My boss is treating our gaming guild like a quarterly performance review.
By @ellieee · Gaming
A group of us from work have a very serious MMO raid team. A coworker on the team is going through a rough patch personally and his performance has slipped, and now our team lead (a senior director at our company) wants to 'manage him out' of the group for the sake of progress.
The full story
We've had this guild for about five years. It’s a core part of our social life outside of the office. We're on the cusp of a major server achievement we've been working toward for months. The problem is, one of our best players is having a terrible time in his personal life (a messy divorce) and he’s just not playing well. His numbers are down, he's missing mechanics, and it's causing us to fail over and over. Our guild leader, who is also a senior director in my department at work, pulled me into a private chat last night. He basically said my friend isn't meeting expectations, is dragging down team morale and metrics, and that we need to find a replacement to maintain momentum. He used the words 'amicable but firm off-boarding.' I was stunned. This isn't a project deliverable; it's a game we play with our friends. My friend needs this distraction and a social outlet more than ever right now. But the director is adamant that 'high-performance teams can't carry dead weight,' and he's not-so-subtly implied that my advocacy for our friend is 'showing a lack of commitment to group objectives.' I don't know what to do. Fighting this feels like I'm putting my neck on the line at work, but staying silent feels like a massive betrayal of a friend who's already going through hell.
How people voted
- Side A — 35% (50 votes)
- Both — 32% (45 votes)
- Side B — 33% (47 votes)
Readers are split: “Side A” leads with 35% — 142 votes and 5 comments so far.
What people are saying
@cole — Lmao reminds me of when my dad tried to trade me in our family fantasy football league because I kept forgetting to set my lineup.
@tateee — Your friend is lucky to have someone like you in his corner during such a tough time. That's what real friendship is about.
@hollykinda — I have a feeling "senior director" was a problem in the guild long before this happened.
@sashatbh — Can't wait for his friend's exit interview and 90-day transition plan.
@huhokay — let him cook managing out a raid member is hilarious
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