|
By:
JoeMcDoug
As the MMO community continues to grow in popularity, guilds
continue to find new ways to cross over to other media. One such
guild is The Syndicate®. In their new book, “Legend: The
Syndicate®” (to be released this summer), they detail their formation,
development, and rise to become one of the most exclusive and
long-lasting online gaming guilds.
From its humble pre-Ultima Online beginnings to its current
cross-MMO semi-professional empire, this book gives readers an inner
glimpse of a modern day “secret society.” This is a guild that is
so private that it has no public forums. This is a guild so
exclusive that it has boasted of the number of applicants
rejected. This may be the closest chance most of us will have to
seeing what actually goes on in this guild. For those looking to
create a sustainable gaming community beyond a simple guild—this is
your roadmap.
 The
overarching theme of this book is the power of friendship. The
motto of The Syndicate® is, “In Friendship We Conquer”. While it
is unknown (outside of the guild) how egalitarian The Syndicate® is, it
is demonstrated that they truly like and care for one another.
Starting at the Dedication at the beginning of the book to guild
members that have passed away, every section of this book stresses the
importance of true friendship coming first before everything
else.
The book does a very good job showing how this guild is not perfect
(they had a Navy in a basically land game). It does an even
better job conveying the sense of pride and accomplishment that the
members of the guild feel. It allows to see how they choose and
“un-choose” which games they play, as well as letting us see their
interaction in real life (Syndicate World Conference).
While the level of detail and information may seem excessive to a
reader not affiliated with The Syndicate®, there is a plethora of
useful information. Given the emerging number of college courses
focusing on gaming and MMO’s in particular, I would not be surprise if
this book appeared on many a reading list. While I am personally
impressed by the quality of this guild, one doesn’t even have to like
or respect this The Syndicate® to see the value of the information the
author, Sean Stalzer, has put forth.
While this book does not address how relevant The Syndicate® will be
in a rapidly growing eSport industry, it does an excellent job
defending the guild’s claim to be “Online Gaming’s Premier
Guild.” While many guilds may aspire to wear the mantle of “the
best”, no one can touch the claim of longevity and durability that The
Syndicate® holds. With “Legend: The Syndicate®”, a precedent has
once again been set by this illustrious guild. While there will
be many other books about MMO guilds, this will be the benchmark.
You can also read the UO Stratics review here.
|
