World of Warcraft and Guilds

Guilds are nothing more than symbiotic relationships in WoW. "I need you, you need me, lets hook up". If that necessity is removed the guild itself collapses. The examples of this are all around you if you have been playing the game over the last 3 years. So while many argue that BC was a "guild killer", I say WoW doesn't even create true guilds to kill in the first place. I know a lot of first time MMOG'ers like to believe their WoW guilds were innovative, "strong", or meaningful but the majority of the time they are just plain wrong. In order to create a lasting guild it has to be built on solid principles, as it will be those principles that carry you through the "lean" times. The lean times WILL come....there will be a time when there is no game to play, or when activity is low, and these type of things will see a WoW guild dissolve in seconds.

A true guild is built in an environment where it is a necessity that each player contributes his/her talents and skills for the good of the whole and where it is of the utmost importance that each person has integrity, loyalty, good communication skills, and resilience. A dynamic world featuring open player versus player content necessitates these concepts and therefore creates long lasting guilds.

No WoW player that has been victim of this kind of thing should feel as if they have failed at all, for even the strongest guilds are being torn asunder all over in World of Warcraft. Guilds with 8 year running streaks going back to Ultima Online, Shadowbane, DaoC, Meridian 59, and EQ have been torn apart by the greed driven game mechanics of WoW. The game is quite simply solely based upon the acquisition of materials for one's own character. The entire game is one long episode of "pimp my character", except here you dont even get to shake hands with Ludacris. WoW is like a virus that just poisons people's motivation....it is really sickening to see how people and organizations change under the influence of the greed and self satisfying nature of the game.