2013

Gamasutra SyndCon Article    (Sept 2013):
Petroglyph attended SyndCon 2013 and afterwards they published an article on Gamasutra about the event An excerpt from the article is: SyndCon is a long, 5 day, supercharged weekend filled with plenty of activities and chances to meet up with fellow guild members, as well as prominent industry guests. I had attended the last few events over the years and met cool new guild members each time. This year was special in that it was the first time attending after I was inaugurated into the guild as a member. SyndCon was also hosted near the U.S. capital, Washington D.C., a city worth exploring if you ever get the chance.

The main focus of SyndCon is to put faces to names of the hundreds of guildmates we encounter daily in various games, and to solidify friendships and forge new ones. You meet guild members all over the conference floor, as well as throughout the hotel where the conference takes place. Several developer panels and lectures fill the bulk of the scheduled time. The rest of the day includes guild members playing games in the various game rooms, including a larger room dedicated to a wide array of popular board games.

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Stratics SyndCon Article    (Sept 2013):
Stratics attended part of SyndCon 2013 and afterwards published an article that contained an overview of the event An excerpt from the article is: This year at synDCon, Richard Garriott came to talk about Shroud of the Avatar to obtain feedback from the crowd on features and plans for the game. Roberts Space Industries came to talk about Star Citizen. Zenimax came to talk about Elder Scrolls Online. City State Entertainment had a large presence to discuss Camelot Unchained. Bonnie Armstrong (also known as Messana to UO players), the Electronic Arts producer for Ultima Online, came with some of the development team to discuss the current state and future plans of UO along with Ultima Forever Stratics has already revealed nuggets of information from that session as Taylor, one of the Senior Leaders of that network, was also present and tweeting some gems of information such as the upcoming Halloween ‘heads on a stick’ event.

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Game Buddy Interviews Mog    (Aug 2013):
The team at Gamebuddy reached out to The Syndicate both to do an interview about the guild as well as to invite us to participate in a podcast discussion about MMOs and their future. Mog, Director of External Relations, represented The Syndicate in the podcast. His part starts at minute 27. In the first segment he discusses The Syndicate and our focus as it exists in 2013 including the fact that being nearly 18 years old (with a requirement to be 18 years old to join) that we are starting to get new members who are children of existing members who have only ever known life where The Syndicate existed. In the second segment, Mog hangs out and discusses MMOs. A link to that Podcast is: Funcast Episode 14

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Troll Stomp Interview    (Apr 2013):
Troll Stomp Gaming (TSG), interviewed The Syndicate for their blog & gaming news website in April of 2013. An excerpt from the article is: What about the most frustrating moment?
There are probably 2 categories of frustrating moments. One would be those very early years of the guild. On the one hand, I would not do them over because they definitely helped shape us into what we are today. On the other hand, we had extremely poor recruiting practices and as such had to deal with drama and infighting the same as other guilds do today. Now that we are past them, we have a drama free, no turnover, massive guild where everyone is friends with everyone. So the result is something epic and special but it was highly frustrating to live through.

The other category is when a developer asks for your help… you give them advice… they choose to ignore it (often because some executive level management doesn’t understand the big picture on how MMO communities evolve and work).. and the game takes a massive beating (or, worse yet, fails altogether) from its community. Those are rare but when they happen they are painful because you know they had all the right answers… right at their finger tips.. and you know the hard working development team was completely on board with that direction.. and someone, far removed from the reality of MMO success, made a decision that ultimately resulted in the failure of millions of dollars of invested capital.

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SotA Unveiling Interview    (Mar 2013):
In March 2013 the upcoming MMO Shroud of the Avatar was announced by Richard Garriott (aka: Lord British). Richard has been a friend and supporter of The Syndicate for many years. He was a keynote speaker at SyndCon 2009 and has been a big supporter of our annual Charity Raffle for some years. In his initial unveiling of the game, he mentions The Syndicate as a "meta guild" in the context of giving communities, such as ours, the option of having an entire town of their own. Richard recognizes the value of stable communities and holds The Syndicate as a model of that success so it was an honor to be mentioned in the initial unveiling of the game.

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Game Informer Article    (Mar 2013):
In the March 2013 Edition of Game Informer Magazine, there is an Article and Interview with The Syndicate. The interview consumes 3 pages and contains thoughts from Dragons, the guildmaster as well as those from 2 members who were interviewed. The article reviews the website and other publications about The Syndicate and it touches on topics ranging from recruiting to consulting to the annual SyndCon event to the secret to retention and the low drama environment. As a testament to the larger readership Game Informer has, the article generated hundreds of additional applications to join The Syndicate despite the writer clearly spelling out a referral is required to join.

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Joystiq - The Syndicate Turns 17    (Feb 2013):
As The Syndicate turned 17 years old, Joystiq released an article about that achievement. An excerpt from the article is: You know your adults-only guild has built up a serious steamhead of history when you begin seeing an entirely new generation of applicants from within your own ranks. That's right, WoW players, you really are that old. This month marks the 17th anniversary of The Syndicate, the current Guinness world record holders for the longest continuously operating online gaming community.

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MMORPG.COM - The Syndicate Turns 17    (Feb 2013):
As The Syndicate turned 17 years old, MMORPG.COM released an article about that achievement. An excerpt from the article is: We have received word from leaders of one of the oldest guilds, The Syndicate, that members are busy celebrating seventeen years of existence as a group.

Seventeen years ago, in February 1996, a community known as The Syndicate (www.LLTS.org) was formed. That community was founded with the hope, belief and dream that players would want to come together as a team of friends; who wanted to stick together for years; and who would be able to work through the challenges that often tear communities apart.

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