week on Video Game Tuesday I’m covering a topic I’ve had to personally deal with recently. It’s Leadership in Gaming Groups!

What Is A Gaming Group?: Any gathering of gamers who play together regularly, wether in real life sitting side by side or virtually through an in-game system. This includes things like Guilds, Clans, etc.

Who Should Lead?: Well first off ideally it should be someone who is comfortable with being in charge and making decisions that affect the entire group. It should also be someone everyone trusts and knows.

What Do Leaders Need to Do?: They need to be active in whatever game the group is playing primarily, they can’t just drop off the map because they are bored without getting replacements for them. They also need to be flexible and willing to delegate jobs and be able to communicate well with their group members. They also need to be able to create and enforce the rules by which the group will play.

What about Real Life Emergencies?: Well shit happens, and while it may knock a leader out of commission for a while, a good leader will have back up plans with at least one other active sub leader in the group who can do everything that needs to occur while they are gone.

What Happens When We Have A Bad Leader?: Well you can ask him or her to leave, or if he just up and quit playing the game contact in game customer support if disbanding and reforming is something that isn’t feasible or ideal. Usually customer support will help out with issues like this, and they often have built in systems where players can take over if the leader is absent long enough.

What Happens If A Leader Returns After A Long Absence?: Well they should be prepared to apologize if they just left everyone hanging, they should also not expect to get any in game leadership rights back.  Leaders who bully the people who kept the group going to return the leadership aren’t worth keeping in the group.

That’s it for this week’s Video Game Tuesday.