The experiences and findings that I obtained through ethnography.
I remember being in a guild together with a player from Scotland. His accent immediately gave away where he was from. I personally found that accent to be very charming and it changed my perception of that person. His accent was often a subject for teasing, when other players would imitate the way he spoke. We’ve had some good laughs on Ventrilo with him. (…)
Over the years I have been part of around six or seven different guilds. I’ve never actually played without being in a guild. I have met the majority of my friends when we were members of the same guild. You help each other out and you talk in the guild chat, and you get to know each other personally (to some extend). When I’m not in a guild, I feel extremely lonely because there’s no one to talk to while (…)
That guild goals vary greatly, can be illustrated with a few excerpts of charters written by different guilds. These charters are usually written as a guideline for all members of the guild, and are often expressed when recruiting for new members. (…)
Gender bending is fairly common in World of Warcraft, for pure aesthetic reasons. I remember a mage complaining that his male character looked so ugly in a robe, that he decided to create a female character. Because a lot of male players create female characters (and vice versa), the community automatically presumes that a female character is not necessarily female. (…)
Being part of several guilds over the years, I always felt a sense of responsibility towards these people. By joining a guild, you agree to a certain degree of commitment. You realize that other people are depending on you to come online, and not showing up would be disrespectful. Twenty-four other players (in the past thirty-nine even) make time in their daily lives, in order to be able to raid with you. (…)
I remember meeting two Dutch guys in the Hinterlands, when we were about level 43. My boyfriend and I were questing, and we had a few difficult quests that we couldn’t complete by ourselves. We needed more people, so we broadcasted a distress call in the general channel of Hinterlands: “Is anyone else on the Jintha’alor quest line? We’re looking for some help.” Soon after that I received a whisper from a player (…)
I remember my very first months of play, being a low level newbie. I looked up to those players who had a character at maximum level. They looked incredibly fashionable in their epic gear, compared to my hand-me-down robes. I looked just like everyone else and they wore these clothes that almost no one else had! From then onwards, I worked hard to obtain my very own first set of epic gear. (…)
I remember being in a pick-up group to Sunwell about a year ago. At that time, it was already a lower level instance, meaning that people mainly wanted to go there because they needed the achievement. The end boss of this instance however has a chance to drop a legendary bow. Legendary items are extremely rare, meaning that usually only a few lucky people on the server have one. Consequently, everyone wants to get a hold on one – even the old ones. (…)
I’ve been a member of (what we call) a “hardcore” guild for a few months, back in 2008. This was a very competitive guild and its goal was to be the first guild on the server to defeat all available content. That goal was eventually reached, because all members were extremely committed. The attendance requirements for members were very high; players were expected to raid up to five evenings a week. (…)
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Lore Torfs
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