It's only a game - isn't it?

AS GM of our guild the ethos I’ve tried to create above all else - with the help of the officers - is that we have fun and respect other people. A little courtesy goes a long way, don’t you think?

It may be a virtual world, but there are actually real people on the end of all those chars with real feelings. I accept that there are also a lot of alter-egos floating around out there, but such is our approach that the nastier ones have quickly been found out and flushed out of the guild.

They quickly stick out like a sore thumb.

For instance we once had a rogue who was our highest dpser at the time, but his attitude stank. He was boastful, abusive and continually disrupting guild chat. I eventually booted him out. He may have been good on the instances and raids, but that’s no guarantee of a place in the guild.

Recently we had a mage join us and after a couple of days he came online, let fly with a racist rant then:

/gquit

I whispered them, but got no reply. Later he came back online, I whispered again and he said his account had been hacked and begged to rejoin the guild to at least explain what had happened.

He was received back with much empathy and support. Several days later he left again. No comment. Zilch. Just ‘so-and-so left guild.’

I whispered again and said that at least a ‘goodbye’ would have been nice. The reply I got was: ‘I don’t wanna be in a guild anymore mate and it’s only a game so stop worrying.’

I explained that he had been well treated by the guild after the hacking incident and our members at least deserved better than that. I got no reply.

Wow obviously mirrors real life, but just because it’s a game doesn’t mean you can trample over all the other players. We’ve had some ‘interesting’ youngsters in our guild.

Some have flounced off muttering expletives – I think that’s what all those asterisks mean - but others have ‘grown up’ to learn how to actually treat people properly and with respect. It may be ‘just a game’, but it’s also an opportunity to help people learn some real life skills in communication and respect.