Officers' Quarters: A gkicked player takes revenge
by Scott Andrews 
Feb 6th 2012 at 2:00PM
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook, available from No Starch Press.
Here at OQ, I receive emails all the time about people acting like jerks. Jerks are everywhere, and MMOs certainly have their fair share. Of all the jerks I've heard about, the player from this week's email has to be among the all-time worst. Fortunately, his terrible behavior has a bright side: By sharing this guild's story, other officers can avoid the same fate.
From the start one of our members started to complain about the guild at the start of raiding early cata. However the officers and GM has brush it off as him being annoyed at the game because he hated the expansion. Things went from bad to worst when we started Firelands.
He started to make plans to overthrow the GM of the guild and made fun behind him. He complains the GM is never there supporting the guild because he took a month off due to work reasons. He made fun of our progression even though we manage to get at least 1 heroic mode down. When we got to dragon soul he stop raiding with us all together. Which is fine because our guild is a casual raiding guild and members are free to choose to raid or not. However he complains even more that people in the guild are stupid and we won't ever progress. It got to the point where we kicked him from the guild but the problem didn't stop there.
He started to harass people in the guild. First he whisper people in the guild during raid times and makes them mad enough to quit the raid early. Then he send COD letters to the same people with items that would represent the person best from his memory with a ton of gold cost to take the item.
The latest thing he did is he got hold of the previous owner of the website and because that person never gave up ownership of it he lock everyone out of the site but granting them the ability to see the latest post. He logs in under a person's ID and makes a fake post about them and pretty much insults them. This really got everyone mad and some even are preparing to file a lawsuit. Being an officer of the guild is there anyway to get this guy to stop and calm people down. Thank you for your time reading this and I hope to hear a responds.
What a complete low-life this guy is to take things that far. Clearly he is not content merely to harass. He's taken it to the next level and damaged your guild's ability to function.
Taking back your site
Is there any way you can get in touch with the previous owner and get him to undo whatever control he gave this person? If he can't, you could try contacting your site host's support team to see if they can help you. Beyond that, I'm not sure how you would fix the situation except to simply cancel the site and start over with a new one. Maybe a tech-savvy reader will have a better solution for you.
Taking back your site
Is there any way you can get in touch with the previous owner and get him to undo whatever control he gave this person? If he can't, you could try contacting your site host's support team to see if they can help you. Beyond that, I'm not sure how you would fix the situation except to simply cancel the site and start over with a new one. Maybe a tech-savvy reader will have a better solution for you.
The lesson in this for all of us is to make sure that a current officer is the one with ultimate control. When there is a frequent turnover among officers, it's all too easy to lose track of who actually has the "keys" to a website or a voice chat server.
My own guild had an issue a few months ago where a person came into our Vent server to distract us during a raid. We soon discovered that no current officer had access to admin functions, and we were unable to ban the guy. It was pretty embarrassing for the leadership. It's one of those things that you don't really think about until it's too late. Until that point, the guild had never needed to exercise admin control in all of its seven years.
Don't let people hurt your guild by neglecting this important leadership duty!
Dealing with harassment
This person's repeated in-game harassment is a matter that only Blizzard can resolve. Tell your members to report him. GMs can see chat logs, even whispers, so they could see for themselves what he has been saying. They will most likely issue a temporary ban at first and then a permanent one if the behavior continues.
I don't see how a lawsuit could help the situation. If anything, it would simply incite this loser toward new, real-life forms of harassment.
The rage that your members are experiencing comes from feeling helpless to stop him. The officers need to empower their members to defend themselves within the rules of the game. Encourage them to report this player every time he acts out.
Resolving the website situation will also help people feel better and move on. Once you get control back or start over, then make sure your members know that something like that will never happen again. Tell them specifically the steps that you've taken -- and will continue to take -- to prevent the same situation in the future.
In the meantime, don't provoke him. Like all internet trolls, feeding him only makes him stronger. One way or another, the situation will eventually stop and you can all get back to the business of having fun.
/salute
Officers' Quarters keeps your guild leadership on track to cope with sticky situations such as members turned poachers or the return of an ex-guild leader and looking forward to what guilds need in Mists of Pandaria. Send your own guild-related questions and suggestions to scott@wowinsider.com.
Resolving the website situation will also help people feel better and move on. Once you get control back or start over, then make sure your members know that something like that will never happen again. Tell them specifically the steps that you've taken -- and will continue to take -- to prevent the same situation in the future.
In the meantime, don't provoke him. Like all internet trolls, feeding him only makes him stronger. One way or another, the situation will eventually stop and you can all get back to the business of having fun.
/salute
Officers' Quarters keeps your guild leadership on track to cope with sticky situations such as members turned poachers or the return of an ex-guild leader and looking forward to what guilds need in Mists of Pandaria. Send your own guild-related questions and suggestions to scott@wowinsider.com.
Filed under: Officers' Quarters (Guild Leadership)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Scuac Feb 6th 2012 2:15PM
When I first read that he was whispering during raids my first thought was "well just set to ignore the guy", but the come the COD letters, which makes me wonder:
If you have someone on ignore, do you still receive in game mail from that person?
Also, I have never received a COD, how easy is it to accidentally pay for the items? I would imagine that a GM would be able to reverse the charge if you make a ticket.
vincentmagius Feb 6th 2012 2:43PM
I don't think I've ever received a COD mail. I think it's supposed to verify whether you want to send the gold or not similar to when you are sending gold to another character.
Skarlet Feb 6th 2012 3:01PM
You won't receive an in-game mail from someone you have on ignore. However, the making and deleting of alts for someone as intent, as this guy sounds, on ruining your day, is pretty easy. I heard there might be something in the works to combat this by ignoring the battle.net account of anyone you have on ignore? Or was that a request? In any case, it's a brilliant idea.
I've never paid for a COD I didn't intend to, but if you're a bit tired and used to the usual click open, click take, click accept, then I could see it happening. Hopefully, he placed the price well above anything people had on their toons at the time.
As for the website. We had an issue in our guild about a year ago where a couple caused havoc and with half truths, bad language and just a lot of energy for drama, split the guild in half. They used the website as a means to communicate with people initially. While we could block them, we soon realized that our website owner was on an extended break. We couldn't get a hold of her strait away so we contacted the website service providers. They were very strict and clear that only the owner could make any changes, despite her being absent for several months. We were also unable to delete the website and start a new one with the same provider as only the owner could do this and they didn't support sites with the same guild names on the same servers. We did get in contact with her eventually and had the website ownership given to an active officer.
My advice regarding this whole thing would be report report report, he will eventually be taken care of in-game. Start a new website, delete your bookmarks to the old one and never look back. Making a fresh start will lift everyone's spirits and prevent this individual from making your lives difficult in the future.
Good luck!
Edymnion Feb 6th 2012 3:08PM
Yeah, you see the item at the bottom. When you click to take it it opens up a window with "Are you sure you want to send XYZ ABC gold?", and only after you click "Yes" does it complete.
Den Feb 6th 2012 2:22PM
This is called "metagaming." It's when a person uses the game or external features (such as guild sites and voice chat) in order to "win." Winning can range from tricking people into buying attached items to, in this case, breaking up a guild you have a problem with. It's really not hard to do with most WoW guilds (honestly, try joining a rival guild as an alt- I'm sure you could easily get access to their guild site within 2 weeks for the most part).
Please, if you're a guild leader, have plans written out that specify how guild resources, at the very least, will be passed should you become inactive, even if you see yourself playing WoW till the servers are shut down. Life happens, and nothing kills a guild more than finding out that you've lost a leader, a website, and voice chat =/ You can rebuild, but you will start losing people when that happens, and if it becomes public, it can be hard to reverse the damage.
Revynn Feb 6th 2012 2:39PM
Its "meta-gaming" when it's in the context of rival guilds that have a declared or understood hostility and they both expect this sort of behavior out of each other.
This guy's just being an ass.
Den Feb 6th 2012 3:56PM
It's not just between guilds.
EVE Online is a good example of this. People target a "corporation," learn it's ins and outs, and use that information to infiltrate them, kill their miners, etc. I recall reading a heist in which 3 guys (NOT a guild, just 3 friends) made up a story, false identities, and infiltrated a guild, all to get back at a single member of that corp. They gained his trust, lured him away from the safety of his group, made him give up his cargo and a lot of ISK, and then destroyed his ship.
I know WoW's not hardcore, but don't assume people aren't going to meta-game, and don't assume it'll just be guild vs. guild. My guild's only a bit over a year old and we've had several run ins with it, and one WAS by a loner.
Marcosius Feb 6th 2012 4:49PM
No, he's just an ass. He's not "winning" anything, he's just buttmad from some irrational reason and doesn't know when to stop. I've played EVE for years, I know full well what metagaming can truly be, this isn't it.
Den Feb 6th 2012 5:42PM
I almost can't believe I'm still in this conversation, so I'll make a final post, and hopefully this will help:
Being a general ass is griefing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griefing
Meta-gaming is when you take things beyond the game:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metagaming
Spamming people and trying to rip them off is griefing at the very least. Taking over a guild site is meta-gaming. I know EVE players can go much further than this, but he's taken things beyond the basic in game mechanics.
Luke Feb 6th 2012 6:47PM
@Den
World Of Warcraft is not EVE.
Further, some of the "meta-gaming" you are referring to could be considered harassment or cyber-stalking in most U.S. courts. Would the jerk in this letter see jail time? Probably not but he could face a hefty fine, court costs, and community service.
Will he ever be prosecuted? Doubtful, his actions would have to be brought to the attention of a district attorney and a protection order would have to be filed in his county. This would require Blizzard's intervention to provide evidence and relevant personal information to make the case. The company that provides the guild website in question would also likely need to be involved, so in the end jerk face is protected by relative anonymity and complexity.
However if he escalates his behavior, or has ever used a cell phone to harass guild members I could very easily see him being sent up shit creek, his only paddle will be whatever crappy defense lawyer he can manage to find.
And one last thing, we're not talking about EVE.
Killik Feb 7th 2012 6:51AM
Any harassment outside of WoW is 'metagaming'? So if he smashed someone's car windscreen it would only be 'metagaming'? It's only a game if there are previously agreed 'rules' - this is quite clearly not the case.
Dan Feb 7th 2012 10:03AM
The difference is that when you are "meta-gaming" your still doing it to advance yourself in game. Your EVE example of infiltration and robbery is still for the purpose of bettering or positioning themselves better in game. While you can argue that sending items C.O.D has in game motives, it is clear that his overall intention is to make all guild member's lives as difficult as possible. He's not trying to break apart a guild as part of some in-game strategy. He's harassing individuals and making their lives a living hell.
Grovinofdarkhour Feb 6th 2012 2:25PM
I absolutely wouldn't condone this behavior, but my evil twin suggests that whoever knew him best should start trying to guess his password.
goldfish_girl99 Feb 6th 2012 2:26PM
How can the guy be repeatedly harassing your players during raid time? Tell them all to put him on ignore. If the guy switches toons to continue to harass them, have them put the new toon on ignore and fill out an in-game harassment report, making sure to mention that he is toon-hopping to get around ignore.
Believe me, Blizzard takes those reports very seriously. We had a similar issue with a former guild member about a year ago. Blizzard banned the offending player for 3 days -- I found out because he created a new account in order to continue to harass us and complain that we got him banned. I simply put his new toons on ignore and opened a new ticket, explaining that he was circumventing the account ban. Judging by the guy's armory information, which shows no further activity on any of his toons, he was given a permanent vacation from the game.
If your players are refusing to put him on ignore, rising to his bait and getting angry enough to leave raid early then part of the problem is with the rest of your players...
Also, if you put someone on ignore they can't send in-game mail to you, which would prevent him from sending COD items to your members.
Boz Feb 6th 2012 2:31PM
"GMs can see chat logs, even whispers, so they could see for themselves what he has been saying."
-----------------------------------
This is true, but you can help the GM help you by arming them.
Consider that when you submit a ticket you are effectively giving your GM a sword and asking them to fight for you. If you give the date and time of the events you are giving that sword enchantments. If you have screenshots you've given them a shield. Did you remember to be polite in your ticket? Now the GM is fully-armored. Use decent grammar and avoid "text-talk?" You've just gemmed-out their gear. Make a joke that reflects positively on you, such as including a nerd-culture reference? Now they're buffed.
The more information you provide a GM and the more politely you do so, the better they can research and service your ticket. Remember to fill out the GM survey afterward: It helps them stay well fed!
Good luck!
Dreddlore Feb 6th 2012 3:18PM
I agree with Boz on the whole, when I had to petition the GM's when our EU guild went through some harassment I took the notion that English may not be their first language and avoided any slang/text-talk & provided as much info as possible.
However, although I was able to provide screen-shots but they do not accept them as evidence, the 'between the lines' here was that most of us are proficient in Photoshop or some other picture manipulation software.
In the end we traded a little bit of banter and afterward I completed the survey. As Boz said, any information and feedback is all good.
I hope you get that poison thorn removed from your sides !
Pyromelter Feb 6th 2012 3:38PM
Screenshots are no good, because of the as-mentioned photoshop thing.
However, the best thing you can do is give a date, and time, and make sure when you give them the time, you specify AM or PM, as well as the Time Zone - this will allow the GM's to pinpoint the chat logs to that specific time for them to take a look at it.
Zapwidget Feb 6th 2012 5:10PM
"Screenshots are no good, because of the as-mentioned photoshop thing."
Sure, shopping a photo is a possibility, but if the screenshot has the clock displayd and the chat log it gives the GM a more definite reference for finding the event in question in the logs. It can also give an idea as to what exactly was happening if the harassment takes forms other than chat. I don't know what other forms it can take, but then, I haven't put a lot of thought in to how to be an ass in the game. I'm sure those who have would be able to find something that would be easier to show in a screen than to describe with words alone.
Jon Feb 6th 2012 2:41PM
Have all affected parties screenshot, send to GM, and ignore this guy. Get new website and make sure there's a dedicated admin. Case closed.
Eldoron Feb 6th 2012 2:42PM
In today's culture, more and more people will be jerks, or at least trolls... morality is going down, and the new generation is speaking in memes