Real Leadership in the Virtual Environment
Hi all,
I’ve got a new gaming/psychology topic today…and again one that pertains to MMOs. So I’m sure several of us have been in interviews where they ask you about your leadership experiences. I know people will talk about being an active member in their sorority’s council or maybe they were the captain of a sports team. But to a lot of people, it would be laughable to cite being an officer in a raiding guild in a game like World of Warcraft as a leadership experience. But why? Why is it more legitimate to be the captain of your high school basketball team than it is to be a raid leader or guild leader? Some people would say that it’s because World of Warcraft isn’t real…it’s a video game. Therefore, nothing that happens in it is of value in the real world. But how does that really stack up?
Jang and Ryu (2011) conducted a study on 300 MMORPG players in Korea. These participants filled out a number of online surveys to assess what sort of leadership skills they applied in game as well as their real-world leadership abilities. I won’t go into too much detail (the reference is below if you want to look more into it yourself), but they basically found that players who were involved in online communities (i.e., being a member of a guild) used several important skills to ensure the success of the group. There was a strong correlation between in-game and real-world leadership skills among these players. Now, of course, this study does not help indicate which came first. It is possible that people with strong leadership skills simply carried those skills into the game. On the other hand, it is also possible that practicing leading in games like WoW actually helps improve leadership abilities. But the bottom line is: leadership in virtual environments is strongly related to leadership in real-world settings.
Now I want to talk a little bit about a personal example from the leadership structure of my current guild (Dominion on Stormrage). Within the last month, we have killed Archimonde on Mythic difficulty (for those who do not know, this is currently the hardest boss in the game currently…the “last boss” until the next expansion comes out). This is something that only a small percentage of guilds around the world are able to accomplish and, while it requires each and every player to perform at a certain level, there is something to be said that it would never have happened if it were not for our leaders. This small group of players had to corral 20 strangers and organize them to accomplish a very difficult task. So lets talk about them and their roles/responsibilities.
We have a recruitment officer (well, we used to and may in the future; we’re in a bit of a transition to that effect). The recruitment officer’s primary responsibility is to pitch the guild and find people who would be good potential raiders. They help people figure out how/where to apply. Yes, you apply to a serious raiding guild the same way you would a job. The recruitment officer would then schedule an interview between the applicant and the other officers.
Next up (in no particular order) is the DPS officer. This person is basically “in charge” of the damage-dealers in the raid. They have to be both mechanically skilled (the damage officer should be able to do damage!) as well as have a fundamental understanding of the other DPS classes in order to be able to identify if/when players are underperforming. Ideally, then, the DPS officer would work with the player to help them learn how to improve (even if that just means sending them off to forums to do some research).
Another important position is the healing officer. This officer, like the DPS officer, needs to be skilled as well as know the inner workings of the other healing classes. In addition, during raids, the healing officer has to know what defensive cooldowns are available among raiders and figure out which ones to use and when to use them during a given fight.
Of course, there is also the raid leader. The raid leader must research upcoming fights, read up on strategies, and determine what strategy will work best for the raid in order to kill the boss. This officer then needs to communicate this strategy to the raid and continue directing players throughout the encounter to ensure everyone is doing what they need to do.
Last, but not least, we have the guild leader (basically, the CEO of the guild). The guild leader often has the final say in decisions. Though, luckily, our guild leader has the wherewithal to not make gut decisions against the counsel of the other officers. He will frequently make group decisions with the other officers, but he does put his foot down from time to time.
So each of the officers has their specific roles and responsibilities as it pertains to the survival of the guild and raid group. But they also have a lot of shared responsibilities. They have to participate in interviewing applicants to determine if the applicant would be a good fit for the guild. They have to evaluate players to determine if they are worthy of being promoted or need to be demoted. They have to mediate conflicts between members of the raid. After a boss is killed, the officers discuss the loot and determine who to give gear to. They typically stay up after raid is over and discuss amongst themselves about the raid’s performance, where to improve, and who needs to be remediated.
Also importantly, the officers need to model skills at managing their own emotions. We’ve had a lot of very frustrating nights. It took us multiple weeks of trying to eventually kill Archimonde. Tempers flared within raiders and the officers were no exception to that. But when something went wrong, they needed to be able to take a step back and not let their emotions get the best of them and, for instance, keep themselves from automatically kicking someone who annoyed them from the guild.
Basically, what I’m trying to say, the leaders of this guild do so much work during raids and behind the scenes, making decisions that are intended to benefit the raid group and help ensure the guild’s success. Without them, this random assortment of personalities from across the U.S. and Canada would never be able to do half of what we’ve managed to do. So don’t they deserve some recognition? Don’t their frequent displays of leadership and collaboration in this virtual environment qualify as an applicable leadership experience that could be referenced during an interview or on a resume? You don’t magically just know how to lead a guild to victory. It takes real skills and it takes practice. Something to think about.
That’s all for now. See y’all next time!
(P.S., thank you to the small group of players who led our raid and continue to lead our raid on to victory. #Dominionstormrage).
References:
Jang, Y. & Ryu, S. (2011). Exploring game experiences and game leadership in massively multiplayer online role-playing games. British Journal of Educational Technology, 42(4), 616-623. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8535.2010.01064.x
Mind of Malm 