Just Some Thoughts on the Game

Good friend and fellow Matticast host Borsk has called it a career. Whether or not he’ll Brett Favre his way back in after another WoW expansion, who knows? After reading his thoughts on the game and his guild plans, I reflected a bit on my guild and what it’s long term plans are. I’ve recently made the transition to go from a “simple” WoW guild to a multi-gaming organization.

Let’s be real. These days, players aren’t confined to just one game anymore. Might as well harness that and set up a base that encompasses the interests of other players within reason. The community site’s being slowly revamped to include sections for WoW, League of Legends and The Old Republic. I am debating of getting into Battlefield 3. I know I’ll be snapping up Counterstrike: GO (and most likely investing in a public server for it because I love pub servers).

There’s something about Conquest where people that have quit the game or explored other guild options years ago decide that they want to come back. Even now, I’m sitting on several applications from former players who were part of our roster during Ulduar and Trial of the Crusader. I’m not the best or the greatest when it comes to this stuff. But you can damn well bet I’m the most motivated. The drive to keep working and keep going with all this management stuff hasn’t gone out despite the efforts of individuals who continually try to get me to throw in the towel (Sorry kids).

Be careful with your relationships in WoW to other players. Guys who I had known for years would just leave without even a courtesy goodbye. Of the things that upset me the most, that ranks the highest. It’s a chilling reminder that people who you treated as friends and brothers will just as quickly abandon you.

Recruiting

There is an extremely limited recruiting window during content cycles. It is during this window when the amount of players looking for guilds are the highest. This is a time frame between a new content patch date and 2 or so weeks after a new content patch is updated. Your guild has that narrow window where there are a plethora of players searching for guilds. You have players who are unsatisfied with their raids or maybe their guilds broke up due to boredom or something. Everyone out there looking for a guild is posturing and deciding which organization looks the most promising to join.

So what happens after that week is up? Recruiting dries up again. The best way to secure a stream of players applying is to take down the end bosses. Sooner you do that, the sooner you are more appealing to others.

On GMing

I completely echo Borsk’s sentiments. Thinking about forming a raiding guild? Don’t do it. The typical chain of command has the GM on top of a pyramid (you have your officers, then your raiders and then friends and family or something).

I’d actually argue differently.

I’d say it’s the reverse with the leader being on the bottom of the food chain. Why? Because crap flows down. Everything is the GM’s fault.

Not enough recruits: My fault for not being able to bring an influx of players in.

Crappy play: My fault for not being punishing enough or having enough players to immediately replace the crappy players or for bad players not being able to do what they need.

Hurricane Irene: My fault for not having more players replace the ones affected by bad weather.

Progression: My fault for not being able to lift the play of everyone else around me and getting us further.

Depending on who you ask, some of these will be true and others not so. Either way, if you’re not prepared for the onslaught, it’s not for you. It’s one of the contributing factors as to why there aren’t as many 25 man raiding guilds today simply because the administrative headache of 10 mans is considerably less so than 25. The rewards of 25 man raiding with the additional gold, the loot, and valor points clearly does not appear to be enough to offset the efforts.

On the Dwindling WoW Population

Chalk it to boredom. Chalk it to the atmosphere. Blame the lack of friends. There’s a large variety of reasons as to why players are suspending their WoW accounts. I can’t say for certain there’s any one factor. There is a segment of the population that I’m happy to see go. It’s the players who had difficulty transitioning to Cataclysm. You know, the ones that had a hard time with healing or tanking or other mechanics. They’re the players that you dread finding in the dungeon finder. I suspect some of those players have also decided to quit playing.

To me, that’s a good thing. As much as I’m all for trying to help players improve and get better, I know it’s not the case for everyone. World of Warcraft isn’t meant for everyone. To not have to deal with such players in the game in pug raids and other areas is a blessing for me personally.

On skill and feedback

Heard of the Dunning-Kruger effect?

The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which unskilled people make poor decisions and reach erroneous conclusions, but their incompetence denies them the metacognitive ability to recognize their mistakes.^[1]The unskilled therefore suffer from illusory superiority, rating their ability as above average, much higher than it actually is, while the highly skilled underrate their own abilities, suffering from illusory inferiority. Actual competence may weaken self-confidence, as competent individuals may falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding. As Kruger and Dunning conclude, “the miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others” (p. 1127).

I did not realize there was a psychological term for this. However, this effect does not appear to be applicable in certain areas of the world. No where is this more prevalent in games like League of Legends. It’s baffling when you have an AD carry grab AP boosting items and then complain about how everyone else on the team is bad when their score is 1/16/4 (that’s 1 kill, 16 deaths and 4 assists). When trying to point out flaws in their build or the ability to play, an immediate defensive reaction occurs. Even some pointers and tips get blatantly shot down.

(To translate for WoW players, it’s the equivalent of a hunter gemming all Intellect and Stamina)

I’ve encountered many WoW players who also behave the same way and because of this, does not lead to any growth or improvement for them (and consequently, their guild). But what can you do? Nothing other than cut and recruit.

However, the effect does not appear to affect all cultures.

Regardless of how pervasive the phenomenon is, it is clear from Dunning’s and others’ work that many Americans, at least sometimes and under some conditions, have a tendency to inflate their worth. It is interesting, therefore, to see the phenomenon’s mirror opposite in another culture. In research comparing North American and East Asian self-assessments, Heine of the University of British Columbia finds that East Asians tend to underestimate their abilities, with an aim toward improving the self and getting along with others.

Clearly the solution is to recruit all Asians, right?

I’m sorry to see Borsk go. He’ll still be on the Matticast once we get back and going. By the way Borsk, I’ll be happy to take in any players of yours looking for a raiding guild *grin*.