Emergent Leadership

September 22, 2006 on 8:50 am | In WoW, Playstyles

Upon returning to World of Warcraft after a nine month hiatus, I quickly realized the being focused just on Raiding wasn't going to cut it for me. Lots of reasons really, but the biggest one is Burning Crusade. With the increase in the level cap comes the increase in equipment one can get, both in soloable quests and small group ones. I don't mind the occasional Raid, but eventually it becomes a slot machine: you're just going through the motions until something drops.

So I decided to tip-toe a bit into PvP, specifically Battlegrounds. Oddly enough, being over a year late, I haven't been completely outclassed. And I'm playing what amounts to the least survivable template of a near-one-dimensional class.

Background 

My first foray into Alterac Valley (AV) was akin to my first entry into Molten Core, partly because neither place was a destination I thought I'd ever arrive at. But the similarity ends there. Unlike MC, where eventually you know exactly how the place is going to respond to your actions, no two Battleground fights are ever the same. Sure the NPCs within all respond predictably. But in classic RTS style, you just don't know how the opponent players will.

I've come to Battlegrounds late. Apparently there's a whole bunch of things that have changed about them over time. Most recently Blizzard instituted cross server battlegrounds, where in your particular battle, your team and that of the enemy could be from any number of servers. Cumulatively, the changes of the last year all seem to have improved BGs in the minds of players. Not having lived it though, I've only read accounts.

I like AV. It's probably about the size of a medium outdoor zone like Elwynn Forest or Dun Murogh. And there's lots of side-objectives to try out as well as a few different tech trees. For example, you can make your own NPC Guards more powerful, unlock a fighting force of powerful mounted NPCs, unlock this crazy-huge walking tree thing and so on. The main goal is to defeat the leader of the opposing side, himself a raid-level boss. They're surrounded by guards who, interestly enough, are linked to the number of towers held by the side. For example, if the Alliance destroys the Tower Point tower, the "Tower Point Warmaster" guard despawns.

But it's just not that easy. You never know where the enemy is going to decide to defend. You never know if they're going to take all 40 of their members and assault your base in a zerg, split them between objectives, or whether they have any real coordination at all. AV is all pickup-group, and while there are ways to cheat the system, there's really no way to guarantee 40 people you know well and talk to on voicechat will be in the same AV instance.

And that's the real challenge.

Ability to Learn

• In Raiding, you and your force can get better if you always have the same people together, learning together, being lead together, gearing up together.
• In AV, you can't get that. So typical pickup-group (PUG) dynamics take over.

Typical pickup-group dynamics include no clear leader, constant bickering, no clear objectives people agree on, a complete disillusionment with early failure and wins based sometimes on luck and sometimes on emergent leadership.

Nowhere is that more apparent in the smaller Battleground, Arathi Basin (AB). AB is a capture-the-flag type game. The number of flags you hold each round contributes to number of resources your side collects. It's a simple counter that increases every minute. The first side to reach 2,000 resources is the winner.

Unlike AV, in AB you can arrive as a raid force (15 people max). But most don't, instead arriving with a PUG. And the difference is apparent. I have yet to be in a PUG against a guild where the PUG wins. The entire methodology of the opposing force is different. And they don't even need voicechat to win. They just have to wait for the PUG to descend into uncontrolled chaos as it most often will.

But sometimes it doesn't.

Emergent Leadership 

Sometimes a leader will emerge, early on, and issue orders others follow. There's a few dynamics in play here:

• How the leader emerges: If a braggart swaggers into the /battleground chat channel, they'll get shouted down by other braggerts. However, a truly authoritative figure, someone who carries the Teddy Rooselevent "Big Stick" while walking tall comes in and starts issuing orders, there's a good chance people will listen. This is because:
• The nature of the orders: Do they make sense? Are they properly explained? There's not a lot of things to do in AB. There's only five flags after all, and while all are open for capture, there are better ones to get. This is because of the layout of the zone. It's easier to capture one flag and be able to support two others than it is to capture other flags and defend those.
• The nature of the participants: Are they experienced AB attendees? I find that the newbies and the most experienced are the most apt to listen to good orders. It's those who think they're smarter than they are, or those who just never want to be told what to do, who don't.
• Consistent leadership: A leader who issues orders that make sense only gets the group started. A true leader is constantly watching the map, ordering forces to defend or give up or take. As long as they're not jerks about it, they'll get listened to, because:
• The price of success: If the orders are delivered well and consistently and the results are palpable, people will listen. They need those demonstrable results though. Here I feel an analogy to raid drops. As long as they flow consistently enough, people are motivated to get them. This, and demonstrable success of leadership are Dark Arts though in my mind.

I also see a corrolation between Raid/Guild leaders and Battleground temporary Leaders. Some say leaders are born, not made. Maybe that's so, but I feel there's a bit of leadership in everyone, just waiting for the opportunity to come out. Temporary groups in a game that'll last no more than 20 minutes are great environments in which to try leadership on for size. Even if you entirely flub it, most of those people won't remember you anyway. That's the beauty of cross server battlegrounds.

But even effective leadership can only work with the force they've got at the time. PUG battlegroups are, by nature, at a constant disadvantage as a result. They're always playing together for the first time. I imagine this is just like pickup raid groups. I've never participated in a pickup raid in WoW or anywhere, and based on these battleground experiences, I am even less-inclined to bother.

All of this is well-known of course, the very reason why Guilds are created and sought after. Any consistency makes for a more efficient gaming experience. The best leaders are those that emerge for an occasion and prove to those being lead that following orders is going to get everyone their desired results.

But like I said, it's a Dark Art.