Guide: Leading in Astroempires
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Introduction:
I have seen a lot of different types of leading in Astroempires. Having played in every server and experienced being in a variety types of guilds I have begun to take note of what it takes to last when you are leading a guild. Leading isn’t just a concept of having a title, a leader is required to put forth the effort to help their members excel.
Types:
There are many different types of leaders. I will attempt to put forth a list of types, most of them will be general as to cover the different sub categories.
1. In Fenix I was diplomat for a guild called ‘Dibz’. Within that time span I got to see the leadership of War Machine. His tactic in leading is called, “The Soapbox”. This type focuses on yelling at their members to do things. A normal announcement could be any length and none of them are aimed to make them feel like they are top dogs even if they are. They are aimed to beat down those who don’t carry the weight for that week.
2. In Kappa I was in a guild called ‘Censored’, was known as ‘COON’ before that. The leadership I saw from the guy leading was of this. I also should say I only stayed for a week. He didn’t know things so he pushed tasks on others. I found myself and others thinking of all the organizational stuff, we had to tell him what we needed to do well. He knew that people around him knew more so he didn’t stop them from controlling things but held on to power. This shows two types of leaders, “Start Up Leaders” represented by myself and those who helped organize early game. Then our GM was a, “Manager” he held himself back to let others do what they needed to do and learned from it. He managed the leaders.
3. The next type comes from my experiences in most servers past Ceti. This one is the “Incompetent”. I don’t want to say names so I won’t. This leader doesn’t know anything that he is doing and isn’t that well experienced to lead a guild that aims to control a galaxy. He often fails to do anything, and the only reason it doesn’t fall apart is due to the VGM’s. The difference between this one and the Manager is that this one doesn’t learn anything and often decides to merge his guild before his top levels leave.
4. This one is very knowledgeable. It’s called the “WoT Leader”. This leader knows a lot of the game and can pretty well do anything required of him and he will add in the ability to write a lot of stuff down for his members to read and learn from. This leader is required in Training Guilds. This type of leader usually knows that people under him don’t know as much so he will present all the facts so that his members can get to his level so that he can lead a better group of players.
Sub Types:
There are three sub types of leaders that are required in every guilds.
1. Military Dictator: This one is the military strong guy. Very good tactician. He leads all military operations.
2. Tasker: He does the day to day tasks. This one’s importance is that if what he does doesn’t get done the effects will be tremendous.
3. Future Minded: This person can look a few months down the road, and even a year down the road. He will know the political implications of what he does. Which is the most rare and important type of leader. Every move is calculated with the future in mind. So, is it best to take down the enemy now or ally them and destroy them later? He answers questions like that.
Tools:
Organization is key to succeed in anything. Every leader should have a number of things set up for his guild.
Spreadsheets:
Google provides a spreadsheet system in which you can put a great deal of information in it. The uses for spreadsheets are:
a. Contact information
b. Scouting Assignments
c. Blob crash information
d. Member Stat Growth Watching
e. And much more..
Politics:
Politics are important because of many reasons. If you start to focus on short game too much you will fall apart in the long game, if you focus on long game too much then you will fall apart short game. You must plan for tomorrow. What will you need tomorrow? However, if you forget that what you do today effects the next month then you’ll missing a key factor. Many guilds in newer servers like to say they don’t do politics. They do though, even if they aren’t making pacts that second they are working themselves strategically in a very political way.
The big part of being in an ecosystem of enemies and good guys is that you can co-exist with people you don’t like because you need to. Being diplomatic doesn’t require not liking a guild; it’s also taking what your guild needs (think of your guild as a person) and applying it to who you talk to nicely. A diplomat never hates a guild, a diplomat likes all guilds when he needs to. A diplomat can love guild A now, but in a week he can love guild B. Never trust a diplomat to love you long term, and do the same.
Activity:
I have found many times that one truth rings true every time. No I am not saying skill or knowledge, in fact the other two mean nothing without this. Activity. This is the time you put into gaming. Legit it's a simple thing but if you don't have it then your leading will fall apart.
What does activity mean? Well simply put its the time you put in. If your on more than your team then you are being a good leader. I say this for a few reasons if you have a lot of time that you put in then you can do more. Micro managing a clan or guild takes a ton of time and on top of that if you look to be offline more than your team you are not fit to lead them. No question there you have more to do than them. Some leaders try to tackle this by creating a core of players that don't need a leader to hold them by the hand. The biggest issue with that is your core cannot do everything once your core members think they run themselves they want all the power. Diplomacy also falls apart if you are inactive. People message you and you don't respond. You can only cover it by saying you got X amount of messages for so long.
Another thing leaders do is to train a more active leadership team. One that can act on diplomacy, internal structure, and are loyal to just the head guy. That works actually but just for so long.
Needless to say you must be able to put in the time or step down and have your words carefully respected but not the final word. It's a ego hurter but it's more important to have a guild master that can lead his crew than one that has others lead for him. I have lead for people and personally the entire time I wanted to take over top spot and others wanted me too as well.
Short note but it's most important and very very simple. Stay active or hand power over.
Hard and Soft Power
There are some people who don't know what Hard and Soft power is. Literally it takes 5 seconds to learn and a lifetime to master. Kind of like Taxes hold em. Knowing when to use both is very important for both types of leaders.
Now, soft power is like being the nice guy. You give the people cookies and you make pacts with people instead of crushing them. Soft power is a key tool to getting friends and allies. Pretty much my guild on Alpha has mastered this. We use soft power so much you'd be surprised if we actually used hard power. We aim to respect and soft power needs respect and honor. Now most people say honor and respect aren't needed in games. I say when your leading knowing how to be respectful and honorful will produce a more lasting time at being on top of the ranks. People won't ban together to hit you if you create a nice feeling towards you.
A model U.N. being set up by a guild can be used as soft power if it betters the gaming experience. I use that as an example but many games make a UN impossible and usually it crates less fun. It takes away from your sovereignty as a leader of an alliance/ guild whenever you make a pact. Being that guy to create a model UN for the game ruins many options from you. But people will see that you made it and say, "This game has been made better by their lead I have no reason to hit them." The UN thing can be anything don't take my idea for a model UN and try to use it in every browser game you play. It just won't work for many games but when it does work then you got people literally bowing to you for leading by example.
Hard power is the opposite. Instead of creating a training guild or sub guild a hard power would be farming low levels. If a leader isn't happy with how their guild is performing they produce fear in their membership that they can be kicked at any moment for not following orders. Like in AE you would kill the persons recyclers. Then invite them back and very much like an adult to child type of thing the leader would say, "Don't do that again." It's an effective tool it worked on me as a kid learning how to play politics. Whenever I messed up my leader would kick me. The kick would put fear into me. Thus I knew my place. A healthy balance is needed for a good leader to enact what he wants in the game.
When to use them I can't really tell you because I don't know I haven't died yet. If I had died of old age and then starting writing this I would of a mastered it. Until then I will tell you what I do.
I use soft power a lot and try to get more low levels to grow into large players because if they do succeed then they will be of use to me for hard power situations. I love writing walls of texts, kind of like this, and in those I can yell saying I am disappointed but I outline for people what to do and what we needed to see people do. If I see my guild needs to grow in economy I tell them it and outline it for them and demand it. Sometimes kick an inactive to prove a point. But I often allow them to question me. For hard power to other guilds I often would point out advice to them and try my hardest to sound rude. They need to learn you know? Well if they don't and fire back I block them. This is more playing with emotions and stating my opinion of a leader very loudly. It is hard power to lay down the fist.I could declare war to make a point as well. That is how I use inter and intra soft and hard power.
Note:
Inter meaning inside.
Intra means to others.
Guide sent by Lord Ted for the Community Guide Contest.