Posted by Someone on April 13, 2000 at 17:41:46:
In Reply to: Rambling thoughts posted by Dhaevor on April 13, 2000 at 17:10:37:
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> Funny, how I still feel compelled to stick up for the village even now. This was a snapshot of the village over two months ago, not today, and certainly not in the future. Perhaps my perception is skewed by people acting differently when the leader was around, but I honestly think if this scenario played out in the Battle of today, it would have gone very, very differently. Without naming too many names, when I was inducted, the state of the village was shameful as a whole. There were many, many people in the cabal who didn't belong there. I had a brief conversation with Quinthen when I was something like level 30, about the incompetence of my fellow villagers. When I became leader, I resolved to put an end to that.
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> With a few exceptions, where I was distracted by raids/applicants, or where I was tired or just having an off day, I think I maintained a fairly thorough level in terms of interviews. Every person I inducted, I got to know as a character, in addition to as an applicant, and I was pleased with and proud of basically all of them. That's a piece of advice I have for all cabal leaders. It doesn't really work for Empire, but for every other cabal:
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> Ask them about themselves, about their past, about the source of their motivations, about random things that catch your interest in the above. Don't just run down the list of cabal questions... obviously, you have to do that too, but it's much, much more fun when you get to explore the depths (or lack thereof) of the applicant's character, AND it tends to give you a better sense of the quality Rager they're going to be. I can't count how many applicants I turned away or told to gave little quests and such that I would have inducted with my other Battle leader (Athrakagar)--people who knew the basic tenets of Battle, but didn't have anything more to them than that. It makes being a leader a lot more fun, and makes you identify more closely with the cabal, because you identify more closely with its members.
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> --end tangent--
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> In any case, I think if you asked villagers of today, who were also villagers then, they'd agree with me... I hope. Everyone always thinks the cabal they're warring with is a bunch of no-RP gangbanging idiots... that's a given. But honestly, I'd really recommend trying to get to know some of these guys. You'll be pleasantly surprised.