Delivis Responds

Delivis has near-legendary status as a leader of Mid/Perc, in PvE and RvR. Yet another influential supposed "dumb troll."
  1. What kind of leadership do you do in DAoC? (e.g., guild leadership? leading multi-group PvE or RvR raids? RvR gank groups? all of the above?)

    I GM a guild and have since release. I lead many PvE raids: epic dungeon raids, ML raids as well as RvR: sometimes relic raids, leading zergs in emain/HW, as well as gank groups.

  2. Have you had any formal leadership training in RL? (e.g., military, leadership seminars, etc.)

    No.

  3. What background has helped you become the leader you are now? it>(e.g., raising kids, just plain leading raids in DAoC, having been a business leader, etc.)

    I have managed a buisness. I have also directed/acted in some local theatrical plays (i was astonished how much the study of dramatic arts can teach you about people in general). Also the study of psychology, sociology, philosophy amoung others, has given me both a bit of an understanding of people (why they act/react/interact the way they do) and has instilled great value for taking initiative in a community (real or virtual, people are the same).

  4. What background/experience (in and out of game) has helped you with the *tactics and strategies* of RvR?

    I have played with most gank group, that has helped alot in terms of group tactics, learning one's role in a group and class synergy. For large scale offensive RvR i have learned alot from Snapp, Galroth and Lef amoung others. For large scale defensive RvR i have learned from Gisli.

  5. . What is your approximate age? (20-24, 25-29; or 20-29, 30-39, etc.)

    18

  6. Do you have or have you had your own family? (i.e., live(d) in your own household (not your parents') with at least one other person)

    No family of my own yet..though i wouldnt mind a couple of bouncing kabolds...err i mean kids to call my own someday far down the road..:)

  7. What are your goal(s) and motivation(s) as a leader? (e.g., to win? to make sure everyone has a good time? RPs? fame & fortune?)

    Winning is great and in a game ofcourse it is a goal. However what i think should be more paramount than winning alone, is the attitude along the way and afterwards.

    Fame is a result of good leading (not to mention perma-tell-hell, my ML11 ability aparently), but the motivations are allways for the welfare of the people involved and the greater community (realm). As soon as fame becomes the motivation, it will no longer be good leading. My goals are actually quite peculiar, i am fascinated with the societies in MMORPG games, and try to bridge what i learn about people in a virtual setting to the people of real life in order to understand what makes them tick and how best to make a cohesive community - MMORPGs provide a unique insight into this as the community aspect of the game is just as important to the player as the real life community is to the person; people have to collectivly achieve goals, satisfy needs and desires, resolve conflict etc.. So my motivations are rooted in a personal interest and fascination of human nature and human interaction, as well as the well being and success of the realm.

  8. What are the most important traits of a good leader, and what, in your opinion, distinguishes a good leader from a *bad* leader?

    There are allways very few "bad" leaders due to several barriers that stand in the way. Leaders have to be very strong in character in order to volunteer to take initiative for example. If they loose their cool often, or get angry at players and cant distance themselves from petty drama to focus on leading and the bigger picture, leading will be more frustration than it is worth. And overall, if leaders dont maintain a good reputation, people will not be willing to follow them..so the few "bad" leaders that may come up, dont stay around long.

    One important thing is to not see yourself as power figure - dont get caught up in a power-tripish rhetorical mentality. Think of yourself as more of an organiser and mediator, listen to those on your raids or in your guild etc.

    Attitude. You cant be a passive slave to emotions and reactions - be activly aware of them and choose your attitude, it will rub off on those following you. Though normally one would give up after a few losses and begin to despair, a leader needs to be aware of this and be quite the opposite to keep morale high. Normally people jump onto drama/flaming bandwagons like moths to a flame, a good leader cant, and should infact stop it. Normally people get very irritable if something goes wrong or they are doing something that involves alot of waiting and may start to complain or just get generally irrittable and impatient, a good leader shouldnt, and should try to make the mood lighter and put people at ease..:)

  9. What should an aspiring leader always keep in mind? What mistakes should he/she avoid? (Multple answers ok)

    You will make mistakes and thats OK, this is a game and mistakes are not very concequencial, people will geenrally understand.

    Dont bear all the responsibility on yourself, your not the only person there and dont have to come up with every idea etc.

    Plan ahead and get as much info as you can on the dungeon, rvr zone, quest, etc, but realise this is a game, your never going to have to do calculus or solve Vulcan logic puzzles in game. Any problems in terms of strategy are usually quite simple - apart from taking the initative to lead it isnt all that difficult; run to mob, point to mob, raid kills mob, rinse and repeat. A little more difficult however when it comes to running a guild.

    Be above the drama in the raid BG, or guild chat, that is to say dont get involved in the petty fights, dont take sides etc.

    Any conflict that occurs between people in real life or between players in game is virtually alllways petty and not worth the energy ro fight over, dont make a big deal of it.

    Assume the good intentions of everyone. After 3 years of leading raids and thousands of different people on them, not once have i banned, balcklisted, or kicked anyone out of any of my raids. No one has ever tried to steal something or log with loot. That's not to say it doesn't happen, but even if someone LDs right inbetween getting the item and giving it to you, looking like more than cooincidence, it probably isnt and you should'nt worry about it..:)

    Give people one instruction at a time and they will do that one thing pretty well. Give them 10 instructions and they will do none of them at all.

    No matter how much you repeat instructions, some will allways be clueless and not listen, dont get frustrated, patience is a virtue.

    Make friends with your /anon function or learn to live with constant tell spam hehe.

    When in doubt; zerg, when in greater doubt; bring a bigger zerg, when zerg fails; be afraid, be very afraid.

    Uggh so much more, thats all i can think of for now.

  10. What, in your opinion, makes a good follower?

    Remember you are not the only person on the raid/event, and the raid leader's decisions are (or should be ) for the benefit and welfare of most people and not just you.

  11. Do you have a leader role-model, or someone whose style you emulate in whole or part?

    Though i definatly try to learn from other leaders, when it comes to my raids i sort of make up my own stuff as i go and improvise.

  12. Who do you think are other good leaders (in game/out of game)?

    Anyone who is a longtime leader in game is good; Gisli, Galroth, Snapp to name a few....

  13. Any more comments on your own style of leadership (and/or "followship")?

    Hmmm..nope..come to my raids and judge/asess my style for yourself..:)

  14. Bonus question: Some of you role-play while leading. Any comments on the role of roleplaying with leadership?

    You cannot say everything that needs to be said in a game and maintain to roleplay. For example: "please turn your effects to none and lower your resolution so you lag less" can't be roleplayed very well. I do use roleplaying when i can however, especially the 'dumb troll' persona to make the raiding atmosphere light, or to soften the blow of defeat when everyone wants to leave.

  15. Do you think leadership in DAoC has had positive (or even negative) effects in you and your Real Life? If so, in what way?

    The one negative i can think of is the sheer time commitment involved. Though my daoc leadershiop has had mostly positive affects. My virtual and real life leaderhip have a sort of synergy - i learn from the two to make both better.

  16. If you have alts that take up leadership, do you find that followers treat you differently when they don't know it's "you"?

    Whenever leading i allways go on my main character; Delivis. Name ascociation is very important; if a raid is lead by a person people know, like or think does raids well/successfully they are more likely to go on that raid/event. The one great thing about alts is no tell hell though..:)..not to mention no begging to run raids..or even bribing lol.

DAoC Leadership Resources