I’m a proud Dad right now.
Odin has been daylight toilet trained for a while now, but lately he has been insisting that he go nappy free at night.
So, not one to discourage someone that wants to progress, I have been dealing with the outcome of failed dry nights.
Some nights are dry, which is cool, but more by luck or good fortune.
Last night we had a breakthrough.
It was a dry night, but only because he woke realizing he needed to go to the toilet, woke me and end result… dry night.
Now it wasn’t smooth from my point of view. It took 45 minutes to complete the process, which started at 4am. I noticed he was asleep on his feet in front of the toilet a fair part of the time
I’m very proud of Odin, but I’m pretty proud of myself too. 45 minutes to have a pee in the wee hours of the morning?
Ohh and now we are at 7 dry nights in a row, and one of those was a sleep-over!
Toilet Training Newbies
Which brings me back to WoW.
Accepting that we all have different times, sometimes full of patience, other times with not enough patience to get through a trash pull, in general how much patience do you have for new players?
The ganker from my previous story and the recent arrival of TreeHuggerDave’s sister to WoW have reminded me that there are plenty of people that haven’t played this game for 5 years, 4 years, even 1 year. Even Vikingmetal’s return has been filled with headshaking moment as he remembers where that Taunt button is (and that I am the most important person to save).
There are bound to be more as Cataclysm approaches. There are probably many people that have been encouraged to start now to be ready for Cataclysm and there will be many more then.
I’ve been in quite a few instances and raids (both “low level” VoAs and high level ICCs) that have been filled with, well, what I hope are newbies.
The VoA the other day where only 2 people were over 2500dps… yes I was one of them ok!
While it was bound to fail, but it didn’t require rage to express that.
I hate ragequitters and bitchers with a passion.
A few minutes of patience can easily turn an encounter around. Preferably up front, but when the need arises, mid fight or post wipe.
I was in an ICC the other night that was wiping on Rotface. After two wipes, lots of bitching and a couple of ragequits, I took control of the encounter.
Believe it or not, I don’t have much experience in raid leading, so I felt a bit uncomfortable, yet I knew the fight, I knew what had to be done and I stepped up and did it. Clearly, patiently, successfully.
The worst part was with those couple of ragequitters, the raid was doomed to end. Less bosses, emblems and loot for all. The ragequitters were penalized 2 emblems, we were penalized a fun night of progression.
Have you ever noticed how the successful raids are led (and often filled) by a patient tone. This doesn’t excluded the “What went wrong?” questions, but they aren’t couched in “you are fail” tones. (Shout outs to Madamehell and Garethbryne!)
I’ve had some great raids, filled with wipes, often concluding with no progression, yet still delivering a sense of learning, developing and being prepared to give it another shot, today, tomorrow, until we get it right.
People often say you need to crawl before you can walk, but that isn’t necessarily true.
However it is true that to ensure you don’t wet the bed, you need to wake up!
Sometimes you need patient, forgiving, non-judgmental people at your side, that can live with the occasional wet sheets.
It needs someone to stand by your side for 45 minutes encouraging you, no matter their discomfort, to do your best, to improve, to best your personal bedwetting bosses.
Speaking of Viking…
He asked me the other day what class to roll for an alt. Two of the 3 options (can’t remember the 3rd… it was some irrelevant class) were Mage and Warlock. I bet you already think you know which way I pushed him… well you would be wrong. There is something about him that I just knew was Warlock at heart. From the stream of “Thanks for convincing me to roll Lock” whispers I have received has he shot his way to 80, I guess I made the right decision…. See I don’t hate Warlocks 
Gnomer and Out!
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http://gnomeaggedon.net/2010/09/06/toilet-training-newbies/
Yes, you do hate warlocks. You just like individual ‘locks.
Hey Gnomeaggedon!
I love the analogy hehe….I cannot speak from personal toilet-training experience, but from an officer’s and co-leader’s exp in raids, I agree with your points. people ragequitting raids after 3 wipes – or ragequitting any raid for that matter, are a big no-go and I’ve even less tolerance for no team spirit than I have for bad performance. great raidleaders keep a calm voice, but they also know when to let some annoyance be noticed or call a raid off if really needed. I think the latter is really important too – know when to call it instead of throwing a fit over ventrilo.
It’s about professionalism, but balance also. And I would add that my tolerance for screwups or incompetence is a lot lower depending on whether I am in a raid, a 5man with friends or a pug. I do not feel the same obligation to ‘toilet train’ pugs as I’d feel towards guildmates and I don’t think it can be expected of players in general to look after others the way you’d look after your child. even as an officer I would set certain, clear boundaries on how much I am willing to babysit trialists or bad players in our guild.
I think the first raid boss should about 1 in 4 encounters, randomly, independent of group actions, wipe the raid.
Players have lost all sense of progression and if you are not ready to persevere, you are not ready for your purples.
^^^^^^
Have to wonder how many good raid leaders would be able to transition easily into early childhood education roles…
When I watched this talk (http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html) one of the things that really stayed with me is when the speaker say:
“We like people when we play games with them. Even if they have beaten us badly”
And she goes on to list the reasons why we trust people who fight for the same goal, follow the same rules … and…
stays until the end.
I think that’s why I too HATE it when people give up early. Or leave dungeons after 1 wipe. They can’t be trusted to play to the end I’d rather not play with them at all.
“People often say you need to crawl before you can walk, but that isn’t necessarily true.
However it is true that to ensure you don’t wet the bed, you need to wake up!”
LOVE this quote
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