Everyone says that being in a leadership position, guild of city/commune is a ton of work. I, having never actually had a position of leadership, was curious of what exactly this work *is*.

I know im being really stupid, and its obvious what one needs to do, but humor me.

It seems trivial if you list them, but it's surprising how much work these things take. Examples that come to mind would be answering the tells of the nine hundred million people who want you to clarify help files, ask you to mentor them, and so on; writing and updating those help files; organising requirements for the guild's younger members (a lot harder than it seems when you have all your secretaries and so on to consult); and so on.

Also, as a leader, people expect you to help drive the city/commune forward, and you'll have to answer a lot of questions, ignore a lot of insults, redirect some pointed fingers...

Leadership duties are defined by what kind of city/commune you're in, what guild it may be for, which ministry, etc. You could have two different admins, or two different ministers of trade from different places, and have their duties be different.

I'll give you a personal example (cause I don't know about anyone else's {no cracks about if I actually did all of these!}):

Guild admin
Was responsible for:
Keeping track of secretaries (who kept track of undersecs, who looked after newbies)
Making sure guild helpfiles were up to date
Adding people's names to our advancement project if they did tasks
Working any "internal affairs" issues
Giving out guildfavors
Working with the GM to make the guild better

As minister of trade:
Had to set prices reasonably
Make sure we had reserves
Teach others the comm quests.

Now, some positions are easy (if they're too easy though, you're usually not doing enough), and some require huge amounts of work (if you cannot delegate properly, or have a staff that does not support you)

currently.. being an Admin on a leash my duties are the following:

Editing guildhelp scrolls
Making posts on all types of stuff
Dealing with retarded novices that the undersecs can't help
appoint undersecs
giving tests when no one else is around
guildfavoring
outguilding/inguilding
powerblocking
clan inducting
Settling disputes
Telling the Secs what they should be working on
yelling at them when they don't do it
griping at Vesar
listening to ideas about guild stuff and giving feedback
more griping at Vesar
citizening people


That's all I can do right now, but sooner or later I'll be able to implement new things into the guild once they all know I'm mentally capable of it or whatever the reason Kalidasha told me..

*nod*

And then being guildmaster you get commune work piled on top of the guild work.

That's really the thing about most leadership positions: they look easy on paper, but the reality will nickel and dime a body to death.

It's sort of like all the "take care of x" admonitions you'll get from experts on various subjects. "It only takes 15 minutes a day to ."

Well, yeah, it'll only takes a couple of minutes each time you brush your teeth. But you're supposed to do it four times a day, so that's 8 minutes a day, or roughly one hour each week you should be brushing your teeth.

Let's see now... 7 * 24 = 148 hours each week.

You're supposed to spend 7 * 8 = 56 hours each week sleeping. 148 - 56 = 92. Minus one more for brushing your teeth = 91.

40 hours per week on work/school/homework. That leaves 51 hours to do everything else you're supposed to.

Most of us have at least half an hour to commute each way, so let's say 5 hours each week. Down to 46.

Eating. Got to eat. If you wolf it down, and don't have to do any prep. that's... what? Half an hour for each meal? More realistic to say an hour for lunch and dinner and pretend you grab breakfast on the go in my experience, so 14 hours spent eating each week. You now have 32 hours left of the original 148.

Now exercise. We're all supposed to exercise. The amount varies depending on all sorts of personal factors and the experts you consult, but let's assume you have a desk job, so it doesn't get rolled into your work day.

4 hours exercise a week sound good? We're down to 28 hours.

Now lets throw in personal hygiene. How many hours each week do you spend getting ready for school or work? Me, I have a hard time getting ready in under half an hour, and I'm pretty low maintenance that way. So say, 3 hours a week just doing the very basic shave/shower/get dressed/etc.

25 hours and counting, with no sign yet of a social life, no kicking back and watching the television, nothing.

Do you own a home? Got to keep the yard mowed. Got to look after basic maintenance. Even dorm-life requires a bit of time picking the dirty socks up off the floor.

Now let's see: cooking. Laundry. Shopping. How many hours does a typical adult do without either a housekeeper or partner who keeps the home as a full time job?

Not one of all these things is monumental by itself (unless you count work & sleep), but they keep chip chip chipping away at that rapidly dwindling reserve of hours.

Then there are doctors appointments to keep (regular check-ups with the eye doctor, the dentist, the GP; and how often have we all heard the lectures about regular screenings for six different types of cancer? all this just when there's nothing obviously wrong with your body).

Your car? You've got to keep your car serviced and...

Okay. This post really reduced itself to the level of prattling some time ago, but I hope I've made my point: that drowning under a sea of trivial little nothings is an easy thing to do. And after a player has taken care of all these RL obligations, he has to come into the game with a bit of stolen time, and face a whole new set of piddly little nothings that need taking care of, and still find time for that fun he theoretically came here for in the first place?

It ain't easy. Trust me.

Heh, I wasn't implying that it was, I just didnt know what people are doing...

Thanks!

I actually like being admin.. but there are some times (Like right now) where I would just like to rip out throats and all that mess, but I don't want Vesar to come on and be like "WTF DID YOU DO??" when he finds out I killed several guildmemebers and/or outguilded a few people. So I shall stay away from the realm right now and cool off from dealing with highschool idiots who deserve my wrath more than little novices..

Exactly. Hence why I had to give mine up. Real life takes enough out of you, not all of us can be online all the time. Then you come here and try to have fun? I don't see how some people, like Daevos or others, do it.

simple.. no social life, don't bathe everyday, eat things that don't require cooking, don't change clothes, ect ect

and m'not bashing Daevos. He's nice to me.

Being guildmaster has been quite fun, especially since I've never really been into politics or anything in any IRE game, and it's entirely different than bashing or fighting or anything. But it's a ton of work.

How come you're not that busy when Joli asks then??

Because I get busy right AFTER you ask, usually.

That, and I delegate a lot of the random crap from novices because I suck at handling novices. Years of being an aide in the Sentinels burned me out.

Yeah, I've noticed that too..

The secret to sanity in any leadership position, be it in game or out, is delgation. As guildmaster, I try not to tie myself up in the guts of a problem, but rather assign the task to someone I know can devote their full energies to.

That frees me up to conceive new projects or finishing old projects for the city/guild.

A little bit of seperation is good, too. I try to be approachable, but not overly friendly. I don't really want to have people come hang out with me (I have way too many things to do for that) but at the same time, I want to make sure that people know it's ok to come and talk to me.

It's a fine line to tread and it's difficult to see that line at first. But, if I attempted to do everything myself, you would have a very upset and possibly insane Vesar on your hands, and no one really wants that.

Yeah, I'm finding that too. Fortunately the ministers in Serenwilde all know what they're doing so I don't have to interfere. Then again I haven't made any stupid decision (or stupid-looking decisions) that people have to yell at me for yet.

In my (limited) experience, the most important part of being a GM/City Leader is building a group of experienced people you can trust to help you run your organization, and who will take ownership and pride in their work. As with the Nihilists, we had small group of very motivated, very competent people who wanted to improve the guild as a whole, but even with this group it has been difficult to get a lot of things going because there are simply so many things we want to do. I'm finding myself more and more spending time "grooming" people to accept roles of leadership and responsibility in the group so we can get all these things done.

And there are, of course, a lot of day-to-day administration issues that come up, and a lot of various government meetings to sit in on and to offer input on for a GM. There's a lot of times where I log on with a very specific goal or purpose in mind and end up not getting it done at all due to guild/city problems or impromptu Council meetings. (which are of course important, but nonetheless a distraction from other projects I'm also trying to work on!)

In a word, the hassle with leadership is this: multitasking.

Yeah, Vesar can do that, but I have to help novices and play the 'mommy' role for most of the guild. Kalidasha didn't do that and I think that's one of the reasons not many people liked him. Admins are supposed to interact with their guild not hole up in their office (I do that a lot too anway..) That's why I gripe so much, but I'm slowly stopping or at least.. doing it less..

Insane Vesar = staff beatings for all

Lusternia was actually the first place I really had any leadership place. People from Achaea would have a good laugh if they knew I was actually in charge of things.

I find that as Guild Admin, I do a lot of delegating (like any leader). I'm like a supervisor, usually. Sort of like, we all get together, brainstorm ideas, but they need my okay to go ahead with them, and sometimes I'm very pushy with my decisions. I also wrote a majority of the current path requirements. I do come up with ideas, and I try to get feedback to see how current things are working. I listen to other's ideas and see if we can't find ways to implement them. I think the thing is, you're never "finished" working. There are -always- things that have to be done. That's why it turns into so much work. People will be asking you things all at the same time, and meanwhile you're still trying to do normal fun things that you enjoy doing.

As a Chancellor, I'm in charge of making sure people keep their shops stocked, pay their taxes, and take care of any shop selling and stuff. It's fairly easy, though, not much work.