LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY

 

In most organizations, the CO is the nice guy everyone loves and respects, while the XO is the guy who kicks asses and gets them into gear. Sometimes the nice guy is too nice and things don’t get done, and sometimes the hardass is too mean and things get done at the expense of morale. Good leadership structures codify this “good cop/bad cop” dichotomy to take advantage of the system’s strengths and to limit the weaknesses.

 

In Delusions, we bend this system a bit. The guild’s CO is a nice guy with a definite no-bullshit streak, and the XO is a focused organizer with a soft heart. The two have worked together in this capacity before, and their system works. This system of balance is essential to Delusion’s leadership style.

 

Most importantly, as noted on the main Ranks page, the leadership positions in the guild are service positions, not privilege positions. When ambiguous situations call for definite solutions, Delusions leaders will tend to err in favor of guild members at their own expense. Exceptions to this rule will always have a reason communicated in clear terms. Delusions leaders will ensure that guild philosophy is upheld, and will be exemplars of guild principles. The leaders are not, however, infallible. Therefore, private messages in game, or on the forum, are always welcome from members who feel like they have a suggestion to make. Or an axe to grind. You know, either is good.

 

 

MEMBERSHIP RANK PHILOSOPHY

 

Diplomat

The idea behind the Diplomat rank is to provide the guild a means to recognize and empower natural leaders other than the officers. In most guilds, this is referred to as the “Raider” or “Veteran” rank. However, in most guilds, this sort of sub-officer badass-member rank can be a divisive issue when the process of becoming one is either unknown, or related only to “who’s good at the game” and/or “who logs 17 hours /played every day.”

 

In Delusions, the Diplomat rank is reserved for those types of members who would be officers if we just had a buncha officers. These are members who have two important attributes: One, they are highly skilled and knowledgeable when it comes to the game, and as such act as natural mentors to guild members on gameplay issues. Two, they know how to act as mentors without being condescending jerks, and know how to act in the guild’s long-term best interests. This latter point, regarding people skills and motivations, is the most critical. Delusions will have many skilled players. Not everyone knows how to tell someone else they suck at something in a nice way. That’s not a bad thing. There’s no shame in being a highly skilled player who does not make the Diplomat rank. At least, there shouldn’t be. If there is, then the Leadership has let you down, and you should tell them so.

 

Peacekeeper

The idea behind the Peacekeeper rank is to provide the guild a quick and easy way to manage raid invites. Delusions will have a diverse array of players, some hardcore and some softcore and some all in the middle. The Peacekeeper rank has nothing to do with that, though, which is contrary to how most guilds do it. A rank like this is normally reserved for the hardcore members. In Delusions, this rank is setup for players who are at the minimum gear level to be useful in a raid, and who will also be raiding regularly.

 

If this sounds dubiously similar to the dreaded gearscore, well, it is. In WoW, one’s gear really does bracket the high- and low-end potential of a player to do their job. A skilled but badly geared player may be able to perform on the high end of the bracket, but the bracket itself is still low. The Peacekeeper rank makes it easy to distinguish between those who are ready to go, and those who might need to be carried.

 

As an aside, we in Delusions have nothing against carrying undergeared players. But … like … we won’t be doing that until there are some players who are overgeared. You can’t fight the maths with willpower, unfortunately.

 

Last, fear not the “regularly” word attached to the rank’s description if you are a player who only plays a few hours a week. There’s a difference between “regularly” and “frequently.” Delusions values the contributions of players who only get a little time to play, but who play hard and well when doing so. Even members who only raid once a week are entitled to the Peacekeeper rank, as long as they can keep their gear and skill current.

 

Citizen

This is the rank obviously for all the people who are leveling, who are new to the guild, and who are a little more socialite and a little less mob-slaughterer. If you prefer your button mashing to result in text more often than dead mobs, that’s great, and we value these types of game players. Often they add heart and soul to a guild that would otherwise be pursuing gear like zombies pursue brains …

 

The cool thing about Delusions is that Citizens totally get to raid, as long as we (A) have room, and (B) are sufficiently OP for the raid that we can carry you. As noted above, we really don’t mind carrying people who are loved and valued guildies … we just don’t do so if the attempt is likely to end in failure.

 

Padawan

This rank is pretty well explained on the main Ranks page. The main thing guys is, seriously, at least TRY to keep the chat PG-13 when the kiddos are online. The rest of the time, feel free to drop cluster-fbombs on guild chat and talk about your crazy slutty cousin all you want. But when you know there’s a child online, keep those conversations private or silent. We’re not gonna sweat a few PG-13 curse words. Let’s just not go overboard.

 

And for parents, if you really strongly prefer to completely and utterly shelter your kids’ eyes and minds from the corruption of curse words and sex talk, this guild really isn’t for you. As noted in the main description of the rank, we will not be censoring guild chat, nor reprimanding members for their PG-13 conversation (which, remember allows for one massive F-bomb per feature length film). We will ask members be in control. But that’s it.

 

Initiate

What needs to be said here? Let’s see … Initiates are not allowed to get loot, and have to tithe 35% of their in-game profits to the guild for the duration of their trial period. Also, they have to acquiesce to every Padawan’s request to be run through low level content, over and over and over again.

 

Disclaimer: None of that above is really true.