The Remembrance, Part 5
as chronicled by DL-Cobalt Pryde, Nova Colonel & Loremaster

Wednesday, June 3 3098 -  The Ethics of Teamwork

This is a subject I have been meaning to address for some time, and last night something occurred to jog my memory, and set my pen in motion this morning.

I came on Mplayer, and saw a DL battlehall that was involved in a war; Kodiak and OneEye vs HR-Rattalia and Firegod. Once the battle had concluded, I went in to get the results; as expected, our brothers handled the HRs with ease. As the defeated opponents left, Kodiak apologized to OneEye for "stealing his kills". Ever the genial fellow, OneEye shrugged that off with a laugh.

In the framework of battle, unless you're flying solo you're part of a team, and the team considerations come first. While there are many tactics available to secure a win, working together is paramount, quiaff?

There have been wars where my initial opponent was particularly slippery or elusive; rather than waste effort and ordinance chasing a phantom, my usual tack is to break off and attack my wingman's opponent. Quite often, the sudden tactical change, and addtional firepower brought to bear makes short work of the enemy; then we both turn our attention to the more elusive opponent.

It has never occurred to me that this might be considered "stealing" my wing's kill; it is simply what is expected of me as a competent wingman, and what I expect, should my wingman get freed up, or decide to change tactics. In my opinion, it rarely counts who scores the kill (excepting, of course, during a tie-score/sudden-death situation); personal statistics are a poor motivation for success in a team format.

We've all had battles where the wingman was "in the zone", and just seemed to wipe out the enemies with dispatch, while you, when the "Hold" was called, ended up with the goose egg. On the other hand, when you're "in the zone", nothing else seems to matter; just line me up another guy, 'cause this last one is toast! Sure, you feel like you've let the team down when you get no kills, but you really should place that feeling in the context of the team; if the team won the war, fantastic! You'll just try to contribute more next time. If the team lost? Well... you'll try to contribute more next time.. quiaff?

Postscript - Unfortunately, after this it all came crashing down: Warkat, Psiwolf (and, eventually Shrapnel as well) and I had a falling-out over an internal clan protocol matter and, rather than subject myself to the humiliation they would've had me endure, I left DL's ranks.

After several weeks' hiatus, I was invited to join Clan Steel Viper on Heat, run by my comrades of old, Banish and Smilie; strangely enough, upon acceptance into the ranks I was made a Nova Colonel, of all ranks. I stayed for about 3 weeks before realizing I'd made the jump back to clan life too soon; I just wasn't ready for that just yet. I'd gotten too used to coming and going as I pleased, with my time my own to while away doing whatever... or nothing at all.

My sibkin Kodiak Pryde inherited my Loremaster duties; his Remembrance writings follow on the next page.

Seyla!