A Few Thoughts on Multiple Guilds Setting in Guild Wars 2

A Few Thoughts on Guild Wars 2's Multiple Guilds Setting By Tony Stark Tony Stark is a virtual world surfer, and enjoy this kinda life. He was a columnist of PC Gamer Taiwan ver. for 2 years before.

From Gamescom to PAX Prime, ArenaNet has unveiled quite a lot of information about its upcoming highly-anticipated MMO Guild Wars 2. But why only its guild system aroused my interest? That's all because ArenaNet talked about the guild system setting in one of its seminars at PAX Prime 2011.

"Guild membership is account wide, and you can add as many guilds as you like. You will be able to choose, at any time and on any character, which guild chat you are viewing and what guilds you are currently affiliated with."

I was a little confused at the first sight. It somewhat didn't conform to the design logic of the game, that is, one character can only join one guild. After a second thought, I found that such setting actually conformed to GW2's overall design. How do I draw such conclusion? (I'd make it clear first that there is no guarantee that ArenaNet won't make any changes to such setting in the final version. XD)

Let's look back at the old guild system at first! In the older generation of MMORPGs like UO, EQ or even WoW, guild is practically a benefit community. Of course, I cannot say all guilds are of this kind, and I also expect to see some communities of friendship where a bunch of people just get together and do something out of brotherhood. But let's face the truth. They are very rare. The core design of old-gen MMOs determines you have to join a powerful guild and serve it so that you can maximize your benefits in the game. Without the support from a strong guild, it is very unlikely for you to kill a powerful boss at the early stage, or take part in raid for epic loot later.

The reasons for such situation are worth exploring. In my opinion, when most games (especially MMORPG) are designed, the developers would bring in the concept of Seven Sins (including Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Wrath, Greed, and Sloth) from the bible. They take advantage of the weaknesses of human nature, such as desire, vanity, and then attract gamers by offering a virtual world where they can fulfill those desires that can't be satisfied in the real world. In order to fulfill these desires in the game, players have to gang up on outsiders. Therefore, we see guild formed one after another.

You may have been bursting to protest. Don't hurry. Like what I said in the above, I agree not all guilds are formed this way. I also admit there are guilds of friendship, but they are usually created by acquaintances. Sometimes, members of these guilds even don't care what they can achieve in the game. All they want from the guild is simple: fun, opportunity of making friends. However, what is the fate waiting for these guilds? Some of them have to change their principle; otherwise, their members can't go deeper into the senior content. More of them just break up because they have no specific goals and hence no motivations. Stop cheating yourself. The formation of guild can't be totally independently from the consideration of benefits.