hosting stories. LONGPOST
Hi. My name is Mike and I am a host of an alliance that was at one point ranked in the top 20 until one day I came on and 12 oh my players had left to start their own alliance.
THIS IS A LONG POST. I MENT IT TO BE THAT WAY. I WANT TO HEAR THE ENTIRE STORY OF OTHER ALLIANCES.
I think It is very interesting to hear about the storys and dramas of other alliances. This is a post ment for host's to rant out their fustrations, worries, victories, and losses.
This is my personal story
HERE IS HOW IT ALL STARTED:
I started on server 6 but moved to server 7 when It opened. Once I had built an acadamy I decided to make an alliance instead of join one. I just wanted to see what it was like and if it was the same as being the duke of a tribe in TW.
When I started the alliance I was not able to get a member to join me at all. I won a speaker package on the wheel and started to recruit in the beginner chat. I thought, "Well, I'm not super strong my self, and I'm not playing this game with a group of friends who can help me, so what can I do to get players to want to be in my alliance."
In the end I decided that the majority of players wanted help. When I would send a recruiting message through the chat I would say that anyone who needs help should join burgundy and that we would be willing to help you.
After that I started to get a few members and tought them how to teleport to burgundy state and then we started to grow. In the beginning I didn't care who I invited. My line of thinking was this:
"If I can bump my alliances rank up as fast as possiable I can lure the better players to us and continue the cycle and keep getting better and better players. "
I pulled out lots of strategys to recruit people. I Mass recruiting anyone who talked in the beginner chat with just an invitation. Then I searched for people using statistics who were a little above our average member rank and wrote them a pre-made letter by copy and pasting into the email and subsituting thier name. I also used the Igoogle translator talk to anyone who couldnt speak english. Any time someone would join the alliance I would send them group of emails letting them know the rules and responsiablities and how to teleport and also a list of their rights.
The list of rights was crucial. I let players know that they have equal say in things and can vote etc. It let the members feel in control, which they were. the scary this was that most never realized how powerful that could be if they really wanted something.
in 2 days we had gone from 230+ to around 79-89.
I continually helped my members and created a great friendly atmosphere in the alliance chat and everyone was happy.
It went on like this for a while. I found and groomed the active players to be leaders and and promoted them when they deserved it. I made all the right connections with other alliances and entered all the right wars. Our alliance was EXPLODING with growth. We were at rank 38 and still growing. The highest we hit was 27 i believe.
But it's funny how everyone can forget everything you do for them in just one week.
THE END:
One week ago today( today is monday, june 22) I found out I had massive Real life work to do. I knew I could not work 60+ hours and still have sufficant time to run the alliance, so I promoted my best and most promising member to the vice host position. If I could have put him as a host I would. He deserved it and I thought It would be a good chance for him to learn how it is to handle everything.
I sent a group message to the alliance and let them know he would be in charge for the week until I got back. I told they were free to message me with any questions, but if they wanted an answer right away, to message him. Everyone like him and seemed ok with it so we went ahead with it.
I was not able to be online nearly as much, but i was able to poke in every now and then to see what was going on.
I noticed someone from a listed neutral alliance attacked us, and that their host had also sent me an email.
Their host said that we had attacked one of his inactives, and that it was okay, but would like permission to attack one of my inactives. Here is my thinking:
My member in question is inactive. He is sitting in my alliance adding prestige to our total rank but that's it. Right now, he is basically useless. If they were to attack this guy and lose the attack, my inactive member just gained honor. That means my inactive member just "helped" my alliance by boosting our total honor.
yes, I know it really means nothing in the end because it's not a correct display of our total strength, but if it bumps our honor rank up enough to grab the notice of a good player and joins my alliance because of it, It was worth it.
And since we still have room in the alliance to invite more memebers, there is no reason for me to kick him. Since my inactive member has 0 honor to begin with I figure sure. Why not. It's a win win for us, and we also solved a diplomatic dispute between two alliances.
Next, I notice that my Vice has put added another alliance to our friendly list who I have known to be a spy acadamy for another alliance. I don't have time to explain why right away, but I take them down. I then went to work, and by the time I was able to get back on again I forgot all about it because a new situation had popped. I never heard from my vice that he was upset about it, or that he even cared about it.
Then I notice that my vice has also added an alliance that was just about to be disbanded. They were just in a war and got their butt's handed to them and I was told that the members left over are joining the winning alliance as spies as well. I took that alliance down and also let my officers know that i will be taking over the recruiting for now. None of them had a problem with it.
Next came a member fight. Only 3 people were online at the time so I still don't know what happened. But as a host I have to be fair and firm.
The 2 stories i heard were similar, but basically boiled down to who started it. The fact is, in the end, my vice who was not there in the moment listend to member "A" with out listening to member "B" before makeing his choice. He kicked member "B" before asking him for his side and let member "A" attack him. After member "A" was finished attacking him, my vice invite member "B" back. Member "B" of course felt it was un fair and did what any one would have done and let everyone know about it. By that time more of my members had logged on just in time to see member "B" yelling at my vice and at member "A".
When I logged on everyone was on member "A" 's side, including me, because i knew him. But as a host, I had to be fair and objective. I questioned everyone and tried to find the truth. I ended up trying to let my Vice know what he should have done, and why. I did not punish anyone, but let them know we are a family and we don't weaken our selves by attacking each other.
After a few hours of digging and messeging and whispering I have found out what their problems were. I addressed them in another post, and then copied the link, gave it to my spy in their alliance, and asked him to post it in their alliance chat. after they all read It i took it down, but if enough of you want to read it i'll post it back up.
Let me know if you have a problem with my thinking or the how I did things, or if you have any suggestions on what I should have done. or If you just have a comment post it. I don't care if you're telling me to shut up, just post it.
What I don't understand is the complete LACK OF RESPECT for me. No one sent a message to me complaining about the way things were run, although I asked many time. No one let me know they were upset about anything. My vice was supposed to report everything to me that I missed. He would only report things back to me when I asked, and even then he always said everything was fine. I do not deserve to be treated like I was, and none of them deserved what i gave them. With out me, the majority of them that left would not be where they are now. I can honestly say I made a significant change in most of their playing styles that made them better. Wether I tought them how to manage population or how to build their foundation or what types of troops to focus on when attacking specific targets, I help helped them get where they are and theyall have a great way of showing your gratitude. Out of 12 people, Only one person had the courage or respect to say goodbye.