After I wrote about people who are not enablers, let's talk about those who are. Enablers are people who are part of a team and their actions allow others to do the front line work. Tower managers, HQ-seeders, scouts, cyno operators and so on. They are usually the bottleneck of group operations as it's pretty easy to find people to "shoot stuff".
The main danger for them is "burnout". Somehow they lose their "spirit" and stop "having fun". This is as useless description as it can be. As a busy enabler myself, I can exactly tell what kills the "spirit" of enablers: lack of control and lack of rewards.
When I was in TEST, I was a pain in the ass for the enablers because I kept posting ideas how could things be done better. Why didn't I do it myself instead of giving "orders"? Because I was not allowed to. I had no access to anything, I had no rights to towers or such. Hell, when I figured out a completely business-based, tower-free system, how could simple line members earn lot of money by setting up a PI market, a director stepped in, took initiative and transformed it into a very complicated and bureaucratic system. I was upset despite I didn't lose anything, just my plans. Now imagine the frustration of those who worked hours on something and then overruled or simply kept in the dark: "go to X, do Y, don't ask questions".
Enablers need control over their actions. They must have a dedicated field where they operate at their own will. Like "this moon shall provide X units of materials a month, get it done as you can" instead of micro-managing him like some bot.
Secondly, I've yet to see a single communication between line members and enablers which is not whining, demanding or bitching. These "shoot stuff" people have no clue how hard it is to get the things done, so they come with the attitude "X isn't working FFS". I also got my share of "catalyst fittings are too expensive, sell us at Jita price as a bro would" in the New Order. I sent such guys to Hell. Of course to do it - again - you need control over your actions, to be sure that some director don't step in and say "hey, our bros need X, do better" or "don't tell our bros to go to hell when they have problems, try to help them instead".
However the ability to send bitching lolkids to Hell is necessary for ones well-being but insufficient. You also need rewards, and you surely won't get a "thank you" from those you enable. That leaves material rewards: enabling must be profitable. Enablers should be encouraged to take profit from their work, even by setting floor prices like: "you must ask for 200ISK/m3 if you jump freight their stuff from Jita" or "10% of the income of the moon you manage is yours". Obviously the best would be a free market system where the enablers are stepping in not because of altruism but profit. Moons could be auctioned, the winner pays X ISK/month for moon ownership and do whatever he wants with the moon.
Asking someone to work for free is exploiting. People sooner or later get enough of being exploited, especially in a video game. Even self-exploited "helpful guys" do. Enabler burnout is them getting enough of being exploited. Maybe stop exploiting them?
The main danger for them is "burnout". Somehow they lose their "spirit" and stop "having fun". This is as useless description as it can be. As a busy enabler myself, I can exactly tell what kills the "spirit" of enablers: lack of control and lack of rewards.
When I was in TEST, I was a pain in the ass for the enablers because I kept posting ideas how could things be done better. Why didn't I do it myself instead of giving "orders"? Because I was not allowed to. I had no access to anything, I had no rights to towers or such. Hell, when I figured out a completely business-based, tower-free system, how could simple line members earn lot of money by setting up a PI market, a director stepped in, took initiative and transformed it into a very complicated and bureaucratic system. I was upset despite I didn't lose anything, just my plans. Now imagine the frustration of those who worked hours on something and then overruled or simply kept in the dark: "go to X, do Y, don't ask questions".
Enablers need control over their actions. They must have a dedicated field where they operate at their own will. Like "this moon shall provide X units of materials a month, get it done as you can" instead of micro-managing him like some bot.
Secondly, I've yet to see a single communication between line members and enablers which is not whining, demanding or bitching. These "shoot stuff" people have no clue how hard it is to get the things done, so they come with the attitude "X isn't working FFS". I also got my share of "catalyst fittings are too expensive, sell us at Jita price as a bro would" in the New Order. I sent such guys to Hell. Of course to do it - again - you need control over your actions, to be sure that some director don't step in and say "hey, our bros need X, do better" or "don't tell our bros to go to hell when they have problems, try to help them instead".
However the ability to send bitching lolkids to Hell is necessary for ones well-being but insufficient. You also need rewards, and you surely won't get a "thank you" from those you enable. That leaves material rewards: enabling must be profitable. Enablers should be encouraged to take profit from their work, even by setting floor prices like: "you must ask for 200ISK/m3 if you jump freight their stuff from Jita" or "10% of the income of the moon you manage is yours". Obviously the best would be a free market system where the enablers are stepping in not because of altruism but profit. Moons could be auctioned, the winner pays X ISK/month for moon ownership and do whatever he wants with the moon.
Asking someone to work for free is exploiting. People sooner or later get enough of being exploited, especially in a video game. Even self-exploited "helpful guys" do. Enabler burnout is them getting enough of being exploited. Maybe stop exploiting them?
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