What I am doing now

You are most likely here because you enjoy crafting. I have been reading up on some of the WoW issues regarding gold making, which make me realize that WoW is not the game for me.

If you want to play a game where gathering and crafting is the cornerstone of the economy, and are not faint of heart, I recommend EVE Online. EVE even has releases purely to support industry. You can play for free if you are good enough manufacturer or trader.

Be the builder in a villainous world.

My journey can be seen at http://foo-eve.blogspot.com.au

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08 October 2010

How to teach those that don't want to learn

Assumptions. 
  • Everyone is incompetant at something. There is always something that can be improved.
  • Everyone is good at something else.  There is always something that someone can be praised for.
  • People learn more when they are not defensive.
  • Yelling at someone, calling them a noob, rubbing their noses in a mistake is a good way to make someone defensive.
Tobold and recently wrote posts on 'I hate you all', talking about a community that knocks down rather than builds. up.  I have been guilty of this.  It is theraputic. There is also a call to get us to help newer players.  I do this too.

When I am not at work, not playing WoW or with the family, I am a Rostrum critic.  At Rostrum one of my roles is to give feedback to new speakers & experienced speakers.  New speakers in particular are very nervous and sensitive to negative feedback.  Much like many WoW players.  Rostrum does not expect people to learn/change a lot of things all at once

In Rostrum we have a formula for feedback.  Give one item of positive feedback and one item for improvement.  For each of these we care about are
  • What was done well?  Expand on this a little.
  • What is the problem? 
  • Why is it important? 
  • How should it be done?

The example of the Wannabee Wanding Warlock 
  • What is done well? It can be tricky.  If you cant find something positive, see the next example.  Umm. Recently dinging? Nice wand?  Not pulling agro?
  • What needs improvement?  DPS
  • Why it is important?  Enrage Timer (not in a 5 man).  Healer mana (not in a 5 man). Faster run
  • How?  Simple rotation: Corruption + Shadow bolt spam for single target.  Count to 3 + Rain of fire for multiple mobs.
The conversation could go something like:
Hiya.  Thanks for not pulling agro like the other DPS (I hate it when they do that).  However, we will have a faster run if we all do a bit more damage.  Did you know that using corruption once then using lots of shadow bolts will do a lot more damage?

The example of the Bullying Bourgeoisie Blogger
  • What is done well?  Good information, well researched.
  • What needs improvement?  Their method giving the information.
  • Why is it important?  They are being ignored, having no meaningful impact on those that need it most.
  • How should it be done?  Get them to read this post.
Hiya.  Love your work.  We have been convinced that /roll should be dropped, and in our guild we are moving to a GDKP system.  But I noticed that you are having problems with getting people like the Wannabe Wanding Warlock to change his ways.  Foo recommends a What, Why & How approach that works most of the time.  His post is linked here.

4 comments:

  1. 'Hi, great enthusiasm you're showing, always nice to see someone so focused on getting the job done. Just one slight problem, I don't massively overgear this instance and I'm already tanking as fast as I can considering the healer's mana. And to be honest, the three wipes we've had because of your pulling, might just have slowed us down a tad. So, if you could just stop that, it would be much appreciated.'

    'gogogogogo'

    ReplyDelete
  2. why even bother with idiots like "them"?

    ReplyDelete
  3. On the last part, just type Gevlon, it's not that you are trying to be subtle.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @anon #1: /p Healer. Great job you are doing there. However, there seems to be a DPS that doesn't need healing. If you keep both you and I up, with luck 'thatguy' will either clear the instance for us, or die trying. Don't bother to rez him.

    @anon #2: Why not? 'Idiots' have turned into my strongest raiders. If you need a rational justification, it places a social obligation on them that they are most likely to try to fulfill. There are also times I don't bother.

    @anon #3: If it was only Gevlon I would have used his name. There are others too (including at times myself).

    Taking time to offer assitance costs exactly that : time. The assistance costs me 15 seconds to type. If it saves a wipe/stress/annoyance it is well worth the effort.

    For every 10 players you come across, one will be beyond my ability to help. One will help me, and 8 others will be 'John & Jane Average'. They play the game but don't read too much.

    Treating John & Jane as idiots, putting them on the defensive is unproductive. Engaging them in a positive manner works better.

    And even Gevlon would like to convince 80% of the non-guild Wintergrasp players to follow a winning strategy. His current method doesn't seem to work too well.

    And for the record, as DPS in a battleground, I am at best 'John Average', but I seem to be less bad as a healer.

    ReplyDelete

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