The Egotistical Priest
An irreverent and opinionated discussion of the many classes
in the World of Warcraft gaming universe.
The Core, Continued
by Vonya
I loved Hildi’s not-so-anonymous guest post so much that I let it take the Tuesday slot instead of making it wait for the next available day – Friday.
The gist of the post was that all guilds have a Core – a tightly knit central group of people who, sometimes quite unintentionally, end up determining the guild’s personality, flow, direction, and demise.
I agree, and judging by your comments, y’all do too.
But how is the core different than a “clique” and how do you keep it from becoming an “us versus them” mentality?
It’s certainly a common situation. I submit to you that any guild which doesn’t have a core is either so large that it actually has multiple cores, or so small that all guild members are a part of the core.
Good or Bad?
The first question to ask is whether or not the Core is a good or a bad thing.
To me, it is good. Always. For every guild to have a core, that means every guild has a root, has a solid base, something to stand upon. You cannot build a house without a foundation, and you cannot build a guild without a Core.
And that’s a good thing! It is!
As Hildi said, the Core may or may not be officers or leaders in the guild. That’s normal, and that’s fine. Those of you who ARE leaders need to determine who your Core is. I’ll bet you already know, though.
If you don’t like your Core, get out of the guild. It doesn’t matter if they’re raiding Black Temple and even the priests are running around with double warglaives – you will never be happy in that guild.
But if your leadership is listening to the Core – if they’re paying attention, they will know exactly what they should do with the guild. Does the core want to raid, or does the Core want to roleplay? Does the core want to spend all its time goofing off in Shattrath, or does the Core want to raid, but not to take it too seriously?
This is good advice even for people looking at a new guild. If you get accepted to a guild, the very very first thing you need to do is find out who is in the Core, and then evaluate their actions. What do they say? And more importantly, what do they DO?
Then sit back and ask yourself if that meshes with your goals.
Because where the Core goes, so goes the Guild.
If you have a highly motivated and friendly Core, you’ve got an incredible guild, regardless of what content is being farmed.
The Core is the barometer for the health of the guild.
The bad part of this is obvious – when you build a guild on top of something, and that thing collapses in on itself, it becomes very difficult to pick up the pieces and recreate what was lost.
What’s the Difference?
So what’s the difference between a Core and a clique? I will absolutely grant you that the difference is small. However, I believe even that tiny quiddity is a world’s worth of importance.
A Core cares about the Guild.
A clique cares about itself.
You’ll find that your Core is the one pushing the guild’s goals (as well they should – they’re the ones who probably determined what the goals are!). They’re the ones doing their best for the guild – whether that means they’re the ones building guild-wide RP story arcs (more difficult than they’re given credit for), or they’re the ones posting boss killer guides on the forums and farming extra mats for potions. Whatever it is they’re doing, they care about the guild.
A clique cares more about themselves than the guild. They worry more about how they appear to other people, they will deliberately exclude people and often refuse to have anything to do with people who aren’t in their clique.
Want to know a secret, though?
A solid clique makes an AWESOME guild.
Really. If you’ve got a hardcore RP clique in a raiding guild that’s causing problems, they can almost certainly branch off and become the Core for a killer RP guild.
Beware the clique that thinks its a Core. They believe that their own goals are the same as the goals of the guild, and will constantly undermine the Core’s stability while trying to push their goals.
Wondering if you’re a Clique or a Core?
So how do you tell which one you are?
Look to the guild, my friend. What does the GUILD want to do? Write down the major guildmembers, or guild groups (if in a really large guild). What are the goals of those people/groups? If you don’t know – ask them! People love being asked their opinions.
Evaluate your answers and make sure what people SAY they want matches what they’re doing with their time. If someone says they support RP and want to do more guild-wide storylines…but they spend all their time raiding, never join RP night, and never speak in the in-character channel…then you should note that. Don’t just lump them in with whatever group you want them to be in (or even whatever group they think they want to be in).
Once you see that, you can get an idea of where the guild’s goals are. Do they match with yours?
Congratulations, you’re part of the Core!
And that is true even if you’re brand new to the guild.
Let me Explain That
That last sentence may have been a little confusing – let me explain.
One of the problems with Cores/Cliques is the us/them mentality. The feeling that you’re a third wheel, or left out, or not really wanted. Tagging along like a cute but annoying terrier puppy, trying desperately to impress and play with the mastiffs.
How do you fix that?
If you’re the puppy, you make absolutely certain that you want to be part of the Core. That the goals of the Core are the goals that you have. If you’re the mastiff, you have to be willing to see what that puppy can do, give him a chance to prove himself.
But if the puppy’s goals already match those of the Core, then sooner or later, they will become part of the Core. They won’t be able to help it. It will probably take a while to get the amount of trust to truly merge – you have to prove more than just your willingness, you have to prove that you’re in it for the long haul, and earn the respect of the matiffs.
But what makes a Core a Core? Blood relationship? Thhhbbbbt. Of course not. So how does this group of near-strangers become something as solid as a Core?
Shared goals.
It’s as simple as that.
And THAT, my friends, is how you join any group, Core, clique, bowling group, job, hobby group, Alcoholics Anonymous…
It doesn’t matter what group you’re trying to join. It’s the shared goals that are going to make the group work, that are going to make you a part of the Core.
You didn’t think I was ONLY talking about Warcraft, did you?
August 21st, 2008
Back in the olden daze….
I was in a guild in Everquest. There was a clique, but not a core. The Clique – half of them were really related, which is fine; but it was the guild leader, his wife and a few friends (in game and out). They had been around a bit longer than others, he had taken leadership of a very old guild, he was a part of that guild’s core.
Problem was, this ‘clique’ would go out with *other* guilds to do raiding; and didn’t really work like they should have on getting others in their own guild to advance. EQ was a bit harder to advance in – independent of others. In WoW, I can get myself well geared all by myself, really – even if it’s just through professions. In EQ you could twink hard – but once you hit 50-something, a group was almost a necessity; if you wanted decent gear. That changed over time; but at first… it was all about Armor on the items, as stats were far and few in between.
This unsettled a lot of the guild. Of course, they would do some raids with the guild; they were personally geared ‘good’ in comparison to the rest of the guild. So not a lot of people said much as they enabled raiding of certain content, period.
However; others were gearing up too. A small group of friends; of which I was one of them, started to do more things together. Primarily, because the ‘clique’ was off playing DAoC or something else – but they weren’t in EQ often. It was a guild without leadership. In frustration, and a desire to move ahead, I took myself – I was a healer – a good tank and two others into a Raid Dungeon (Kael). At this point, I had read so much about the strategy there, I thought a small focused group could do it. I died – over and over; over the course of a week.
But then a spark happened….. Someone said in guild, “Hey, what are you doing in Kael?” – I replied, “Raiding this place; win or lose – I’m here until I get what I want”. 30 minutes later, we were fielding a decent raid force.
One week later, I and a Tank were ‘Raid Leaders’. We moved on to Tower Of Veeshan and more. We just started knocking stuff down. I came to know this other guy real well, along with his ’squeeze’ – another healer. They had a few DPS friends who joined, who had a tank friend who joined. An old tank who hadn’t been around for a long time – but was well geared when he left started hanging out with us again. It built and built. Was my first exposure to a real ‘core’.
Alas; something funny happened. The ‘clique’ had grown tired of DAoC and came back. We were WAY past them. The Shadowknight and I had bascially taken over the guild. Some ‘loyalists’ of the old Clique welcomed them back with open arms, others – myself included were a bit unsettled. I had nothing personal against them; they had just always shown themselves to be very self-centered.
Sense a guild-fracture coming?
It did. The core formed a smaller, new guild – along with a couple ‘Ronin’ from other guilds. It was not entirely successful, but it merged with what was to be one of the largest guilds on the server. Large in terms of content they were doing anyway – only two guilds could even compete. I had held out shortly in the old guild; just because I’m not much of a guild hopper. I got frustrated trying to ‘fix’ what was left of the old guild; tried the new guild part of the old ‘core’ had formed – it was good; just too small. After a while and a break, I came back to EQ… The new guild the core joined was doing top-content, just about. I was welcomed into the guild in spite of my horrid undergearing.
This caused an issue for me – they were willing to gear me up, but they had TONS of healers. They needed DPS… So I rolled DPS, but by that point; I didn’t devote as much time to the game, fell further behind… and well.
That’s why I’m leveling slow – once I have my ‘main’ he will be my only main, period. I may make alts for kicks – but that’s it.
But yeah, there’s a major difference between a clique and a core. If it’s gonna be a good guild – the clique must also be the core of the guild – not a separate division
Boy I can ramble on~~~ Sorry
August 21st, 2008
So much to disagree with. I’ll limit it to two points though. =)
Speaking from experience — the core players of a guild will stop caring about a guild when it ceases to be the optimal vehicle to obtaining their goals.
Secondly, you can’t join a guild, have aligned interests and be part of the core. These core players Hildi is referencing are generally the most reliable and well played characters. Intentions count for significantly less than ability, skill, and a deep understanding of game mechanics.
The “Core” you’re describing may exist in lesser guilds, but I certainly wouldn’t liken it to Hildi’s post regarding high end guilds. Linking the two concepts is a bad idea.
August 21st, 2008
@Overcast
The more I hear about it, the more I see EQ as WoW v0.1. There are so many lessons that were learned in that place that have been implemented in the last couple of years in Azeroth. Thanks for the glimpse!
@Nulien
I think a point was made that the Core dictates what the guild does, for the most part. When they become the vocal minority, they tend to go elsewhere – together. The name may be left behind with that larger group who did not want what the Core wanted, but the ‘guild’, the Core, will take the essence and the spirit of the guild with them.
And then, Ego said that it would be an eventual, not instant, thing for the new puppy to become part of the Core. Their dedication, interests, and similar goals will drive them to gain the ability, skill, and understanding that will earn the acceptance of the mastiff.
Thanks for piping up, though! =)
August 21st, 2008
@Overcast
Hey, I’m an Everquest refugee, too! I leveled a shaman to 52 or so before we realized that I couldn’t handle the healing at high levels (I could have stood to learn that earlier) and I rerolled a warrior. Kevra Doomhopper, Scourge of Solusek Ro! (All of her sentences ended in exclamation points!)
@Nulien
1) Core players stop caring.
This is pretty much true of everything. In Warcraft, they call that burnout. Sometimes it’s temporary, sometimes it’s not. Anyone who has been in a guild long enough knows that the guilds that last are the ones where someone in the core really gives up a lot for the guild, or the guilds that have been able to handle burnout without letting it fracture the Core. I’m not sure what you were disagreeing with me on for this one – I don’t recall saying that Core members never burn out, or stay forever.
2) Joining -> Core
Not immediately, no. But it happens on a regular basis. New people join the Core, old people leave (though that last bit is rarely accomplished without drama). Intentions DO count for less than ability, that’s where the “earn the respect” part comes in. You can say you want to raid until you’re blue in the face, but if you don’t actually research your class, learn, prepare, and perform well, then what you are really saying is you want to raid without putting forth effort. Most (raiding) cores will not respect this. That’s not aligned goals (see the bits where I mention actions as well as words), and they won’t become part of that Core.
I think what we’re truly disagreeing with here is the definition of “Core”. Your definition seems to be raiding-only, and includes only those who are very good at their class? My definition is any group of like-minded individuals who drive the group or guild.
August 21st, 2008
Great addition to an already great post! After reading both, I can really easily see who is in The Core of my guild – and contrary to Hildi’s observation, it does include the leaders and officers of the guild. But I have seen the chunk it takes out of a guild when one of the Core members leaves – it really leaves a hole in the guild.
And yay for using the WoW Word of the Week!
I’m so excited to see other bloggers getting into this… vocabulary FTW!
August 21st, 2008
Yeah and after a while – the big guilds almost seem to drive themselves to a degree. I guess maybe the ‘core’ takes on a life of it’s own. It may well continue to thrive even as players move in and out – some guilds certainly seem to do that.
I kinda know what you mean though – in the big guilds I was in, there were some ‘key players’ but the guild seemed to be able to function with or without them, mostly. There was enough ‘redundancy’ to sustain raiding and such if someone was out for a while or whatnot.
It’s interesting to delve into the dynamics of guilds like this, it’s particularly useful to me at the moment. While I’m still a bit low level, I have ‘related’ experience.
I am a reluctant potential guild leader. I know the hassles involved all too well, but right now – in this mid-range of WoW, good guilds are almost non-existent, seems like most everyone is on a crazed solo/duo grind to 70, with just a touch of PUGging here and there. I’m grasping that they do exist at upper levels, and that’s a nice breeze of relief.
My plan is really to just do the same – get 70 soon-ish and start exploring the guilds on my server. But there’s lots and lots of gearing up to do~
How I will accomplish that, I’m unsure just yet – but I will
August 21st, 2008
@ Brajana – I never said the core excludes officers or leaders. What I said is “Officers are sometimes part of the Core, but not always. Quite frankly, they are part of the Core less often then you would think.” So, I’m not sure what you are disagreeing with.
I’ll lend comments after I can read the whole post. Work is killing me today. /sad panda
August 21st, 2008
@Hildi
I think that’s going around today. Work has been stabbing me in the shoulder and biting my shins all damn day
*ouch!*
It stumped my toe!
August 21st, 2008
@Braj
If your guild has seen Core members leave without folding, then you’ve got a good, solid guild. It’s definitely better when a small group of people isn’t fully supporting the guild. You can lose one or two without it causing a massive melt down.
I love the word of the week thing! I hope you keep doing it. *grins*
@Overcast
That’s when you know that the guild is stable on its own. No matter how good and solid the core, I think the guild is always on shaky ground until it hits that point. Kinda like Jenga. You want to be able to remove and replace pieces without the whole structure tumbling down.
The mid-levels of WoW are always difficult. Not only is it tough to find people around that level range, but often, people don’t really know why they want to play. They may have “raiding” or “leveling” or whatnot on their minds, but they haven’t really had the opportunity to experience and make a decision. Leading that would be difficult, since they don’t even really know what they want yet.
@Hildi
Hopefully you don’t mind I took your idea and ran with it. Such a great original post, and one of the comments got me to thinking about a follow-up. Plus, I never miss a chance to ramble. Ugh for work killing you. *gives the panda a bamboo lollipop*
August 21st, 2008
ok back.
@ Vonya/Nulien: You are both right imo. The difference is in perspective. In the type of guilds Nulien and I live in, those are exactly the attributes found in all ‘core’ members and people with them tend to end up in the core. There is no invitation, no asking “can I be core?” and certainly no one joins those guilds as core. That will never happen. It is merely inferenced when talking guild directions, who does what, how the raid schedule will be made, etc… So, in that sense Nulien is right. In the sense that Vonya is speaking, her RP guild references seem right. I’ve never been in one so I cannot speak to the details and nuances there, but as I was reading I was agreeing. Except that part about a solid clique makes a great guild. If it gets to that point, then I think the clique has become the core, and your guild has changed.
I’m currently in 4 different guilds right now (though I see a consolidation in the near future). I’ve got my RL friends guild, a guild that includes people I’ve played with for a long time, my previous guild and the new one. They all have completely different aims, yet they all have a core of some size/shape. I consider myself core in none of them anymore. I was in my previous raiding guild, and maybe even the one before (but I could argue both ways on that particular guild). I’m far, far too new to the people in my present guild to be considered ‘core’, and here is the kicker: I never cared if I was or wasn’t. Guilds for me are a means to an end (harsh?). My ends in WoW happen to be the end-game content, having fun doing it, and enjoying that with people that I like. So I play with those goals in mind and, to my mind I just got lucky a couple of times that I ended up in guilds that matched my ends. That’s when I became core, not because I looked to be in it, or asked. It just ‘fit’.
@Overcast – Yes, EQ was WoW .1
EQ2 however was a failed EQ1. (doh!). Regarding your guild experiences… that sounds like a story of not so much the core being formed, but a core that changed into something that matched your goals. Remember what I was saying about having a core that changes: it will change and that is only a matter of time. A changed core doesn’t always mean a guild explosion. When guilds explode it is usually because a) an Officer(s) was completely abusing his/her position or b) a minority of the core has changed so much that the rest of the core cannot tolerate the results anymore and there is a mass exodus. Sounds like yours was number B. 
It is difficult to find those mid-level guilds because eventually most people end up at the end levels. This makes it difficult to find anyone at your level for any amount of time, not to mention everyone levels at a different speed and once you hit 70 the game is completely different. They are out there, though what you typically find is that you get into a guild as a ‘friend’ status of someone who is already there (and 70) and you end up playing with a lot of alts’ in that guild.
I am actually pleased my article has had this much interest. I was wondering if people could relate enough to join in. Thanks for all the responses (and that extra post!)
Feel free to hop over to Hyjal and say hi if you want. Just not if I’m raiding lol.