Top 5 Issues with Running a House

Caelan

Just curious, what are the top 5 reasons you, as a House Leader, don't find the enjoyment you thought you would?  

What would make your life easier so you can have fun?

I keep hearing people complaining about it, and I remember being MoW had some issues.  But no idea what faces today's house leaders.

Mishgul

not having enough time to micromanage everything

Torinn

I actually enjoy it quite a bit personally. Only real issue I'm fighting is getting people to do stuff of their own accord

Trey

I enjoyed the hell out of it, and found out recently that there are still touches that I put into place years ago that survived both my leaving and the Merchants leaving Hashan for Delos (also something I fought for but made absolutely no headway on).

Cooper

1. Getting people to do anything without forcing them to do it is frustrating.

2. People going dormant/mostly inactive after getting put into important roles.

3. Not having enough active people to fill above roles.

4. Not being able to take all the house credits and use them for arties (jk).

5. Put great effort into teaching novices, only to have 50% of them not login again, and of those that do, 90% of them quit playing within a few weeks.

Saeva

Yeah, getting people to self-motivate and to be leaders themselves is hardest. Mostly because it really is time and mental energy consuming. People want others to make up the fun and sometimes don't realize they have the near identical ability to make the fun.

Aodfionn

It's a content-creation job. I don't think most people enter into being HL with that understanding. Content-creation is one of the most thankless and mentally exhausting activities in the game. Even if you wind up making amazing content, there's still no guarantee that people will dig it or be motivated to integrate that into their character's routine, ethos or identity.

That said, I loved being HL. It was easily the most fun job I've ever had in the game. Much like Trey, I really enjoy getting to look at the house (and city!) now and seeing things in daily life that I helped to create or promote. If you leave a lasting enough mark on your organization, then it really vindicates all the moments of frustration and rage that go along with the role.

Aerek

1. Even if you really love playing GM and building the experience for others, it feels like a full-time job. If it -doesn't- feel like a full time job, I'd say there's a very real risk that you're not doing a great job at it. I'm not saying a balance can't exist, but it's hard to find.
2. Once people see you taking charge and moving mountains, they tend to sit back and assume you will always take charge and move mountains. All those side projects you pick up out of a sense of duty and charity "until someone else shows interest"? Yeah, no, that's yours now.
3. Especially in the new Houses, people are afraid of dictators, so most Houses are triumvirate committees, and good things rarely come out of committees. Even in the best case, where the three leaders are legitimate friends, every new idea is still a political battle before you can even try it. Worst case, the leaders aren't friends, and every -day- is a political battle.
4. Even the most level-headed leader is susceptible to moments where you resent your Housemates for not caring as much as you do.
   
5. Eventually you're forced to realize that not all of your ideas are good.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed House leadership. Once the "magic" of the game waned after years of playing, living vicariously through the younger players that thrived in the corners of the world I helped create was one of the more rewarding aspects of Achaea for me.

Kez

Time cuffs - feeling guilty over any time spent not logged in, or any time spent logged in but doing something not related to the position. Personally, I am happiest at 5-15 hours a week in game and enjoy going to the park with pen and paper to work on things, but visibility is a lot of pressure.

More cuffs - people who are unhappy but unwilling to talk to you about it, even if you go looking for them.

All the cuffs - opposite of the last point, some people have nothing but praise and dire warnings about what your eventual retirement will do to their motivation.

Alienation - not being included in things other members are doing together, like hunting trips, sometimes outright told that your status makes it unsuitable.

And at the end - a little feeling of dread when those people who repeatedly passed up positions suddenly take an interest when the position on the table is for leader.

Vesios

Kez said:

Time cuffs - feeling guilty over any time spent not logged in

fucking hell man, I feel this constantly and I'm not even IN a house!

I know it's all in my head but it always feels like I'm playing catch up, you know? Like I gotta constantly do better and improve, and sometimes it just kills my will to log in. Can't imagine the pressure some HLs feel, must be so draining.

Marisella

1. Trying to make things fun for people sometimes really drain a lot of willpower from me. When I put effort into organising things and no one takes part, it becomes really depressing.
   
   
2. Besides the basic, "learn about our organisation and mission" sections, even when the tasks are up to house members to decide what form it should take, getting them to actually expend the effort to think and do it is difficult.
   
   
3. Time differences and time spent logged in. I work a hectic job and live in a timezone that makes it so that I don't see a lot of Eleusians when I come around. I have to depend on messages to contact people sometimes, and it makes it sad.
   
   
4. Carving out the ideals of the house can be quite a tough feat, especially when the different houses in Eleusis are always been seen as a split between combatants and non-combatants. The perception then gets further solidified due to poor inter-city relationships, and becomes harder to reverse the misunderstanding.
   
   
5. General lack of interest in house duties and helping to push the house identity more.

Minifie

I have no idea, I've never held any position higher than a novice helper, mostly because I can't fight my way out of a wet paper bag and I'm usually quiet and reclusive. It's sort of hard in democracy built cities because I never have enough confidence to run for positions, and I've never been above CR1. I think I've grand totalled about 3 house/city favours (while they ranked you up) over my whole achaean career.

I guess I worry about the whole setting things up to have someone come destroy it straight after, or feel like you are doing a good job only to get challenged.

Saeva

Oh, also, any of you who have also been HLs since the house reformations probably know the pain of having to hear "We have no identity" then not having a damn ounce of help from the ones complaining about it. Trying to build that camaraderie is demoralizing when you have those same people completely smother said attempts with "BUT WE HAVE NO IDENTITY". No kidding, a-hole, we're trying to build it, and that takes time, but you're crying too loud to hear it. That was a major frustration, over and over, to me.

Mishgul

Saeva said:

Oh, also, any of you who have also been HLs since the house reformations probably know the pain of having to hear "We have no identity" then not having a damn ounce of help from the ones complaining about it. Trying to build that camaraderie is demoralizing when you have those same people completely smother said attempts with "BUT WE HAVE NO IDENTITY". No kidding, a-hole, we're trying to build it, and that takes time, but you're crying too loud to hear it. That was a major frustration, over and over, to me.

Just make them the houseleaders then retire your char, that is my plan.

Aodfionn

Saeva said:

Oh, also, any of you who have also been HLs since the house reformations probably know the pain of having to hear "We have no identity" then not having a damn ounce of help from the ones complaining about it. 

Siena

Siena has never been a house leader however she was a Head of Novices in the Sentaari for years. That was fun but also completely frustrating. The tests are too hard, not enough trainers for intros, monk training takes too long, not enough testers, a novice monk put all their lessons in vision and weaponry because they were not properly trained by a novice aide, blah blah list goes on.

My greatest accomplishment was modeling the testing system after Ashura's by having the test broken up in four parts rather than having a long excruciating 1-2 hour long test per rank. I was quite proud of that 

Trey

Saeva said:

Oh, also, any of you who have also been HLs since the house reformations probably know the pain of having to hear "We have no identity" then not having a damn ounce of help from the ones complaining about it. Trying to build that camaraderie is demoralizing when you have those same people completely smother said attempts with "BUT WE HAVE NO IDENTITY". No kidding, a-hole, we're trying to build it, and that takes time, but you're crying too loud to hear it. That was a major frustration, over and over, to me.

I've contributed! (a tiny idea in Ysela's post about it, but still). Of course, I'm not one of the people crying about how we don't have an identity, either. I rather liked the descriptions of our two Houses boiled down to "the Dread Legates are the Borg from Star Trek, and the Insidium are the Sith from Star Wars". Those are both solid concepts and differing ways to accomplish the same goal. The Legates trample down the masses and assimilate, and the Insidium sow their goals in secret, éminence grise-like. How many real converts will you get either way? Who's to say, maybe none, maybe tons. It can, however, help define the actions taken by its members.

Jonathin

Leadership is easy.

Find people to do the work and then take credit for it. Executive privelege.

Draqoom

I've been the House Leader of the Black Lotus, the Luminai and the Shield and I really have no complaints. So long as you have people who are willing to engage with you, you have a strong sense of duty and a commitment to do things for other people as well as making tough choices for the betterment of your organization, you'll have no issues.

Of course, I kind of do this thing where I end up in leadership and 100% bury myself in the technical workings and try to fix them as I seem to inherit broken/dormant/failing Houses. So that might skew things a little.

Nazihk

Never been a house leader here, but been a guild/city leader in other IRE games.

My top 5 problems:

1. The sheer amount of stupid bullshit people feel compelled to bring to your attention. People who are otherwise reasonably competent individuals feel like it is necessary to come tattling about how so and so isn't sharing the blocks. Jesus fucking Christ people, work it out like adults. If you make me jump into this game of he-said-she-said then I will make sure I punish the right party by punishing both of you.
   
   
2. How much time gets sunk into things that end up being a complete waste of your time. Systems that nobody uses. Helping novices who leave. Working on promotion requirements for people who quit the guild right afterwards.
   
   
3. The sheer amount of completely fucking terrible writing and RP that it exposes you to. So many overwrought 5 line emotes and terrible rituals. And the killer here is that they're awful, but the players who do them are participating and invested so don't want to discourage them and so you're like "That's a lovely drawing of a... sheep? A cow? Yes, a cow, and I'm going to put it on the guild refridgerator." I mean, it's nice that they're involved and trying, but it would also be nice if it wasn't awful.
   
   
4. Getting stuck as the failure point for so many things. This isn't really leader specific, as it can apply to any position, but it's really irritating when somebody is like "Well, all the requirements for your promotion are met, but you need to wait for <person> to log on and approve, even though we know their approval is a given." It's also really irritating to be that person because it creates a sort of obligation to log on every day, because you know you're a failure point in the process and so if you don't log on you're possibly messing things up for others
   
   
5. "This is a problem I have with the guild, so you need to fix it. What, you want me to work on a solution, since I'm the one with the problem? No, I don't think so, you're the GM, it should be your job."

Draqoom

Reading over this again I realized I've encountered all of these things and I guess my 'I don't give a shit' attitude helps a long way. I see only positives, none of the negatives.

Quisse

It's the best job in the game, in my opinion, but damn if it isn't a ridiculous amount of work. And @Kez nailed it with her post.

Iniar

Jonathin said:

Leadership is easy.

Find people to do the work and then take credit for it. Executive privelege.

privilege

Dochitha

Trump it, you will be happy.

Jonathin

Iniar said:

Jonathin said:

Leadership is easy.

Find people to do the work and then take credit for it. Executive privelege.

privilege

Prevlage.

Aesgar

Saeva said:

Oh, also, any of you who have also been HLs since the house reformations probably know the pain of having to hear "We have no identity" then not having a damn ounce of help from the ones complaining about it. Trying to build that camaraderie is demoralizing when you have those same people completely smother said attempts with "BUT WE HAVE NO IDENTITY". No kidding, a-hole, we're trying to build it, and that takes time, but you're crying too loud to hear it. That was a major frustration, over and over, to me.

For the record, whoever got the Insidium where they are now did a killer job  "No identity" my ass