MMO players make great leaders
by Elizabeth Harper 
Jul 9th 2007 at 3:10PM
Hundreds of thousands of players -- sometimes millions -- interact daily in highly complex virtual environments. These players self-organize, develop skills, and settle into various roles. Leaders emerge that are capable of recruiting, organizing, motivating, and directing large groups of players towards a common goal.
Of course, IBM and Seriosity are attempting to sell MMO-inspired business solutions, but the study itself is interesting even to those of us who aren't in the market. In it, IBM and Seriosity suggest that within MMOs, players need to organize in order to accomplish goals -- and the skills of the player who organizes your guild's raids are no different from a manager in a traditional office environment.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ken Jul 9th 2007 3:35PM
I'd say that leading a raid can be a lot more challenging than dealing with office managerial tasks. Usually the people in the workplace treat each other with a modicum of decorum or respect, however feigned, which tends to make things less crazy on the whole. I wouldn't say that the real life impact tied to decisions of office managers doesn't impart its own stress, but just that the people they deal don't regularly fling expletives and what not at each other. Also, people need their jobs for food, rent, what have you. Players in a guild can leave at the drop of a hat with no significant real life detriment. One less Kara raid doesn't mean they'll foreclose your house and so there is less outside pressure forcing people to cooperate and find middle ground, if nothing else than to make sure they can afford eating that night.
With a raid on the other hand... There are better guilds and there are worse guilds, but I think the stories of rampant guild drama are numerous enough to speak for themselves. However, for the amount of ridiculousness that goes on, the vast majority of it would not be acceptable in an office space of any kind, at least one that doesn't want law suits left and right.
I give credit to the good raid organizers and leaders out there because at least in an office space most people would not engage some of the ridiculous and childish nonsense that guild members do on occassion because they can't. In a game on the other hand...
Kudos to you raid leaders out there.
CVJ Jul 9th 2007 3:37PM
While I think it might make or draw out potential leaders I also see it draw out people who if they ever became leaders would be abusive and not capable of dealing with stress or people.
I see some raid leaders who should not work in a teacher/instructor type situation because they get verbally abusive if it is not done right the first time and seriously lack patience.
Pingmeister Jul 9th 2007 3:39PM
I met a great leader the other day. He asked me in-game:
lolz u want 2 go RFC 4 phat lewtz
One day he'll be President.
James Jul 9th 2007 3:55PM
Nice to see IBM spending money to get results that are full of crap. One of the more optimistic research pieces I've seen in awhile.
@3, that guy already is President.
Das Jul 9th 2007 4:20PM
If my work dropped epics then perhaps I'd be more in regards to IRL office progression.
Work hard IRL, you get nothing beyond your base pay and maybe a meager bonus. Work hard on WoW, you get tiered gear, sweet epics, fun toys and rid your life of pesky things like interpersonal relationships.
Freehugz Jul 9th 2007 4:08PM
If anything I think that research shows how MMO's can become a crutch to anyone looking for leadership in RL. WoW pretty much gives you all the tools and data you need to be a leader. Most of these tools are not available in RL or come at a much higher cost of time and resources.
Billbrasky Jul 9th 2007 4:26PM
Seriosity? Is that seriosilly a word?
Ryan Jul 9th 2007 4:29PM
@7 Seriosilly? Is that seriously a word?
Jynx Jul 9th 2007 5:09PM
I have to agree with 1 on this. Yeah, there are a lot of less-than-amazing raid/ guild leaders out there, but to run a successful one (either raid or guild) you *need* to be a good leader who can multitask, deal with drama, and organize most anything thrown at you. What I've seen happen in WoW is that those who can't do these things tend not to stick around very long in leadership positions, while those who can get promoted instead.
@5 Yeah, WoW does give you a lot of tools as a leader, but one thing it can't give you is charisma.
Would I say that WoW can magically turn you into a great leader? No. But look at the people who *have* become successful leaders in-game-- I'm willing to be they're good leaders IRL as well.
Joe Jul 10th 2007 12:33AM
As someone who works in IT, take it from me, that you should never listen to a damn word that IBM says. Every IBM product and service is designed for one goal: to force you to buy additional IBM products and services.
PyroAmos Jul 10th 2007 9:37AM
heh I've been guild officer/raid leader for 6 months or so... after about a month i left all the guild drama to the other officers, voiced my opinions about shyt in o-chat, and lead raids. I've found i'm good at leading a group of people to acomplish a goal, I'm not so great at dealing with emo ppl qqing over nothing.
Alot of that is in the voice though. So many raid leaders would be 100% better if they just used their man-voice (not meaning they have to be male, they just have to speak with authority)... so many raid leaders talk like
"well.. guess.. you wanna take the x and umm... hlr4lf you wanna heal the tank... and.. i guess we'll kill the circle first then x, try to kill it before it gets to us and umm.... rest of healers heal the raid"
which is just horrible, think of what your going to say before you say it for christ sake should sound more like
".... (pause to work everything out you want to say in your head before you spew it out your mouth) Battletank tank the X, Healer4life Keep him up all other healers on the raid, DPS stunlock and burn the circle then the X"
clear, no pauses, no umm, none of that shyt that confuses people and causes mistakes. Its so simple, and the biggest problem most raid leaders have. That and people spouting off random ideas, which may or may not be good, but jsut confuse everyone. Whisper it to you raid leader, don't just blurb out, something like this tends to happen
noob raider1 'Why don't we group up so everyone is in range'
Raid leader 'Because he casts a debuff that will do aoe damage to everyone in 5 yards of him'
noob raider2 'OK, i'm back, so we're grouping up right?'
noob raider1 'i don't think so'
noob raider2/noob raider1 go on talking about why it would/wouldn't work
not only is it good odds someones gonna group up like a noob, that whole conversation is a wsate of a good 5 minutes of everyones time.
ben1778 Jul 10th 2007 10:33AM
Too bad there actually hasn't been an episode of The Office (american or british) that dealt with employees becoming addicted to WoW.
In the US version I would LOVE to see Dwight as a raid leader. He would lead the raids after fertilizing the beet fields. lol.
SaxxonPike Jul 10th 2007 12:06PM
I've got to say, World of Warcraft has certainly had an impact on my leadership skills. While I am not leading any raids at this time, I do tend to take charge of the lesser instances even if it's with people I don't even know, if there isn't an experienced and established leader already in the group. Interacting in the game's social environment and leading groups has boosted my self-confidence in real life as well.
The game really has a bearing on people, but in this case, not always for the worse.
Lokse Jul 10th 2007 1:19PM
@8: Irony, is that a word?