| ||||||||||
| So, when I put a comment on facebook about me losing my temper in raid I didn't expect so many people ask what the hell I was talking about. Well, as I'm writing a book about such things (yeah, given my fantastic mis-use of English, their is a certain amount of irony in me writing a book) I figured I'd take the time to explain what I'm on about, as it might serve as the basis for a chapter. The actual explanation is right at the end, but the rest of the text is probably the important bit Explaining all this to the general public ======================================== If you think you're going to have a hard time explaining these concepts to your guildies, spare a thought for how tough it's going to be when you have to explain what you do to to people that think "a raid" is anything from an attempt to rob bank to a piece of computer hardware, who think lagging is something plumbers do and think that gnomes are only useful for decorating gardens (ok, they may have a point with that last one). Firstly, see if from their point of view, they are probably familiar with the concept of computer games as solo experiences, with a pause button that can be put down and picked up at will. They won't understand that one person taking 5 minutes to answer the phone or pay the pizza delivery guy can easily result in 20 or 30 other people stood doing nothing until they return. They won't see that you deciding at the last minute to go to the pub instead of raiding may well result in 20 or so other real people having a wasted evening. To them, if you go to the pub, it's simply a case that you don't play the game that evening, nobody loses out by you not playing. So, what do you say to them ? Well, I find comparing a raiding guild to a sports team helps. People understand that a sports team needs to train and if only 10 of your 11 man soccer team turn up, then everyone else is effected. They also tend to realise that there is far more to managing a sports team the just turning up and playing, somebody needs to clean the kit, book the venues, sort out the rosters, handle player registrations, etc. as well as ancillary roles such as coach, physio etc. This analogy helps people realise the difference between running a raiding guild and an occasional desire for a quick game of pacman. You can then expand on the theory by pointing out that a sports team often only plays once a week and most raiding guilds manage around 4 or 5 nights a week, also that something like a soccer team has 11 players and 4 reserves from a squad of around 30, were as a raiding guild is more likely to be a team of 25 with 5 reserves from a squad of 50-100. Hopefully then they'll realise that managing a raiding guild is much more like a second job rather than you just choosing to turn on a console for an evening of solo gaming. That's not to mention the social side of things where you magically transform from team manager to pub landlord, keeping upwards of 50 people happy, entertained and discouraging them from smashing the place up and being sick in the flowerbeds. One you can explain these concepts to them, hopefully when you drop into a conversation the fact that you were embarrassed when you lost your temper on a raid, people will know that a raid is like the competitive soccer game after a weeks training, where a small group of people are managing 20 plus other people in a combined test of teamwork, concentration and general skill in a stressful environment and will then show you the same level of respect that they would a sports team manager, rather than go "oh ... Your talking about that game again ... I thought it was something important". ---------- Related to this, I know a few people who read this have been tempted to try WoW, but never taken the plunge. Well NOW is the perfect time to try. Blizzard have just released some fantastic incentives for old-hands (like me) to introduce new players to the more casual side of the game. Just because I've been sucked into the hardcore side of the game, it doesn't mean that's all there is, WoW is very very friendly to the players who can only spare a few hours a week and the imminent introduction of another expansion mean the old-hands now have time on their hands to play with their casual friends again. If YOU fancy giving WoW a go, drop me a message and I'll sort you out a free trial. | ||||||||||
comments: 5 comments or Leave a comment   |
You are viewing ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1){kind=small}
slam_tilt's journal
