The Slumps

There has been an interesting trend happening right now.

You see it in various blogs from my wife's to my good friend's (Enok) to other guild members, former guild members, and the basic Wow blogging community.

People are going into the Slumps, burn out, etc whatever you want to call it.

For me I see it as a natural cycle of the game. Even though we as a guild have not accomplished all our goals, the game is getting boring for many, myself included.

I have to admit, this past weekend we dusted off Sims 3 and I have been playing with that, raising up my little sim families and we have the expansion pack for sims 3 arriving at our house today.

But that all being said, it is a cycle, and we will see things kick back up with the Holiday festival in game along with the up coming patch.

Happy Gaming!

Blogging once more, guild dynamics

So work had turned off access to Blogsites, but quickly found that many in the company have need it. So once I got access, I am now blogging again as it was a lunchtime activity for me. Yes, I could have written it in email and sent it on that way, but ya, I didn't.

So it has almost been a month since I blogged and I wanted to write about interesting dynamics of a Christian based guild.

This came up with our raiding week. We had a raid with 10, count it, 10 paladins in it. Talk about pink power!

When looking at the guild make up, you will find we have more paladins than pretty much any other class.

What are we missing? Warlocks.

Now I find it an interesting dynamic. Christians are warned in the bible against demonology, the occult, etc. And while warlocks scream all of that, it is just a game (though I would never play a warlock myself). I think it is for that reason, Eternity Matters doesn't have many warlocks in the guild. This hurts with raid composition and the utilities they bring to raiding, but it is understandable.

Now paladins are the big protectors of light, the crusaders and angels (avenging wrath!) so it makes sense that Christians are attracted to this class. So it is kinda a light/dark issue :-)

So just a random thought as to why Eternity Matters guild is out of class balance with these two particular classes. What do you guys think?

Disciplining those you care about

One of the things I hate to do is discipline. As a parent, I dislike doing it. As a GM, I dislike doing it as well.

But God commands parents to discipline their kids and raise them right. He also disciplines us in our lives.

Now discipline is meant not as punishment but as corrective measures so that we may be better in the long run. It takes discipline to accomplish goals.

One of the things we have in Eternity Matters is a code of conduct. Simple things about respecting others, respecting the raid leaders, let them do their jobs, be positive, create a positive place for people to play.

Since I have taken over, people have been keeping it positive, being respectful in vent, etc

The reasons for these rules is we care about the people and the experience they have with us in EM. Plus without them, it all turns to chaos.

There were a few members I was concerned about, but they had been doing very well. A few of the younger members we have had to redirect and that went well.

What blew my mind is that two weeks ago, one of our newer members called out that I was dead during a Thadius fight. He later apologized for that. I thought that was cool. Older members have problems apologizing, but our newer ones are pretty good about it.

Well, the other night we did Ignis in 25 man. It was rough and two of the members were making it more so. One was giving out instruction even though she was not a raid leader. The other was complaining in healer chat. Both were a little disruptive on vent. The following day, my wife was still getting whispers from many of the members asking how the fight was supposed to go, because they were confused by all the information given.

Anyway, after the raid I sent them this note since they logged off - (they are married to each other)
Subject: Warning
Just to let you know, this is an official warning and .
You both need to remember to keep a positive attitude while raiding.
And if you have suggestions, voice them in whispers to both Daraia and Myself.
This will avoid confusion on the part of those that are learning the fight.
Turn it around and enjoy the fellowship of the raid and fellow believers.
Otherwise, take a break from raiding.
Therigwin

This was said to them because I care about them and I want them to be positive and not chase away, confuse or hurt other members.

Well, as soon as the one person read the note, she pulled all her characters. Later that night, so did her husband. He just pulled one character, his main that he raided with.

I was upset, but moved on. I prayed for them and went yup, that was their decision to make.

Well, I was informed recently that he blogged about it.

Reasons given for their leaving -
1. We did not care about people anymore but cared more about Raiding.
2. This is shown in that we are recruiting.....
By the way, guess what we do to recruit.... I posted one note on the Eldre'Thalas forums. That is it. I am not going out and looking up people and asking them to join....

So yes, his blog entry got under my skin, because it was not true. I asked them to be respectful and enjoy fellowship and be positive. So rather than take the corrective action, they ran away and blamed it on us not being caring.

That is how I see it.

Sigh........

See you all online, hope to have more UI posts later.