Behavior in raids – the final chapter

If we take the two last items of group dynamics that were part of the webpage referred to in the initial article they touch on the topics of rumors/topics of communication among raid members as well as group competition.

Raid communication can be divided into three main categories; pre-raid communication, in-raid communication and post-raid communication. Each of these again divided into directions from leadership, game related topics and social chatter. For quick examples; a pre-raid direction might be a raid invite, an in-game social chatter could be a joke between boss fights and a post-raid game related topic could be player suggestion for a change in strategy for a boss fight. You will find that the participants in each of the categories as well are their sub-categories will contain a different set of members, and whom you find in each group can help you understand a bit more of the groups social dynamics. Naturally it is important to understand whom gets along, who does not and who are just silently sitting in a corner. People that get along are more likely to ‘go that extra mile’ to help out someone they relate to. People that do not get along a more like to ‘add some effort’ in a competitive context. And people that are just silent will often need very specific details and orders to do anything beyond what they normally do. And if your raid goes silent its never a good sign…

Now we have mentioned individual competitions, but it scales once you add another group to it. Either a DPS-race between melee and ranged DPS or a progress race with another raiding guild. Once we step from individual to group competition we are also ‘upping the ante’ if both groups believe they can out-perform the other, or completely destroy it if either group feels that the competition is rigged or beyond their reach. In short its a tool in the raid leaders tool box, but one that requires a bit of pre-analysis to make proper use of. I have to admit that I have also been inspired by raid guild progress competition on an individual level, or even on a class progress level for that matter, but to make this effect contagious you need the whole group believe it is possible to ‘win’. Having a goal is one thing, adding some competition makes the goal more alive as a target. And whether you love to win or just enjoy achieving a goal its an added value to help bring your raid members together as a team.

In the end its all about having fun. Remember that above all else. If you are not having fun you are not doing it right, or you should be doing something else. Continuing to ‘not have fun’ just seems like a bad idea…