This Week in SSG: Leadership

Last week I was appointed as Sword and Shield Gaming’s Community Templar. My orders were simple. Get us all to play games together, reunite us with estranged knights, and acquaint us with our apprentices. After contemplating my new position, and it’s responsibilities, I began to reflect on some of the many qualities that makes SSG stand out to me. Not the least of which is Leadership. As a clan we are leaders in a struggle that all within the GGN face, but what about within our clan?

Jayman SMASH!

Monday Knight Halo started off normally, but with one small difference. It was up to me to get the ball rolling on the festivities. I wasn’t entirely sure how to go about it. Luckily for me, SSG Jayman showed up to lend a hand. At his suggestion, we loaded up custom games while we waited for the rest of our group to show up. Juggernaut proved to be a good ice breaker for some of the newer people joining us. Jay’s experience and initiative paid dividends in making MKH a success for me as well as everyone who attended. Leaders show the initiative.

Breach and Clear

Wednesday Knight Warfare isn’t always something that I attend. However, given the example SSG Jayman set I decided to rent Black Ops for the evening. As the session got underway, things were a little rocky. Lag, and my general lack of skill, resulted in a string of loses that can only be compare to the amount of times Michigan has lost to Ohio State. Many of us were frustrated, and understandably so. SSG IAmGrant took an initiative in his own way. He decided that his mood would soon no longer be conducive to the general fun of the group. He laid down his controller and allowed SSG CodeMonkey to take his spot. This demonstrated the dedication he has toward the ethos of Sword and Shield Gaming, by setting an example of temperance. Leaders set the example.

And the Winner is....

Thursday Knight Horde is our shiny new weekly event for those of us that put “ed” and the end chainsaw. In order to make it official it needed a banner. So I instituted a small contest to ensure the best possible banner was selected. I could not have hoped for more out of our knights and apprentices. However, one knight’s entry stuck out the most to me. Aelius’s entry stuck out to me not only because it “pwn’s nOObs in teh face” but because of the many iterations, and time he took to come to the finished product. His time and effort to meet the needs (notice I didn’t say wants) of the group is indicative of leadership and the SSG.

In the end, it is apparent that a leader does not always have to be the guy in charge. You can be a guy within a group that takes it upon himself to get things done. You can be that individual that never fails to set the example for his peers. You can be the one that always works tirelessly to ensure that our group is the best it can be. All those things are qualities of leadership, all are qualities of Knighthood.