Our officer ranks got populated as follows: When we split from our last guild, the officer spots were handed over to the best fit (At the time) people--AKA, the people who were the "movers and the shakers" to get things done and get us rolling as a new guild. We actually have 5 officers not counting the GM. One was added after the fact because of his finance background and being readily able to explain how the DKP system works for the members who fail to read the explanation page. Of those 5, 3 are class leads...one is also the overall healing lead for raids. The rest of the class leaders are people who are members/veterans within the guild who asked for the responsibility--and they perform the job great (detailed forum threads with gear, macros, cast rotations, etc). Sometimes I think that there are other people in the guild who would make a good officer, but I don't think we need anymore, lest it become "top heavy."

IMO, a guild officer needs to be approachable (we have one who just sits in Shatt and listens to people gripe), helpful, and fun...if they are always killing "the buzz," then they aren't going to be appreciated (had a buzz kill last night while raiding) and will most likely annoy other players.

The one thing I stressed in our last officers meeting was this: You are here to look out for the enjoyment of ALL the guild. Just because X might make your job easier, if the guild wants Y, we should go with Y if it wins by majority vote. Members of the guild are there because they want to be there, they want to have fun, etc., and yet some of them look to the officers to provide outlets for them to have fun. Whether it be scheduled raids, stupid events (we were talking about doing the guild FFA Arena match for giggles last night--the one that was posted here on WoWInsider), or just being on vent for people to BS with while you level an alt--you're there to make people feel like they are a part of something...my job as GM could get A LOT easier if I just didn't care (and sometimes, I get pushed to where I don't care)--but because I want people to have fun (both in and out of game), I spend my $$ to maintain guild websites, spent my vacation time away from work working on new guild site designs, upgrading forums, etc. It's because I *want* people to WANT to be with us...if that means I sit on vent until 2a when I have to work in 6 hours, then so be it...it comes with the role (which is very time consuming)--if you don't want to be available, if you don't want to put effort in, then don't bother with being an officer. I probably spend 8+ hours a week on "GM/Officer" stuff. That includes maintaining the guild website with loot, pictures, DKP rankings, reviewing guild bank deposits (for more DKP) and item requests, plus working on any other little tweaks to streamline our guild site. On top of a full time job and a marriage to another WoW player, it's pretty damn time consuming...but I enjoy doing it...for my guild mates.

Reply