On camaraderie and fraternity and the MMOG guild

[Vitandus]

Games for Windows: The Official Magazine
January 2008 pg 82
Crisis on Infinite Servers by Ryan Scott

"Chicken Tenders is recruiting! We are a new guild accepting members of all levels. We have a guild bank, tabard, and lots of nice guildies. We do Battlegrounds, run instances, and quest together, and we are gonna start raiding Karazhan pretty soon. We are looking for more nice players to help the guild grow fast, and to have fun together. All are welcome! PST for info."

Chances are you've probably seen many messages like this in the general and trade chat windows of whatever MMO(s) you happen to play. Perhaps if you're a fresh-out-of-the-account-creation-screen newcomer to these sorts of games, the rush of open guild invites seems warm and welcoming. After all, you want somewhere to belong, right? Somewhere that appreciates you for you?

For jaded, grumpy, get-the-hell-off-my-vitual-lawn-you-damn-newbs blowhards like me, guild invite spam is a bright red flag. Unfiltered enrollement leads to what i term "Zerg Guilds": masses of immature idiots, all with different goals and agendas, and most looking out for their own interests above all else. These guilds might mold themselves nto effective teams, but they aren't families, per se-outside of whatever nightly raid you happen to sign up for, guild chat is largely just another channel for the kids to unlease streams of profanity and hilarious Chuck Norris jokes.

Here's a story about a guild from the good old days: back in 1999, I applied for membership in a fairly infamous guild on Ultima Online's Pacific Server called The Black Hand (or BH, for short) BH had a reputation as a merciless PVP-oriented guild, with an all-for-one philosophy and a very close-knit relationship among its camparatively modest member base. As a prospective member, I underwent a weeks-long getting-to-know-you period, followed by a verbal interview (the Inquisition, we called it) to gauge the limits of an initiate's loyalty. Membership required a unanimous vote among every active guild member; a single "no" was all it took to deny an applicant-no questions asked. It was strict, effective policy that guaranteed extreme trust, dedication, and unity on an emotional level. A BH title above your head meant something. And, as my one-time guild master once succinctly noted to new members, "If you call for help in this guild, don't be surprised if like nine people show up." That's committment for committment's sake.

Nowadays, those guilds are gone. Quantity trumps quality, and every MMO from World of Warcraft to Guild Wars sends the same message, loud and clear: Smaller guilds are second-class guilds. Join the herd or get left behind. So it is that Zerg guilds mobilize predominantly for the accumulation of phat loot (the one true be-all, end-all goal), while the Balck Hands of the world-the players who stood together because they felt they'd found other people of quality with whom to spend their gaming hours-wither and die. Not racing to clear the Black Temple? That retribution Paladin over yonder's got no time to waste on you; he has epics to grind. Sure, he can hardly stand most of his 80 other guildmates (three-quarters of whom he doesn't know from Adam) . . but if you can't do anything to up his all important DPS number and they can, why should he bother joining your guild close-knit or not?

Even the guilds that craft careful mission statements and recruitment policies only parse the word "quality" in a how-good-are-your-stats manner, with little consideration for chemistry or other social intangibles. Applying to one of these organizations amounts to the text-chat equivalent of a job interview; a clinical, number-crunching, so-what-can-you-do-for-us affair. You're only worth as much as you bring to the weekly 25-man raid, and if you're not committed enough to that cause . . well, we've got plenty of other applicants in the que. next in line, please?

[Kotodama]

Jesus Christ Pat, helluva an article/rant.  I am in complete agreement with this however.  It's not just the MMORPG's, it's gaming clans/groups in general now days.  I blame it on the influx of younger gamers.  It used to be only the "elite" gamed online and we're part of groups.  Cost of hardware and bandwidth thinned the ranks to those who really wanted to be there. 

[Vitandus]

The author hit it on the head - the absolute grind for gear to raid to get better gear to raid to get better gear to raid ad infinitum is ridiculous. There is no real focus on story.

Of course, HDL compensates by creating our own stories. "So this NE rogue was flagged in Crossroads, and I figured he was looking for a cup of tea...."

[Capuloclavo]

 I'm late to the whole online gaming experience, so I can only guess at what it 'used to be like'.  Seems to me that what we are doing relates more to the "old school" type of guild.  I always refer to the instance where you (Pat) and I were in Blackrock Depths and the other guy from our former guild (still don't remember who the hell it was) was more worried about how I couldn't "uber-rogue" past the mobs, to the lock, (never-mind that I'd never even been there, and hadn't a clue in hell where the lock was in the first place);  with no focus at all on finishing the instance to help the newer, lower level members of the guild get some gear or gold that they needed. 

We already, in just a few short weeks of gaming, have created a guild with stories, past references, and quite a few inside jokes.  We've all forgone hours of sleep on different occasions to help each other out.  Given each other items, gear, money, and a hard time. All of which prove that we have a 'group' in the best sense of the word.

[Kotodama]

Speaking of a "hard time".... I believe Pat has had more than the rest of us...there's just too many little boys playing WoW these days.

[Capuloclavo]

                  ...and then I get too busy and Random levels his toon faster than a Tijuana crack whore has sex for money.  WoW reflects life as we are all pulled away by outside responsibilities...

[Vitandus]

Leveling is much faster now than it was even 6 months ago. When you can play from work....

At this rate, I might just play Nemhain and wait for him to catch up to me. :)

[Kotodama]

It's not my fault I'm bored as hell.  Although this week I've slowed down alot cause I have been busy. Better hurry, it's your chance to catch up!

[Vitandus]

It's not my fault I'm bored as hell.  Although this week I've slowed down alot cause I have been busy. Better hurry, it's your chance to catch up!

We're just jealous of free time. :)

I've been focusing on Judicanti the last couple of weeks and would like to level Kellanon up some now. Mind helping me run through some lower level instances? I ran SFK with a PUG tonight. Painful, painful, painful. I did hit level 26.

Just 14 more to go.

[Kotodama]

I'll run you thru anything you want...lets go do some lvl 60 instances hehe

[Vitandus]

I forgot about this topic.

[Thraice]

I forgot about this topic.

Yeah, I saw this when I joined HDL. The article's too true, especially now and days. I count myself lucky being apart of HDL. I know from experience with other guilds and PUGs that I could very easily have it worse.

[Jarelynn]

I like the article. I remember what it was like back when the group you joined mattered because of the people in it, not the sum of their "gear score".

And I'll echo James a bit, I'm glad HDL is here and that I found my way to it. I've spent 2-3 years playing WoW guildless because I'd come to believe all guilds were like the ones that shout for membership. No one cares about anyone else on a personal level, all be 1337 or gtfo.

Sometimes it's nice to have a pixelated place to call home, ya know?

[SoggyWaffles]

One of the reasons I transferred back here from dethecus  ;)

[Capuloclavo]

Amen brothers, amen!   I know it's been slow going for all of us lately.  I have been wrestling with a few RL issues lately and have been kept away from the game for far too long.  I'd been telling Pat the other day that I miss WoW, and honestly all of you folks (that I know) as well.   I just recently got a lucky break and a decent job, so when I get RL straightened out and have a few paychecks to fight off the giant fucking DebtMonster that is lurking around my house;  you can be damned sure I'll be back online, full of piss and ready to insult any non HDL asshole you point me at.  I've been away too long, It's time for more stories...I'll see you all soon.