Mechscape Post #1 - 07 March 2009, Editorial: MechScape Clan Leadership Rating Options

[Ren]

Issue #1 - 07 March 2009

Staff Editorial #1: MechScape Clan Leadership

Hello to everyone! I'm Zepherusbane, and I am one of the new writing and content development staff recently selected to be on the MechScape World team. I, along with my counterparts, will be presenting some editorials over the next few weeks as we all await the release of MechScape. When the game is released, we will put a lot of time and effort into learning all we can about the game, and we will be bringing that information to you as quickly as possible.

Today I want to talk to you about clan leadership. With the new game being released there will be a lot of people looking to work with others to start new MechScape clans. No one knows what the game will be like yet, but one thing we can expect is that there will be benefits to working as a team as there are in RuneScape.

I for one will be looking to form a partnership with like minded individuals to build a healthy Clan within MechScape once the game is released and will be looking to find someone with certain leadership qualities to lead me. In all my many years playing RuneScape, the most difficult thing to find was good leaders.

Leadership:
To be a leader, you need patience. You must hold yourself to a higher standard while at the same time not expecting everyone else to meet that standard. This is very difficult; that's why there are so few really good leaders. Good leadership develops respect. If you do not have the respect of your peers, you probably haven't earned it yet.

Right or wrong, people NEVER give respect to those they do not feel deserve it. Also, many people do not show respect because they simply had not observed the behaviors they respect often enough or didn't know the other person well enough. It's usually not because of any ill intent. As a leader you have to be able to deal with criticism without taking things personally, how you react to criticism is KEY to gaining other peoples respect. If you listen and also explain yourself, you will gain much more respect than if you get defensive and start complaining.

For example, if someone calls you out as having suggested something stupid don't get defensive, ask for the details of what made your decision a bad one and respect that person's opinion. Be willing to explain your reasons when you are first building this respect. Over time, people will learn to trust your judgment and will be much less likely to question your decisions. All of these things need to happen over time. When I say time, I don't mean only two weeks, a month, or maybe not even three months. It might take longer for some people than others; there is no "set in stone" timeframe for building respect. You can't just take a title of "clan leader" and expect the respect to automatically be there. It takes a LOT of time and effort to get the necessary respect, some of you may think three weeks is a long time - I disagree.

Others feel that their skills in combat demand respect. That's not necessarily true. For example, if someone has a high combat level, it doesn't automatically give that person the skills to lead effectively.

If you think that all you have to do is put in lots of work and everything will be just perfect, you have been kidding yourself. Once you start gaining respect, yes, more and more people will want to follow you. Dedication and leadership by example will win over many new people over time. However, if you allow bickering or act in an immature manner, it will only sow discord in your new clan and will do absolutely nothing to help regardless of how much time and effort you put into it.

The below list presents what I feel make a good leader. You will not be the best in each aspect, but you do need some skill in all of them if you are to be successful. I realize many of you don't play RuneScape, but I've put a few RuneScape examples to further clarify since we don't have MechScape examples to use yet.

• Analytical - When you start to see things changing, how good are you at analyzing the situation and coming up with new creative solutions to a new problem? For example, how long did it take you to figure out how to combat against tele-block when it first came out?
• Aptitude - Are you capable of learning from others, even if you think you are great already? If you've been mage bank player killing for years and someone new suggested a new way of doing it, would you be open to the idea and maybe even try it out?
• Communication - Do you share important details effectively and in the manner most suited to the person being communicated to, not just in the way best suited to yourself? Maybe some people aren't on IRC, TeamSpeak, or clan chat, use whatever method needed to get to the people you want to reach.
• Initiative - Are you willing to take ownership of something and run with it? Are you willing to create clan events to get people working together even for some things you might not enjoy?
• Positive Attitude - Complaining because people don't show up to clan events will cause the opposite of what you desire, people will be scared to come thinking that is not enough. Instead, take some pictures at the event showing how much fun was had by the people who did make it and post them on your boards, be sure to mention how much fun you had (even if only 5 people showed up). If the experience was negative, don't talk about it so much (focus on the positive side of anything).
• Relationships - Have you spent the time building close relationships with at least a small core within which you have already gained at least some respect?
• Technical ability - Are you good at combat?

As you can see from my list, only a very small portion of leadership is about your technical ability in combat. Think about what I have written; tell me your reactions to what you have read, even if they are negative. Just do me one favor; think about what I've explained for a while, don't just answer right away without thought. I am very open to criticism, especially if it's constructive criticism.

-Zepherusbane

MechScape and Community News

Phone call from Jagex
Last month MechScape World administrator Ren received a phone call from Jagex. Ren commented, "They wanted me to know that they were glad we were doing well and explained the situation they faced of not wanting over-hype and give too many spoilers, and said that they looked forward to having a healthy relationship with us in the future. So far so awesome". It seems like Jagex wants to help us with getting a bright future! (Read more)

Q&A from the Head of MechScape
The Head of MechScape Henrique Olifiers took the time to answer questions about MechScape and passed them on to MechScape World. Importantly he says to ignore any previously mentioned release dates and that their motto throughout development has been "this is not RuneScape in space". (Read more)

Official concept art provided by Jagex
In mid February Jagex exlusively provided MechScape World with the first piece of official MechScape concept art, featuring a Human NPC Vehicle called a Lava harvester. Much debate and speculation ensued, as well as much thanks given to Jagex. (Read More)

Jagex Twitter mentions MechScape World
In an unprecedented move from Jagex they mentioned MechScape World not once but twice on their official twitter. Their first posting stated, "Concept art from our new MMO has been released today to mechscapeworld.com. The site is friendly and the pic is official :-)". (Read more)

Further offical concept art provided by Jagex
Jagex provided a second piece of concept art, this time of what appears to be a human who some argue is a pilot. (Read more)

In other news

• Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard talked briefly about MechScape in his RuneScape Q&A (read more).
• Possible MechScape art was found on a Jagex t-shirt (read more).
• As stated in the editorial new MechScape world staff have been announced (read more).
• A new design for the main MechScape World site has been released alongside an updated FAQ (read more).
• MechScape World has launched its clan chat "Talk_Mech" (read more)
• Many records were broken over the past few weeks such as 347 simultaneous users. One notable milestone was us reaching 50,000 although we are now past 56k (read more).
• People are guessing when MechScape will be launched - join in for a chance to win an MSW user badge (read more).

Footnotes
Contributors: Brenden, Dirk389, Garanaw, Ren (Content Research Team); Dizzy, mike470, Oscar, zepherusbane (Writing & Editing Team); Max.
Disclaimer: The views expressed by members of staff do not necessarily represent the view of MechScape World.

[Dizzy]

Everyone who helped contribute to this: GREAT WORK!

[Saraliman]

I think its little bit to fast to start think about MechScape clans......How ever its not even on beta yet!
I agree about all "points" of clan leaders disposition, if you are smart enough and you respect your members than you will be great leader.....
How ever I don't agree about this cmb stuff, need have a lot of game exp to lead clan, this newbs who making clans fast fail(RuneScape)....they have few days clans!
Clan leader need pick good members of community to help leading clan. More heads means more fun in events!
Any way my opinion its to fast to think about clans, I am talking about thos peoples who already making clan sites of MechScape.
We don't know nothing about pvp yet.....maybe it won't be multy....who knows....
Any way MechSape Clans structure will be as RuneScape clans structure, well maybe not same but similar.
How ever great article ;)

[Zheph]

This is a very nice guide to good leadership Zepherus. Having been a guild leader in a game before, and being associated with many other guilds, I would add that it is recommended that you focus on only one character: The one leading the guild.
You lose much respect if you're taking time away from the guild to play on a second character. People get worried that you're deserting them, and you might not come back so often. They'll often search for more active guilds to be in.
On that game, this situation happened a lot.
On top of that, you should also be fairly active, amongst the most active people in your guild. People don't like it when they hardly see their leader on when they themselves are on, and they feel they would make a better leader. A high level is also recommended, though I suppose you've partly mentioned that, asking whether we're good at combat or not.
It's also very, very important to surround yourself with very trustworthy people, to take charge when you are away (offline or busy with something else). They can help keep the guild/clan together while you're away, and members will be more comfortable knowing that things are still being held together. The co-leaders also need to have good leadership qualities, and a good relationship with the other members of the clan. If their relationship is better than yours is, though, the members would prefer to have them as leader. So you always need to put your clan first and do as much for everyone as possible.

[Rick Astley]

A very good read i hope the clan leader will be ultra good :)

[girs30]

Really nice article. Hope you write more :)

[Refleax]

awesome awesome

[EliteZeon]

I guess I did take things in too personally...

I thank you kindly for this reading, I am going to study it a bit more when I run into any more trouble with my future clan-faction-guilds if I decide to lead in MS.

[Ren]

I find it very fitting for MechScape World's first editorial to be based on the themes of respect and responsibility, as I think it sets the right tone for MechScape World and MechScape itself. Well written too, so thanks for the article Zepherusbane. Hopefully our less regular visitors will appreciate the weekly news roundup, and it will help ensure that people don't miss some of our most important threads. MSP should be a regular thing now for the foreseeable future.

[Alex]

So, now the pressure's on eh? Ah well, great start to the Saturday Editorials - well done Zepherusbane!

[Mech Gamer]

Nice

[Cyph3r]

Very nice! very well written 2, and I know that it's best that I will never be a leader XD.

[Noodle]

Hmm, over the ext couple of weeks.

So, around 1.5 months til release.

[Ren]

Hmm, over the ext couple of weeks.

So, around 1.5 months til release.

We plan to run the editorials (and MechScape Post) for the foreseeable future. We haven't been told by Jagex when the release will be. When MechScape launches the editorials will change focus as we would no longer be anticipating the game's release (although we may be trying to predict future content of course). At the moment I am the chief editor of the MechScape Post but maybe Mike could take over for me sometimes.

[Garanaw]

It's very nice! I really enjoyed reading it, and I agree with all points about leadership

[Lider V]

Interesting read.

I also agree with Zepherusbane's view on clan leaders.

About MSW's MS post I'm really looking forward to further releases, as they are very useful to those who aren't following the forums on a daily base.

[Meka]

Some really awesome key points!

No one knows what the game will be like yet, but one thing we can expect is that there will be benefits to working as a team as there are in RuneScape.

As a leader you have to be able to deal with criticism without taking things personally, how you react to criticism is KEY to gaining other peoples respect. If you listen and also explain yourself, you will gain much more respect than if you get defensive and start complaining.

For example, if someone calls you out as having suggested something stupid don't get defensive, ask for the details of what made your decision a bad one and respect that person's opinion.

Positive Attitude - Complaining because people don't show up to clan events will cause the opposite of what you desire, people will be scared to come thinking that is not enough.

You lose much respect if you're taking time away from the guild to play on a second character.

Very nice job, and thank you for this Zepherusbane.

-A Meka

[SuperStevee]

Awesome. I hope clans play a bigger role in this game then they do in RS.

[Robinhoodrs]

Very nice read and I myself have only found only 3 good Clans between the 7years i have been playing RuneScape.

I myself allways look for a good Clan Leader when joining a Clan I have lead a successfull clan in the pass.

I hope we find what we are looking for!

[FireBirdZ]

This was a pretty good post on leadership.