Welcome to Xiled Gaming
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Feel free to sign up today.
Sign Up Now

PLEASE READ: A POSSIBLY NEW PERSPECTIVE

XGC Coleslaw XI

Council Member
XG CONTRIBUTER
X-TEAM
XGC KINGS
Jan 1, 2006
1,396
14
38
Pittsburgh, PA
www.xiledgaming.com
A friend of mine asked me if "is it just me or do the XS's and XD's have the hardest job in XG" and this is what i replied... this may be a new perspective for some people, but i believe it's been said in other words many times before... anyway i thought it was a good read for anyone confused on some matters that this response may address...


"no it's not just you, but the XS's, XD's, and XC's do have the hardest jobs in Xiled Gaming. this is not by chance, but it is planned for multiple reasons. the first reason is that when we designed the structure of XG, we designed it so that when XG took off (Which it has) the council members would not have to handle the much of the actual clan disputes (which happens a lot, but the council still handles a lot), we have 100% faith in the people we have promoted to do the job for us... now we didn't set up XG this way so that we could be lazy and just stake ownership of something that other people work so hard on. we looked at this from a business perspective...

our generals and captains are lower management, their job is to micromanage individuals set up in the structure underneath of them, the XS's and XD's (and now XC's which aren't an original rank) are the middle management that run entire branches and have a lot of responsibilities... we expect a lot out of these individuals...

we as the council are the upper management, we planned on not dealing with current problems between individuals (we have faith that our middle management can do that) but we wanted our jobs to be to further the company... expand the community to make it better for everyone that is a part of it... the upper management is also the only people with serious financial responsibilities (buying all of the websites, servers, and any softwares we use... not to mention future costs which may be in an area that we haven't discovered yet) anyway, in doing this we discovered that we have great ideas, but we will never be able to seperate ourselves from individuals, because 1. we like gaming with cool new members within our community, and 2. we have to respect and understand all of our members in order to make good decisions for the good of all of our members...

anyway we still give a lot of responsibilities to the XS's, XD's, and XC's so that we can further the community, but also we left room for us to promote more council members than we originally had (ex. viper & blknight) in order for us to KNOW that an individual has the communities best interest in mind, and to make sure they can handle some of the stresses that may face us (for example, if a bunch of XS's and XD's quit, guess who takes back all of those clans... we built XG once, we can do it again although we love the guys we have and hope it never comes to that cus we have a lot of really cool members) you have to go through a lot for us to know that you are the man for such a permanent position such as council...

anyway i hope that explains it... some of these guys who say they aren't having fun anymore as a XS or XD are doing it to themself. when you get promoted you don't have to accept. all of the council has either been an XS or XD or something equivilent (in a previous clan) before. we had a blast building up our clans... if you're not having fun there's nothing wrong with you... you're just either not fit for that job or you r making it more difficult than you have to... we enjoyed each of our ranks and moving up, and now we love our current duties... we often say in XG that "Xiled Gaming is what you make it" it can be a place where you stay a Sgt. and just game, or if you get more satisfaction out of having responsibilities and fulfilling your duties than accepting promotions and working hard to get promoted is what you should be doing. just relax, game, interact with other cool members, and enjoy the community for what it's worth..."
 

Lifetime Crisis

XG CONTRIBUTER
Dec 7, 2007
1,185
0
0
Minnesota
and I think getting the most out of the community (without trashing it in the process) is what drives most people to get their ranks. I used to think that if I had the chance I only want to stop at division leader at the most. I thought more and I decided that I want to to as high as I can, and be the best leader I can be in the meantime. I'm not letting my ambition control me, it's just a goal I want to reach. And I realize I need to put my clan before myself, so that's where I'm staying. For now.
 

XGC Coleslaw XI

Council Member
XG CONTRIBUTER
X-TEAM
XGC KINGS
Jan 1, 2006
1,396
14
38
Pittsburgh, PA
www.xiledgaming.com
this is the reply i had back from the friend whom i sent the first message to: "The two questions I have are: why don't all these frustrated XSs that just demote themselves and remain in XG and what is it that's making all these people leave?

It's easy to sit back and say "Let them go and do what they want to do." ...but the "problem" still remains. I think the best thing to do is investigate why they are leaving and fix the problem. That way, as generals are promoted to XSs, you may have less of these mass exoduses."

i felt that this too was worthy of reading, as it may too help some people out... this was my response:

"i want to address your two questions first... 1. a lot of times people do demote themselves... there is just a lot less drama involved when that happens and you don't hear about it as often... but there's another reason that people don't do that and it's an ego... they think that they would have to go back as a Sgt. and take a million directions from someone and they just can't do that anymore... but the thing that they forgot is that it is very easy to be a Sgt. especially if you don't want to move up in rank... if you just want to game, there's no one that is going to bother you.. the worst you'd have to put up with is when you want to play with ur buddies whom some of which are leaders they may have meetings, so you can't play with them 24/7...

and to address your second question the main thing that makes people leave is a similar answer, an ego... i'd say that 95% of the people that leave, go because they get caught up in what another member is doing... i have to explain this cus it sounds confusing now, but i've seen it happen at least 40 times... here's how it happens... for example let's say someone gets promoted to section leader, they are doing a good job and they know it. sometimes they feel like it's a competition to see who can get promoted to division leader first... well they start evaluating all of the other section leaders, and they say "well i'm better than that other guy" so they automatically think "i'll get XS before him..." the only thing is that this person may or may not be a better leader... we try our best as the council and every leader for that matter to evaluate who the best leaders are... and we vote on every decision (big surprise)... anyway for some reason (it could be that the other XS is simply a better candidate for a promotion) the other XS gets promoted before our section leader in question... then this guy looks at it as "wow i can't believe it, i'm such a better leader, this guy doesn't do anything and he got promoted before me..." and the even bigger problem comes when they start complaining to their generals telling them how bad of a leader the other guy is.... now the XS in question starts saying obviously there is favoritism among the leaders because there is no way he should have been promoted before me... the funny thing is over half the time... the guy doing all of this complaining was probably being discussed for a promotion the next week, or very soon... that has actually happened... we might have promoted the other XS and said "we'll vote on the XS in question next week because (there can be many reasons) not enough of our XC's and council truly know this XS" we have all intention of promoting the XS in question, we just have a few checks in place that happen before we do that... then we hear about this guy complaining before we promote him and he ruins it for himself... then when he doesn't get promoted again because we chose not to since he is complaining to everyone he shouts "favoritism" again...

that should sum it up... if there is a confusing part let me know and i'll clear it up for you... i also wanted to address the statement you made about going and investigating why people leave... we do that 100% of the time. the person leaving is willing to talk about it to the council prolly 75% of the time and after talking about it they decide not to leave to stay and be just a gamer 50% of the time. (which unfortunately people see as us letting a banned member back in and shout "favoritism") but we just try to get to the root of the problem... if they left because they misunderstood something, then decide leaving wasn't the right decision once someone who knows what they are talking about explains it to them, then i don't think we should punish them by kicking them out"
 
It truely is unfortunate but true. Leadership and promotions are not for everyone. A true leader does not aspire to be so. It should not be considered a competition to out do another member but just to focus on your job individually within the community. I've been in XG for 2 years now and have turned down promotions to pass them to someone I felt was more deserving. Im a great Captain and feel this is my best place to further better the community and help and game with new recruits. For all those who leave and talk smack about XG and try to take other members with them on their trail of tears, to me it shows LACK of leadership qualities and XG is a much better place without them. With over 30,000 members I guess your bound to find some that are like that, unfortunately it takes time to see their true colors.
 

XGC Coleslaw XI

Council Member
XG CONTRIBUTER
X-TEAM
XGC KINGS
Jan 1, 2006
1,396
14
38
Pittsburgh, PA
www.xiledgaming.com
the first message was in response to the question that i had mentioned... it was a private conversation between myself and a fellow member VVRAITH... he didn't mention any names, he just asked if it was just him or if section leaders and division leaders have the hardest job in XG... so the first post was the answer, it was probably a lot longer answer than he needed, but for some reason i felt like explaining it in detail... (guess i was bored)

the second message i posted was in response to what VVRAITH sent back to me... i again answered his question in great detail for some reason... i just thought they were interesting answers that always pertain to XG, and maybe, just maybe it could offer people a different perspective on how we do things... it's hard to put yourself into someone elses shoes, but we have to do it every now and again...

this message is indeed in response to your question lightning... (just so there's no confusion)

PS if there is ever any confusion in XG as a whole, feel free to contact me here, as i'll answer it to the best of my ability (i've been gone for some time due to work/moving, so i may not know a specific person and their situation)... but when it comes to concepts within XG, i was one of the minds that created this clan, so i know which direction we want to head... i'm here to help...
 

Lifetime Crisis

XG CONTRIBUTER
Dec 7, 2007
1,185
0
0
Minnesota
I just thought you were saying I shouldn't get caught up with getting promoted, and just focus in what I can do my best at eight now. Which is leading a great clan.

I confuse easily at times. That's what happened earlier.
 

XGC Rare FX

Forum Veteran
Nov 16, 2007
391
0
0
35
Ohio
I've seen all of this as well, when the big RGC thing went down, my entire clan left for those exact reasons.

I would also like to say that, I belive Generals and Captains (in some cases) have a harder job than a XS. I'm talking about Micro managing. The main thing that swamps alot of XS's is the fact that they are not a general, they have to worry about more than just there own clan. Now they have to worry about the politics of XG as a whole. So I would have to say XS is almost the same stress as a general, but most XS's aren't prepared for the politics of things and make things harder than they have to be.

As for Captains, Most captains run there squads fine, they have meetings, maybe some practices, and that works fine. But in my eyes (how AFT3RMATH should be running) a squad is a tight nit "family" if you will, and we should all know where everyone is at. Before every clan meeting we go over who is not going to make it and for what reasons. That in my eyes is how most clans should be run, of course, that is not necessary, but that is what I think of when I talk of a "community"

I kind of went off on a tangent in this, I can clarify anything I said if anyone would like.

Peace
HoSTiLe
 

Lifetime Crisis

XG CONTRIBUTER
Dec 7, 2007
1,185
0
0
Minnesota
you are right. I think the best thing a general can do to smoothly transition to XS is simply observe how experienced XS handle things. Like jangles. He does his job well, and makes things fun for us.
 

XGC Coleslaw XI

Council Member
XG CONTRIBUTER
X-TEAM
XGC KINGS
Jan 1, 2006
1,396
14
38
Pittsburgh, PA
www.xiledgaming.com
well technically each rank in XG holds different responsibilities. that in mind, any position could potentially be the "hardest" job in XG, depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the individual. Also, i wanted to clear up the term i used for captains and generals... i said micromanage, i said that in the fact that captains and generals manage the individuals within the clans... micromanaging what and how people behave online is not something that we should have to do... 1. it's only a game and 2. if they wanted to join XG/and or was recruited to XG that is because they behaved in a way that relates to the type of gamers XG in comprised of... you (hopefully) don't recruit some trash talker and hope that they abide by the rules, cus it's not gonna happen...

Also, each rank is as hard as you make it most of the time... to simple meet the expectations of all of you duties at any rank would only take up an estimated 2-3 hours a week... 1-2 hours for meetings, and another 1 hour for squadlists(which can be done in 5 minutes if you keep up with it) and communicating information to you clan... of course those numbers can go up or down depending on the week... so if you are online 6 hours a night and don't get to game at all and you r just up to your ears in stuff you have to do, then you either volunteered for too many extra side projects or you r doing someone elses job(which is another problem we run into)... even if you are trying to go above and beyond your expectations, you can do a few things here and there to get noticed...

above all, game, network with friends, and have fun... we just ask our leaders to perform certain tasks that allow our community to have structure and run efficiently... we want to give everybody the opportunity to get as much as they want out of XG
 

Lifetime Crisis

XG CONTRIBUTER
Dec 7, 2007
1,185
0
0
Minnesota
yeah. Without good leadership I don't think the "make XG your own experience" thing would work well. But we have good leaders. Of course we have to. The council didn't go through all the trouble of keeping this clan up just to choose bad leaders that ruin everything.
 

XGC Rare FX

Forum Veteran
Nov 16, 2007
391
0
0
35
Ohio
I have fallen into the position of doing someone elses job for them far to many times, and I've seen it happen alot as well. And sometimes those people DO get noticed, but (me for example, I'm not trying to brag or look for compensation in any way, I'm just continuing the conversation) almost every clan I find myself in "helping out" (a term I hear WAY to often) I end up running a squad, splitting said squad 3-4 times, in turn splitting the clan, and then the general of said clan gets all the credit for running a successful clan, when I went to all the generals meetings, ran all the clan meetings, and so on. I see this happen alot these days. I won't go further into my story, because its long and full of stress and boring stuff.

But I think that (one way to help, at least my case would have been) to make it almost mandatory for generals to show up to the generals meetings, bringing a captain is fine, but just sending one to do your work is NOT. Of course we all have real life, and I for one have no problem filling in for my general if something comes up, but alot of the time that general finds the ability to not have to go to them anymore, and just starts sending his captains instead of him so he can either game, or just get off early. When they are confronted its usually "I am preparing them for when they become a general" thats why you bring them WITH yourself.

I completely lost my train of thought again, ive been sick this whole week and not thinking straight, I can still clarify if anyone doesn't understand something I said.

And Slaw, thats why I mentioned Micro Managing, it shouldn't NEED to happen if everyone we recruit is a good member, but you cant always be right about someone, A big portion of the recruits will turn out to be just the members that show up to one clan meeting a month, or worse, game almost never with there clan mates, and just carry the XG name, and thats where we have to step in to try to get those member active, there for Micro Manage. Also I don't mean to manage when people are online, just managing how they are with the clan in general, the rules themselves are a way to manage the members, but you still have the captains and generals doing the micro managing on the people that do not follow them the way they should.

Peace
HoSTiLe
 

XGC Coleslaw XI

Council Member
XG CONTRIBUTER
X-TEAM
XGC KINGS
Jan 1, 2006
1,396
14
38
Pittsburgh, PA
www.xiledgaming.com
XG is a place for people who just get online once or twice a week too... the amount that someone gets online should not warrant the amount they get micromanaged... our members that get only get online from time to time are great for the community as long as they follow the code of conduct, and the members that get recruited that don't like to follow the code of conduct (regardless of how much they get on) are the ones that we don't want and will eventually get weeded out one way or another... basically the amount you game has no bearing on how good of a member you are, it's in the way that you game.... (QUALITY OVER QUANTITY)...

if you are doing your generals work or XS's work or whatever, use the chain of command. 1st confront the person that you are being required to do their work, and if that changes nothing 2nd go to your XS or XD, or whoever is next in line... that's the chain, that person will be willing to help, you problem will be handled/solved by that person or someone that can help...

generals and others that have accepted promotions are required to go to meetings (aka leaders that knew the responsibilities involved in accepting a promotion)... if they aren't we will notice with reports from the chain of command...