• Leadership in gaming
    48 replies, posted
As the leader of a somewhat large clan (~150 people, ~70 active), I have found that there is much to be learned in clan leadership that can also be applied to real life situations. (Leadership and management is an art!) Vice versa, real life management and communication skills can sometimes be applied to gaming communities. (As a note, management of people is similar everywhere, it does not matter what game you play; possibly including banking). I'm wondering if there are any other clan leaders that browse FP that might have interesting stories to share. To start, I'll share one of my experiences. In January 2012, I started a clan that quickly grew within a month to some ~120 members, with ~80 active. A general rule of thumb I now follow is to have a leader every ~12 members to be able to fully administrate a group. Unfortunately, with this group, I put little trust in members who did not active participate in leadership activities. This ended up with only 4 active officers managing a clan of 80 active members. (7 officers total, 120 members total). When the officers were overloaded with administrative duties and retired to take a break, I ended up taking over those positions. Again, I was unable to see leadership potential in my members. Over the course of the next months, I ended up with myself as overall leader, with 2 officers below me managing roughly 60 active players. When I took a break from leadership tasks due to a RL vacation, the two officers I had below me could not take on the full workload. When I returned from my 2 week vacation, my group has effectively collapsed, as there was no active guidance nor leadership. Lesson learned: Leadership is hard to find if you have no hope. By promoting people with even a small hint of leadership talent, they can often be mentored into great leaders over time.
Since this is the dead of the night, and I have nothing better to do before I head to bed, I'll explain mine. Being around GMod and Administration in general for 7 years has it's ups and downs. I've managed communities from 300+ to as low as 5+. And as you stated, Yes, you need to watch and learn the players potential. If you limit them, they will never bloom. That being said I also would like to touch on the background aspect. Now to my actual story. Back about 5-6 years ago, My original name was Fluffy (Yes, laugh). I was 13 at the time, and was promoted to Head Admin in a community called HGN. I stayed for a little over a year before leaving on my own accord for reasons I won't discuss here, They're pretty lengthy. But the one point here made me continue administration in general. Was a player I knew named ThY. He was a regular on our servers, and he said, "I wanna become admin" (Note we were both still young at the time). I said to him, "I can see you becoming Supervisor one day, You'll do it." This was shortly before I left. In fact, there were some Administrators who hated him, promising he'd never amount to anything. Years later I get in touch with him again, and I learned that through some teaching to him in the early days, he actually a year or two after me became Supervisor (Highest rank) for 4 years running, and has become an unbiased and knowledgeable leader. Moral of the story is, Take your time (Even as an Owner) to talk and mentor people as Angus said. It will truly benefit you in the end in a way you probably wouldn't even think. One of the perks of running communities.
I used to host a GTA 4 Xbox roleplay with about 20 active people everynight. I had to make up a whole currency system, add building ownership and tons of other things, got too much effort in the end and gave up.
Used to be a gmod RP community leader. Had to learn that your friends, even if they are adequate and good people, might not be good people to give power to. I learned it the hard way.
The DPRKFC is a dictatorship on =USE= TF2 servers, Sons of Liberty and assorted garrysmod servers. The regime permabans if you violate any policies unless you're well known. Keeps things neat and tidy c:
I host my own role-play and host another friends role-play. I started it once a fairly popular server closed down after the creator was getting tired of some of the terrible roleplay going on in the server. I contacted one of the old admins of the servers, made friends and he helped me to create a server. I managed to build up a little team and even get a scripter to help create a few private add-ons for it. The average player-count on my own is around 10-25.
I once tried to lead a competitive team in tf2 for a season, we got disqualified for cheating, I failed at my job
[QUOTE=DeadiKation;40299671]Since this is the dead of the night, and I have nothing better to do before I head to bed, I'll explain mine. Being around GMod and Administration in general for 7 years has it's ups and downs. I've managed communities from 300+ to as low as 5+. And as you stated, Yes, you need to watch and learn the players potential. If you limit them, they will never bloom. That being said I also would like to touch on the background aspect. Now to my actual story. Back about 5-6 years ago, My original name was Fluffy (Yes, laugh). I was 13 at the time, and was promoted to Head Admin in a community called HGN. I stayed for a little over a year before leaving on my own accord for reasons I won't discuss here, They're pretty lengthy. But the one point here made me continue administration in general. Was a player I knew named ThY. He was a regular on our servers, and he said, "I wanna become admin" (Note we were both still young at the time). I said to him, "I can see you becoming Supervisor one day, You'll do it." This was shortly before I left. In fact, there were some Administrators who hated him, promising he'd never amount to anything. Years later I get in touch with him again, and I learned that through some teaching to him in the early days, he actually a year or two after me became Supervisor (Highest rank) for 4 years running, and has become an unbiased and knowledgeable leader. Moral of the story is, Take your time (Even as an Owner) to talk and mentor people as Angus said. It will truly benefit you in the end in a way you probably wouldn't even think. One of the perks of running communities.[/QUOTE] A bit of an update on this story. Thy is no longer part of HGN. I even got up to SA, but retired because HGN is a pitiful place now. Or it has been for a few years now. Though I do say, Thy was a great admin, but a bit emotional at times. But any normal person has a moment where emotions run high.
I was the defacto leader of a Star Wars Galaxies guild, of roughly 30 people. We really didn't have a constitution or a written set of rules other than "Don't be an ass hole and don't start shit with other guilds". We were based on the bloodfin server and were all of the Rebel faction, with some imperial alts. We mostly did PVE instances, but did battlefields for tokens and ran into Restuss every now and again. We had our own little city on Rori with it's on shuttle port. With us being one of the last rebel guilds on the server, eventually the imperials stirred up shit and constantly tried to PVP us and some even refused to buy and sell stuff to us. One night a group of about 13-16 of us ran into Restuss to get some comms, when a group of about 40 imps from one guild showed up. The 16 or so of us wiped out the 40 imps 3 or 4 times before they ran to our city to try and occupy it. I coordinated a plan to land at a near-by shuttle port and drive into the city and wipe out the imps. We of course succeeded but when we counter-attacked their city we were wiped out as well. We called it a night after that and after the battle a lot of the imps started to respect us and quit being such asses towards us. All the other rebel guilds hated us cause we had no issues with same faction bounty hunters, which I and several others often hunted.
I used to be an executive officer of a small clan back when I first started serious online gaming - the actual leader who had taken over from the original founder was very inexperienced so I managed to wrangle myself more and more power within the group until I was de facto owner; it got to the point where the only duty I didn't have was paying for the server and website, which suited me down to the ground. I helped orientate newer players, I helped settle disputes, and I helped beat every opponent we had into the ground during our brief stint in the actual arena. I suppose the major lessons I learned were the arts of passiveness and diplomacy, and when to use them. My experience there gave me lots of great skills and lots of great friends, and those few years were some of the best in my gaming career. How sentimental of me.
How much time do you all spend on administration of clans on a weekly average? With my current group, I used to spend about 8 hours a week, but due to recent structure changes, I've put some 5 hours a day for the past few days into defining new policies, etc.
I used to spend approximately 7 hours a week, sometimes more, involved in a large DOD:S realism group. While I've not officially left the group, I've effectively not done anything for over a year now with them, other than wear their name. What I used to do initially to catch the CO's attention was tech support, I even used my webcam to help out come people with their tech problems at first. I eventually took on the role of teaching, I taught a particular weapon class. I was then made a Squad leader, put in charge of about 8-14 people, then a Platoon leader, in charge of 2 squads. I was made the chief tech for the group as well, and as I rose through the ranks, reaching my current one as Sergeant Major (the highest NCO rank in the Marines at the time, apparently. We're structured around WWII Marine ranks) I obtained moderator privileges on the forums and admin privileges on the servers. We have 2 servers, a public "pub" server, that is just playing the game, and the realism server, where we practice for and conduct competitive matches. I've been involved in over 40 of these, and over 25 successful ones. I stopped playing on the pub long before I stopped doing realisms, I got bored of it. I would probably still be doing realisms if I hadn't stopped due to work, most of our matches are Saturdays, and I was initially not sure I could be there Saturdays in time when I started my job. Now I know I can usually make practices (we usually have 5 prior, you must attend 3) and the realisms on Saturdays, but because I pulled out I've become distant from it, and reluctant to put my time in again. I've stepped down from chief tech, being kept on as deputy, even though I admittedly don't help out much anymore, I stepped down as platoon leader, I stepped down teaching the assault class, which I'd done for about 2 years by that point, and officially took an indefinite leave of absence, not sure if I wanted to leave or if I may come back. Since I joined over 3 years ago, the group's grown a lot, and there have been conflicts, and the group's gotten stricter since I joined, since its membership has more than tripled, going from about 40 members to over 150. I know I could hop right in again and resume a number of my old duties at any time, or at least begin taking an active roll in relaisms again, I still have my rank and I'm still technically in a leadership position, but it's been quite a while since I've practised leadership on this scale and the group has changed a fair bit, and something always seems to be nagging at me that holds me back from it.
[QUOTE=MuffinZerg;40301215]Used to be a gmod RP community leader. Had to learn that your friends, even if they are adequate and good people, might not be good people to give power to. I learned it the hard way.[/QUOTE] i cofounded a guild in wow with two of my roommates. while it's been successful i learned pretty quickly that even though i trust one of them immensely, he doesn't share the same ideals as the other two of us in the slightest. we're all very close but it caused several power struggles and problems until we had a long conversation to clear everything up. keep work and friends separate when possible. [editline]17th April 2013[/editline] and never believe people are committed until they've proven it to you, i've had countless raiders in my core claim they'd love to join and then suddenly leave the guild, transfer their character to a different server, or just not log on for a week without any advance warning.
[QUOTE=Guy Mannly;40312011]keep [B]work[/B] and friends separate when possible.[/QUOTE] You're talking about a video game...
[QUOTE=KmartSqrl;40315616]You're talking about a video game...[/QUOTE] You'd be surprised how much " work" goes into this type of thing.
[QUOTE=Angus725;40316144]You'd be surprised how much " work" goes into this type of thing.[/QUOTE] If the game you're playing for leisure becomes work or feels like work, you're not playing it right. You shouldn't be getting stressed out when playing a video game.
[QUOTE=Angus725;40316144]You'd be surprised how much " work" goes into this type of thing.[/QUOTE] I used to run a few really popular GMod servers in the GMod 9 era and I never would have called it work. The keep your friends and work separate part was just funny to me. "Sorry bro I can't play WoW with you, I like to keep my work life separate from my personal life, we should go get beers on Saturday though"
[QUOTE=Trunk Monkay;40316203]If the game you're playing for leisure becomes work or feels like work, you're not playing it right. You shouldn't be getting stressed out when playing a video game.[/QUOTE] Clearly, you've never played a moba before. :v:
I think being positive is one of the most important attributes of a good leader. Both IRL and in competitive gaming, I've found that being positive really does a lot when people are starting to give up. To lead by example is vital, and if you're on a team with a leader who is moaning and giving up hope then you're not going to be very inspired. Just being positive can drive others to push hard and give them a good boost of energy, lots of encouragement is vital. Humour is also important! It's important that the troops like you! I was playing Battlegrounds 2 (a source engine revolutionary war mod with muskets) a while back and we were playing a Capture-All-Flags type game. My team was getting pummelled by the enemy because we were all just doing our own thing, trying to go rambo. I found a guy on our team whose native language obviously wasn't English, because he was giving hilarious orders through the text chat, and I started encouraging the whole team to rally to him, follow his orders, and just do whatever he told us. I called myself his 2nd-in-command and made jokes about him being our All-Powerful Leader. Whaddya know, with a lot of encouragement and lots of jokes, we actually went on to completely trash the enemy the next few rounds because we worked as a team and all followed our orders... because we wanted to, and we made it fun for ourselves. Unfortunately after a while I was forced to hand over command to some random 12 year old who was the only other guy with a mic and leave.
[QUOTE=titopei;40316717]Clearly, you've never played a moba before. :v:[/QUOTE] Hence why I don't play MOBAs and never raided in WoW.
[QUOTE=KmartSqrl;40315616]You're talking about a video game...[/QUOTE] i got the impression this thread was comparing leadership in gaming to "real life management" as the op said [editline]17th April 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Trunk Monkay;40316203]If the game you're playing for leisure becomes work or feels like work, you're not playing it right. You shouldn't be getting stressed out when playing a video game.[/QUOTE] not really your job to dictate how other people should play games yes it's work sometimes but it's for a good cause and the results are enjoyable
[QUOTE=Guy Mannly;40318742] not really your job to dictate how other people should play games yes it's work sometimes but it's for a good cause and the results are enjoyable[/QUOTE] never implied it was my job to dictate how games are supposed to be played???? I'm just saying that it's pretty silly to let yourself get stressed out over video games to the point where it's more of a chore than a release.
a lot of thread inspiration seems to come from [url="http://www.cracked.com/article_20385_5-ways-video-games-are-saving-mankind.html"]a certain special place (#4)[/url]
[QUOTE=Trunk Monkay;40319232]never implied it was my job to dictate how games are supposed to be played???? I'm just saying that it's pretty silly to let yourself get stressed out over video games to the point where it's more of a chore than a release.[/QUOTE] I admit I'm a fanatic, but I spend 3-4 times more time managing the clan for the game than actually playing the game. I feel that I receive greater reward for taking part of the credit of 150 people's combined achievements than my personal achievements in the game. @commie, kudos for being in a realism clan. Was in one for Red Orchestra: Darkest Hour for a few months; it was quite the experience. [editline]17th April 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Mobon1;40320084]a lot of thread inspiration seems to come from [url="http://www.cracked.com/article_20385_5-ways-video-games-are-saving-mankind.html"]a certain special place (#4)[/url][/QUOTE] Sounds about right. The biggest difference is people are more difficult to motivate in clans, as they don't get paid playing video games.
i was super admin in a 200+ gmod community and one day i started an event promising to select at least 4 people to become new head moderators across all the servers and like 120 of em actually showed up and i gave em all admin powers and left and it was hilarious
I was an owner of a minecraft server back in 2011. It was fun to play and build and shit until I got fed up with the whining and drama and shut it down a year later.
[QUOTE=Sgt. Khorn;40306888]A bit of an update on this story. Thy is no longer part of HGN. I even got up to SA, but retired because HGN is a pitiful place now. Or it has been for a few years now. Though I do say, Thy was a great admin, but a bit emotional at times. But any normal person has a moment where emotions run high.[/QUOTE] I forgot to mention that part of the story, thanks :P
[QUOTE=Sgt. Khorn;40306888]A bit of an update on this story. Thy is no longer part of HGN. I even got up to SA, but retired because HGN is a pitiful place now. Or it has been for a few years now. Though I do say, Thy was a great admin, but a bit emotional at times. But any normal person has a moment where emotions run high.[/QUOTE] Being emotional is a result of staying firm and strong for a long period of time, if one doesn't let his true colours show now and again - chances are one haven't been putting 100% effort in. Emotion is passion. [QUOTE=DeadiKation;40299671]Since this is the dead of the night, and I have nothing better to do before I head to bed, I'll explain mine. Being around GMod and Administration in general for 7 years has it's ups and downs. I've managed communities from 300+ to as low as 5+. And as you stated, Yes, you need to watch and learn the players potential. If you limit them, they will never bloom. That being said I also would like to touch on the background aspect. Now to my actual story. Back about 5-6 years ago, My original name was Fluffy (Yes, laugh). I was 13 at the time, and was promoted to Head Admin in a community called HGN. I stayed for a little over a year before leaving on my own accord for reasons I won't discuss here, They're pretty lengthy. But the one point here made me continue administration in general. Was a player I knew named ThY. He was a regular on our servers, and he said, "I wanna become admin" (Note we were both still young at the time). I said to him, "I can see you becoming Supervisor one day, You'll do it." This was shortly before I left. In fact, there were some Administrators who hated him, promising he'd never amount to anything. Years later I get in touch with him again, and I learned that through some teaching to him in the early days, he actually a year or two after me became Supervisor (Highest rank) for 4 years running, and has become an unbiased and knowledgeable leader. Moral of the story is, Take your time (Even as an Owner) to talk and mentor people as Angus said. It will truly benefit you in the end in a way you probably wouldn't even think. One of the perks of running communities.[/QUOTE] It was a goal in my[I] internet[/I] life which I couldn't have reached without you.
I lead a guild in WoW during early Cata content. We got about 6/12 while others were 8/12 and I called it quits. Way to much work, good luck to anyone who wants to lead a group its a lot of work.
if you're doing something that involves multiple people creating content, it's better to have a few people who do a lot than a lot of people who do a little each.
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