Friday Update, the woes of guild politics, and a reflection on human nature… oh boy.

It’s now 9pm on Friday night and I nearly missed getting a post in today. My reason? There’s just nothing going on lately! Mythic has gone into silent running so there is absolutely nothing I can comment on for WAR. LOTRO is quickly becoming a shadow in the sunlight as I once again move into burnout. PotBS now has a date for pre-orders with rumors of a release date being given in about 2 weeks. I think the biggest news this week was definitely Areae’s announcement of Metaplace. I was going to write something this afternoon about my vision for Metaplace’s possibilities but that will have to wait until tomorrow. Okay enough rambling and onto something more specific!

I was debating on whether or not I should talk about this and I decided that although I wasn’t going to at first it could be “therapeutic” (I used the word again! You know who you are!) to get things out. I am a blogger and I like to write about my experiences in games. Maybe I can pass a little wisdom through experience on to someone. Why are guild politics and drama everywhere?! Guilds come and guilds go but one thing remains constant and that’s the people. Some people feed off drama and will go to such great lengths as creating drama where none exists or even should exist. We had a member of our guild leave yesterday who will remain nameless. This member was actually a founder and co-leader of the guild who was active and usually very vocal and helpful. It started to become very apparent that this member was using the guild to benefit himself more than he was giving back. He made an alt of each profession in order to grandmaster each craft. He made it his goal to somehow nearly get each one to grandmaster through constantly taking from the good nature of those charitable in the guild.

It was never really clear to anyone else but myself and a few others that this member was really a leech. I remained silent as did the others who knew about this person’s true motives because at this point exposing him would solve nothing and only bring drama to the table; if people wanted to give to him of their own free will then so be it. Well as I said earlier this member left the guild yesterday and did so without saying a word to anyone. He joined a guild that we had been raiding with which was an obvious choice given his relationship with the guild leadership. Honestly it doesn’t matter to me if he left the guild because he wanted to broaden his horizons. I have often found myself wanting more than a friendly community guild of friends. Raiding and finding groups is a very difficult task when you’re in a casual ‘family’ guild where no one really wants to do much other than sit in a tavern. It’s not that he left that bothers me though. It’s that he left without saying a word to anyone and then he logged in and said he would be taking all of his alts with him. Then it comes to our attention that he bad mouthes the guild to his new guild and says that he left due to having a conflict with someone. Never once was it made clear who this person was nor why. As a co-leader and adult it would have been easy for him to approach someone and talk with them. He chose to take the low road and show his true colors. Ohh the E-Drama. Do yourselves a favor guys and gals – find yourselves a drama free guild if you can and never let it go. Enough of the guild drama. Time to use big words!

I am really fascinated with the philosophy of human nature. Are people inherently good or bad? From all my vast experiences out there in the MMORPG ‘world’ I have really seen the bad side of people. I think Hobbes was really on to something when he said “humans are inherently in a war of all against all”. I am always running into people who are selfish, rude, cruel, and overall just downright bad! Many people try and compensate for what they lack or hate in themselves and we should really feel sad for these people. I think that MMORPGs and the internet allow for the true side of many people to thrive in the anonymity of zero accountability. There are no consequences for all the wrong being done out there. People can do and say anything they wish whether or not it’s true. I don’t have a solution or any more to say on it. I think it’s just something to think about as you go out and play these games. What kind of person are you choosing to be?

Have a great weekend everyone!

  • I just reread my post and I sorta sound all doom and gloom and rambly. That’s what I get for writing this late. I hope the messages in there are discernible.

  • People are naturally good. Our environment and our experiences mold us into the person we are today. I think more people grow up in an environment of asshattery than we know.

    I think its going to be fun to see what type of gamer my son becomes as I think of myself as a generous and seasoned player. If he becomes one of these bums then i’m family kicking him.

    Drama is definitely bad for guilds but its always juicy writing material. Hell, we even have a podcast about it now: OMGRL!