tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6556575758010903163.post2543658387924797851..comments2024-03-29T06:17:54.994-06:00Comments on Eight Years in Azeroth: 3.1. PerestroikaShawn Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05110605868875966328noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6556575758010903163.post-37002415227575648022016-08-25T15:01:03.883-06:002016-08-25T15:01:03.883-06:00Very cool read. I left another comment anonymously...Very cool read. I left another comment anonymously, and since I've been moved to comment twice, I'll give a name of sorts this time.<br /><br />My earlier comment dealt with my perception that raiding and guilds on WoW require a level of emotional maturity and sophistication that's largely absent in MMORPG players and among gamers generally. It's wonderful to read about your personal evolution, though, and your efforts to gain the skills necessary to run a guild that would be meaningful to its players. I'm really impressed that you created such a large guild from nothing, and that you held it together for so long.<br /><br />I do think you give Blaine too easy a ride. You say he was burnt out due to so many failing players who called him an asshole. Trust me - and I don't need to know him to say this, because I know his type from my own guilds - he was an asshole. I endured a similarly pissy martinet in my first real raiding guild, and while I definitely appreciate that some players really don't take raiding seriously, that kind of obnoxious raid-leader personality poisons the experience for so many potentially great players. The martinet always thinks its tough love, when he'd be tossed out of any real-life experience for that kind of behavior.<br /><br />"But he gets results," people say. "He GETS SHIT DONE." Well ... sometimes he did, but often his abrasive style was actually counterproductive. How do I know this? Because I experienced a different kind of raid leadership twice - once in my original guild, with the off-tank who led alt runs; his patience when there were problems allowed them to be solved a LOT more quickly. The other time was with my second raiding guild, when I actually got to the end of ICC. That raid leader was also great - supremely competent, top of his game always - but also ENCOURAGING and PATIENT. And for the mix of casual/hardcore/somewhere-on-the-spectrum-in-between players that we had, that was by far a more successful approach than the tyrant type. <br /><br />It is what it is, though - that kind of real leadership in a MMORPG is rare. I was very lucky. And honestly, your journey of discovery as you led the guild through both successful and rocky times is quite heartwarming.TMBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6556575758010903163.post-11833952552309069882016-07-22T04:27:05.619-06:002016-07-22T04:27:05.619-06:00I am enjoying your writing but because I don't...I am enjoying your writing but because I don't play MMOs (as a girl, as a socially different person, your writing highlights very much that I Would Not Be Accepted), I am relying on your links to understand what you're talking about... but some of them are broken, or link to no longer there content. The link I came from said you're done with telling this story, but it would really help for at least some of the readers if you could check the links and fix them. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6556575758010903163.post-66180052979216750852016-07-13T11:57:53.301-06:002016-07-13T11:57:53.301-06:00I came across something about this blog in my Flip...I came across something about this blog in my Flipboard feed shortly before the July 4th holiday and I've since been slowly working my way through it. It's utterly captivating because it puts on full display how similar experiences for guilds in this tier are for WoW, or maybe even MMO players in general. I don't know if that post wherever it was resulted in a surge of traffic for you, but I have noticed a number of July 2016 comments being posted. <br /><br />This is THE experience for so many people, not whatever you see published by world first race guilds and it's fascinating to see the old guild members weigh in on the leader's perspectives on some of these pivotal moments.<br /><br />I was going to wait until I made it to the end to leave a comment, but felt I had to do so here because...where is tier 6.5? I missed out on the majesty of raiding in Vanilla, so Sunwell was the first time I saw a new raid tier really tell an otherwise successful guild, "You are not as good as you think you are."<br /><br />Did you guys simply not bother with it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6556575758010903163.post-15845229430613972072016-07-07T15:27:23.338-06:002016-07-07T15:27:23.338-06:00A few links on your text haven't been updated ...A few links on your text haven't been updated and are now broken...Jean-Mariehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09239104213118326268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6556575758010903163.post-42757782746391453832013-01-22T12:45:31.508-07:002013-01-22T12:45:31.508-07:00@ellori,
Thanks for the feedback!
Re: eBook, I&...@ellori,<br /><br />Thanks for the feedback! <br /><br />Re: eBook, I'm investigating book options, we'll see what comes of them.Shawn Holmeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05110605868875966328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6556575758010903163.post-28450891710812175992013-01-22T03:07:37.664-07:002013-01-22T03:07:37.664-07:00Just finished reading all your memoirs to date in ...Just finished reading all your memoirs to date in one go. Highly fascinating read; I hope you make it all into an ebook when you're done!<br /><br />Can't wait for the next installment.<br /><br />- elloriAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6556575758010903163.post-77133767963176476992013-01-17T10:54:00.424-07:002013-01-17T10:54:00.424-07:00I remember you showing me a lot of these outlines ...I remember you showing me a lot of these outlines <b>BEFORE</b> I left DoD btw. I remember you saying you were afraid this would cause a lot of issues, and I just said "Jump in head first, figure out the rest later".Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14999619966702579805noreply@blogger.com