Evolution of the Dambusters

When the guild was formed back in 2009, I knew nothing about the game so you can probably imagine the unorganised start we had at the time. My highest character previously had been a lvl 31 warrior so my playing skill (although I’m still no pro) was extremely limited at the time. However, I never lacked social awareness nor determination to drive through my vision of having a guild of good people who could play the game in a fun, safe environment while practicing to become skillful and learning the game in general. My ‘motto’ was always “Never be afraid to ask questions in /Gchat, no matter how silly the question seems” while also staying forthright in my recruitment/roster management policies.

As I have said before, good roster management is the lifeblood of a guild. If you recruit the right people and ensure only the proven mature and helpful players prosper then you’re onto a winner. It’s a simple concept because it doesn’t take much effort to carry out but at times, it can demand a ruthless attitude towards certain members. In theory it’s just a case of booting selfish people while encouraging kind-hearted players.

Booting selfish ones sounds simple enough but sometimes there are circumstances behind perceived selfish behaviours. I could list some examples but there are so many so I will use one example only: Imagine a great and loyal guild member lets his little brother play on his account to try to get him into the game. Although very ill-advised, this simple error could turn into an unforeseen problem where the little guy decides to start being a douche and ends up getting the character removed from the guild. This could be one example and I’m sure it could easily be resolved in the days thereafter but it does illustrate the fine balance a guild leader must find to ensure fairness is kept as a priority while mediating between members of the community.

On the other side of the coin, there’s the really friendly, helpful player who always helps out and provides a lot of support whenever they are asked, only to take instant advantage of the promotion they clearly previously deserved….clean the guild bank out and realm change without a word.

Both these examples are straight off the top of my head and both have happened to us in this very guild. Actually worse has happened and lesser incidents have happened and quite probably every other eventuality in-between. I won’t divulge too much more on the worst occurrences because frankly, they are embarrassing but needless to say, I’ve learned a lot from them.

Learning since the early days, the set-up of the guild from the ranking system to the bank tab system we have to the way we communicate what’s been going on and the way we expect things to turn out over the coming weeks and months has been a fantastic experience for myself in particular. The constant learning and adjusting to hone the guild into the relatively well maintained community we currently have has been a magnificent evolution in transformation.

The evolution has been borne of of my personal experiences while leading the guild. I’m about to border on a slight rant here but what’s a Bigticket’s Blog about if there’s no rant? Exactly…boring drivel haha. So, as the guild has only adjusted the way we operate the same original principles due to my own learning experiences, hearing people tell me that the guild is ‘now a raiding guild’ or whatever shite else is simply frustrating to me.

Because people in the guild like to raid, doesn’t mean the Dambusters are a raiding guild. If you don’t believe me, just look at Sanctuary of Elune last week for the perfect example. Their 2nd raid team was ridiculed by their 1st team raid leader and guild leader to the extent that the 2nd team no longer felt comfortable being in the guild. Their guild leader made abundantly clear that the 2nd team was there only as a feeder to the 1st team which took total and complete priority over anything else going on in the guild. That boys and girls, is a raiding guild.

Our raiders serve this guild by carrying out plenty of work around the place like recruiting, pulling groups together to make guild runs for bank cashflow, leading flex runs which encourage fringe members to get involved etc. We are a PvE community. The raiders will never treat the non-raiders with disrespect and I will not accept the vice-versa either. At the core is the same desire to encourage the good people and discourage the need need need brigade. The hard workers will always get my vote no matter what they enjoy doing in the game.

I have always felt blighted with this conundrum because people have always misunderstood the guild ever since we were formed. We used to have RBG teams, we used to be flooded with arena guys and a few were Gladiators! Guys come and go and the content changes but the ethos of the guild which comes directly from myself, never changes. I can proudly stand with my hand on my heart and state that not once have I ever altered the direction of this guild so this is why it’s difficult for me to accept when people suggest things have changed. People come and go but I don’t!

What I’m trying to say is, ever since the days of Crimsonious, Era, Annelie, Icebabe, Zeitgeist, Bas, Twingol and hundreds more, people have offered their interpretations of the evolving the guild has done but as is proven…people play the game for the content but stay for the friends they make. Only when friends move on do you feel things are different but these things happen in a continuously changing MMO like WoW. People can be doing stuff while you are not in attendance but that doesn’t mean you were never welcome.

It’s my job to make sure that although the guild has and always will evolve to stay with the times, the overall attitude will never change no matter what content people enjoy doing at a particular time. I can personally guarantee that because quite simply, I don’t want to be in just another pishy, e-peen filled ‘raiding guild’ anyway and I will actively shit on people if they ever try to make me change my mind about that.

I remember Annelie getting pissed off because she wanted me to be the same level 25 Bigticket she initially made friends with all that time ago. She was a founder member of the guild and we had a good time noobing around Lich King Azeroth back then. It was never my intention to have the guild remain as naive as we were in those days, I had ambitions for the community and I have already surpassed those.

She said I changed, that I was now ‘the boss’ while she was the ‘beating heart’ of the guild. I bent over backwards to accommodate her even after she quit, I restored her officer status but she began a whisper campaign because she though the guild was different. Tell you what, her old cronies missed her when she quit and when she came back, most of them were gone and she didn’t like it. Where was she when they needed her? ‘Beating Heart’?

The guild has not and will not change its path. The content people do is up to you guys and the roster changes are entirely up to whether an individual player wants to play wow with The Dambusters or quit to join another guild..or even unsub. The Dambusters can’t stop any of those eventualities but it really can try hard to please the memberbase by providing group activities we enjoy doing.

We lost players in the past who felt we were not casual enough, we lost players who felt we were too casual. These things will happen and we march annually to remember these past Dambusters but we will never change our ethos because a few people found they wanted out. My job is to keep the happy ones happy and hope new members enjoy the journey. Not everyone loves a guild forever (except me and maybe Spyrot) but that’s not a bad thing.

We have evolved to be better maintained, stronger and ultimately we have survived and prospered due to that evolution in maintenance management but will NEVER stop being that same original ‘social/levelling’ guild we always were.

What other guild do you know that gives 1000g per week in encouragement gold to players who choose to level characters and earn big activity? Of course other activity like arenas also contribute big activity points but raiding and dungeons? No chance. What other guild do you know that gives recently promoted members access to every bank tab except the margined ‘Gibson’ tab or the deposit only ‘Grand Slam’? And that access to the other tabs is not restricted to character level, neither is rank.

Where else could you log in to find 8 other lvl 1 Pandaren screaming for you to make a new Panda and join in just for the sheer fun of it?

The content the guild embarks on is all up to you guys. It’s no surprise there’s plenty raiding going on since Blizzard introduced Flexible Raiding which is fantastic. Next time some dim wit (don’t be sensitive because you are far from alone) tells Bigticket (3rd person reference again) that ‘this is now a raiding guild’ then read this again and then give me some hard evidence to suggest I’m lying.

Wow this was nearly as long as Spyrot’s recent forum post but way more ranty haha.

/Salute my modern day Dambusters!