This past couple of weeks gave our Star Wars Commander squad a fairly secure position in the Top 50. With 430,000 (est) medals between our 29 (limit is 30) players, we are holding strong in Top 40. Our highest position in Top 50 Worldwide is (or was as of yesterday) number 39.
This is a trivial thing in the grand scheme of things, but is proof that a group of strangers can grow something from literally nothing. A year-and-a-half ago I became leader of a dead squad when our leader quit. I was fortunate that mhahse57 could meet Lord Viper and leah, who became the vanguard of our team. Both now have about 50,000 medals and climbing and their loyalty to the team is inspiring as much as it is astounding. We started only a few thousand medals apart, but they have outplayed me greatly. My medals have finally reached 22,000 as of this past week, but I am setting the tone for other members by promising 1,000 a week for the immediate future.
And that is the concern. Sitting in Top 50 places demands that a team performs better than ever before. Top 50 teams become medal driven and it is only by having built much trust among us that we can maintain the momentum. We figure, if other teams just below us (Top 60s) surpass our medals count through gaining power players, that is OK and we are kind of expecting that as many of them have 4 or 5 openings in their squads.
The merger with another strong but trapped group of players is what gave us our success in this. The amazing leah, our top negotiator, convinced them to abandon their absent leader and join us. The combination of medals put us strongly into position 43 or so. To have surpassed a couple groups just by our players feeling the excitement and thrill of being Top 50 has helped us gain needed medals to surpass a couple and rise a bit higher.
Each level we rise increases our security in the Top 50 but nothing is guaranteed. The heightened energy may wane, and the grind may well tire us out. This is a concern but also an opportunity to move into the next level of being a team, and it will start with me becoming more transparent. Transparency can be risky. People are not, once known, to be what others, in a game of strangers, imagined. Many use the false face, and invent themselves as more ideal than they feel they really are. In the end, we are all human. Once we know one another as a team, it is probably OK to allow ourselves more visibility.
This is the time when social networking begins to play a large role in our relationships. We are now opening up our Twitter and Facebook accounts and seeing each other as the humans behind our gaming facades. It is a positive thing and may well help us remain cohesive. It is a product of being genuine from the start. Me, I am who I say I am; a grandma who tutors English at a local college and loves to game. Building trust as gamers has brought us some success in Star Wars Commander. Other Top 50 teams probably respect us because we accomplished what we said we would accomplish. That too is a product of being genuine and is proof that a group of random strangers from around the world can work together to reach a common goal.
Happy Gaming!
mhahse57