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  • Essay / Guilds - 838

    So what are the specificities of World Warcraft guilds as an organization? Let's focus on the guild players, as defined above, we have 2 types of members: guild leaders (GL) and guild members (GM) or the community leader and core members such as described by (Wenger, McDermott & al. 2002) [1]. The GL is a multi-role actor being a facilitator, coordinator and guardian of the guild's values, in short, the guild manager. The GL had specific privileges as manager/administrator. The GM is not a homogeneous group, each member is guided by their motivations, the level of participation and involvement will differ from one member to another. The guild as a social construct, adopt a specific set of rules (e.g. defining behavior between members) but also define its own tasks and tools (e.g. discussion channel or forums). In the process of developing these cooperation frameworks and supports, the actors must make a decision. The daily life of the guild is a permanent interaction between the actors, between the actors and the game world, etc. This perpetual evolution is also a question of continuous decision-making processes. The fact that there are many organizational characteristics from the beginning of the guild: leader, internal regulations, specialization of members, hierarchical system, specific activities, specific operating methods. All these factors are good arguments to characterize the Warcraft guild as a rational system. Schematically speaking, over time, two types of GM can be distinguished depending on the time spent by the player. Spontaneously embryonic subgroups emerge among the players. High attendance brings expertise and power, this subgroup develops its own interests (from my personal experience, years ago, a kind of competition...... middle of paper ......e future of the Guild. In this type of situation, it is not absolutely clear that GL will again apply a logic of consequence. The rules become a shield masking the difficulties. likely to energize the organizational process. Tension between GMs and especially between GMs will generate coalition strategies. New coalitions between GM subgroups will in turn shape the guild (by changing the hierarchy, the rules and even. objectives). Once again, the situation is not set in stone Even with the lack of details and lack of in-depth knowledge of the world of Warcraft and its guilds. each theory to encompass the entire reality of this organization. A similar analysis should be approached through a composite approach, keeping in mind the heterogeneity of actors and stakeholders. temporality of actions.