Be a Good Grouper...

Get Good Groups

By Shayalyn

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A recent thread on the official
Vanguard forums discussed whether a person could be successful in an
online game without a guild. The consensus seemed to be that while a
person doesn’t necessarily need a guild to achieve virtual fame and
fortune, success certainly does depend on a player’s ability to make
in-game friends. Without friends, you’re stuck with pick-up groups
(sometimes good, but more often...less-than-good) and, worse, pick-up
raids. It pays to try and get along with people, and it pays to be
liked.



While I love to be able to solo, I firmly believe that the most fun a
person can have in an online game is while adventuring in a good group.
Those of us who’ve played online games for a long time know that guild
groups usually rock, and perma-groups (that group of friends that you
make a point to play with and with whom you work together like a
well-oiled machine) achieve a special level of awesomeness. But
unfortunately, it’s not always possible to find good groups on a
consistent basis, particularly if you’re new to a game and its
community and don’t have an existing guild.



The path to getting good groups is to be a good grouper; it’s as simple
as that. If you’re new to a game and just getting to know the
community, the one sure way to win friends and influence people is to
prove yourself a class act while grouping, and know your place in the
group so you can play your part effectively.

On Being a Class Act

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hspace="4" vspace="2">When it comes to being a good grouper,
Sigil’s Nick “Glip the Gnome” Parkinson probably said it best in his
rules for behavior on the official Vanguard forum: “Don’t be a dink.”
Can it really be that simple? Yeah, it can be. Even if you make
mistakes and perhaps aren’t the strongest player in the group, your
group members are going to cut you some slack if you’ve scored points
in the Nice Person department. I’ve played with many a player who
wasn’t technically the most skilled, but whose attitude, generosity and
sense of humor made me want to group with him or her again.



When it comes to being cool, you might argue that some people have it
and some people don’t. But I actually believe coolness can be
cultivated to some degree. There are some traits that make some players
cooler than others and although in most cases these traits are probably
innate, you may be able to earn yourself a +10 Badge of Coolness if you
work the following skills:



Patience



No one’s happy with a groupmate who’s constantly pushing the rest of
the group to go for the best and fastest experience--if you’re looking
for fast exp, make sure you state that up front so that you end up in a
compatible group. You also probably won’t win anyone over if you can’t
handle the delays that are sometimes inherently involved with
assembling a group and getting everyone to the same place at the same
time. If there’s a wait, you might consider using that time to chat
with the people in your group, not to grumble about what’s taking so
long.



Humor



If you’re fun to be around, then people are going to want to be around
you. Makes sense, doesn’t it? If you have the gift of funny, and you
can ply it without doing so at anyone else’s expense, then put your
talent to good use. You’ll be remembered for it.



Generosity



No one’s going to want to group with you if you’re a loot hog. Let’s
say you’ve just scored the Uber Sword of Righteousness on a roll. Your
class can’t use it, but the sword sells for decent money. Still, the
sword is a significant upgrade for the pally in your group, who just so
happens to be a nice guy. By winning the roll, you’ve earned the right
to keep that loot for yourself, it’s true...but if you consider selling
it to the pally for a reduced cost, or even giving it to him, your act
of generosity will likely be returned to you in kind when something
that you can use comes along. I’m not asking you to give until it
hurts--there’s no reason to give a nice item to a real asshat if you
happened to win the roll for it--but if someone you’re grouped with
seems deserving, it’s certainly one way to score points. By the same
token, if you work hard to be a deserving person (see my comments about
patience and a sense of humor), you’re more likely to be on the
receiving end of loot that you need, even if someone else won the roll.

On Knowing Your Role

The best players in any group know the capabilities of their class and
what it was designed to do. If you know your place in a group and
you’re able to play your class effectively, you’re href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?set_albumName=article-illustrations&id=oldschool4&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 78px; height: 150px;"
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alt="Shayalyn the EQ druid" align="right" hspace="4" vspace="2">much
more likely to make friends who’ll want to group with you again. That
doesn’t mean you have to show off or draw attention to yourself. Show
offs tend to attract criticism rather than positive attention. If you
think you’re all that, it’s simple human nature for other people,
particularly the competitive types that most gamers are, to want to
prove you wrong. Play your part with style and humility and you’re much
more likely to find yourself getting repeat invites.



By the same token, it helps to know what other classes can do, too.
Here’s an example from my EverQuest days. I was a druid, and as a druid
I had a decent hitpoint buff. However, the cleric’s buff offered a
player even more hitpoints than mine. My buff, on the other hand,
offered the benefit of some mana regeneration. When there was a cleric
in my group, it usually made sense to have the cleric buff the melee
classes, but I always offered my druid buff to the caster classes that
would benefit from the additional mana, and they appreciated it. They
didn’t always realize that my buff blessed them with a bit of mana
regen, so I took a little time to educate them.



The best advice I can give with regard to knowing your role is to make
certain that you play your class to its fullest, yet don’t try to be a
hotshot. If you’re a pure caster, don’t try to prove to everyone that
you can melee, too. If you’re a tank, don’t make a point of showing
everybody how well you can take the hits by pulling more mobs than you
can handle. When you’re doing your job well you won’t be calling much
attention to yourself at all. Sure, there’s always the big critical hit
that makes you look like a superstar, or the powerful AoE that saves
your group’s bacon when they’re in over their heads, but there’s no
need for you to create those moments...they’ll find you eventually. In
general, people tend to pay more attention to you when you’re not doing
your job than when you’re doing it well, and you’ll just have to learn
to accept that fact. The best players don’t necessarily get all the
accolades...but they do get repeat invites!



I played a both a cleric and a ranger for a while in Dungeons &
Dragons Online. While I was a bit of a showoff with my ranger and
tended to obsessively check my kills and measure them against everyone
else’s (I was a killing machine!), I tended to play my cleric with far
more subtlety. I would do my best to keep my groupmates buffed,
protected, and alive. There was nothing all that flamboyant about my
job as a cleric--nothing like my racking up the kills with my
ranger--and yet it was for my cleric that I received compliments. I
remember one conversation in a group after a particularly long and
arduous quest.



“Thanks for the heals,” said one of my groupmates.



“Just doing my job,” I replied.



“Well, you do it excellently,” he answered. The rest of the group
chimed in to say that they’d appreciated having me in the group. I can
tell you that no one ever commented on my ranger’s kill count...except
maybe me.



A good group is its own reward--you’ll gain experience, earn goodies,
and have a fun time. It honestly doesn’t get any better than ending the
night after a great grouping experience and having your groupmates tell
you that they’d like to add you to their friends list and hang out with
you again. If you’re getting those kinds of invitations, you’re doing
something right. Keep it up!

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Are
you a good grouper?

Do you have suggestions for making
and keeping in-game friends?

Email
me, or share your thoughts and
advice in our href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=4223#4223">forum style="font-style: italic;">!