Ready Check: Peer pressure, responsibility and teamwork
by Michael Gray 
Jun 25th 2010 at 3:00PM
Last week, I talked a little bit about tools and methods for getting that unreliable person to show up for raids. One of the specific tools I discussed was peer pressure. I probably should have expected it, but there was quite a bit of discussion in the comments and elsewhere about how peer pressure shouldn't be used as a tool. Also, to how the idea of "forcing" someone to show up is a bad idea. I want to acknowledge that this subject is wildly open to interpretation; after all, we all play the game differently.
The first thing I want to establish, though, is that there's no one forcing anyone else to raid. I can't make you sign up, I can't make you log in and I can't make you do anything in WoW you don't want to. However, I can exert influence. As a raid or guild leader -- or even simply as a friend -- that influence is usually in the form of peer pressure. (If it's some weird power struggle or dominance issue, that's a can of worms waaaaay outside the scope of this blog.) Why would this ever be desirable?
While I am a real person -- and my time is valuable -- I am also raiding with nine to 24 other real people. Their time is also valuable. When we're talking about a scheduled, coordinated raid, there are all these other real people sitting there and waiting for you. This is why having redundancy and letting people take time off is so important. Everyone's real, has real lives, and no one should be subverting real life to support the raid. But if you make an agreement to show up somewhere at a certain time, there are 24 other people waiting for your attendance.
This is where teamwork starts becoming a significant issue. Teamwork is more than just really skillful players working as a coordinated unit. It's about relying on one another, trusting one another and helping each other. Peer pressure can be a part of that. If you sign up to be a member of a team, you become accountable to the team. A well-run team, however, will not put undue burdens or stress on its members. That's why a column like Officer's Quarters can be so helpful; it's about trying to turn a ragtag group into a well-oiled team.
Sure, we're used to thinking of peer pressure as some horrible meta-force that will eventually force teenagers to smoke. But peer pressure can do other things. It can encourage each raid member to read strategies and be familiar with fights. How many raid application forms seem primarily interested in whether a raid member can understand the dynamics of boss fights? Seems like most of them, nowadays.
Gentle peer pressure can be applied in constructive ways. A few folks had some good examples last week. "Hey, look, it's a Bob. Does anyone remember Bob?" I'll admit that kind of playing around can be uncomfortable for some people; to others, by comparison, it feels like the camaraderie you'd get on a sports team. It's about individual tolerance and personality.
This is where the raid leader becomes most indispensable. The raid leader isn't the team's coach because he is magically able to read strategies. Anyone can do that. Go find a guide, rinse, repeat. The raid leader is the head honcho because he looks out across the team, knows their personalities and can help coordinate everyone to their comfort zone. If Frankie Warlock is usually reliable, the raid leader would step in to make sure Frankie doesn't take an undue amount of flak.
Some raid leaders will balk at the idea of this level of personnel management. But at the end of the day, whose job is it to fire someone from a raid? Whose job is it to do coaching? In my book, that's usually where you draw the line about who is the raid leader, who's in charge and why he's in charge.
It is work, it is effort. And it absolutely is a pain. But if you have 25 people raiding, along with whatever bench rotation you might maintain, personnel management will become an issue. If the nominal raid leader isn't doing that work, then my hunch is someone else in your guild is doing it already.
When I say "peer pressure," I'm not just talking about people being cruel to one another. I'm talking about the reliance and accountability raid members have to one another. That's what lifts the raid above just a random PUG; this is the dynamic that makes raids work.
Good hunting out there.
Ready Check is here to provide you all the information and discussion you need to take your raiding to the next level. Check us out weekly to learn the strategies, bosses and encounters that make end-game raiding so much fun.Filed under: Ready Check (Raiding)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Scott Jun 25th 2010 3:20PM
Agree with all your points.
Peer-pressure can be an invaluable tool to keep a raid cohesive. It doesn't have to be thought of as negative. And it's your choice to be part of the raid.
Natrii Jun 25th 2010 3:26PM
Peer pressure is why I have not deleted my holy off spec...Though I did tell them after 3 years of holy priest I was staying shadow
bonemachine Jun 25th 2010 4:15PM
Peer pressure is one of the only tools an RL has. We dont get paid to play, you can't be fired, really, because you can still go raid somewhere else. Peer pressure is the only real life consequence that can be applied to get people to take ownership of their actions in an anonymous online world.
It is also the reason I'm currently taking a break from the game. I've been an RL for several years, running a small, tight group of folks. Some of those folks had to leave due to life events. This happened slowly, over the course of say, the last 12 months. Each person leaving meant recruting to fill that slot. I did it, I worked new folks in, we pressed on. But each time, I had to get that new person to buy in, so they would feel that peer pressure, that they had partial ownership in what we did.
Eventually, that process gets to you. You have to break them down, then build them up, and it takes time, and in the meantime the rest of the team is whining and hollering and pushing you as the RL with the same peer pressure in reverse, except x 9 or x 24. It's brutal, and if you do this long enough, you're gonna crack around the edges eventually.
Peer pressure is a double edged sword.
clevins Jun 25th 2010 4:25PM
"...But if you make an agreement to show up somewhere at a certain time, there are 24 other people waiting for your attendance...."
That's the key, really. If you have a group of raiders who realize that once they commit they are affecting others and thus do the right thing (show up, communicate if they can't, signup when they can raid, talk about taking breaks vs just disappearing) then things are OK. Too often, though, people act as if the other toons they play with aren't played by people just as real as they are and don't show, don't communicate and take a break by just disappearing.
The Silent Dawn Jun 25th 2010 4:43PM
I like to think of my raid team kind of like a sports team. We have practice throughout the week in the form of running dailies, fun guild events, and idling in guild chat. The skills and techniques we learn are obviously very different from sports, but at its core I feel it is the same. Raid night is like game day. When you sign up for a baseball team, and play games on Saturday afternoon, the coach has certain expectations that his team is going to show up. If they don't, you may have to go run laps around the field, 100 push-ups, or you might even get benched if you get to stay on the team at all. You will definitely be hassled by your fellow teammates. Everyone understands these expectations, and do everything they can to be there, when the team needs them. When you sign up for a team, you more or less say that you are going to be there for the others involved. Even though it's all for fun, if the expectations aren't met, the whole team has a bad day. If you can't appreciate your fellow teammates time, then you probably shouldn't go to try-outs.
scrum055 Jun 25th 2010 4:49PM
I agree that if you chose to participate in a particular raid on a particular raid, it is a type of agreement as if you were meeting your friends for the movies. I don't, however, whole heartedly agree with the idea that the raid leader is the one most inclined to pull together everyone as a team.
Having grown up with team sports, I know what I look for in a coach. Half the time the raid leader is the guild leaders chum. This doesn't completely rule out leadership skills, but this does end up showing favoritism and elitist actions. I've seen Raid Leaders not accepting veteran raiders because they're newly joined "buddy" is on. Eventually raiding turns into cliques within a guild. One thing I think peer-pressure should be used to stop.
I also have a problem with the word "peer-presure" because that can ultimately become bullying. Threatening a well geared heal or tank to join a raid or get booted from the guild, because they need them, when said player has real-life obligations.
I do not discredit this blog, and I see the validity of all the points in the article. These are just my added points.
:)
Spriesty Jun 25th 2010 5:29PM
If you don't want to raid no problem, that's 100% perfectly fine. But don't hold a spot in my *raiding* guild if you aren't going to raid on a regular basis. Don't make me ask you to leave, just go. The *team* learns nothing when the 'team' is different every week. We can still be friends but you can't be in this (once again) *RAIDing* guild. I won't threaten you...or beg you. I'll just remove you.
And if you *say* you're going to be there and then don't show up, wasting 24 other people's time? Gtfo immediately and I really don't want to know you. No one likes arrogant people who think they are more important than everyone else. No one. Not in RL either. Don't sign up if you can't show up.
(Barring an emergency of course. A real emergency though, is something that happens rarely...not 'hey dinners ready, I'll bb in an hour'. It's up to you to plan whatever around your time commitments, not me to plan around you.)
cui_h_1999 Jun 25th 2010 7:47PM
Peer pressure is not the reason you play the game. If the raid is peer pressuring you to do something you don't want, then take the time to quit and form a relationship with a guild that is more accepting, i.e. wants you to raid your MS Fatkin and not OS Bearbutt.
Quark1020 Jun 26th 2010 2:49AM
"Hey, look, it's a Bob. Does anyone remember Bob?"
Due to work, i can't raid as much as i used to and decided to take a hiatus.
I log in today, and i get a similar line. XD
It is true, it all depends on the individual. I smiled when i got that line, it reminds me why i remain in the guild even if we don't progress as far as others. If i was in another guild and wasn't as close to the members as I was in this one, i probably would have been /gkicked.
Granted, i got demoted to the lowest rank, but meh.
Anzor Jun 26th 2010 10:33AM
People forget a raid leader is a person too. I don't like telling people they aren't up to snuff. I don't like having to announce we aren't doing it your way. I don't like begging or cajoling or pleading to get you to be on time and do you what you promised.
It's demeaning and I have a life, one where people respect me and I respect them. I don't have to chase after people because they know better than to waste others' time.
Raid times and expectations aren't hidden. If you're unclear just ask. I play this game to relax have fun and rain some death on deserving undead and draconic hordes.
If you waste my time I won't be mean, but hey nice while it lasted, time to find new teams!
Malak Aug 29th 2010 4:06AM
First off, don't forget that there is a difference between peer pressure and threats. Someone who says, "raid or be kicked from the guild" isn't using peer-pressure, they are using threats. peer pressure has little to do with "im going to take away". I strongly disagree with threat, but i feel peer pressure is a very good way of motivation.
Peer-pressure (the positive kind) is about reminding people of their social obligations. It's like the phrase my grandmother use to use with my mom..."don't do that honey, what will the neighbors think?" It's the idea that what you are doing isn't acceptable with the social group you are a part of, The social group you chose to engage with and perform with. the jokes and gentle ribbing are friendly reminders that say, "hey, were here too, ya know...we rely on you to do X so don't let is down, K?" . Peer pressure motivates us to perform because we don't want to let others down. Threats motivate us to perform for fear of losing something of our own.
And I agree with the comment on the fact that you can't "force" anyone to do anything. You can only impact their environment in hopes that they will make a different choice. if i tell you to give me 20$, you can choose to or not. If i hold a weapon to you and tell you to give me 20$, you still can choose to or not...the consequences have changed, your freedom of choice has not.