[Guilds and Raiding] What Makes an Exceptional Player?

"Demonstrating mastery of the game"  - Ghostcrawler

CLASS KNOWLEDGE

The player is knowledgeable in more than one spec of his class, to the point that would rival a class leader, using his own words and reasoning.

The player has clearly visibly put in the maximum amount of effort into his gear and is able to elaborate on his gear choices, using his own words.

The player is able to elaborate on his spec, in his own words, and is constantly wondering if an improvement can be made, and is also constantly testing his ideas.

The player understands that rotations, spec, and gear choices are constantly changing to react to a situation. He can also elaborate again in his own words, why he did a certain thing at a certain time.

Playing Skill

This is a hard one to discuss:

The player has a higher degree of environmental awareness than the average player. One way this can be manifested is by seeing the player say "I saw this and this happened, and I reacted so and so."

The player employs the tools his class has been equipped with to react to situations.

The player is willing and capable of compromising his own performance for the better of the guild or raid, and still performing adequately and then some.

The Player makes full use of opportunities that arise through understanding a given encounter, and is able to elaborate on his actions using his own words.

The player demonstrates a visibly better performance with each gear upgrade he receives.

The player demonstrates an already high degree of performance regardless of his gear level.

The player learns quick with incomplete information and employs his new knowledge whenever he can, then strives for improvement afterwards.

The player is never fully satisifed with hsi performance and constantly strives for improvement. This can be spec, rotation, gear choices, addons, UI changes or complete UI overhauls etc.

The player is often found communicating with other knowledgeable players of the same class, or doing research on the internet about his class, and drawing his own conclusions from the mess.

The player is reasonably skilled in PvP.

PLAYER VALUE

The player proves himself (over time) to be a reliable and valuable asset to the guild. This is demonstrated in how often he signs up for raids or other events, he sticks to his promises (I'll be online then and then), his willingness to share his tradeskills with guild and non-members, and so on.

The player demonstrates over time that he is one of the  few players in WoW that knows how to get the job done, and gets it done.

The player builds up a solid history as a reliable, valuable member to the guild. This is manifested in whatever your guild is doing - Casual, Social, Raiding, no matter the activity.

The player proves himself useful by sharing his powers with guild members and non-members. Think of tradeskills, knowledge of any kind, items, consumables, and most importantly, trust.

The player is willing to help guild members and non-members. Both upon request and by offering.

The player shows initiative.

The player takes on an active role in participation in guild events, and does not sit back and wait for a statement from the superiors.

PLAYER PERSONALITY

The player is capable of getting his opinions across without (or minimizing) the chance of insulting guild members.

The player is willing to accept and admit personal mistakes, criticism, sarcasm, jokes and puns, and laugh about it.

The player does not cause any unnecessary trouble, drama or other often undesired behavior in a social environment.

The player understands his position towards other people in the guild, , that we are all equal on a personal level.

The player is willing to accept and admit when he's stepped out of line and appologises accordingly, whether it be through whispers or a public channel.

The player respects other people's opinions.

The player shows respect to other people, regardless of anything.

TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT

The player has a computer that can cope with whatever raid the guild is doing, and can cope with the necessary addons.

The player has a reliable, fast internet connection.

The player replaces important equipment very quickly should they break down. Think of headsets, a mouse, a keyboard, and so on.

The player ensures his computer is capable of running Ventrilo and other such programs as well as running World of Warcraft at the same time.

The player ensures that technical settings such as screen resolution, video effects, sound effects and others are configured in such a way that it does not, or as little as possible, hinder his gameplay.

The player ensures his computer is free of viruses, malicious software, hardware errors and other factors that can negatively influence the performance of his computer.