» Gaming Philosophy |
Why play?
Entertainment. If it's not fun or becomes a job, then why play? You should enjoy playing and that encompasses not only the game mechanics, but the people you play with. Not everybody defines "fun" exactly the same way, so it's important to find like-minded guildmates.
Numbers
The difference between a zerg and numerical superiority is in the quality of the players in question. Not just how good they are at pushing buttons and showing up, but how good they are at fitting in and improving the team morale.
Sacrificing our values for numbers is a zerg mentality. Building a large army of like-minded players is not. Zerging is a mindless action/reaction that excludes any thought of the repercussions of associations or the consideration of your reputation.
We've seen a lot of zergs, those who simply want a mob to help them achieve their goals. But the end does not justify the means.
It's really easy to get into a zerg mentality. You become desperate for numbers. You take in players that are a cancer, and allow them to eat away your chemistry, because you're afraid to lose them. You start accepting warm bodies, thinking that will keep you going. In the process, you may gain numbers, but it's temporary and it can ruin long-term relationships.
It's also easy to allow your army to atrophy. You're so afraid of recruiting an egghead, you don't recruit at all. You isolate yourself in fear of being a zerg or "selling your soul". Taking a high and mighty approach is the opposite extreme of zerging, and equally self-defeating.
Numbers are important. Everybody needs to know that when they log in, there will be people there they enjoy gaming with. It's also important have numbers for sieging.
So there is a fine line to walk in establishing numerical superiority and not just being a zerg.
Chemistry
Team chemistry is critical to long-term success. It also takes a long time to develop. When building a new team, this is somewhat of a catch-22. Today's gaming community is in a big hurry to move on the next thing. So while a guild is rushing from one thing to the next, we bypass the process of team-building and the resulting positive chemistry that goes along with it.
The development of good chemistry requires a team to experience the game together over a long period of time. This requires some tolerance and patience, both with the game and each other. We sometimes seem too willing to give up too soon. Team-building takes time and effort.
Inclusion of playstyles
To be successful in a true sandbox game, you have to accommodate all player styles. We need crafters, pvpers, explorers, pve-ers, power gamers, causal gamers, everything. The more diversity you have, the more versatile and self-sustaining you are.
Everybody is different and that's what makes this type of game interesting. If we focused on being a pure pvp guild, or a power gamer guild, or a crafting guild, we'd burn out and get bored pretty fast. We'd also have a hard time competing at the top levels of the game.
Everybody brings something to the table. If we want to experience the complete game, we have to be accepting of all play styles.
Stability
Jumping from game to game is tricky. It's not always our fault a game sucks. At the same time, we sometimes give up on a game too easily. With all the new games releasing all the time, it's hard to keep a consistent group of players together. Everybody wants to go try out the latest and greatest pixel crack.
At some point, we need to choose a game and stick with it. It's too hard to try and build a winning team every 6 months. I'm making a commitment to be the last man standing for CQ in Darkfall. I'll be the captain that goes down with the ship. What I mean is that I am committing to Darkfall for the long haul. This will likely be my last MMO, so I want to make the best effort I can in making it a great farewell experience. Hopefully this will last a few years.
Alliances
In the past, there were clear-cut differences between "pks" and "anti-pks", the "bad" guys and the "good" guys. This line was clear because there were no in-game assets to own and defend. You could simply be a guild that killed everyone you saw, or be a guild that proclaimed to be "honorable" and kos all the pks. It was basically a war over nothing, without any in-game consequences.
Conquest games changed that. Now, if you want to hold on to your territory and cities, which you spend a lot of time obtaining, you need allies you can count on. Now honor and loyalty are a lot more than an emotion - those qualities are proved with actions in the game, not some high and mighty forum post. Conflict and war and winning and losing suddenly become much more significant - the victories are sweeter and the defeats sting more.
So the issue becomes this: who will you pick as allies? How do you know your selections for allies are any good? How do you judge whether another guild is "worthy" to be your ally? Obviously past actions play a part, but to what extent do you always know the past actions and motivations of a potential ally?
I think the only way to know is to gain first-hand experience. There have been groups of players that I initially shuddered to think about allying with, but they turned out to be some of the best allies we ever had... loyal, trustworthy, and dedicated. On the other hand, there have been guilds that were "honorable" and "anti" and self-proclaimed morally superior in every aspect, yet they bailed when the heat was on. So at the end of the day, who is truly worthy of being your ally?
It's a much more team-oriented game than ever. And only large groups of people cooperating with each other will live at the top of the food chain. You don't have to sacrifice your values in order to work with people who don't exactly line up with you. That's true for guilds and individuals. You have to be tolerant to a certain degree or you're going to be playing alone.
You pretty much have to treat potential allies like you do potential guild recruits. If there are no obvious problems up front you give them a chance.
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