Project Lore

Playing World of Warcraft is good.  Playing it as a group is better, and playing it with a group of people you actually know is downright fantastic.  If anecdotal evidence tells us anything, it is that the more comfortable the group is, the better it will perform.  This is the basic reason so many of us join guilds.  In World of Warcraft guilds are a way to meet requirements for raids, with the ultimate goal of seeing content that's unobtainable to an individual and the chance atshinies .  Being social creatures, we inevitably begin to converse and interact with those around us, but do we ever really get to know these people?

Tobold believes that "In most cases you know nothing about your online "friends", beyond that they share one common interest with you." I have to disagree.  Either I am the exception to the rule, or nearly all of the guilds I have been a part of in WoW are.  For those keeping track at home I did feel like an outcast in two of my Wrath guilds, but one of those was because all the other members were such good friends (that spoke in another language).

My current, and original 40-man, guild are more than just a bunch of online "friends".  Most of us know each other's names, our other hobbies (cars, computers, etc), our daily schedules ("he gets home at 8:30"), relationship status and our bedtimes.  We chat in Ventrilo for the sake of chatting.  We've extended our love of video games beyond WoW and into other games like League of Legends, Global Agenda and Team Fortress 2.  Together.  I keep in touch with a handful of former guildies, after they quit the game.  I have had that drink at a bar with many brothers in arms, and even hosted numerous guild get togethers at my domicile.  Hell, I had two people I meet in WoW over my house this very weekend.

There's no reason why your online "friends" needs to be in quotes at all.  In all honesty, you'll get back what you put in, just like any other relationship.  If you only want acquaintances to help you get through a challenging dungeon as you relax away the day, that's cool.  But I believe that making those deeper connections, forging online friends (not Facebook-style "friends"), makes for a better guild.  One that's less hateful, more accepting of failure, and capable of delivering more fun than just downing the next boss.

What about you?  What kind of social structure does your guild subscribe to?



It seems like a most appropriate time to reveal to all my first experience with quality guild drama.  You see the guild I've been running with since Warriors of Faith went in to administration mode died over the weekend.  It wasn't until yesterday that I managed to get one side of the story.  According to my informant, the former GM was fed up with the guild, snagged all sorts of materials and gold and gquit.  Your basic ninja scenario. Instead of flocking to some random guild I've decided to split my chances between my characters.  Solidsamm will be joining the guild that a large portion of Smooth Criminal's officers and members have moved to.  Solidsagart has already moved to a guild run by a friend from the "good ole days" of WoW.  She'll reside there for the foreseeable future, gearing up and possibly even raiding with them. Hot on the heels of the collapse of Smooth Criminals, I bring to you a tale of woe, back room deals and intrigue. Since the abandonment of 40-man content I've always felt that guilds have become a far more fleeting endeavor.  The social aspects haven't changed, but the difficulty of finding 40 competent people, and the more challenging raid content in general, lead to guilds and members remaining together longer.  Knowing those facts, you can imagine my old guild's shock and dismay when word came out that a few core members were thinking about forming their own crew.  A rumor of that caliber, which happened to involve three officers and the main tank, crushes moral, to say the least.  An even worse case, it could easily fracture a guild. Not the stuff of legends; a simple exodus of the executives you say?  Here's the kicker, the rumor started during the second All That Remains party.  As it spread like wildfire through the 30 or so people roaming my apartment the situation went completely nuts.  It became an elaborate game of telephone mixed with the too many cooks in the kitchen issue.  Everyone heard different things, tried to interject their opinions and create a plan of attack.  Personal feelings were used as facts, and players with conflicts of interest started writing guild policy.  It was a mess. Oh, the second kicker (would that be the placement kicker?), this all went down while the people in question were in transit to their domiciles from the party.  A party where they spent a weekend hanging out and having fun like everyone else.  Didn't matter, they were unceremoniously kicked before being confronted.  I bet they were surprised when they logged in! In the end the guild lost a few members, but ATR remained as the premiere guild on Matheridon-US.  The members were kicked, their new guild dreams died shortly after, and they joined another guild.  With the help of our ousted members the other guild became the #2 guild on the server, even grabbing server first kills for a good stretch of time. Friendships were tested, the guild hit a wall in raiding as it recovered, but worst of all feelings were hurt.  All because of a stupid rumor's ability to take on a life of its own, and cause once level-headed people to act on impulse instead of logic.  It pains me to even discuss the stupidity at how the whole debacle was handled.  At least everyone lived... What's the craziest bit of guild drama you've ever been tied up in?

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