Entry posted by King DrunkWino
277 views
Settle down class. Today Dr. Wino will be conducting a seminar on how to improve the inner-workings of your CyberNations Alliance. There are those of you that this will be more of a refresher course and there are others here that, quite frankly, need to listen to some of these ideas before you fail. In other cases, before you fail again. This course is mainly for those of you in leadership positions, but you players that aren't should pay as close, if not closer, attention.
Let us begin:
Egos
Our first lesson is on proper ego management. Are you a leader of an alliance or are you actively seeking leadership? If so, realize that you have an ego and it's probably the size of a small Pacific island. If you read that and thought "I don't have an ego like that," then your probably right. You probably have an ego quite a bit larger, something along the lines of the Pacific ocean or the western hemisphere.
Now, kindly realize that having an ego is no crime in and of itself. It's not until you are making decisions that impact your alliance based of that towering ego that you're fracking up. Yes, you ARE fracking up. See, if you're leading an alliance, then you have to take responsibility for the nations that follow you. In other words, all those players sitting at home or work (GBTW slacker,) have placed most of their Cybernations playing experience into your hands. Now, when you make a idiotic ego-fueled decision then it is totally on your head if the players that follow you have crappy experiences in the game over it. Things like getting into an unpopular war because you decide you don't like the guy running an alliance (and if you try and say this doesn't happen you're telling dirty fracking lies,) or ignoring certain elements of your alliance because you don't like them; well folks that's a load of bullhockey and you're being a poor leader by doing it.
Does that upset anyone out there? Good. Quite frankly, some of you need a good swift kick in the nads.
In order to be a good leader, you must conquer and control that ego of yours. You DO need a good health ego to lead, don't get me wrong. Nobody wants to follow a wishy-washy kinda guy. You must learn to control it though.
In order to do that, it's easy to explain, but it's hard to put into practice. Simply put: You, as a leader, have a very real responsibility to do the right thing NOT for yourself, but for those that follow you. You must put aside where YOU want to go, learn where your alliance whats to go, and then lead them there. If your alliance wants to go to the Magic Kingdom and you want to go to Epcot, you need to shut your trap and lead your people to the Magic Fracking Kingdom.
-------------------------
Your members
If you lead an alliance, then you have people you're leading, correct? Just who are these people? Do you know offhand? Do you know what they want to do in Cybernations? If you answered no, then you're doing it wrong. You cannot effectively lead a faceless mass that you know nothing about. You cannot do it because if you do not know what that faceless mass seeks, you cannot lead them there. Think about the word "lead." It means being the guy in front blazing the trail to the land of milk and honey or the land of strip clubs and open bars. If you're not leading your people to where they want to go, somebody else will step up and do it, leaving you all by yourself.
First lesson: Your members are not simply meatshields or chess pawns. They are thinking and reasoning human beings. When they talk, they aren't doing it to exercise their fingers on a keyboard, they're doing to be heard. Hear them for cripes sake. Take them seriously and learn from them. Part of the good about Cybernations is getting to know people you'd never meet otherwise. Get out of your ivory government boards and secret private IRC rooms and get your butts into you members common area. When you get there, fracking participate. Let your members know your not some high and mighty snobbish jackhole. Hit the spam rooms, jump into the "Everything Else," boards.
Second lesson: Find and cultivate talent when it presents itself. I remember back to the NoCB thingy. I was the FA dude at the RIA. For some reason I forget, a little known member member to the world stage came to me and asked me if he could do something. Again, what the something was, I forget, but I do remember it was kind of a big thing. Now, this guy had very little if no government experience and, at the time, I didn't see a whole lot that separated him in my mind from anyone else in the RIA. So what did I tell him? I said yes. I gave him a broad outline of what to get done and got out of his way. Know what? He succeeded beyond any expectation I had. He did so well that I had no beef stepping aside as FA guy in the next elections and letting him spread his wings. That guy you may know as SWAT128. I take no credit for him being a good guy, but I take a measure of pride for getting out of his way and letting him take his shot at bat.
Why the story? Well, if your that dense that you didn't figure it out, there may not be much hope for you here and now, but I'll explain. No matter who you are or how smart you think you are, there's always somebody that can do what you do and in some cases, they can do it better. When you find these people, let them have their turn. If they need help, offer it. If they mess up, teach them. If they are doing well, get the frack out of their way. Cybernations is a game, quit hogging the controller.
-------------------------
Basic tips to running your alliance less crappy
Lesson one: Treaties
You see how fracked up this current war is? Yeah, it's because folks weren't keeping up with their treaties. Folks just signed a bunch of them based on how much leader A likes leader B or some such nonsense, then put the e-paper on a shelf to collect dust. Stop doing this as you're just embarrassing yourself and your members. Review your treaties monthly, annually at least. If you find that the reasons that you signed that treaty aren't there anymore, don't be afraid to act on it. Oh, and for the love of admin himself, please learn that a MDP isn't the lowest branch in the treaty tree to sign. Now, I'll agree that PIAT's are kinda stupid since it's basically a NAP with extra words. I disagree that a NAP or a friendship treaty is pointless. If you like somebody enough that you don't want to fight them, but not so much that you'll fight along side them, there's nothing wrong with a treaty that says you won't punch each other in the mouth. It doesn't even have to be a prelude to a MDP. If you're a leader, then quit following the herd mentality on this issue and fracking lead your people.
Lesson Two: Streamline Your Process
Nobody likes a bunch of rigid bureaucratic garbage that slows your alliance down. Nobody except the folks that sit on congresses or councils or whatever you wanna call it (bet you though I was just slagging on big boss men, didn't ya?) If you have a council or sit on one, realize one fracking thing: You do NOT sit there to indulge your unwarranted self-importance. You sit there to represent the ordinary members of your alliance. It damn well doesn't take weeks to figure out where your members stand on an issue. If you have a working brain cell and any sense of responsibility, you already have an idea on where your members stand. Even if it's a heated issue, it should take a day or two to figure it out. It ain't fracking rocket science. Oh, and if you are on some kind of council and aren't gonna be around for a while, MAKE SOME KIND OF FRACKING ARRANGEMENTS SO YOUR ALLIANCE DOESN'T COME TO A SCREECHING HALT WAITING ON YOUR DUMB ***! This applies to anyone in alliance leadership.
Take a good long look at your charters and governing structure. Chances are, it could be better. Here's a trick, a good government structure is one that allows flexibility. The more rigid your governing structure, the harder its gonna be on you to do business. Give department heads a wide range of powers in their respective departments. Give the big boss of an alliance the authority to be a big boss. If anyone takes it too far, reel 'em back in. If somebody screws up and doesn't do what the membership wants, make sure there's an easy way to kick 'em the frack out of the job.
Basically make things simpler. This is a game. People participate to have fun. Bureaucracy is not fun. In short, it sucks about as hard as suck can suck.
-------------------------
Alright class, that's about enough for today. I expect you to at least attempt to digest this. Like I said at the offset, for some, this is a refresher course and I hope you don't feel like this was a total waste of time. For too many others, I highly suggest you learn this stuff and do it quickly. Not for your sake, I quite honestly don't give a flipping crap about improving your game since your hogging of governmental reigns or parliamentary bullcrap is taking fun experience away from others. I want you to learn this **** so that your members have easy access to the complete CyberNations gaming experience. Quit being those pair of retard little brothers from Moral Oral screaming "MINE," and share.
Come back next class where I'll lecture on something else we're all screwing up on. Yes, I said we all. I'm not gonna claim I'm any better than you and I freely admit there are things I screwed up on and will probably screw up all new things in the future. Thing is, I can admit to it and attempt to learn something from it. Do the same.
12 Comments
Recommended Comments