Loyalty: Your Most Valuable Asset

You know, I spend more time thinking of random content to put in the first few paragraphs of an entry than I do actually writing the main body. This is probably due to the fact that I actually have to do research on any commentary I make on current events, whereas the majority of my topics are fairly ambiguous and I can be lazy and spout whatever nonsense I want and most of you would never even know the difference. Why must you people make me work so hard?!

As I'm writing this, Shimmer appears to have become invisible (yet another sign of how much my buffer fails). What exactly happened, and what's going on... I don't know. Frankly, it doesn't seem that harmful, as they still have all their XP and members (well, as far as I can tell. The memberlist is invisible and all...).

On another front, Coren appears to have stopped leveling, with his XP resting at around 75 million. That's about a 50 million jump in under a week or so (Tip: he's worth over 2 million in pure cash if you beat him). I don't think I really need to comment on how suspicious that seems.

Also, Coren and Sunset have been removed from their respective packs, both without any of the alphas kicking them, and no log of them leaving. In other words, Karl removed them. While Coren might be justifiable, Sunset isn't. However, that's not the point of this entry, so I'll leave discussion of that to a later date.


On non-W-H-related topics (talk about overusing hyphens), I believe I have a law to propose that everyone could agree on. Aside from insane sadists, and nobody cares about them (I mean, sheesh. Omnicidal maniac is a way better type of villain to be). Specifically, I propose that all saltwater taffy must be contained in edible wrappers. Seriously. Do you have any idea how freaking hard it is to unwrap that stuff if it's not 500 degrees below 0?! You would think the Citadel Geneva convention would have done something about the wrappers...

On a final note before going onto the main body of this entry, Jhaxx and Dalfang have apparently decided 'Loveland' wasn't lame enough and made a new pack instead. Ever wondered why we have 300+ pack IDs used and about 10 active packs? People like those two.

So, this entry is going to concern loyalty. Some of the topics I've done before have touched on it, but I'm planning to go more in-depth here.

As a pack leader (seems like all my entries are aimed at pack leaders), loyalty is your most valuable asset. Not your members, not your pack's total XP, not the five thousand points you've stolen from your pack and are hiding on your side account (well, OK, maybe the points are more valuable).

Loyalty cannot be bought, only given. You can earn it, but it's not easy. You can lose it in the blink of an eye. And there's no formula that will enable you to get the loyalty of everyone, or even most of your members. Aside from brainwashing, of course.

The reason loyalty is so valuable is because, let's face it: there's really no point in packs for high leveled players. We don't need them. In fact, we only deal with packs out of boredom, self-interest, or loyalty. And since high levels don't need your pack, there's really no reason for them not to go and join a different pack if the fancy strikes them, or if they get offered a few points, or something like that.

Loyalty is your defense against that. Your 50 million XP member isn't good for you if she might leave at any time, or if you have to constantly pay her to stay. Any time you start having to expend effort to keep a member, that member is a liability, and has also demonstrated that they aren't loyal. Quite frankly, you're probably better off getting rid of them.

Quite frankly, a 10 million XP member who is loyal to you is a far better asset than a 25 million one who is not. When it all comes down to it, the strength of your pack is measured more in who is willing to stick by you come hell or high water, and who's willing to jump ship at the first sign of trouble.

Of course, you typically can't recruit anyone and expect immediate loyalty, or anything of the sort. It just doesn't work that way. If you provide for your members, are a level-headed leader, and provide a fun/friendly environment in your pack, it'll go a long way towards helping you win a member's loyalty, but ultimately, you can't guarantee it. Some people just aren't right for your pack, as I'm sure you know.

The real problem with this is that some people don't show it until you run into trouble, and then they leave. Better if they had left far sooner, so you could have replaced them and all. Of course, there's no real way to tell how loyal someone is, either, aside from experience.

Ideally, your members should be loyal to both your pack as a whole, and you yourself. That way, there's a double bond securing them to the pack and keeping them from leaving. It also helps if they either don't care about points, already have a ton of points themselves, or are usual contest winners in your pack, so that bribery doesn't dislodge them. Remember, though, that everyone has a price. It's just your job to make sure that price is so high nobody will offer to pay it.

There are three types of loyalty you want to aspire for. The first is that of powerful players who still care about the game, level regularly, and want to be the first to jump into any new content (if we ever get any). Those people will stick with your pack, as long as you can maintain a position of some power, and, as they're likely still leveling, they'll increase said power. The downside is that these people may leave if you fall from power - the upside being that people like this will be a good portion of XP, so it'll be hard to fall from power without them leaving, rendering it all pointless. Unfortunately, players like this are exceedingly rare, possibly because, oh, I don't know... because nobody plays the game anymore, perhaps?

The second type is casual players, who once got a lot of XP but quite frankly don't really care anymore. They come for the community or whatever. They might level if you pay them to, they might occasionally line up for boss fights, and they'll probably have an active presence in the forums and chatbox... but if you want them to actually care about the game anymore, you're out of luck. These types of players are more secure than the first, because they just don't care enough to leave. If somebody offers to bribe them, they probably won't care. After all, if they don't play anymore, why do they need the points? The majority of higher levels fall into this category today, sadly. The downside being that they don't really increase in XP much.

The third type is the loyalty of the grave (cue the ominous music!). No, this doesn't mean dead players, although that technically is a possibility. Heck, if you killed all your players, you could get this, even from disloyal players. No? Well, not my fault if you want to let opportunity pass you by...

What I mean in this case is inactive players. Not people who don't level - people who don't come on, period. They quit, or were banned, or died in a convenient accident. It's impossible to recruit this type of player, obviously. The only way you can obtain them is if they leave while a member of your pack, and if you ever remove them, you can't get them back.

These players are actually the most loyal you'll ever get. They won't leave, ever, because they can't. They're not players, they're just chunks of XP. You don't have to worry about them at all. On the downside, though, they won't ever participate in anything, help with boss fights, or ever increase in XP at all. So, ideally, you'd want 10 million XP+ members of this variety.

Of course, it's probably impossible to get a completely loyal pack, and definitely impossible to get one composed of all one type of loyalty, so you have to mix and match. Whatever works for a member and all. However, remember what I said before: if you're expending effort (or worse, points) just to keep a member from leaving, that member is a liability, no matter how much XP they have.

You'd never want to replace a loyal member, no matter how much more XP someone else has. However, it's also best not to bet everything on one person's loyalty. As I said, everyone has their price.

Just remember that next time you're recruiting, or considering accepting some new applicants. The deciding factor on the value of a member is just how willing they are to stick with you, not how much XP they have. Although a combination of the two is always good. If not, well, you can always just assassinate people, like I said...