Sections of this article will contain references to actual players and situations that have occurred within an MMO. Ordinarily I'd let these sorts of things slide under the radar and allow the lessons to be learned privately (which is the ideal outcome for these sorts of things) however I view this as an opportunity to teach other potential leaders of the various pitfalls and possible solutions to these kinds of events.
No names will be used. Even if one were to guess who I am referring to, I must make it absolutely clear that I do not intend for them to be vilified in any way. Redemption is always possible and I do not wish it to be prematurely denied to them. Please keep this in mind throughout the following.
One of our newer members had managed to completely stun me today. Within the space of a few hours, this new member had very publicly committed five of the seven deadly sins.
I was immediately (and rightly) bombarded with complaints from other guild members, even though I had already cautioned the offending party in private. It seemed not enough just to rebuke the offender, but also to go into damage control mode for the offended.
In the end we laughed it off, but it did get me thinking about how the cardinal sins come into play in these environs.
- Lust:
This one will be well known by quite a few guild leaders and officers I imagine. I'm bending the meaning slightly here for use in MMO's.
Online relationships of any kind, be it boyfriend/girlfriend, husband/wife, siblings or even just RL friends can cause quite a bit of disturbance in the overall harmony of what was once a functional guild.
For example: One of the well liked and valued members has a friend who is a complete tool (this has not happened in Harms Way yet, but it has happened recently). The guild leaders may find it difficult to rein said friend into acceptable behaviour due to the real life relationship.
I won't go into any more detail as this topic has been covered many, many times - most recently by the Drama Mamas over at WoW.com - and the solutions given there are as good as any I could provide and, much more likely, better ones.
- Gluttony:
Yet another one I need to bend the meaning for - in this case, constantly asking for more.
In most cases guilds will experience this in the form of a player who keeps asking to essentially be carried through things, be they quests, dungeons or even raids. Such players are effectively a parasite that latch on to a well-meaning guild and start sucking. The obvious solution is that the parasite should be removed.
Of course, there's a distinction between MMO gluttony and a guild member simply asking for assistance. The key to identifying a glutton from a desired member is all about their attitude. There's no clear line in the sand here, so it's up to your guild or raid leaders to decide the course of action.
I must stress though, don't be hasty to label someone as a glutton when they're simply asking for help.
***
Of these sins, so far I've only encountered Gluttony within Harms Way, and even then it was only from one member, so we're doing quite well on those fronts. Like I said before, the ideal course of action is to handle the matter privately and to give the offending party an opportunity to redeem themselves before grabbing your banhammer and swinging for the fences
Watch this space for more details on MMO Sins. Next time: Greed & Sloth!
-Reverend Ahz
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