I was going through my dailies this morning (a real life quest involving using all my reagents to create coffee, finding clothes, and reading 20 blogs before going to school) and I came across a post on the Raider’s Progress that was seemingly not happy with Warcrafter.
The reason for their unhappiness?
It has nothing to do with the features of Warcrafter.
It has nothing to do with the information on Warcrafter
It has nothing to do with the analysis and conclusions that comes out of Warcrafter.
It has to do with the attitude and mentality that these kind of services support. That is, emphasizing the person over the player.
The Question
This quote effectively echoes the sentiment of 95% of players in the game [citation needed]:
- the only reason I play is because of gear and my personal advancement. I know it sounds selfish but thats how it is.
That quote was also taken from Raider’s Progress.
That’s fair enough. Everyone likes to feel a sense of achievement. The best way to express that achievement is via the gear on your character. It proves that you’ve done certain things in the game and killed certain bosses. Raiding Guilds are composed of players that want to progress in WoW (Casual and hardcore).
Players that are in the game only for themselves can be detrimental to the Guild they are in. But sometimes, being selfish can be a good thing. If the attitude can be harnessed properly, you can easily turn a player from a loot maniac to a player who will do whatever it takes to get the loot he wants.
So how do you change the mentality of that player who is so intrinsically selfish that he doesn’t seem to care about the Guild?
The Answer
You, as the GM, officer, monkey, murloc or whatever title you may have in the Guild have to make them understand 1 thing only.
Change this:
- the only reason I play is because of gear and my personal advancement. I know it sounds selfish but thats how it is.
to this:
- the only reason I play is because of gear and my personal advancement and the only way I can do that is ensure my guild is also progressing which requires gear.
It’s a real obvious statement, there is no question about it. Make that person understand that it takes 25 people to move forward.In order to that, it needs hard work and effort. I don’t know how many times I can emphasize that.
There are always going to be players that have a “me first” mentality in a Guild. Make them understand that in order for them to get the best pieces of gear in the game, everyone else in the Guild also has to get it at the same rate as that player or else that Guild will not move forward.
Dangle the loot that’s relevant to them in front of their faces. Even they can understand that if they want that loot, they have to kill a boss in order to even get a shot at it. The “me first” attitude is fine if they understand that it comes with patience and effort.
Star Players
In every professional sports teams, there are star players. There are certain names who night after night just seem to deliver their best performances.
The Patriots have Tom Brady, who was able to deliver and lead his team to a Super Bowl choke appearance.
The Penguins have Sidney Crosby, the best overall hockey player in the world.
The Yankees have (had?) A-Rod, who… was probably important for other reasons.
Challenge your Guildmates to be the best they can be. Recount and other DPS meters, used in the right way, can help foster a little of competition. Warcrafter and WWS can be used to show whose slacking and who isn’t.
In my opinion, it’s not about the methods. It’s about the results. Eventually, players will realize that PvP Gear isn’t going to cut it on certain encounters because sites like Warcrafter and WWS will prove that your PvE geared players will eventually top them in damage.
Just remember. If everyone brings their A game to the table, then those end game bosses won’t even stand a chance.
Sadly, the “me first” attitude usually results in guild hopping, so you’ll be lucky to get the chance to discuss this with them before the app to the next higher guild on the progression chain.
If they are truly that interested in enlarging their epeen, and nothing else, the only reason to stop in any guild #2 and below is that they either suck, or were already kicked out of the guilds above. 🙂
Good information Matt 🙂
I honestly think people should just play to have fun. As long as people give it their best effort in everything they do, what else can you ask from them?
Teazone: Yes but what does fun mean? Fun is also a subjective term. Fun for some players could mean just hanging out with 9 other people doing Karazhan or ZA. Fun for me is working together with 24 other skilled and intelligent players downing bosses and progressing through the game. Some players don’t find that fun because of all the work and such they have to do for it.
Such a complex article (in a good way). For me, the chase is better than the catch; Actually getting the new gear and showing it to everyone isn’t the thing, it only enables more chase (to down next boss, to get even better gear, etc). And with raiding, many others are involved in the chase, and quality of those players (not their gear) greatly affects how enjoyable the game experience is for me. But then again, this is how it is for me, not necessary to someone else.
rtedly with what you have said here. I’d love to even write my own blog about it, but I think you’ve said everything that I would. I can only add my own personal experiences.
Just last night I left my guild. This was a hard decision and in a way you can say that I took the coward’s way out. I let the GM make the decision and we both left! LOL! I’ve made some really good friends in my previous guild, but they all started leaving because of different expectations. We’ve been trying to get to Karazhan for some time now, but we’ve kept losing members. I believe the main reason is the selfish attitude that the majority of those who have left have shown. They want everything for themselves and want help to get it without thinking about the others.
Ironically, I’ve been trying to get into heroics and raids for some time now, but my guild wasn’t prepared. Everyone was working towards it, but we’re fairly casual and it was taking time. So I reached out to others for help. I gotta start somewhere, but that didn’t work because everyone wants someone who is already at 110% to help them fly through it. Some of these guys are people I’ve quested with in the past, but refused to help me get to where they are. Oh well, I play for fun and I’ve got time.
I would also like to agree with Bruthah that the majority of guild jumpers are those looking for the least path of resistance to the items they want.
I want to get to Karazhan and the other raids as much as the next person, but some of the best times I’ve had are like a heroic Ramps run that we did last night where I lost count of how many times we wiped before getting to the first boss. We kept laughing at how unprepared we were! But we got our Badge of Justice and we were happy despite the repair costs.