Hello, my name is Kornbredkhan and I am the former Guild Master of Order of the Righteous, Order of the RAOK, and For the RAOK.
Three years ago I came to Dalaran with the intention of creating a guild that would promote positivity, kindness, love, honor, and unity. With great success my guild took off, we quickly became the largest guild on the server, dedicating its time to helping others, and hopefully inspiring others to do the same. Coming form a background of elitist raiding, and pvp, I wanted to create an environment that did whatever it could to stand against that level of toxicity, and hatred. Often I saw other players belittling others over how they performed, what possessions they owned, and simply for being new. I wanted to fight against that level of toxicity, and so I attempted to do so.
Order of the Righteous did exactly that, but as time went on, It wasn’t the guild that it started off as, In-fact it slowly became exactly what it was aiming to fight against, Toxic. You may ask how? The people within the guild weren’t the issue, but much of the blame was on me. As time passed, I let ego get to my head, “I am the greatest GM in the game, I have the greatest guild, this guild has the greatest purpose. We are the #1 Guild on the server” I actively denounced other guilds, communities, and people as being toxic, simply because they chose hardcore raiding and pvp. I assumed that they were elitist because of different choices on how to play the game or how they viewed the RAOK. In my subjective definition, an elitist is an individual who is basically a bully, and that is what I had become. I had adopted an “Us against them” mentality, but little did I know, that was my vice, and contradicted the very message that I was attempting to push out.
I remember I had many guild mates that were former officers, friends, and guildies that were leaving the guild constantly. While It is important to know that people come and go, It is also important to figure out why. My why, was because of ego, paranoia, and insecurities.
As Seneca would put it, “He who indulges empty fears earns himself real fears.” Paranoia in an individual can lead to that person creating real fears, and that is what I had created for myself. While any good GM will do anything to protect their guild, I had let that get to my head. When people left I quickly assumed that they had an ill-will against the guild, and the RAOK community that we were trying to promote. Their disagreements in trade chat were taken as attacks on us, and my ego did not let me see the constructive criticism they were painting me with. While there were many bad eggs, some of them were great people, that brought light to the guild, they made it a better place, and created the happy environment that it was meant to be. My ego, and poor leadership led me to forget the limitations of my power, thus leading to people leaving my guild. “A smart man or woman must regularly remind themselves of limits of their power and reach. Entitlement assumes this is mine, I’ve earned it.” - Ryan Holiday
“Whatever we do, instead of pretending we are living some great story, we must remain focused on the execution and the executing of excellence. We must shun the false crowns (titles, destiny, and great visions of our future) and work on what got us here. Because that’s the only thing that will keep us here.” - Ryan Holiday Be in love with the work, not the vision. I was constantly reminded by my fellow guildies, “You are X, you are Y, you are Z.” Such compliments consumed me, and led me to becoming egotistical, amongst other factors that led to it. Make sure when leading a guild that you do not allow titles to consume you, be humble, and listen to your officers-allow them praise, and try to hear them out. Napoleon Bonaparte often would treat his officers / men as subjects, rather than equals, which is one thing that contributed to his downfall. The very people he was attempting to impress, were the people that worked against him. Another great fault was that I was blind to the words of my own officers, and would not hear them out, which led to their disgust of my leadership, thus many leaving thereafter. If you want to have a successful guild, remember to keep unpretentiousness as your man weapon. (Key = Humble).
The Art of the War by Sun Tzu is a profound manual that can be used for good, and for evil. Today it is actively used in business, marketing, in militaries, video games, and much more. I highly recommend anyone adopting many of Sun Tzu’s teachings, and using them to better oneself, and to protect others. “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” - Sun Tzu. One of the most egotistical things that I did against many former guild mates, and also people that would actively talk smack about the guild was to paint them as the enemy, an enemy of the guild. Though not all of these people were “enemies” of the guild (Some may have been), but most were attempting to provide constructive criticism, or simply state the truth: “The Guild Master is egotistical, he’s the bad egg, but the guild is full of great people.” That much is very accurate. You can’t really blame them for that, they were attempting to watch out for their fellow players, and that Is honorable. Though my pride led me to assume that I had to fight against these “Elitists” because I had to defend the newer players, but in reality, I failed to realize one important thing: My eagerness to fight, instead of listen, made me just as elitist as those I was attempting to fight against.
The key to leading a guild is to remain humble, to listen, and to not flaunt what you may have. Another problem that I had was that I had become extremely materialistic (I am now a minimalist). Like others I attempted to gain as much as I could in the game. Be it gold, or items. I heavily pursued the Auction House and made millions of gold, and flaunted it daily. Being rich is fine, but don’t let that get to your head. Don’t let possessions make you a different person, because we should all be treated equally.
My guild fell apart due to a few reasons: I had gotten hacked and people thought I was stealing gold (I’ve never stolen anything from anyone), I let ego consume me to a point that pissed off all my officers, and I wasn’t being a very nice person (I had ignored much of what they were saying). + I had become selfish.
In the end, after losing my guild-I feel like I’ve accomplished one thing. I’ve regained myself, and realized that I am a nobody. Who I am, and what I did means little, because now the mantle has been passed down to a newer generation of players, people that have adopted the RAOK (Random acts of Kindness) and will do what they can to pass it on.
If you’re going to lead a guild, or play the game, always remember: Ego is your biggest enemy, never let it get to your head, or you may too suffer the same fate as I. (Amor Fati)
As for former guildies, officers, and players: I apologize for being a douche.
You do not need a guild to recreate the same likeliness as Order of the Righteous.