The Perils of PUGs
One of the suggestions that I got from my WoW raiding 101 write up was that I hadn’t mentioned anything about PUGs and how those should affect peoples class role choices.
PUG – Acronym for the phrase ‘pick up group’ – meaning to play as a team with random people.
Pick up groups are something most aspiring raiders will have to deal with, especially in World of Warcraft as it is today. Unless of course gifted with a very dedicated set of friends to play with, or part of a large guild that has enough daily active members to provide frequent group and raid buddies.
My guild, though fabulous and super supportive, is large enough to support one full group, but too small for two full groups. This often leaves just one or two players extra, which means that PUGs become the only option to participate in group activities. I try to volunteer often to be the person left out, mostly because I play DPS and am easily replaceable, but also because I try to be polite and take one for the team, so to speak. >_<
This means I have the opportunity to experience the wonders (and horrors) of PUG’s quite often. (Especially when it comes to raids since our guild is so little.)
I have found that groups tend to fall into three general categories: the smooth business transaction group, where everyone knows their job and is just there to do it, and do it well; the struggling but competent group, some people might not know exactly what’s going on, but in the end everything is still successful; and the horrible failure of a group, where the only result seems to be repeated death.
Clearly this is an overgeneralization, as groups run the gamut of all experiences. Each one seems to be its own unique little snowflake. =) Its when you get stuck in the last, the failing group, that tempers rise and feeling get hurt; blame gets thrown around and it most often sticks to the tank or the healer.
Sad really, since the reason for failure can be contributed to so many different factors. It’s just easiest to blame the healer if people are dying, or blame the tank if agro is not being managed. Never mind that a healer can only heal so fast and so many people, and tanks can only keep so much agro.
So we come to the “think carefully about which role you want” point, because if being blamed for defeat or having your skills mocked is going to ruin the fun of the game, you might want to shy away from classes that tend to take more of the blame.
PUGs are actually quite fascinating. Well I get fascinated, especially when I’m not overwhelmed with being frustrated. =)
Sometimes I wish I could have a small peek at these random people behind the characters. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to see if they are playing naked or picking their nose, sometimes I just wish for a little more insight.
I wonder which gender they are (I completely ignore character gender, since I have found this to be a poor indication of player gender), I wonder where they live and what they do, and if we would have anything in common outside of playing WoW.
Maybe it because I’m a girl and have a subconscious need for building connections with people. Maybe it’s a symptom of coming together as a group, defeating a challenging foe. It’s not quite clear where this curiosity comes from, but I definitely wonder about my anonymous World of Warcraft mates.
Then sometimes I do get little glimpses; sometimes good, mostly bad. It’s the bad times that I am most thankful for the anonymity.
People seem to forget that there are millions of different people that play WoW, from all over the world. Just because a group is playing together and sharing some pleasantries does not mean that everyone else is going to agree with whatever particular sort of hating some people feel is acceptable. There has been preaching, racism, homophobia, sexism, fear, hate, the list goes on and on.
Don’t share your hate with strangers! And that’s what we are in WoW – strangers.
I use my ignore feature liberally, for my online game experience is about having a good time, not about listening to people bitch, hate, preach, and/or cyber.
It gets a little harder to ignore when you start using Ventrilo. Thankfully Ventrilo allows for individual muting. In general I have found people to be decently respectful in voice chat. Maybe the layer of anonymity is thinner, more like speaking on the phone and thus people feel that being polite is a bit more encouraged.
I also don’t do much chatting in Ventrilo when I am in a PUG. I find it more comfortable if people don’t know that I’m a girl. Definitely cuts down on the harassment.
The perils of PUGs are many, yet every great experience I have had in a PUG has made all those terrible ones worth it. =) And if you haven’t found where your online boundaries are, PUGs sure will help you find them fast. Then its just up to you to keep tight hold of those precious boundaries because no one else will.
<3 TFG
Tags: cooperative, drama, friends, guide, mmog, online, world of warcraft
