Writer’s Block? I Dont Think So..

I know it’s unlike me but although I have plenty ideas to blog about, finding the right way to begin has been difficult in the last few days. Seems I have ‘writers block’ if you could call it that.

I’m sure I can come up with something…

I am really happy to have such a supportive reader base who are always full of praise for my ramblings about the goings-on around the guild from my perspective. It’s been over a year and a half since I typed my first blog and 150+ posts later, the guild has grown so much in stature although not in membership numbers which points to a quality of personnel I am very proud to have here.

Overall, as I keep saying, nothing much has changed regards our general outlook on the game. This is largely because my own outlook remains unchanged since the beginning although there have been countless improvements done to the way we facilitate achieving what we always set out to create here.

In my opinion, The Dambusters is a minor masterpiece which proves to be a champion for the little guy in this game. A place where people from relatively inexperienced gaming backgrounds can feel safe and comfortable to ask questions they might feel would be subject to ridicule in another guild. A place where group activities are encouraged with no superiority complex between groups.

This is the type of vision I set in motion in 2009 for the way I wanted to play the game. Back then, I imagined it possible to make my own gaming environment encapsulated in this guild that would one day highlight the disgusting behaviours that people witness around the game but with the express advantage being that our home guild is nothing like that, where those people would not be welcome and that we would feel ‘at home’ with our Dambusters friends. In fact, I notice a clear distinction between playing with my guild mates and joining a pug group. There’s always ‘that guy’ in a group who has to be a douche for whatever reason and we all meet them.

As Dambusters, we try to set an example when we do join pug runs. We are usually friendly, talkative and socially mature around other members of the WoW community and with the guild’s name above our heads, that can only be a good thing for our reputation as a guild. Sometimes we even make a friend who is receptive to our way of play, they might be impressed by our experience while being approachable. All too often you find a skillful, well-geared player acting like a jerk in a pug and they have the ability to spread problems for the entire group. We are different, instead often being that skillful player with plenty experience but with a different attitude.

How many times have you joined a dungeon group where the tank was a total douchebag, calling DPS out because their 470 ilvl gear doesn’t compete with his 560 ilvl gear. Shouting at the healer because she cannot keep up with his rush n gush style tanking at break-neck pace! How many times have you met a ninja-pulling hunter or mage who cannot help themselves but deliberately blow all they have on targets they know the tank doesn’t yet have full control over, then proceed to tear the poor tank apart for not being able to keep aggro? The healer who knows your class better than you? The list goes on and on….

Consider how many times you’ve seen this and then think of the time that awesome fury warrior in 570 gear blasted you to your valor cap by tanking instances at good pace while being friendly and approachable. That’s you guys Dambusters. Those guys are memorable because they are rare in this game and those people make this game worth playing and worth fighting for! You don’t often see a pro player taking time out of his schedule to just be nice to the folks just trying to gear up an alt. That dude is a god-send after an hour of ridiculous clown-shoe wearing idiots who just want to waste other people’s time and each one of you has the option to be like that. Be remembered for all the right reasons.

I want a guild full of people who show newcomers a good example!

Imagine being totally brand new, just installed the game for the first time and at level 15 you join an instance or battleground to find nothing but trolls and flame wars? After a while, you might start to think that’s normal behaviour for this game and become that way yourself. That happens, and it happens all the time. The only thing stopping it are people like us who shine and stand out as examples of how to behave. People who don’t take mindless bullying or insulting troll behaviour and prove we are from a community worth being part of. We react kindly to clear warmth with encouragement but reject the trolls because we know they are just insecure souls looking for some confidence but going the wrong way about it.

Making new friends in WoW is easy when you know what to look for in a player and there’s plenty potential Dambusters out there hoping to stumble across a welcoming guild like ours. Be out there and connect with them 🙂

/Salute to a guild policy which makes recruitment easy