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One of the things that has irked me the most in Guild Wars is when I have demote an Officer. There are a few issues I have with this. Firstly, the Officers do not have the option to step down. Let’s pretend I’m an Officer, I’ve completed 4 years of college, I have my daughter, I live on my own, and I am an Officer in a guild. Doesn’t have to be ASY, but one where I can get away with being away a few days here or there, nothing incredibly repeatitve, and I decide to goto Graduate School. My time is cut even more so and I know that I lack the time to function as an Officer in the guild I’m in. I should have the ability to not just quit the guild, but also step down as an Officer and move myself back onto the Members portion of the guild membership list, shouldn’t I? Unfortunately that option is non-existent. And if it did exist, the game would likely print “Stepped Down as Officer” or something like that. Which leaves no reason why the Officer stepped down. Because the Leader said “Step Down and save face or be demoted.” Or maybe “I lack the time to uphold my duties as Officer.” Or what about “I don’t want to perform the duties I am responsible for as an Officer of this guild.” - no one knows. And that makes some people jump to conclusions, and the pessimists out there always look for the worse case scenario and then the rumor mill starts churning, and while that may not be a problem in ASY, that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t happen elsewhere. Now to my second rant, aside from there being no “Step Down” option, it requires little ol’ me to demote the Officer back into membership and prints this beautiful Demoted by King Mercyful Fate line onto the little info popup when you mouse over their name. It replaces the Promoted by King Mercyful Fate line and leaves this bit of information that I feel reaks of negative connotation. Again, no reasons why the demotion took place, just shows that it did. Now, Toby, who did step down for personal reasons enjoyed having the line there. Now Toby is a self-proclaimed arse, so I agreed he could keep the line, since I am stuck having to kick Officers that have stepped down and reinvite them to the guild as my only option to not have them wearing this “Scarlett Letter” for the service they did to the guild which has not necessarily entirely ended, but the additional task requirements have... Is this how I should be forced to treat my former Officers? In my not so humble opinion, of course it’s not! It’s absurd! I am typically on the side of ArenaNet’s decision making and priority implementation of new ideas and game modifications, and can even understand why they nerf builds, farming areas, etc to keep the various campaigns challenging, making players find new builds, and keep gamers interested in the game. I am all for that. I may be slightly miffed that I spent time power levelling a Ritualist to solo farm Underworld for Ectos for possible Necromancer Obsidian armor, only to be a day late because ArenaNet nerfed the build, which ultimately wasted my time when I could have been working on another character I am more fond of, but I fully understand and am mature enough to respect why they did it. I cannot understand why the game (at this time) is designed to leave this silly Demoted by King Mercyful Fate line on my former Officers that may simply not want the burden of leadership on their shoulders anymore for whatever their reasons may be. The most recent demotions have not been booted and reinvited at this time, because I am planning to make this arguement at GuildWarsGuru.com in hopes that Gaile Gray, Andrew Patrick, or someone from the Community Relations team at ArenaNet may take notice or even respond to my gripes about this relatively meager (on the large spectrum of bugs, patches, implementations etc. updates) issue that I see in the game and hope that one day they (the programming and design team of ArenaNet) can modify in a manner where the Demoted by line can be removed and/or have a “reason” portion added. Preferably both, where either a reason can be added or the line be removed entirely since I’m sure some Guild Leader out there isn’t like me where they just want to nuke the line all together, and I’m sure in some instances a reason for demotion that is public to the guild may be warranted, however, that has not been the case yet in The Vanguard of Asylum. Anyway, I’m done with my rant. Long Live The Vanguard of Asylum! Respectfully and with love, -MF |
Now I'm sure (allow me to stereotype, I'm human therefore, I'm fallible) some 14 year olds may laugh at that, but as a single father, long time gamer, and guild leader of a majority 18+ guild with an average age of 28 or so, we know how basic people skills, whether it be manager-based, social, etc. can effect you in life, and I find this Demoted by line to be demoralizing to a point. Now, not everyone (ie: Toby, or heck, the rest of my now resigned Officers over the last year and a half) may have been hurt seeing that line, I don't know that for a fact because I can't read minds and Freud taught us all about self-defense mechanisms, so unless someone tells me, I cannot know for sure. Regardless, I see no point into labeling someone with Demoted by for the rest of their time in the guild, unless of course, they leave and come back to erase it. It doesn't make sense to me.
Criticism is of course welcome, or I wouldn't have posted this in such a publicized and well respected forum for Guild Wars. Personal flames against me are pointless since I'm secure with myself, my guild, and unless you've stated a true comment about either that I don't want known, I shouldn't be bothered.
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read and/or reply to this thread and good gaming to everyone!
Respectfully,
-MF
