The Virtual Team

Every night groups of people join together with a common purpose. Small or large these groups, although never really knowing each other, work as a team to achieve an objective. Some succeed, some fail and some devolve into arguments about noobs and riding turtles. But through all of this is the fact that we are all on the one side (well on of two technically). These virtual teams work with people from a broad ranging background, young to old, new to experienced and eager to apathetic. Rarely are there leaders and more often than not people will openly confront or debase anyone who displays an opinion. Yet these groups made from a random pick up of players will mostly function successfully as a team. But why do these teams work?

I am referring to the pick up groups that participate in dungeons, raids and battlegrounds and I find it fascinating. Pick up groups are the real world equivalent of randomly selecting a bunch of people from a recruitment company, putting them in a room/office with a task or project. Then telling them that if the succeed they will each get a voucher they can spend at K-Mart. Such a team would have huge difficulties such as clashing personalities, lack or overabundance of skills, motivation issues and communication difficulties. In a real world situation people will be quick to judge each other according to how they look. A virtual world is a level playing field and discrimination is much less likely. To a certain extent even insults land less of a blow as they are directed at a players avatar not them selves.

I have of course over looked some major factors here, to start with a pick up group, in a five player instance example, isn't completely random. Who ever starts the group has a set of roles in mind and will select players according to these. All the participants have a common goal in mind and for the most part have a good idea what needs to be done to achieve this. Even in a battleground which is a much more volatile environment everyone knows what the goal is (to beat the other team) and what the conditions are to achieving this. In addition to this battleground groups which are formed before entering the fray have an increased chance for victory becuase once again the group or team has been formed with a make up in mind. On top of this in a lot of groups where someone is acting completely out of place, whether it be under performance or harassment, a group leader can simply remove them from the group.

There are a few important lessons here which can be learned for both areas. Firstly a virtual world team shows that clearly defined roles should be highly valued. In addition to this a clear and easy to understand objective is also critical. In many real world organisations this is not the case. Communication is an area where a virtual team could learn from a real world team. For example a virtual world team using voice chat will perform significantly better than one only using text based chat. In conclusion when you are forming your next group think carefully about the roles of those involved, set clear objectives and communicate with your team mates.