2008
Massive Gamer Article
(Sept 2008):
In Sept 2008, Massive Gamer was just releasing its second edition. They asked Dragons if he
would like to write an article for the Guildmasters Corner piece. He accepted and they did a really
sweet looking job of laying out the article. An excerpt from the article is:
A typical day as
Guildmaster of The Syndicate is a challenge to put into one brief article, since very rarely do we have
just a typical day. Very often, something unique is going on beyond just the games that we play. To
start out, let me briefly describe what The Syndicate is and is not...
You can click
here for the complete story.
Ten Ton Video Interview
(Sept 2008):
Jeff (Ethec) from Ten Ton Hammer attended our 2008 conference. While there he filmed a number of the events including our annual guild meeting and an interview with Dragons. He released a video interview on Ten Ton in early September. An excerpt from writeup about the interview is:
What would you call a 600 member guild with a twelve-year track record, credits in more Prima guides than you can count on one emblematic hand, closed testing consultancies in a number of top-tier MMORPGs, and a extremely well-run annual conference that's attracted documentarians and news media alike?
We'd call them The Syndicate.
You can click
here for the complete story.
Second Skin Blog
(Aug 2008):
In August 2008, Peter from the Pure West Media team blogged about his attendance to the 2008 Syndicate World Conference. An excerpt from the blog is:
Vic, Juan, and I drove up and crashed at my parent's house near Boston on Friday night. Saturday morning we drove to a Sheraton that looks like a castle to set up our 10:30 am screening. The Syndicate, under the leadership of Sean "Dragons" Stalzer, had taken over the ball room next to a Yoga gathering called Finding Inner Peace. Dragons introduced us to the 130 members of the Syndicate who had gathered. We played the film with out a hitch, and they liked it.
You can click
here for the complete story.
Beckett Interviews Dragons
(Apr 2008):
In Apr 2008, an interview was done with Beckett's Massive Online Gamer about The Syndicate. An excerpt from the interview is:
What is the most memorable experience you've had while playing and/or leading? Our annual conferences definitely top my list of memorable experiences. I was very leery of taking the virtual world into the real world, but looking back on six highly successful conferences, that was one of the best decisions I have made as guildmaster. Putting faces to names and personalities to the words on the screen changes the dynamic of online gaming forever. We ceased being a gaming 'guild' and became a community of friends that uses online games to grow its friendships.
You can click
here for the complete story.
UOForums Interviews Dragons
(Mar 2008):
In Mar 2008, an interview was done with Adam of UO Forums. The questions were submitted by readers of the forums. An
exerpt from the interview is:
1. What has made The Syndicate® so successful that they have been around for so long?
The short answer to that question is: read the book (Legend of The Syndicate from AvariPress.com or Amazon.com). The answer to that question is actually extremely lengthy hence why we have a book published. We have been around since 1996 but if we were to found our guild today and make the mistakes we made back in the first couple of years, we wouldn't last as a guild. We made a number of mistakes that we survived because of the nature of the 'perfect storm' that existed back then. The gaming world was nothing like it is today. Expectations were different.
You can click
here for the complete story.
Beckett's Massive Online Gamer Article
(Feb 2008):
In Feb 2008, an article written by Carolyn Koh entitled Beta Testing
MMOs: Guilds and Their Role was published. Beckett's was at the time
the only print magazine about MMOs. The article included discussions
with developers about why they use guilds and a generous amount of
quotes from Dragons about the value guildes can bring to games. An
exerpt from the article is:
..A second measure of the 'right guild is
to have the right mix of people. The vast majority of players fit into
the casual realm of players, but they are often the most under
represented when feedback is taken. That is because the majority of
players are not very vocal and thus their view can get drowned out by
the vocal minority.
You can click
here for the complete story.
Second Skin Goes To SXSW
(Feb 2008):
Second Skin is a documentary about MMOs. A major subject in the film is
The Syndicate. Countless horus of filming our 07 conference, 07 Lan
Party, Paintball event, monthly dinners and 1 on 1 interviews led to us
filling the part of "Legendary Guild" in the movie. Juan, Victor and
Peter along with their whole staff have assembled a really great movie
that is being shown at the SXSW film festival in Austin, TX Here is a
quick excerpt about what the movie is about:
Second Skin takes an
intimate look at computer gamers whose lives have been transformed by
the emerging genre of Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs). World
of Warcraft, Second Life, and Everquest allow millions of users to
simultaneously interact in virtual spaces. Second Skin introduces us to
couples who have fallen in love without meeting, disabled players who
have found new purpose, addicts, Chinese gold-farming sweatshop
workers, wealthy online entrepreneurs and legendary guild leaders - all
living in a world that doesn't quite exist.
You can click
here for the complete story.
