Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.

Sometimes I get an e-mail describing to me a guild leader who fails for so many reasons that I am simply at a loss for words. However, words are all I have to work with here, along with my trusty Picard ASCII (courtesy of Blizzard poster Datth), so I will do my best. I warn you that this e-mail is a very long read. But those of you who want some insight into exactly what not to do as a guild leader, read on!

From the day I joined I was quickly promoted to the role of MT, even though they had several already, and started gearing up in the best that KZ and badge gear could offer while working with them on succeeding in ZA. But a month into joining they started bleeding old members to the tune of 1 to 2 a week as the GM and all the officers had me busy running them through every daily heroic as well as Main Tanking the 10 man raids up to four nights a week. Not only that the officers were all gearing up their alt characters all the while having a strict no ALT policy in place, meaning non-officers had to pick a char they wanted to progress but were near forbidden on playing any level 70 alts unless the raid absolutely needed that character to fill the spot, but if this were the case they would more than finagle their alts into the spots while filling the raid up with every one else's mains.
Well, F&C, I think you're probably regretting your decision to move most of your old guild into this one. It sounds like you didn't really do your homework about what this guild was all about, who was running it, and what their policies were. Or maybe they misled you. Either way, what's done is done.

I would strongly recommend you cut your losses at this point and move on. Try to salvage whomever you can from your old guild, because this one is a sinking ship. I'm actually surprised you're even considering sticking around when the guild leader won't even speak to you!

This guild will never succeed while its leaders run it in such an arbitrary and corrupt fashion. Let's go through the failure point by point:

1. There are different rules for officers.

Special treatment can be OK sometimes. If someone has sacrificed a lot of time and energy for the good of the guild, then maybe they've earned getting that ultrarare enchanting recipe when it drops, because you know they'll stick with the guild through thick and thin.

But when the only way to bring an alt to a raid is to be an officer, and you just promote all your friends to leadership ranks, that's beyond special treatment. That's just enforced unfairness.

And why are they bringing alts anyway when you're struggling to learn encounters? That's not only selfish and an abuse of power, it's just plain stupid. No wonder they can't even beat Zul'Aman.

2. The officers don't value their members.

Good luck filling your roster with quality raiders when you never take the time to help anyone get better. You can't treat your members as disposable if they don't measure up to your standards. You'll end up with a revolving door when people figure out they're one bad run away from a /gkick. Who wants to be part of a guild like that? Elitist jerks?

3. Policies change all the time.

The officers clearly don't know what they're doing, and so they're just making up rules as they go along, probably to suit whatever benefits them the most in any given week. It sounds like they've now set up a crooked DKP system so that only their friends get loot.

4. The guild leader is emo.

Refusing to speak with a member because he took a break for a real-life emergency? Is this guy 10 years old? Grow up! Get over yourself!

And the fact that he actually got upset when you tried to resolve some of the drama tells me he's not mature enough to handle anyone else taking initiative. He probably considers it a threat to his position.

5. The guild leader has let power go to his head.

You say he wasn't a bad guy before he took over. Clearly, the power he now wields has revealed his true colors. He has total control over the guild bank and the DKP system and he isn't letting anyone who's not an officer have even a sniff of either one. He's basically running the guild like a corrupt dictator, showering favors on his friends to the exclusion of everyone else.

Pretty soon these favored officers are going to be the only ones left. What will happen when the officers are the only members left? I imagine the entire thing will implode under the weight of its bloated, top-heavy ranking system. The officers might even turn on each other, currying favor with their guild leader by backstabbing and spreading rumors.

A long time ago I wrote a column called How to Destroy Your Guild. It's almost comical to me how many of those destructive choices this guild leader and his officers have made.

Leave now, F&C, and don't look back. I wish you luck in WotLK!

/salute

Tags: corruption, dkp, emo, facepalm, fail, failure, guild-banks, guild-ranks, leadership, officers, officers-quarters

Filed under: Officers' Quarters (Guild Leadership)