The notion that online gaming communities enjoy and suffer from pretty much the same features as other human groups is something that social scientists are looking into pretty seriously these days. As I posted about a pretty long time ago, is something Joi Ito has been experimented with as well.  So it was interesting to see this post on Constructing a Civilized Guild at The World of Matticus.  "Matt" explains:

Every time we play WoW, we interact with various people. We interact
with people in parties. We interact with players in trade chat or out in
the world. And there is no place we interact more then in our own
guild. Whether you care to admit it or not, most guilds have an
asshole. I’m not talking about the jerk who likes to get on his fat
mount and block the quest turn in guy. Or the jackass who likes to hop
up and down on your fishing bobber.

No, the assholes I’m talking about represent a type of cancer in
your guild. You might be aware of it but most of you might not be.

This post is intended to be a wake up call.

I was especially intrigued by this comment (there were a lot), as it sounds almost exactly like challenge of dealing with star employees who are jerks, and they way that great bosses deal with them.

Assholes usually get away with it because they and their friends are
typically among the more skilled in the guild. If you react too
harshly, you risk your whole guild falling apart. But if you don’t do
anything, people will start to leave as well. The only real solution is
to confront the asshole’s behavior and give him a warning. If his bad
behavior has been mostly confined to private chat and some guild chat,
you can keep the rebuke and warning private. If it’s public (like a
venomous thread on the guild’s forums), you have to respond publicly.
If he fails to heed this warning, you have to act and gkick him. I’d
rather the guild dissolve or take a setback than deal with that kind of
behavior.

The lesson, of course, is that no matter where we go, we are still human-beings!