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What makes an effective city/council leader?

TheophilusTheophilus Member Posts: 784 ✭✭✭✭
I don't want another discussion about how to make Stavenn better... we've had plenty of those and I think we know what to do (at least for now).

For those of you who have led an org, or know what it takes to lead an org, what makes for an effective leader? Although each org has its fair share of differences, there are qualities every leader should have IG and IRL regardless of his or her method of RP.
(Ring): Lartus says, "I heard Theophilus once threw a grenade and killed ten people."
(Ring): Lartus says, "Then it exploded."

(Ring): Zsetsu says, "Everyone's playing checkers, but Theophilus is playing chess."

Comments

  • BathanBathan Member Posts: 1,056 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The ability to wear multiple hats, honestly. It doesn't hurt to also have the ability to inspire a willingness to succeed in others.
    ‘Least I won’t have to carry it no more. You see how bloody heavy it is?’

    ‘Every sword’s a weight to carry. Men don’t see that when they pick ’em up. But they get heavier with time.”

  • TheophilusTheophilus Member Posts: 784 ✭✭✭✭
    @Bathan couldn't agree more. Something I've been working hard at, so hopefully I am on the right track.
    (Ring): Lartus says, "I heard Theophilus once threw a grenade and killed ten people."
    (Ring): Lartus says, "Then it exploded."

    (Ring): Zsetsu says, "Everyone's playing checkers, but Theophilus is playing chess."
  • UltrixUltrix Member Posts: 288 ✭✭✭
    Some thoughts:

    1. Facetime. 
    2. Ability to communicate clearly and concisely, and in a frequent enough manner, for your members to know what is going on 
    3. A willingness to do exactly what you ask of each of your members to do. If your leadership isn't out there, what message does that send?
    4. Ability to show levelhead-ness/reasonableness when it comes to making decisions, especially when there is no consensus in the group.

  • IniarIniar Member Posts: 3,213 ✭✭✭✭✭
    5. Ability to handle miscreants.
    wit beyond measure is a Sidhe's greatest treasure
  • BathanBathan Member Posts: 1,056 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Bathan couldn't agree more. Something I've been working hard at, so hopefully I am on the right track.

    I think it also depends on what sort of leader you want to be. Once upon a time Stavenn was led by some of the baddest, most mean-spirited dudes in Imperian's history. They were mostly griefers taking advantage of lackluster curing at the time, but they did a good job putting the fear into their enemies. Martial prowess and a reasonable effort to be in-character (Basically all of them were Khizan, roleplaywise) allowed Stavenn to be in a golden age for like the first four years of Imperian. Around the time of Imperator Mena, the blood of the old kings had grown thin, and Stavenn began electing Imperators who were, if nothing else, super reasonable human beings. Mena led to Kari, Kari led to someone else who I can't bother to remember and so on and so forth. They were not by any stretch of imagination bad city leaders, but they just didn't command the respect of ragey nerds like Menoch. This has led to what is now modern day Stavenn, which continues to be passed off as people realize 'holy **** there is actually nothing we can do to fix this'.

    Many hats remains my major bit of advice. Some people will want a conqueror to lead them, and you're a decent enough combatant, so leverage that. Others are going to need someone to give them things to do in order to continue logging in. Those individuals are going to be insanely difficult to please unless you're Ultrix, who excels at throwing birthday parties and mandatory patty cake circles. Try and motivate them with the goal of 'we need Stavenn to not suck, and you have to do your part'. Pay close attention to new people, try and sell them on a specific culture you're trying to build in Stavenn. Approach other org leaders OOC (at their discretion) and see if they're interested in any kind of small scale RP that might generate mutually beneficial results.


    ‘Least I won’t have to carry it no more. You see how bloody heavy it is?’

    ‘Every sword’s a weight to carry. Men don’t see that when they pick ’em up. But they get heavier with time.”

  • JulesJules Member Posts: 1,080 ✭✭✭
    Ultrix is making us do mandatory fun crossword puzzles this weekend :(  I am terrible at crossword puzzles.

    Anyway, she's insanely organized and I am also guessing that her coding knowledge allows her to parse nearly every log available to her to extract and keep incredibly detailed records on who is doing what.  I am assuming that's how I keep getting these "congratulations for donating x amount of shards" messages :P  I think once an org gets to a certain size, that's the only way to be fair about things, probably (although I don't know that most orgs have that level of detail).  It's really nice to see people be rewarded on the fly, too, though, which is how it was when I came back over the summer, because I think it's actually tougher for people now, but we were smaller, too.  Now might actually be a time for you guys to do just that (because if I understand the situation, you guys are very small right now, so might as well play up the good points of that).   

    Good leaders almost always scout for people who can be relied upon, and have a team surrounding them.  

  • AhkanAhkan Member Posts: 2,375 ✭✭✭✭✭
    In Imperian? 

    Timing. Be  the good egg after a string of bad eggs.
    or
    Be willing to metagame,  kick out, disfavour  and  mudsling your way to the top on the shoulders of better people who don't want it.
  • KabaalKabaal Member Posts: 303 ✭✭✭
    Give your friends lots of city credits!

    Ambiguous cityfavours

    Pick one thing you want to yell at everyone about every day

    Win whatever form of conflict is going on at the time.
  • KrysalissKrysaliss Member Posts: 374 ✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2015
    Good leadership requires a level head and a desire to make the org you are leading awesome for as many people as you can. There should be stuff going on for people who like to kill other people, people who like to hunt, RP, craft, whatever. Stavenn's pretty well set up for this already. But! Structures that support, acknowledge, and reward effort that benefits the city in ways that people will actually ENJOY doing is all good. Do lots of that.

    Have a vision and see the steps necessary to create it (or have people who can do that for you) and the ability to break up projects into tasks that can be delegated. And then delegate. 

    Be able and willing to reach out to people you don't usually talk to and get input from a range of sources and take critique without being a baby about it. 

    Don't be afraid of breaking things to fix them, but also not immediately decide to break everything without first sorting out what's working and what isn't. 

    I am in serious disagreement with the idea that the leadership of Stavenn back in the bad ol' days was good. Being scary and commanding martial respect was only good for attracting PKers, but it stifled a lot of other stuff. The -best- leaders of Stavenn walked in both worlds, commanding respect on the battlefield but also supporting the culture of the city. 

    Poke people directly. If you just generally ask for things, or suggest ideas, expect to get a LOT of crickets. Go find people. Talk to them one on one, drag them specifically into tasks (pick tasks well suited to the people you are tossing them at). Praise heavily when people are awesome and do stuff. Find out -why- people aren't doing stuff (again, by going to them directly). 

    If you find someone who does things well and often, keep them happy, for they are a rare and glorious commodity. 

    EDIT - Give people a chance. Even people you personally dislike. Even people with a stupid history. I'm not always the best at this, but the better I get at it, the better results I end up with are. A LOT of people who have been around for ages here started as stupid teenagers and are now adults. They may have settled. Also, it's a game. We should start with the idea that people are around to have fun and should be leading with that foremost in mind. If someone acts up, respond to that, not to your expectation of what they MIGHT do. 
  • MenochMenoch Member Posts: 594 ✭✭✭
    Ahkan said:

    In Imperian? 


    Timing. Be  the good egg after a string of bad eggs.
    or
    Be willing to metagame,  kick out, disfavour  and  mudsling your way to the top on the shoulders of better people who don't want it.
    I'm super tired of defending myself over my time, and find it hilarious that yet again personal attacks are cool on forums, as long as you are super specific about whoever you are targeting.

    If you ask some people, I was the best person ever at that job, if you ask others, I was a 'ragey nerd'. I'd say a solid 70%+ of the things I've been accused of, I never had anything to do with.

    I quoted Ahkan's post because out of all the random stuff ITT this is the only thing that has any ring of truth to it. Imperian in a very light roleplaying atmosphere with a very heavy community focus, and that's the way this super niche market/playerbase really wants it at the end of the day, as evidenced by this is how the game has been encouraged to progress for a long time.

    My problem was that I was a meanie poo poo head on RT when people would do laughably stupid things, like cleave teammates or spam dsl into rebounding. You know, the same things you guys joke about, I just didn't kiss boo boos away, because I'm not super attached to the clique, and because most of the people that log in regularly have absolutely no ability to handle criticism, even polite, and mine was rarely that.

    Wanna be an effective leader? @Theophilus, you will have people who will revere your character's imprint on history, and people who will disparage it. Don't let that matter, don't spend your time in game worrying 100% about administrative duties. At the end of the day, you will have people like Yaribelle and Mena who get forgotten and shat on, despite the work they did that was pretty much entirely positive. Then you have people like me, where one tragic (and hilarious) mistell means all of a given fictional woodland people will hate you for literally years in character and out. Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things and remember it's a game, you'll walk away from the experience with a good feeling.
  • KrysalissKrysaliss Member Posts: 374 ✭✭✭✭
    Menoch said:

    Ahkan said:


    Wanna be an effective leader? @Theophilus, you will have people who will revere your character's imprint on history, and people who will disparage it.

    Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things and remember it's a game, you'll walk away from the experience with a good feeling.
    I completely hate how the quote boxes work on the forums. Completely. 

    Also - this man speaks the truth. If you do your job right, you will have people who hero worship you and people who despise you. Don't worry about all that, just do what you need to do and keep in mind that it's a game. 
  • AhkanAhkan Member Posts: 2,375 ✭✭✭✭✭
    @Menoch

    I wasn't really focusing on any one person. You can look at any org and point out the 'ok' leader who was 'great' because their predecessor and replacement were crappy. People also have ooc meltdowns and torpedo their own rule.

    A big thing that people are ignoring is that different orgs have different personalities and thus favor certain leaders. Stavenn has always liked 'strong' leaders who are going to be willing to bite the bullet and be the antagonist that the game can't manage to form on its own. Kinsarmar and Antioch historically enjoyed carebear leaders who were happy happy joy joy and told you that everything was going to be ok. Ithaqua started out with a string of strong leaders and then hit a strong/weak cycle and now is sort of a void of despondence and cuddling. Khandava's been all over the place between carebeardom and beepwhirr facism. What Khandava will call a good leader, some people will call cold, distant and toxical.

    Most of what these people are telling is anecdotal bull crap because it honestly does not matter because it's Theophilus, not Krysaliss, Menoch, or Jules. You don't -have- to be nice. You don't -have- to be mean. You don't have to be anything specific. Just be consistent. Level headed? Psh. The Imperator of Stavenn can be prone to shitting his pants in rage and curb stomping someone. That's just what the Imperator has the leeway to do.  Find a role you're confident in playing. Stick to it. Adapt to the scenario as it goes. The environment around you is always going to change (especially since the game itself has no direction) so you'll have to be pretty dynamic in how you approach the role of your rule. Being consistent to your subordinates makes it easier for them to get used to you and have fun. When you're consistent it makes it easier for people to get and stay involved, which is really the hardest step towards having fun. Ultrix is really better than anyone at getting people involved. That being said, you can do that in a lot of ways unique to the setting and the people involved.

    The mechanical part of leading, someone else can teach you (Sup, Aleutia/Kanthari). For the most part, cities run themselves. You just have to poke and prod occasionally to make sure someone didn't break something. This is where choosing your ministers is important. It's also sort of a no brainer. Ahkan is not an ambassador of your nation, but he's pretty good at security. 
  • KrysalissKrysaliss Member Posts: 374 ✭✭✭✭
    He asked what makes a good leader. Being level headed makes a good leader. Leading -any- org is going to come with a huge pile of unnecessary drama and nonsense. You have to be able to roll with it and sort it without giving into the temptation to kick everyone. 

    There are plenty of examples of people in this game who might have made good leaders but for the fact that any hint of drama turns them into raving lunatics. 

    None of what I said was anecdotal. It's practical advice, most of which is equally well applied to real life leadership. 

    The RP of the Imperator is distinct from the skills/practices of a good leader. 
  • TheophilusTheophilus Member Posts: 784 ✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2015
    Getting some great wisdom from all of you. I do appreciate it.

    Keep it coming, if you'd like.

    When the discussion kind of tapers off, I'll snag pieces of advice from each of you that helped me the most and quote it.
    (Ring): Lartus says, "I heard Theophilus once threw a grenade and killed ten people."
    (Ring): Lartus says, "Then it exploded."

    (Ring): Zsetsu says, "Everyone's playing checkers, but Theophilus is playing chess."
  • SelthisSelthis Member Posts: 526 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Delegate. Don't do it all yourself.  But realize sometimes you gotta step in and be like "yo, you're being dumb and you need to stop." Give people space, but act like a manager.  

    Effective managers know who they have to micromanage (and constantly look for this person's replacement if they're smart) and who they can give some rope to and still get good results in a timely manner.

    There is a difference between a hardass city leader who gets stuff done and being an ****.  One is a character thing, one is a player thing.  I don't think you're an ****, but just be sure the that the line is obvious to everyone. 

    This is the most important bit:

    If you feel yourself getting burnt out, tell  people.  Its on them to replace you. Don't keep doing it because "no one else wants to." That's how you start to hate the game. Trust me. If they refuse to replace you, just stop logging in.  Or log in and do nothing and ignore responsibilities. Its immature, but its the only way to get people to move on something sometimes.

    There's a sense of responsibility to good leadership, but first and foremost your responsibility is to have fun. Imperian is a game, a leisure activity. And you should always be first in your decisions. Not in a totally selfish way, but in a practical way. 

    Building on the responsibility to have fun above when making decisions, please take the overall population into mind.   Is it fun  to go to war? Sure.  Is it fun to camp celidon or kinsarmar into the city for a week or two straight? Nah, not really. All you're doing is make  people stop logging in or get frustrated and quit.   That doesn't do any good for anyone really.
  • MenochMenoch Member Posts: 594 ✭✭✭
    @Ahkan - Oh I didn't think you were specifically singling me out. I actually find it funny that you've been getting so much flak lately on forums when, for you, you've been positively considerate and pleasant as far as I've seen of late.

    Your main point was again kinda mine too, anecdotal evidence means less than nothing because YMMV and most certainly will.

    @Selthis had two amazing points too, and his last one I learned first hand. If I recall we actually talked about the subject of getting burnt out while I was busy with angsty commiseration over my chosen plight. Delegation is the best when done properly because you are obviously reducing your own workload but more importantly you are utilizing all the members of your team. Finding who best fits where (and subsequently this means helping them people figure out what they're good at) was honestly the most fun part for me.
  • EoghanEoghan Member, Immortal Posts: 1,073 mod
    Being willing to work with the administration, and knowing when to fight for your ideas or accept that they won't be implemented makes a good leader. It helps to be personable. We like talking to reasonable people, and they're more likely to get fun things going with their orgs.
    Like what we're doing? Why not take a second to vote? Vote for Imperian at http://www.imperian.com/vote
  • KrysalissKrysaliss Member Posts: 374 ✭✭✭✭
    Eoghan said:

    Being willing to work with the administration, and knowing when to fight for your ideas or accept that they won't be implemented makes a good leader. It helps to be personable. We like talking to reasonable people, and they're more likely to get fun things going with their orgs.

    Following up on this:

    Approach administration requests with a willingness to prep most of what you are asking for. If you come asking for a shiny new idea/event/whatever, if you have what you want already written up (or state your willingness to do so), you are a lot less likely to get a stink-eye. 


  • SarriusSarrius Member, Beta Testers Posts: 1,682 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Delegate.

    Do not be afraid to tell people no.

    Do not overcomplicate the process - it is a game, not an office job. You don't need to spend your life online, whatever else anybody tells you. You don't need to spend every moment leading. You don't need to put in 'countless hours every week' like some others have said here and in other threads. When you feel your work has been done, do not put more time in simply because others would complain if you do not - when the job is done, it is done, do not waste time on it anymore.

    Be prepared for detractors who have no good reason to detract. People love being contrary.

    Don't be afraid to get rid of people. It is not the end of the world. There is another org that supports their classes and guilds. You are not beholden to every citizen. Weed out the shitty ones.
    <div>Message #2062&nbsp; Sent By: (imperian)&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Received On: 1/20/2018/2:59</div><div>"Antioch has filed a bounty against you. Reason: Raiding Antioch and stealing Bina, being a right</div><div>****, and not belonging anywhere near Antioch till he grows up."</div>
  • KhizanKhizan Member Posts: 2,648 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2015
    Krysaliss said:


    The RP of the Imperator is distinct from the skills/practices of a good leader. 

    No it isn't, because the RP of the Imperator plays directly into how good at the job they are.

    The leader's job isn't the paperwork and administration details or winning events or advancing the city's agenda or anything like that. The leader's job is really just to be an inspirational figurehead that gets people doing things.

    Juganothion and Trez and the like managed this with Stavenn by being Saturday morning cartoon villains and leading Stavenn from fight to fight on a wave of bloodlust and antagonism. If a minion talked back, they'd get rage-curbstomped and Stavenn would look on in approval, because that's the kind of thing they expected from their warleader. 

    Ultrix does it by being a 'tiger momguildmaster' that nobody wants to disappoint by getting an A instead of an A+. When she announces that the guild is going to form a team for the Aetherian Soccer League everybody in the guild learns to play soccer, because telling Ultrix no is scary and it makes you feel bad, even if she's not going to curbstomp you in a blind rage. :(

    Both of these strategies work because an effective leader is a just a leader that people will follow. If they're willing to follow you and having fun doing it, it honestly doesn't matter what you're doing. Guild events and caravans and shardfall rewards? Awesome. Blood for the blood god and mindless antagonism? Awesome. Ritual RP? Awesome. Well, not for me, I hate that crap, but if your organization loves it then go for it.

    If you want to be an effective leader, go somewhere fun so that people will want to follow. It's really not that complicated.

    "On the battlefield I am a god. I love war. The steel, the smell, the corpses. I wish there were more. On the first day I drove the Northmen back alone at the ford. Alone! On the second I carried the bridge! Me! Yesterday I climbed the Heroes! I love war! I… I wish it wasn’t over."

  • KhizanKhizan Member Posts: 2,648 ✭✭✭✭✭

    And now for some more practical advice.

    • Don't get bogged down on the bitchwork. It doesn't really mean anything in the long run as long as you're not bleeding gold out of Trade. If keeping a list of who donates what shards and who goes to caravans and **** is a pain, just start spontaneously rewarding people for attendance and encourage other people to do reward them as well.

    • Every day that you log on, look for an excuse to favour somebody(or get somebody else to favour them). Ranks are basically meaningless and if the logs are full of things like "caravan participation favor!" and "shardfall favor!" and "good effort against AM in the caravan fight!" then people will be more willing to do things like that.

    • Don't get too in love with the laws. A lot of the laws are stupid and unnecessary and they were just added by control freak leaders to avoid competition. They're not needed but they're still on the books because the laws make it hard to just remove a law. If you want to skip the citizenship referendum BS or the like and just incitizen somebody decent, go for it. Don't let the laws keep you from doing good things for the city.
    • Similarly, realize that you can change the rules and all you really need is a Council majority so that you won't be replaced. If you/Mathiaus/Zenigra think that changing the citizenship policy(for example) will be helpful, just change it. If so many people were in love with that law that you end up getting replaced because of it, you're probably better off just being replaced.

    • Don't be afraid to cut dead weight. If somebody like Elizabell is dead weight on the organization and actively hindering progress, kick her. Years of service and all that jazz don't mean crap if they're actively hindering the organization now, especially when almost all of that experience has been spent doing their best to preserve the status-quo because they're already on top of things. You may have to cut out their wife/girlfriend/harem/whatever along with them. It's still probably worth it as long as you're reasonable about it. 

    • On the other hand, don't go overboard with this. When I took over the Taekyon back when they still allowed magick, I kicked out everybody who could contest me who didn't agree with making the guild fully-antimagick, because I didn't want to have to deal with a cuddlebug rebellion. This is, imo, acceptable; they were removed because I couldn't see any way to include them while still taking the guild in the direction that I thought it needed to go and I wasn't willing to risk having it sabotaged by them.

      Sarrius' last stint as Shah, on the other hand, was spent kicking out anybody who contested him or Lalitana or who was thinking about contesting them purely as a way to keep the position, down to the point where he kicked out Toma and then lied about doing it when a bug made the outcast not appear in the logs. This kind of stuff is not obviously not acceptable.

    • Having fun is the most important thing about playing this game. If you are not enjoying your time in this game because of your position, you are doing it wrong. Change it so that it is fun or just resign and go back to being a spearcarrier.

    "On the battlefield I am a god. I love war. The steel, the smell, the corpses. I wish there were more. On the first day I drove the Northmen back alone at the ford. Alone! On the second I carried the bridge! Me! Yesterday I climbed the Heroes! I love war! I… I wish it wasn’t over."

  • KrysalissKrysaliss Member Posts: 374 ✭✭✭✭
    @Khizan: Not phrased as well as I could. I don't disagree with that. But you can have -fantastic- and interesting RP and still be a sucky leader. 
  • JulesJules Member Posts: 1,080 ✭✭✭
    edited February 2015
    Khizan said:

    And now for some more practical advice.

    • Don't get bogged down on the bitchwork. It doesn't really mean anything in the long run as long as you're not bleeding gold out of Trade. If keeping a list of who donates what shards and who goes to caravans and **** is a pain, just start spontaneously rewarding people for attendance and encourage other people to do reward them as well.

    • Every day that you log on, look for an excuse to favour somebody(or get somebody else to favour them). Ranks are basically meaningless and if the logs are full of things like "caravan participation favor!" and "shardfall favor!" and "good effort against AM in the caravan fight!" then people will be more willing to do things like that.

    • Don't get too in love with the laws. A lot of the laws are stupid and unnecessary and they were just added by control freak leaders to avoid competition. They're not needed but they're still on the books because the laws make it hard to just remove a law. If you want to skip the citizenship referendum BS or the like and just incitizen somebody decent, go for it. Don't let the laws keep you from doing good things for the city.
    • Similarly, realize that you can change the rules and all you really need is a Council majority so that you won't be replaced. If you/Mathiaus/Zenigra think that changing the citizenship policy(for example) will be helpful, just change it. If so many people were in love with that law that you end up getting replaced because of it, you're probably better off just being replaced.

    • Don't be afraid to cut dead weight. If somebody like Elizabell is dead weight on the organization and actively hindering progress, kick her. Years of service and all that jazz don't mean crap if they're actively hindering the organization now, especially when almost all of that experience has been spent doing their best to preserve the status-quo because they're already on top of things. You may have to cut out their wife/girlfriend/harem/whatever along with them. It's still probably worth it as long as you're reasonable about it. 

    • On the other hand, don't go overboard with this. When I took over the Taekyon back when they still allowed magick, I kicked out everybody who could contest me who didn't agree with making the guild fully-antimagick, because I didn't want to have to deal with a cuddlebug rebellion. This is, imo, acceptable; they were removed because I couldn't see any way to include them while still taking the guild in the direction that I thought it needed to go and I wasn't willing to risk having it sabotaged by them.

      Sarrius' last stint as Shah, on the other hand, was spent kicking out anybody who contested him or Lalitana or who was thinking about contesting them purely as a way to keep the position, down to the point where he kicked out Toma and then lied about doing it when a bug made the outcast not appear in the logs. This kind of stuff is not obviously not acceptable.

    • Having fun is the most important thing about playing this game. If you are not enjoying your time in this game because of your position, you are doing it wrong. Change it so that it is fun or just resign and go back to being a spearcarrier.

    I've seen ALL of these things from a follower's standpoint in non-Imperian orgs.  Literally all of them.  I was going to pick one or two to stress but they all seem to feed each other.  I've also seen what happens when there is no one who can/will stop it.  I simply can't agree enough.  

    EDIT:  in fact, it might even be a good thing that Imperian orgs essentially "die" from time to time.  It gives you a reset button that seems to otherwise be almost impossible to push if a bloated power structure gets entrenched enough.  
    Post edited by Jules on
  • JuranJuran Member Posts: 909 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Honestly? Clear separation of the game and your real life responsibilities.

    So many people get into city leadership and feel the need to be around constantly. There are so many little things demanded of a city leader, because everyone wants to draw you into their petty dramas and force you to constantly mediate meaningless disputes. However, very little of this actually matters and leading an organization in an IRE game will just burn you out if you don't catch on to this early.
  • JulesJules Member Posts: 1,080 ✭✭✭
    One thing that scares the hell out of me, and was made painfully clear last night, is that we really are probably always just one bad leader away from someone who can make an org really, really not fun.  I've spent a lot of money on Imperian, because so far, it's got the best mechanics, and best playerbase (and part of that is thanks to the mechanics).  But orgs really are still reliant on a leader who not only doesn't encourage bloat and rank pulling and all of the other things that really aren't fun, but effectively quashes these things.  For now, we're in a great place, but we probably really are often one dormancy away from a train wreck.  And once that stuff gets entrenched it can be nearly *impossible* to get rid of, short of an org pretty much dying (and then being resurrected through new leadership).  Ugh.  
  • IniarIniar Member Posts: 3,213 ✭✭✭✭✭
    What happened?
    wit beyond measure is a Sidhe's greatest treasure
  • JulesJules Member Posts: 1,080 ✭✭✭
    Some guy trying to get us to resurrect a bunch of stupid laws that tend to encourage people to be self-satisfied jerks who are overly in love with their e-rank.  It has been mercifully quashed, I think.  
  • IniarIniar Member Posts: 3,213 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Sounds like the Stavenn-Weekly around holiday time.
    wit beyond measure is a Sidhe's greatest treasure
  • TheophilusTheophilus Member Posts: 784 ✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2015
    Conversation with @aakrin outside of forums... obviously a decent source of inspiration for leadership.

    Regarding Stavenn -- 

    Through the crackling of flames, Aakrin tells you, "In my opinion, the best "evil" 
    civilizations in any story anywhere, are the ones who think they're doing what's needed."

    Through the crackling of flames, Aakrin tells you, "So figure out what Stavenn "needs" to 
    do that the other cities aren't doing."

    Through the crackling of flames, Aakrin tells you, "Then take a hard line approach that 
    others will feel is over the top or evil."

    Through the crackling of flames, Aakrin tells you, "And viola, a society that can function
    with honour and structure, while still being evil."

    Through the crackling of flames, Aakrin tells you, "By others I mean, outsiders. other 
    cities."

    "A good while ago I made a choice about that though, that has made my life less stressful 
    and more fun here."

    "I decided I'd do what I felt was the right thing to do, and not care what others said."

    "And as long as I'm honest with myself that I'm making the choices because its what's 
    right to do, and not to be an ****. And as long as at the end of the day I don't regret my 
    choice, I don't care what others say."

    "And it seems, that people tend to respect a man who respects himself."

    Through the crackling of flames, Aakrin tells you, "Just figure out what you want
    to do with the job. And get it done. Be fair, but strict with your rulings. Judge each
    circumstance for itself, but apply the same rules to all. And keep pushing forward with your plan."

    That's insightful.
    (Ring): Lartus says, "I heard Theophilus once threw a grenade and killed ten people."
    (Ring): Lartus says, "Then it exploded."

    (Ring): Zsetsu says, "Everyone's playing checkers, but Theophilus is playing chess."
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