Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Dealing with "that" guy





You know who I'm talking about. The guy who's always causing you some kind of trouble. From the word go.


This guy can take many forms. It could be some snooty bastard who thinks his shit don't stink. It could be a younger person with a chip on their shoulder and something to prove. It could just be a guy who, for whatever reason, enjoys being a jerk. All of them can cause their own brand of mayhem, and can cause you nothing but grief as a guild leader.

But what if they're not breaking any of your rules? Kicking them, as I laid out in a previous entry, might be an option if you've got some ruling that covers their behavior and expressly mentions it as a kicking offense. But if they're just being annoying and not doing anything serious? Well, that's pretty much for you to decide there. You've got to decide if the pattern means more than whatever ruling you might have laid out.

As guild leader you have to be flexible.  Your first and foremost concern should be the welfare of the guild and whatever decisions you make should be to their benefit. So if putting up with an annoying little twit is what's best for the guild (say they all like the guy but he's just rubbing you the wrong way) then do it. But if their action is causing acrimony and disdain from other members the best thing to do would be to kick him, lance the boil before it becomes a serious problem.

Sometimes a player just isn't a good fit for a guild, regardless of how well liked they are how good a player they are. I'll give you a few examples just from my own experience, omitting any names. Not for fear of retaliation but because I just don't want to start any shit.

One member was kicked for violating our guild policy of respect. A simple rule, and one that nearly everyone had no problem with. Point in fact this guy had no problem with it until he suddenly started buying up gear. Once he was fairly geared for a tank we started testing him out on some runs to get a feel for his tanking style and basically to see if he could be a front line tank for us, something I get tired of being all the time lol. But once he started tanking that's where the trouble began.

He started berating others in the party for not doing their "jobs" and generally just being stuck up about himself. The final straw came while I was at work and he was tanking for a mixed group of TBT and an ally guild. An issue arose and he called down our allies in chat and in whispers. One of my officers witnessed the event and summarily kicked him for the rule violation. I had them send me a screenshot of the whispered conversation and upon reading it I upheld the decision made by my officer.

In that screenshot it was obvious he was being a controlling idiot on the run, and he outright told the other party "I have 3 rules when I group, I pull, I pull, I pull." (the incident in question involved someone pulling a mob that he wasn't "ready" for and it got him pissed off) That simple statement told me everything I needed to know about his attitude about tanking and working with a group, that is to say he wanted to be in charge and did not care for the input of others, making him a poor choice for a group member and an unwelcome guild member.

He's since formed his own guild with his wife and named it based upon our follow-up conversation. I liked the guy and I wish him the best, but the drama he and his wife have been in with other guilds since then have affirmed my action, he would not have been in the guild much longer if I had allowed him back anyway.

Another member voluntarily left recently when he discovered he could not buy access to the guild bank, something we keep from new members on probation so that a new person can't just walk in and steal a bunch of stuff from there, which has happened (thus the rule lol). He raised a fit and left instead of just waiting out the short period or asking for an officer's assistance. He wasn't willing to respect the rules and thought he could just buy his way out of them, and when that didn't happen he threw a tantrum.

He will not be missed.

But you gotta love that guy, without him it would get boring sometimes ... Nah.