I’m (surprisingly enough) not in a raiding guild. Instead my mains hang around a guild which is generally a casual/social guild but is also big enough to cater for all types and they do raid from time to time. Not seriously, but that doesn’t mean they are complacent about it when they do and they like to down bosses. The times and days of raids don’t suit me so I can’t see my participation (or lack thereof) changing.
Prior to new content being released and not a lot happening, all there really is to do for the typical player is grind through raid bosses. It can all be a bit tedious at times so people look for other things to do. One other thing to do in a casual/social guild is bitch about the loot and suggest the introduction of a dkp system. Our guild seems to go through a cyclical approach to dkp. We don’t use it and never have any problems, we get bored, we have a minority push for introduction of dkp, we have lots of debate about it, introduce it anyway, get new content and stop being bored, drop the dkp system because we are all focussing on the new content, then we get bored again etc etc. Somewhere in there the minority who insisted on having the dkp system leave for a more progression orientated guild and we end up with new recruits who missed the whole thing but some of whom when they get a bit bored suggest perhaps we should implement a dkp system. So that’s what happened at the start of last week, someone started a ‘change the looting system’ thread on the guild boards. This quickly turned into how DKP was much fairer and in his old guild he ran a system which much superior to our current system which is basically giving the loot to who ever needs it while its shared as evenly as possible.
In a raiding guild I can see why DKP is a requirement, but in a casual guild it’s so much of a minefield. On our forum boards we had 6 pages of comments on the DKP thread, anything else never gets beyond about 2, maybe 3 at a push. One thing led to another and we ended up having a vote where 11% said they wanted the current system overhauled, 20% said they would like to see some changes made to the current system and 63% said they would like the system left as is and 6% didn’t raid therefore did not express a preference. My view was the matter was therefore dealt with. The majority had spoken. But no, the instigator (now an officer for about a week) behind the push for DKP was not to be deterred. That such a significant percentage wanted the system changed obviously indicated we had a serious problem and needed to spend more time finding alternatives…. This was then followed with a request that anyone concerned about the system should speak up and those who were content with the current system please remain quiet – their views were “less important” – I kid you not.
Fool that I am I called him on it. I should just have kept quiet, it’s not like I raid anyway, they can divide their loot up any way they want without it affecting me. But there is nothing like someone trying to manipulate figures and push a personal agenda to really piss me off. I also hate being told my opinion is less important than others! I waded in and next thing we are up to 10 pages of comments and the other officers are pleading for a cooling off period and no more posts till things settle. It’s a sensible request too. It’s also a pretty typical reaction to whenever the dkp subject gets raised too. I have no excuses on this one, I have seen the subject and the resultant drama before, yet I still went ahead and fired it up some more rather than have some buffoon ensure he gets his ‘lewtz’ faster. I may have stuck to my guns and explained why I believe the buffoon is not only wrong but trying to manipulate others, but did it actually help anyone?
I’m left questioning my membership of the guild. Firstly, if the buffoon is a the kind of person who gets made an officer, perhaps its time I accepted the guild and I no longer have so much in common and its time to find pastures new. That leads into the ‘ok, but what….?’ situation. I don’t have any immediate answers to that one. Although I did see that I’m not the only one going through such thoughts (nothing to do with my guild here, just another blogger pondering his next moves).
Secondly, I’m not sure why I got so riled by the buffoon’s machinations. It’s not like he has any real bearing on my normal gameplay. Perhaps I just need a new challenge in the game and this was just something to divert my energies into.
None of this has me feeling it was wrong to call the buffoon on what he was up to – I just wish it had been someone else. That way I could have agreed with them without becoming embroiled in the drama myself.
I’ll be curious to see how the whole thing ends (this time).
To finish on a lighter note, bonus points if anyone can guess the class of the buffoon’s main.
First please be reassured that there are 6 other officers not just one, even if one was posting all that. Just because there is a discussion doesn’t mean something will happen…
Secondly, the part about views being “less important” appears to have been a misunderstanding and some terrible communication. I thought as you did, although i didn’t feel free to say so much in public… I see now why he wrote that though after a chat, and that he didn’t mean what it looked like. I intend to post an update tomorrow and I think you’ll say “oh well why didn’t you put it like that in the first place” and not be so unhappy.
I reserve my opinion on the rest of it in a public forum for the moment
Of course when one of your own guild officers reads your blog its delicate grounds
hehe don’t worry what you say, I won’t get upset
One day I will write a blog post about the difficulty of this kind of thing for an officer, where there is usually lots going on behind the scenes trying to sort it all out but it’s not really appropriate to say much at the time.
Sounds like a great blog idea. I could contribute to that one. Believe it not, I retain officer access in a very succesful raiding guild and I help them out with aspects of communication – oh the irony! I just don’t happen to play there anymore. A very nice bunch, even if they are Alliance and allow in gnomes.
In my experience with people who push and manipulate more than their boundaries allow, his class has got to be a Rogue.
I was tempted to say Pally but Rogues in guilds past have been most problematic to me.
A good attempt, but no bonus points for you!
The esteemed rogues of the guild remain blameless – this time at least.
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