I wanted to wish all candidates good luck and share with you a few ideas from my experience as officer, and also from the research I’ve been conducting for my ethnology project (still an ongoing reflection).
First, on the recruitment topic: I did a census and there was 52 different players (not characters – I took alts into account) logging in at least once in the past 8 days. It’s a large number. To give you a comparison, a study I found about WoW (complete census of 5 servers a few years ago) established that 90% of the guilds there had less than 35 characters (and not players, they had no way to identify alts from the same player). So this makes me think that growing even more might not be the first priority, but we still need to do some recruitment to compensate for natural attrition. To ensure players find enough people to group up with when they need to, I think the best way is to reinforce our alliances.
Our player base is very diverse, which is our strength and also might make things more difficult for you, future officers and leader. It’s a strength because large and diverse kinships have the most chance to survive and grow (always according to this survey). It can be difficult, because it means catering to the needs of very different playstyles. But I think, reading your posts, that the diversity of future officers reflect well the diversity of the kin as a whole, and it’s the best way to ensure that everyone has their voice heard.
That’s why our democratic system works best I think. It’s a participative democracy, which means that if you’re not happy with something, not only you can make your voice heard, but you can also take things in your own hands, and do something to make it better. It’s also an essential system to ensure the survival of the kinship in the long term, so there are always new members and new ideas invigorating the kin. Sclerosis because of inactive leadership is the most common reason for guilds to disappear.
Through the conversations I had and the research I’ve done, I encountered two different visions for the role of an officer, overall. First, officers can be seen as a kind of reward for past accomplishments. Second, officer role can be seen as a duty, more akin to volunteer work. The 1st vision is often linked to a more military-like model, the 2nd to a model based on associations. My own vision, and I think the one most adapted to our kin, is the 2nd one. But at times, I felt like I wasn’t legitimate enough as an officer, based on the 1st model. Ideally, maybe officers should embody both models. But we’re not living in an ideal system, and make do with what we can and where we are now is the best way to achieve something.
So, many thanks to all candidates for taking an active part in the Eagles. It’s great to see so many kinnies willing to spend time and energy to make our kin better, in every way possible.
And sorry for the long read!