particular that we felt would really enjoy being part of the group so I toyed with the idea of creating another similar group but minus the officer/leadership discussion. A chat group for any Dambuster who wants in, I changed my mind a couple of times before opening the ‘Dambusters Crew Room’ group and boy, have we spammed the hell out of that!

To become involved, just make sure you have the free-to-use Whatsapp app on your phone and an internet connection, then speak to me and give me your mobile phone number and I will get you added to the chat group. There are currently 14 people there and we welcome any more who would like to chat shit outside of the game, ask questions or generally talk about whatever with your guildies.

People can of course contact me at any time of day or night by this system which is handy but the whole point of this setup is to provide as much clarity, involvement and social interaction throughout the members of the guild. I cannot think of any negatives deriving from having good lines of communication open and available to all, should anyone need to use them.

Remote chat is a decent tool that people can use to join in on /gchat but the armory app can be a resource hog for some users’ devices and certain slow internet areas, and it disconnects you each time you hop out of the app to check your emails or browse the net etc. so it has it’s drawbacks.

In addition, we also have my blog which I find to be a very theraputic outlet personally while also hopefully providing an insight to the thoughts your guild leader has which can shape the direction of the guild. In hoping that my readers find a little bit of entertainment in hearing what I have to say about certain areas of Dambusters leadership as you will no doubt be able to see my thought process develop as the blog progresses line by line, paragraph by paragraph and even as it evolves over the weeks and months. When I originally decided to start the blog, I had no idea it would become so important to me and I hope some of you find it as interesting to read as I do writing it 🙂

A busy website forum would be great and we are still working on how to breathe life into our current forum, but at least we have an excellent, real-time flow of communication in the guild. Yet another reason to be proud of your community. It’s not that big but it sure feels organised and we definitely know how to have a good time here!

/Salute

Here is a question I have been contemplating for a while now:-

What makes us tick?

Now, what interests me has a large bearing on how the guild operates of course but that is not to say I can’t separate a certain amount of my own desires in the game to make room for the way I believe the guild should work. Overall I might enjoy this or that but ultimately my biggest challenge is steering The Famous Dambusters in a direction we can be proud of more than any other activity I am involved with.

As most of you know, I spend most of my time and effort in raiding with Spyrot and Wenya’s primary raid team and I look forward to those great nights each week but I am also acutely sensitive to the fact that it would be foolish to structure the guild behind this raid team. What we do in the Dambusters is to ensure the guild is the mothership and activities within the mothership all cater to the needs and demands of this mothership.

What this does, is generate a stable foundation for groups within the guild to grow and flourish but never to get too big that they threaten the overall stability of the community. It’s like a big umbrella where we all fall underneath and work together to keep it stable in the wind and rain. Yea we have our dramas, yea we have our fall outs and of course tempers and emotions flare at times but that is only because people here do really care about the guild and want to have an influence in it’s operations. That is to be expected and actually it’s something I would much rather have than a community of zombies who are all just here for the lvl 25 guild perks lol.

What we have here more than anything, in my opinion, is pure stability. The raiding is good if you can get into the team, the 2nd team is trying to establish itself. There’s gonna be some additional activities now that Jibbas has taken on the responsibility of organising events which I do hope people will attend. There’s also a fair amount of guild members who quietly go about their business without raising their heads too far above the parapet, some people just wanna play their own game and that’s just fine by me!

What I will say tho, touching on the stability point, is that absolutely none of the above mentioned groups within our community have a level of exclusivity or favour among the guild over any other. Each member in his/her own right has an important job to do to maintain the guild’s friendly atmosphere and respected standing around the server community. Each member is an important public relations officer when dealing with anyone else in Europe whilst sporting that ‘The Dambusters’ title above their head.

Each group will always conform to the mothership and as is deserved, the mothership will always value such keen and loyal service with the promise of always trying to make balanced decisions based on the long term stability of the guild. This vision should see us blossom from this day and onward until the day Blizzard pulls the plug on the World of Warcraft as we know it.

What kind of guild are we? We are a stable mothership which provides security for people who want to play their game in peace. We have a good social aspect, largely on our Mumble server but also within guild chat and our ‘Whatsapp’ communication setup.

There are so many raiding guilds, levelling guilds and social guilds out there. We have always been a social/levelling guild but since we have a semi-competitive progression raiding team, we have to admit to being a raiding guild too. How many guilds do you know that encourage levelling, raiding and social maturity and do it well? When I say ‘social maturity’ I don’t mean ‘maturity’ which can often be a missing component in our frequent mumble conversations lol. What I mean, is the ability to joke when it’s time, be serious when it’s time and generally hold discussions together as human beings without any bitching or snide remarks encroaching on our fun little community.

We are a community with the same goal. We want to be able to play with our mates and have fun in the game with like-minded people. We are all different types of people from different backgrounds but we all hold one thing dear….The Dambusters. I lead you with immense pride!

/Salute

Here’s an inside tip that might come as a surprise. Give a little freedom to people and see if they take advantage or if they use it to do good.

The way the guild is set up and the way I try to operate is to offer communication where it’s needed and give the perception of handing over some freedom for people to choose how they want to use it. Primarily this happens when new members join the guild and they see that we are pretty welcoming and it usually doesn’t take long before they are given a little guild bank access for a small amount of repairs and to allow a small amount of item withdrawals. This act of giving an inch and looking for the reaction is something I have developed little by little ever since the first time I recall being majorly ripped off in the guild.

I recall it bitterly because the offender I’m talking about was a pretty well established and generally known player, someone along the lines of a present day Cryomaniac. Now I don’t mean to do a disservice to poor Cryo there since he’s a very nice lad and I’m sure he would never dream of doing what the douchebag did all that time ago but he was someone well known, fairly well established and appeared to have plenty friends in the guild. One day he asked for a specific item in a tab he couldn’t access and I thought best to simply promote him to the current equivalent of Flight Sergeant so he could grab the item and then I would revert him back to his rightful rank, no problem.

No sooner had I promoted him had he logged out and deleted his character! I checked the bank and 1000g was removed. He had snatched it, sent it to an unknown character and deleted his lvl 80, vanished never to be seen again.

1000g might not seem that much but it was a lot back in Wrath, so I was affronted, disgusted and felt so betrayed by a supposed good friend. I opened a ticket and spoke to a GM who informed me that although this behaviour was disappointing, it’s my guild and I set the ranks up and I freely offered him the opportunity to do his worst. I showed him a gem and he snatched it in cold, calculating, conniving bastard blood! A lesson was learned that day, and not just about guild banks or ranks, a real lesson in life but particularly on the anonymous highway that is the internet. The net is full of good meaning, normal people (clearly not Spyrot) but it also has a large portion of unscrupulous parasites who are only out for personal gain at any cost.

The guild rank and banks have long since been adjusted along with my policies on promotion. We can allow a little freedom with morale buffing promotions but only if we are willing to take the risk of possibly losing a few guild bank items to highlight certain leaching individuals.

Don’t get me wrong, the rank permissions are there for all to use and I’m sure Diputs and his bank manager helplings are only too happy when guildies clear out stuff to make space for new stuff coming in but if you’re a level 3 priest and you need a stack of 20 delicate primordial rubies then there’s something fishy going on, especially if they’re on the AH and the guild sees none of the profit in the days to come. Use it but don’t abuse it because other than spending quality time with every single newcomer to the guild, the bank is the first chance I get to see interactions other than guild chat and a few /whispers.

On to the bigger end of the scale, the real business end. The lower end is catered for and pretty much manages itself. The place where I really excel is the upper management of the guild where thoughts are constantly fluctuating, people have plenty opinions and the guild can be affected in a big way..

I have mentioned this before but I will use it again as an example of how I gauge the amount of trust I allow myself to give someone who could invariably then wreck the stability of the guild. A certain former Dambuster once tried to wrest control of the guild back in Dragon Soul heroic progression times. She used every trick in the book from dramatising occurrences with other guildies who she deemed were a threat to her, ultimately turning people against them. She used this way to stifle people she knew who were strong supporters of me from our founding days. She used her influence in our raid team via her boyfriend the raid leader at the time to pug in non-Dambuster friends who she had previously bad-mouthed me to so they immediately became hostile to me in our own guild raid team as if I were some big bad Beastmaster bully boy then they slagged off my choice of hunter spec, only to choke as I smashed them on the meters lol. She had said I was a 25k man coz I did 25k on a fight one time where they totally stifled my output with silly tactics.
She also informed people that the guild would belong to her soon blah blah blah. I knew what she was up to but let her have as much rope as she wanted and she grabbed and grabbed so much that she ended up hanging herself with it.

In the end she stepped well over the line, she got too big for her own boots and I was forced to act right in the guild chat where I simply said ‘GET OUT’ and she left, I followed up removing her alts.

My point is, I allowed her the freedom to choose what she wanted to do and she snatched and snatched until I ripped her head off. Ladies and gentlemen, the freedom to play the game is right here in the Dambusters and that freedom has no strings attached if you are who you say you are, a Dambuster. Your GM ain’t here for a fight but this is the internet and there is no face to face confirmation of human body language so I can only work off your actions in game. The way this place operates will ensure stability because people who might think they have some sort of weird power simply don’t. The proven good people of this guild will rise up and will lead the activities and management of your guild so that we can all have fun without worrying too much about snakes and parasites infiltrating the guild with a twisted agenda. No such troll has any influence in the running of your guild and we will make sure they never will.

That little lady abused her freedom, tried to twist the guild to become her playground of little /swooning boys but I had none of it, and the perpetual Dambusters just keep on truckin!

You will spot that your officers are absolutely nothing like the prricks mentioned above, having stood the test of time and proven themselves to be true Dambusters at heart. Believe me however, there are plenty more within our ranks and the officers’ are always watching and commenting on people who have good attitudes etc.

Your only agenda needs to be about having fun and playing the game with like minded people so enjoy the freedom and have fun.

/Salute

Actually the way recent emotionally charged incidents have been handled by the concerned parties is nothing short of remarkable.

It’s actually a fine testament to this guild that whenever people clash with Bigticket, words can be said and tempers may flare but in the end, we all realise that the people at the centre of it are people who really just care a lot. We might act with severity to stamp our perceived authority on a situation but there comes a moment when we remember that we are all in this together.

Some officers can’t take being scrutinised so they either quit or they cause a stir to try and drum up a rebellion. Generally people around here understand that nobody is bigger than the guild and that fact is why it’s good to be here. There have been people over the years who have challenged the GM and tried to change the mentality of the guild but they failed and the guild remains steadfast, directly under my stewardship as it will do for a long time to come. I am sure nobody currently in the guild has any malicious agenda but I will remain vigilant because any sign of weakness could allow an upstart to generate a whisper campaign which happens so often to guilds. I’m determined it won’t happen here.

What we have done is slowly build up a good thing and we must keep working hard and lookout for deviations from our ethics, and adjust them before they become irreparable because it’s those ethics that make us The Dambusters!

This is the basis for recent events but you can rest assured things are getting back to normal although we did lose our beloved sister Poca who stretched me to my breaking point and I felt I had to keep my word of previous warning and have her removed. There is nobody more disappointed than me that she isn’t arsed about being a Dambuster any longer but I guess we all must move on. I made a decision, right or wrong and I must stick by that and live with the consequences that she won’t reform and request a return.

In the Guild Leader’s position it’s so easy for others to test your mettle, push you to the limits of what you will take before you snap and the trouble is, I am the wrong dude to play that dangerous game with because if I feel my position becomes untenable since someone is pushing my limits then I will act. I don’t need to act like the big badass because I never asked to be pushed. If nobody pushes, nobody will be shoved off the bus, simple.

What I have witnessed since however, has been a wonderful reaction and a sense of togetherness which had been muffled recently. Maybe just a week or 2 had gone by and people raised concerns before I opened both barrels and reset the situation. My big mouth instigated the resurrection of the Dambusters spirit but our people reacted with positive gusto and generated something wonderful, a night of pure laughs on Friday evening followed by a positive monthly guild meeting on Saturday. It’s me who steers the ship but it’s you guys who make it a ship in the first place.

From the bridge, to the engine room, to the kitchen facilities to the laundry, this is a good old boat and if it ever sinks then I will be on it when it goes down, you can put your mortgage on that!

The fact that all of the recent events have remained almost entirely in private discussion with only really the officers involved has left the guild aware that stuff happened, but largely undisturbed by it. In fact the vast majority of the guild are likely to be unaware that anything has even happened and although nothing much has changed overall, it’s good to know that these heated discussions can take place and the guild at large remain happy to crack on with enjoying their game which is precisely why we are officers in the first place. We are their servants, dishing up events, pulling together group activities, slapping out 1000g every week to the activity monsters, raiding flex, LFR and normal to boost guildies experience in the game etc etc.

It’s a good time to be a Dambuster, we have officers who care enough to fight their corner. We keep a level of communication via this blog, the monthly meetings and our whatsapp chat room which any guild member is welcome to join. We also have a guild leader who is willing to put his reputation on the line to ensure that even the most well loved Dambusters do not lose focus of our aim as a guild. See if you can find another guild in the EU with as much communication as we have, I bet it’s impossible.

I only dictate when it’s needed but I certainly will do just that if the moment requires it. Be sure, I am happiest when I get to chill out, enjoy my raiding, trolling and general altoholism and let your officers do their jobs but as you are aware, I am always watching. Watching YOU! Haha

/Salute

I’m not giving names here because the post is not really about the people in the guild so much as it is about my own dealings with the members. Those close to the situation will know who the story surrounds.

I have been involved in a little drama in the past week. Last week’s normal mode raid where the guild progressed beyond Malkorok in 14 tries on the night brought about a heated discussion about a certain member of the team. The individual concerned is a very close friend of mine who’s attitude and performance was called into question by prominent guild members. I refuted the sentiments being put forward over the course of a late night debate and next morning follow-on before informing the member in question about the situation.

The member was very upset and felt they had done their best to prove their commitment but under their own perceived pressure, made a few glaring errors on the encounter before perfecting the pull as we brought him down. Needless to say, there were more mistakes made than just by this one person so I, as guild leader, felt the people doing the pointing needed reminding that although I am approachable, it appeared to be face saving to level the blame on our ‘scapegoat’ where others were just as prone to error. This was especially apparent during the next encounter ‘Spoils of Pandaria’ where our scapegoat hardly put a foot wrong and others time after time made errors.

To lay the blame at someone’s feet where the boss encounter went down after 14 attempts for our first kill on him seemed astonishing to me and I gave the accusers both barrels and ensured from now on, when I so strongly refute claims then they should really listen.

People were tired and emotional and frustrated and that’s alright, we are only human and we just want to do our best so lessons have been learned and I’m sure these experience in situations will be of great benefit to the guild going forward. However, this incident does sharpen my opinion that raiding has the potential to cause guilds to have major drama problems if the guild leader is not strong enough to cope with them and enforce his/her authority when people get a little too emotional and caught up in the moment. People rarely need reminding of who the boss is in The Dambusters but just now and then the sweeping power of the guild leader can raise eyebrows if people forget themselves.

The person at the centre of the original discussions set about trying to prove their commitment on the following evening and proceeded to embarrass me by speaking out in defiance over our mumble chat after a personal disagreement about something outwith raiding. That outbursts against the guild leader resulted in immediate removal from the guild on all characters.

This move was due to a complex concoction of emotion, embarrassment, perceived betrayal and in the end, punishment. Guys, this is a game but if the GM treats it as a big joke then the guild is never gonna work since then people will just do as they wish creating unfairness as certain people get away with doing things that others would face consequences for. I am not in the business of allowing my closest friends to make a mockery of my role by pushing my limits of patience when another guild member would be rewarded with an insta-kick. In actual fact, as I have documented in the past, I am much more severe in my dealings with my closest friends and officers because I expect nothing but their full support since that’s what I require so we can manage the guild correctly. That is why these people often hold higher positions in the guild, I know I can trust them to have my back when I need them and when they let me down, it feels like a big slap in my face and I react with full force.

I might have over-reacted with the /gkick but to show others that although I’m up for a joke and a laugh with anyone on mumble voice chat, when it’s supposed to be a little more serious, I will not tolerate people shitting on me! …even if they feel they are right.

The player involved has apologised and we will see what the future develops, I am of the belief that everyone deserves a second chance but only if they really want it…

For now, let’s have some fun. Enjoy your game and leave the stressing to me. It’s not the end if the planet if we only progress 1 boss per week, heck it’s a far cry from the dark old 100+ wipes on normal Stone Guard lol and REMEMBER, this guild is NOT judged on it’s raiding progress.

Stick by me Dambusters and I will see that the guild will always be a good place to play!

/Salute

My beloved Dambusters!

Someone who just left our guild had been demanding promotion from Airman to ‘maybe Corporal or Sergeant?’ When she has only been in the guild a matter of a few days. Terms like ‘it’s no big deal’ and ‘why do I need to wait? You promoted Shmuck and helped Sidheach out etc’ which made me wonder about this character, named Terbor.

She also pestered our very well established library and raid leading officer Wenya about promotion and when Wenya requested an explanation as to why she deserved a promotion, Terbor proceeded to call the guild weirdos, robots and called Wenya herself ‘a psycho’.

This type of person is exactly who we are guarding the guild from when we place gates to control/influence in the way of a new recruit. An Airman will have to have applied with a friendly application which is accepted by one of our recruiters, and endorsed by Debbs who is our Chief Recruitment Officer overseeing all entrants to the guild. Furthermore, Debbs will usually ping the applicant an email and contact in-game to chat and ensure they are suitable, all before they even get in.

On top of all that, we start them off at the rank of Airman so they have no notable access to the guild bank or any influence over the guild whatsoever. Anyone on the rank of Airman should be treated with warm, friendly respect but never ever should be trusted because an Airman has not met Bigticket’s seal of approval to be considered worthy of Corporal or higher rank. It is possible I simply have not reached the new recruit and of course they could be the alt character of a well loved guildie but unless you know them, treat them with respect but with considerable caution.

If you see a character sitting as Airman for a period of more than a few days then be sure my eye is being cast over them and I have not yet seen fit to ratify them as a fully-fledged member of our great guild.

This is not a lesson for you guys to learn because almost all reading this will have already stood up to the test of character I expect from my Dambusters but as a piece of advice that although we are sheltered with good friends here, there are thousands of snakes who are all too willing to try and infiltrate our ranks for personal gain. It’s happened to us in the past and I have learned how to put the blockers on these fools.

Imagine this, Bigticket the 4 year veteran Guild Leader of the Dambusters gets asked, by a new ilvl 460+ rogue who just joined the guild, for a promotion. I rebuttal the request with a short and polite directive to view the guild rank structure and provide the Airman with a direct link. The Airman attempts to guilt trip me to gain promotion. Such tenacity, audacity and downright arrogance beggars belief and completely vindicates my position which has been to deny such promotion.

We want to keep these idiots from entering the guild and if we harbour any others, then we want to weed them out. My recent policy alteration to remove inactives as soon as they hit 2 months will help. Your assistance will also help. If you encounter any questionable attitudes within the guild then please inform me immediately, preferably with screenshot evidence and suitable action will be swift.

Long may our blossoming community remain.

/Salute