I've honestly learned to be a far better manager by helping run a WoW guild. I lead game development teams in real life. I stopped running my WoW guild because I realized I would come home from work, try to play, and end up doing the same thing I do all day. It was stressful. WoW has helped me get better at resolving disputes, improving individual team members' performance, dealing quickly and fairly with problem children and prima donnas, managing results / rewards expectations, and communicating more clearly and effectively. [WoW, F, 41]

The game environments helped me realize that the only thing preventing me from being a leader in real life was a lack of self-confidence. I didn't believe I was old enough, or good enough, or capable enough. MMOs got me over that stumbling block. These days I'm comfortable leading teams of any size, whether it's ten people or one hundred. I've taken small tech teams (just a few engineers) into contract jobs and produced excellent results; I've been a department chair (with dozens of staff) for a non-profit convention with over twenty thousand attendees. Doesn't matter what size the task is, doesn't matter what size the team - if I can lead, I'll do well, and that makes me very happy. I have MMOs to thank. I might not have developed this way otherwise. [EO, M, 27]

I had never really thought of myself as a leader, or someone who naturally takes charge. After pouring myself into being a WoW guild leader for almost 2 years, I find myself taking on the role of arbiter, overseer for projects, personal counselor, and friend to a lot of people whom I've never actually met. This has translated into my personal life a great deal, as I've gained the confidence to begin acting upon leadership impulses in my workplace which have recently led to a promotion to upper management. [Anon]

I learned that I can be a leader. When I started playing World of Warcraft I never expected to gain any sort of prestige in a guild. When I finished with the game I was a class leader in a top end raiding guild. Since being a class leader I have received two promotions at work, one to crew trainer and another to shift manager. This is significant for me because people had always told me I was too shy to be a leader and not a very good teacher. MMOs have taught me how to manage people and resolve conflicts as well as how to pass my own skills on to others. [EQ2, F, 20]

Things like running guilds, or being leadership in one, these things really clue me in to the dynamics of group interaction. I've frequently found myself drawing on my online experiences to get along better with people at work. [WoW, M, 27]