Gevlon is winding up the ganking project, effective probably within the week. Those of us in the project received the news yesterday on our forum. The reaction was sadness and a lot of support for Gevlon, whereas he had been bracing himself for anger. The interesting this is that I was going to write this post last week, but I didn’t due to not wanting to jinx the project. Irony for the winner.
It is no secret that I have enjoyed the ganking project immensely, as it gave new focus and goals as well as the opportunity to learn new skills to my WoW game. But as we progressed a little doubt began to nag at me. My enjoyment was all based on the whim of one person. If he decided to pull the plug then it would be over. Nobody else would be able to step in and take his place. To understand why this is so, you have to appreciate the enormous amount of energy and sheer force of will that Gevlon put into the project. And in a way, us guildies were feeding off that. We were doing our part to be sure, (well most of us), but I knew that I could always count on Gevlon to be there and sort things out. And is it fair to burden someone with that amount of responsibility? Of course, Gevlon started the project, it was his decision to do it, so it is his responsibility. But how many times have you started something and not really realised what you have gotten yourself into?
Yesterday after the news broke, there was a lot of discussion in guild chat about someone to replace Gevlon and carry on with the project. I made it very clear that I would not be interested in taking on such a role. It requires the leader to be online every day. You can’t take a break from leading something of this type. And you cannot effectively delegate responsibilities to other players in the guild, no matter how capable. At the end of the day it is force of will alone that carries something like this forward. Perhaps that is why it was so enjoyable. But it is very hard to keep up that sort of performance over a long period of time.
But the disappointment at its conclusion must be balanced with the positives to take from this experience. Apart from finally learning how to PvP, I have to say that I have never played with a group of people of such a high skill level and such a low dickhead factor. Perhaps this was the true secret to why I enjoyed the project so much. Gevlon is set to announce a new project in the next few days. Will I be joining that one? Lets wait and see what it is. But if he manages to attract the same calibre of player it will be very tempting indeed. Let us only hope that the project is something sustainable and not balanced on the force of will of one person.
June 15, 2010 at 9:21 am
Delegation is whats needed Brother Adam, Gevlon alone should not bear all the burden perhaps trusted officers would help to ease this for him. but who can do such a job to his standard? only time will tell.
-Fubuar
June 15, 2010 at 10:16 am
It’s no suprise that people enjoy social guilds. That’s why there’s so many.
You also demonstrated why so many fail. You lasted the usual amount of time a social guild does, but you broke up for the usual reason.
1. Absence of like-minded socials, made worse by unimpressive recruits.
2. The Guild Leader call it quits, and with no one willing to assume such an awesome responsibility, the guild disbands.
Of course, you lasted a little longer than other social guilds because of one major factor: a clear mission statement. Others don’t even have that. “Do we raid? Do we PVP? Let’s do both and excel at neither, frustrating everyone”.
June 15, 2010 at 11:14 am
All the most successful wow guilds have a cadre of trusted officers, as well as a leader.
June 15, 2010 at 11:17 am
I believe the low dickhead population was not by mistake, but by the rules that were announced and enforced. I’m 100% sure that the atmosphere can be transferred.
However the “cult of personality” thing started to bother me. When I wasn’t online, WG often fell apart which annoyed me to no end. If one person carries something, it proves nothing else than that person being great.
However the statement “Gevlon is great” is useless to anyone who is not me. To make the WoW a better place to play we must find superior METHODS, not superior people. We need “do this, do that and you’ll be OK” and not “find a great leader and follow him”.
I hope you can tag along with the new project. It will be announced on Thursday for the public, but today in the guild forum to allow discussion and fine-tuning.
June 15, 2010 at 4:09 pm
“You can’t take a break from leading something of this type. And you cannot effectively delegate responsibilities to other players in the guild, no matter how capable.”
A good leader doesn’t just inspire others to follow, but also to lead. It sounds as if the loyalty and focus was not on the project or the goals, but on the leader. Maybe there were actually no like-minded people in the guild, but only lost sheep who would go with the next shepherd they saw.
I’m sounding harsher than I intend. I know how hard it is to spread motivation and drive in a way which will last beyond the leader’s presence.
June 15, 2010 at 6:09 pm
A good leader delegates, but the mere presence of that leader sometimes snaps into focus of everything. Also his delegates must be good leaders as well, and you know the saying, “Sometimes it’s hard to find good help”
Also how much hand holding did Gevlon do, maybe too much?
Well from what I read it seemed like you had some fun together, and that’s really all that matters.
June 16, 2010 at 11:32 pm
It was great while it lasted.