Ugh.. My apologies ahead of time to anyone who sees my post in your feeds as a blank post or anything like that... I accidently hit "enter" after typing the title, and apparently that defaults to "publish post" on here.. silly blogger.com. Anyway...
Today's title comes from something one of my guildies asked me a couple weeks back. A little background information is probably in order. Back when I first joined my current guild *Stands In Bad* I remember talking to this very same person (an officer, I should probably mention) about what an amazing experience it was, how much fun I had had raiding with them, and how glad I was that I decided to bring my druid over to that server. Since then, i've become the official raid leader for the guild, and an officer in my own right. So, a couple weeks back after a frustrating night of raiding... and wiping on things we had no business wiping on, he posed this question "So, is the honeymoon over?"
I found myself stopping to think about it for a bit. My gut reaction was to instantly say "no" because I didn't want him to think I wasn't genuinely enjoying raiding with them, or regretting spending the money to transfer a couple toons to this server, or anything like that. I don't even remember exactly what I said to him at the time. But it's really kind of an interesting question, if you stop to ponder it for a minute. How many of you have joined a guild or a raid group, REALLY enjoyed yourself for a few weeks and then found yourself getting bored or looking for another group? I know I've done it before. I bounced around to a couple different raid groups and guilds over the past few months before finding myself at home in SiB.
Here's the thing though. What is it that makes SiB different than the other guilds i've been in? Why, in spite of frustration and irritation some nights, do I call myself happy here? Why isn't SiB just another stepping stone to another guild? In other words... what makes *Stands in Bad* my home? It's a hard question to answer, but I think i'm going to try and give a brief rundown.
The main thing about SiB... We're not douchebags. We're normal people and we treat each other like normal people. Hell, more often than not I refer to people by their real names instead of their toon's name. That to me brings a level of familiarity that not all guilds have, and that's huge as far as i'm concerned. We're social, but we also raid and we're relatively successful at it. Now, keep in mind, we're not in line for any world firsts or server firsts... but that's perfectly fine by us.
I feel like i've rambled on enough, so i'll wrap this up. To answer my guildy's question... Is the honeymoon over? Yes it is, and i'm loving every second of it.
I'm really happy you've found somewhere to call home - I'm guild restless, to be honest, as a general rule. Although I can usually be made welcome for a few weeks, I rarely find somewhere I really fit, and am really happy. To be honest, I think the important bit of guild bonding comes, as you say, AFTER the honeymoon period, when the rosy glow has died away and you can see the problems AND the advantages and still feel happy.
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