Comments on: The Dark Side of Voice Chat

By: When a Guild Falls « Epic Slant – MMO Design and Guild Leadership

When a Guild Falls « Epic Slant – MMO Design and Guild Leadership — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:33:04 +0000

[...] one attempt a month ago with worse gear would take us six. At the same time we had a lot of “Scrappy Doos” in the guild claiming how to do things better. Finally, and this is key, the officer corps [...]

By: Buuncha

Buuncha — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:56:43 +0000

I deny all allegations that have been made against me in this article.

By: Hunter

Hunter — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:23:26 +0000

thats actually pretty accurate, with good advice on how to deal with people. definitely some of those in my current guild.

By: Endraal

Endraal — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:52:38 +0000

I remember all these guys from the Iniquity days:)
Names just kept popping into my head while I was reading.
Thanks for the memory stroll.

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 01:16:01 +0000

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by Epic_Slant: Ferrel looks at the dark side of voice chat and (humorously) explains the four major demons to watch out for. http://bit.ly/1yuLKq #mmorpg…

By: Brian 'Psychochild' Green

Brian 'Psychochild' Green — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:08:45 +0000

The problem with “Scrappy Doo” is that people might overlook actual good advice. There have been a few times in runs I’ve been in where someone suggests something and the leader treats that person like the “Scrappy Doo” because that’s not how the video shows it, or how they’ve run it before, or how their cousin’s uncle’s sister’s brother said they did it in some überguild that conquered the encounter five patches ago. Of course, then you keep wiping because everyone’s not getting the approved strategy “quite right”, ignoring the fact that group composition and skill is vastly different.

By: Ferrel

Ferrel — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:57:47 +0000

Dresden loved that line too. Occasionally I mange some comedy gold =D
Honestly though I was so happy with this article. It is one of the ones I really worked at.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:50:29 +0000

Haha, great article Ferrel. I love the sun rise line from Captain Hammer. If this article had a +1 option, I’d give it a +2.

By: Tweets that mention The Dark Side of Voice Chat « Epic Slant – MMO Design and Guild Leadership -- Topsy.com

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:17:35 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by B.J. Keeton, Tamara L. Waters. Tamara L. Waters said: RT @professorbeej: The Dark Side of Voice Chat http://bit.ly/oVP6T [...]

By: Professor Beej

Professor Beej — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:30:22 +0000

You get my vote just for having a Captain Hammer reference. I introduced my night class of Freshman Comp students to it last night as an example of a perfect narrative structure, so waking up to see this post in my RSS just made me happy.

But you’re right about him. The self-importance and understood irreplaceability can become a problem fast and the only way to fix that is to show him just how expendable he is. (Or she!) I’ve had to deal with those prima donnas before. The best way I’ve found to keep them humble: let a few heals slip by, stand idle for a couple of GCDs, and let them realize they CAN drop if the rest of the team isn’t behind them.