Thanks to Hirvox for calling attention to this fascinating tangent:
Gevlon’s mindset is fairly alien to me a lot of the time, but at least I can understand it. His latest experiment with guilds and raiding touches on not only the nature of raiding, but the mercenary nature of sociality (and the kerfluffle between soloists and guildies) in games like these.
What a curious little drama. I, for one, applaud Gevlon for finding this interesting arrangement. I hesitate to call it equitable, since the Goblin mindset isn’t really interested in equality, but the “transaction” clearly seems to be making both parties happy, and that’s enough. Of course, everyone is clear that they are using each other, but when it’s out in the open like that, and agreed to up front, it works.
Social contracts are interesting beasties, and this one, between a guy who is happy doing his own thing (largely preying on others, but not in a “group”) and a guild that seems to work very well as a tuned machine of many players, provides some interesting views on the nature of MMO player interaction.
It really is amazing what can happen when you’re in a GOOD raiding guild. I personally was in a guild that fought non-stop for the #1 spot on the server in WoW, but there were just some idiots in the guild who never learned. I eventually left and went to the #1 guild on the server and the atmosphere was SO different. Bosses died quickly and easily. The execution was near flawless and the learning stages for new bosses was not painful, but exciting.
The thing is, people are still held over from the EQ days of raiding thinking that it takes hours to accomplish anything. My WoW guild raids 3 hours a day. That’s all, and can clear everything it needs to in like 2-3 days. That’s all WotLK content including dragons, Naxx, Ulduar and whatever else.
There is no “raid for 8 hours a day, 6 days a week anymore. At least not in any of the current games. Even if there were, I still wouldn’t mind with a guild like my WoW guild. They’re friendly, professional and when it comes time to kill bosses, they do it.
Quite an amusing arrangement.
I predict guild drama where the paying members break away to form a non-paying group.