Power Struggle

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