Welcome New Members!

Hail ISB!

I've been meaning to post a personal introduction but that fell behind getting a raid schedule set up, as a priority. Now that an official proposal is up for debate/vote, I'd like to introduce myself.

My name is Abe (Worban Hammer/Bogus Hammer) and I'm a 44 year old dude that's been living in Thailand for the last 5 years with my wife. We may return to reside in the U.S. in 2017 or 2018, but until then, my timezone is the exact opposite of those in North America. I work remotely for a tech company based in my hometown of Boise, Idaho as a Web Application Developer and Database Administrator. So I typically work nights here to be on a schedule close to my colleagues. I've been in this line of work, on and off for the last 20 years. I was in the U.S. Army (6 years active duty where I was stationed in Germany for 3 years; 12 years reserve), served in the first Gulf War, and Iraq/Afghanistan in the more recent war on terrorism. I was also a lawyer for a year, but got lured out of that profession to go back to full-time tech work, as a defense contractor with lucrative compensation that offered considerably more than my first year as an attorney. I didn't really like practicing law anyway, and have been happy as a computer nerd ever since, so have not looked back or missed the legal field.

In IMP I was an officer that pretty much maintained everything with raids. I created/updated the raid schedules, set up a system to handle rule violations and enforced guild code of conduct by administering punishment for repeat/blatant offenders. I've been called the de-facto leader of IMP, but really, all I wanted to do was help our GL so his life wouldn't be too absorbed by the game. I've been GL in many games over many years (always been an avid gamer), so I know first-hand how much work that involves. I decided when guilds were introduced to SWGoH, I didn't want to deal with that much pressure, and wanted to just be a regular member or an officer if my experience was needed. But the reason a lot of guild leaders burn out is because the demands and expectations placed on them, be each and every member, all of the time, can be quite overwhelming. To run a guild properly takes a LOT of dedication and I don't think players without that experience appreciate how much it involves, especially setting one up from scratch, or handling a merger. That's why both, Darth_Cension (IMP's former GL) and Xenotros have my utmost respect for the fine job they did building solid foundations.

I told Xeno, when he invited to come over after my recent vacation (where I had no internet, which is why I was late joining this merge), that I was a bit reluctant to take a promotion to Guild Leader. I do much better as an unofficial leader or co-leader because when the day-to-day demands are not expected of me (and they are not as a mere officer) then I don't feel that pressure, which helps keep my energy and participation high. If Xenotros completely burns out and absolutely needs someone to replace him, then fine, I can step up if he asks me to. But I'm not big into titles and know that I can help in a co-leader capacity without the official rank. Ideally, a guild has little to no drama and is set up with the right policies and procedures so that it kinda runs on auto-pilot. Then the daily tasks for GL and Officers is kept to a minimum. And with plenty of good, motivated officers in ISB, there is plenty of delegation that can occur to take the weight off.

So I look forward to getting to know all the new faces very soon and starting a new raid in the near future!

Cheers!