Why things fail

The following post was originally written by Denolven.

People

First of all, and the most important part: you are playing with/against people. Now this seems to be obvious, but I have the feeling that many people don't know what it actually means. So let's take a closer look.

Point of view

People play games, and they do it for different reasons. Some play to kill time, some play for competition, some play to improve, some play to troll around. There are more reasons, but I think you get the point. Just because you want to kill time (for example), doesn't mean everyone else does the same. Some people might want to improve, and they might start arguing about how bad you play. From their point of view you are clearly dragging them down, because you don't give your best. From your point of view they are spamming insults.
There is no right or wrong! Just different points of view. Most of them are valid, and most of the time people make assumptions about others that simply aren't real. The point is to accept that other people are different. Not better or worse, just different. If you start a fight over that, there can never be a winner, because there is no objective "right" or "wrong" in the first place.

Short example - a story that happened to me yesterday:

In another game (Armed Assault) I played a medic, because I'm a team player. But nobody cared. Even when they asked for a medic and I ran 10 minutes to reach their position, they didn't heal (I cannot heal them, they have to "use" me to heal themselves). Even after several chat messages they denied my service for whatever reason.
Now I'm also a pilot in ArmA, another team role. But again, people didn't care and kept solo grinding. So out of boredom, I started to land choppers on the roof of buildings in our base. Just to see how good I am, you know, trying to get as many choppers on the same roof as I can, without crashing. I did no teamkilling, no insulting, nothing that hurts the team in any way.
Suddenly, one of the other guys started a chat war about me being an idiot. I started to write back and explain my point, that I'm just killing some time and test my skills as long as nobody asks for medic/pilot service. But it seemed he didn't understand what I was talking about (he didn't even try to). After several minutes, he ordered me to bring down the choppers to the ground. I didn't like the tone, but for the sake of peace I did it. Or rather I tried to, because he teamkilled me in the process and then did it himself.

From his point of view I was just a troll. From my point of view he was a dumb asshole.
The same event, but still two totally different versions. And as long as you can't accept that people are different, things will never work out. Argue about their PoV and yours, because that allows both to improve. But if people refuse to even listen, there is no point in arguing. Accept, and go your way.

There is a saying: Walk a while in my shoes, before you judge me.


Perception

Perception is what we see, and how we see it. Everyone walks around with a filter, nobody can see the objective truth. That filter is determined by our experience, education, and other influences like advertising. We see things, then we put them into boxes to keep our personal world in order. sometimes, things fit in none of the existing boxes, and we may ignore it or adjust our personal world.

Now remember what I said about the point of view. Your point of view is determined by your past, and it determines how you perceive things. Just because you "see" someone trolling, doesn't mean he really does. Our perception is very limited, and you can safely assume that whatever happens, you don't see everything. This is not a fault, it simply is how we humans are made. We would become insane if we would see everything, so our body does us the service of limiting the input to what is important for us.

Since everyone has a different point of view (where we are/come from), also everyone has a different perception (where we look). That is why we often ask others to take a look at something when we are not sure, or when we think there is a good chance that we missed something important. Accept that none of us knows/sees everything. We can all improve when we talk about the things we see differently. It doesn't mean you have to have the same opinion. It just means to accept that there are other opinions (conclusions that are derived from what we know and what we see).


People are never wrong

The vast majority of people are never wrong. Sure, everyone does a "wrong" decision now and then, but that's not what I mean.
Everyone bases his decisions on what he knows, and what he sees. If a decision has to be made, we think about the best way to do it. Sometimes that thinking happens consciously, but most of the time it's done by our subconscious part. If you want to get a glas of water, you don' think about moving your arm, you just do it. It has become so natural, so intrinsic, that our conscious mind doesn't need to bother about it. Again it's a natural filter built in humans, so we don't have to think about every tiny thing all the time. Most stuff is done "automatically", subconsciously.

The conclusion is that whatever people do, they do it because either their consciousness, or their unconsciousness, has decided that this is the proper thing to do in the given situation. Now you might think "wait, I'm not programmed! I do my own decisions!" And yes, you do. But these decisions are based on what you are, what you have experienced in the past, and what you see. The decision is defined before you think about it.
I'm not telling you faery tales here, this is actually backed up by science.
Also, it does NOT mean you can be an asshole and say "oh but it's all defined in my subconscious, I can't help it, it's not my fault!". Your decision to deliberitely be an asshole is NOT a subconscious decision!

The subconscious is the basis of what we do in general (that's why advertising works so well - it influences our subconscious and we don't even feel it). The conscious part however can change the outcome. Compared to the subconscious, it is very slow and clumsy, but it has the power to almost completely negate the subconscious. A simple example would be if a really hungry person asks you to share your food. Your subconscious ist most likely "fuck you, my food, I survive, not my problem if you die". But you conscious might intervene and say "wait wait, remember the last time ou were pretty hungry? Would have been cool if someone gave you food, right? Besides you are fat anyway, it won't kill you if you give some to him."

These "voices" are just different parts of ourself, parts of what we are. So the next time someone does something that disturbs you, try to think about how his mind looks like. Depending on the mindset, you might have done the same, you just don't know.
There are many documented cases of criminals who never thought of being wrong. It's not because they are stupid. It's because in that situation, from their perspective, and with what they have seen, it was their "proper reaction".

Keep that in mind when you are arguing about something that "went wrong" in your opinion. In most cases, there was just a missing information that would have changed the decision. Either because the info wasn't there, or because he didn't see it. Instead of blaming them for whatever, ask what they thought when doing it, and you might even find some sense in that. Often people will even see things differently afterwards and say "now that I think about it, that was really stupid.".
It's called learning .


Judgement

In the previous chapter I talked about how we make decisions. Now lets talk about the collision of decisions.
People have different opinions. Most times, all of them are valid to some extent. But also, most of the times they are not fully compatible. If a decision has to be made, and there are too many incompatible options, we judge.
Judging means we give certain things a certain value, and then take the option with the better value. It also means that we deny the ones with the lower value.
Problem is, these values we apply are based on our persona, or in some cases a value system that was agreed on. But as I said before, none of us is perfect, and there is no absolute objectivity. Which means the values might be total bullshit. Basically they are all made up.
And that is why everyone should be carefull with judging. Different people give different things a different value.

There is no absolute solution to that problem, because it is caused by our human nature. Well ok, extinguishing the humans would solve it, but most of us agree that it's not a desirable solution. So be aware of that when judging people. Just because someone has different values doesn't mean yours are better.


Organizing people

Now that I have done alot of talking about what people are, lets take a look at the combination of people.
When things shall be done that cannot be done by a single person, a combination of energy of several persons is needed. This energy must be directed in the proper direction. Having more sex is probably not the right way to solve the problem of lack of food.

The abstraction of that is a task, and a tool. In order for the tool to do the task, several things must work:

• the tool must not be broken
  
• the tool must be appropriate for the task
  
• it has to be done

If all three things are there, humans can achieve unbelievable things. Every single one is rather weak - if we compare the capabilities of our bodies to that of other animals, we are pretty much the bottom, except for our brain. But we managed to compensate for that by combining forces and using our brain to adapt. That is our strength, that is how we survive. We can adapt very well, and we can combine our forces.
Lets take a closer look at the above mentioned points.


Broken tools

This is probably the most common reason why tasks cannot be handled. If your tool is broken, the rest doesn't matter, because you won't be able to do the task, unless you find another working tool.
Now what does that mean for us, the Academy people?
It means that if there are projects that shall be done, and require a combination of multiple people, that we, the people, are the tool. And if we don't work together, nothing will happen. Many people have good reasons to not work together with others. Let's take WoT competitions for example - I have no interest in them whatsoever, so why should I "waste" my energy there? It is a simple fact that people do what they want, and that is perfectly fine. If you want to do something that needs more than one person, you need to find the ones that are willing to contribute. There also is the option to force people, but that one is not relevant for now, because in the Academy it's all voluntary.

So, in Order to be a working tool, the people have to be willing to spend energy on the same thing, and also work together with the others. Both are important, because if one pulls left, and the other one pulls right, not much is going to happen. The common interest is there, or not, that is pretty much a given fact. So let's assume we found a bunch of people who want to contribute. Now what has to be done is making them work as a group. Usually that is done by two things:
a) the people know/learn how to work as a team
b) there is at least one leader who can direct the combined force in the right direction

Whith this guide, I'm trying to contribute to a). Because understanding how people work helps to work together more successfully. And that applies to all levels of organization, including leaders.
Teamwork is a very big topic, and there are many things that help to improve it. Too big of a topic to discuss it here; maybe I'll write about that somewhere else. But note: if either the people are not working together, or the direction is off, the task will fail. So if you want to do the task, make sure you got the right people. We don't blame you for having no interest in something. It just means that we have to pick another one for the task. Keep in mind that this is NOT a personal issue.

Of course we don't expect everyone/everything to work perfectly from day one. After all, you are not here because you already can do it all, but because you want to learn it (wich means you can't do it currently). And the Academy is still young - our methods of teaching need improvement as well, so be patient with us.


Appropriate Tools

This one is easy to understand. If you want to put a nail in a wall, a fork is probably not going to work.
Usually, there is more than one tool that works. Some work better, some worse, and most of the times only a limited amount of tools is available. If your only tool is a fork, then well, you either have to be very creative and determined, or you won't be able to do the task. The same applies to the Academy. If you want to do something, but there is nobody with the proper skills, then you either learn to do it yourself with the given limitations, or you simply can't do the task.
Again, it's nothing personal. Logic dictates that if I want to have a nice guide that everyone can understand, that I have to use proper language. If I can't get it, either by myself, or by asking someone else to help me, then I can't do it. As simple as that.

For ingame projects that means that people have to know how to drive a tank, at least on a basic level. It is nice to have willing people, but if they don't know anything, it's not going to help. That is where leadership comes into play. A good leader knows how to work with the given tools, and how to make someone usefull even if he might consider himself useless. A bad leader limits himself (and the team) by denying options. Leadership skill is a tool, too! What good leadership means is another topic too big for this guide.


It has to be done

This is probably the second most reason why things don't work. It's not enough to have all the needed resources (in our case people with knowledge). If you have a hammer, a nail and a wall, that alone won't do anything. In order to complete the task, you have to actually take the stuff and work with it.

This is so basic that many people don't even think about it, which is why it often fails. In order to create value someone has to work. It doesn't just happen, it has to be created. And again, if nobody is willing or able to do that, nothing will happen.
Now remember, different people have different priorities. Don't blame them for not being willing to do the work, they usually have valid reasons. If you are not sure about how much effort someone is willing to put into a project, simply ask! Then try to estimate if it can be done.

This part is usually done by the topmost leaders. The ones that keep the whole thing running. In our case it was Ding who initiated the Academy. He was the one who "made it happen", and others joined him. If nobody does anything, everything falls apart.

There is a second level here. It's not just the leaders or instructors who do something, it's also the ones who enable us to do something. In other words: our students. Even by the simple act of asking questions, you are contributing to the Academy. Without you, we don't exist. We would run around with nail and hammer in our hand, looking for a wall.

The fact that in order to create value, work is needed, also means that everything you see, any value you can find, has been created by someone. I wrote this guide, Thycos set the forum up, someone invented the computer, someone found out about electicity. Absolutely EVERYTHING that was ever made by humans, be it just a small thing like a pen, was done by people who created value. That is our power as creators. It's not limited to material things, and you don't have to be a genius to do it. If you smile at someone, and he smiles back - there you go, you just created a small amount of happyness! smile

If you want to make a project work, some of that power is needed.


Resistance

One of the main principles as a teacher is: you cannot teach someone who is not willing to learn.
I think everyone has experienced this phenomenon. In many cases, people simply give a shit about it and are immune to any form of improvement.

That's ok!

Keep in mind that not everyone plays for the same reasons. People don't care about improvement for the same reason they don't care about running marathons, or studying physics, or being nice to everyone, or becoming a chess master. There are a million things we simply don't care about. Only a very small amount of things is so important to us that we spend our energy on it. And for different people, these things are different. I can't blame someone for being a longtime noob in a game, just like I cannot blame myself for being a longtime noob in astrophysics. Once you understand that, it seems so pointless to rage about it (I still do it sometimes, because my perception was more limited for the most time of my life, but it gets better wink).

If someone seems totally resistant, don't try to force him. It will only make it worse. Some people need a little push here and there, so it's more a reading skill I guess. But generally, if you invite people, that works alot better than pushing them.


Why things don't work

There are two kinds of "not working". The basic one is often assumed, but rarely the case. It's the intrisic one that is caused by the system you are in. If you want to combine fire and water, you might find that a bit difficult. Or water and oil, light and shadow, some would even say women and [insert any macho object here].
Sometimes, it really doesn't work because of incompatibility. But the amount of things that are truly impossible to combine is relatively small. Which leads us to the second kind of "not working": the human factor.

Most of the problems we have are caused by ourselves. Almost anything can be done, if enough resources (including skill) and determination is there. And most of our problems can be identified and solved rather easilly.
For most incompatibility problems there are adapters, or other ways to make it work. Magnesium torches burn quite well under water, soap lets us combine oil and water, and science found out that women actually have less car accidents than men. Things usually are not black or white, but somewhere in between. They might just look black or white from our point of view, until we understand more of the picture.
BUT, and that's a big but, you have to look for it. And that means work in many cases. And we already talked about why people do or do not work.

The list why things fail is as endless and colorfull as humans are, because we are the cause. Most of them boil down to a combination of these on any amount of people:

• someone wasn't willing
  
• someone didn't have the appropriate skills
  
• someone was at the wrong place/time, a.k.a. bad luck

The biggest field of "reasons why things fail" is probably a combination of the lack of skill, the ignorance to try it anyway, and the urge to say "you are wrong, I am right". People often don't know how to compensate for human weaknesses, or aren't even aware of them.

Communication skills, or rather the lack of it, is especially troublesome. That is one reason why our instructors teach communication, at least in the context of WoT. Because good communication can solve or weaken many problems. Talking about different points if view allows us to improve.


Epilogue

Now that was another wall of text, wasn't it. I hope it wasn't useless. Not much to say, but I want to remind you of one simple thing:
It's not about "who is to blame?", it's about "(How) Can we compensate for our weaknesses and do better?".

As different as we all are, at the human level we are still all the same.

I changed the title to the original one (because I'm not a fan of claiming to have "the right" mindset) and improved the layout a bit. You would have been too lazy to do that, probably
Thanks for putting it on again.

Denolven you would have made a better instructor than the one I've just had for Human Factors training !

It's a really good read, and it targets a lot more than gaming. These are skills you can use at work, among friends, in the line for the cinema, and wherever. Well done!

Very informative read. 30 people interacting through the medium of armored warfare is a complex and fickle affair. I feel that the key to prowess in WOT lies mainly in our ability  to do 3 things.

1. Understand and act on the technical specification of the vehicles  involved in the battle.

2. Understand and act on environment and its effects on the vehicles and their operation parameters.

3. Understand and act on the dynamic nature of human input required to complete this triangle.

Really good to read

Thanks Wasp for the link ;d