Comments on: Game jargon: When is a group not a group?

By: Rhii

Rhii — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:26:25 +0000

*squee*

I just had to squee about the SWTOR beta signups.

I like game jargon that gives flavors to different games… not that I mind WoW and it’s rather standard guild/party/raid, but I am kind of tickled by the idea of being a member of a Legion or a Kinship.

Are there any games that use Houses? An IP like Dune or Song of Ice and Fire would make a great MMO IP… they could have Houses.

By: Dblade

Dblade — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:36:47 +0000

Linkshells worked because a linkshell is the actual device you use to communicate with people, and they even used it for npcs like the weather reporters (who were all on one weather linkshell.) Unfortunately FFXI has a bad habit of not taking the lore and running with it.

A linkshell makes a lot more sense than a guild to me, because guilds always were targeted in various games and history to specific professions. A shell is just a communication device so anyone could organize around it.

This is actually where roleplaying becomes very, very useful, because instead of generic “guild” you can see yourself as a mercenary company, a city guard, a postal organization, a gang of thieves, or whatever the game allows. plus you don’t actually have to roleplay to give your organization a name.

By: JC

JC — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:06:27 +0000

I wouldn’t be surprised if SWTOR borrows heavily from the SWG terminology and their “guilds” will be some variant of “Player Associations.”

So long as they aren’t linkshells, I think they’ll be okay

By: spinks

spinks — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:29:48 +0000

There is also the concept of player clans, the sorts of groups that grew from games like Quake and the like.

It is true though that a lot of game terminology is still imported from EQ (I remember mezzes came from there too, and dings.)

By: Hirvox

Hirvox — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:25:29 +0000

This is probably the main source of the confusion. Guilds in real life and MUDs were fairly loose organizations, and re-purposing the name has diluted it’s meaning. Most likely, this dilution happened when an upstart emergent gameplay form known as raiding appeared in EverQuest, and the style of player interaction veered away from the designers’ intent. Then came WoW, which codified raiding and imported the terminology from EverQuest.

By: spinks

spinks — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:23:14 +0000

I remember you could tax guild members in WAR also, now that you mention it.

And there are WoW guilds which have a guild tax (just it isn’t an option in the interface) — but usually that’d be more businesslike raid guilds.

Interesting point though.

By: Brian 'Psychochild' Green

Brian 'Psychochild' Green — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:20:15 +0000

Well, from a historical perspective naming has never been standardized. Many of the old LP-MUDs I used to play had “guilds” which were combinations of classes and social organizations. All the “necromancers” had the same class abilities, a shared chat channel, etc. Some later skill-based games started using “guild” to mean just a social organization. Meridian 59 used the term “guild”.

In LotRO’s case, I think calling a group/party a “fellowship” was a master stroke. Invokes the “Fellowship of the Ring” which helps get someone into the mood of the setting. Sure, grouping up to go kill goblins may not be as massive as throwing the Ring of Power into Mt. Doom, but it’s still a heroic reminder.

The thing that trips me up about LotRO is “healing potions”. I use that generic term to mean potions that restore health (or morale in LotRO), but “healing” means removing wounds in the game. I think that’s where the jargon goes wrong: if you re-use a term to mean something different. I’d be like using the term “guild” in the medieval sense in a game. Better to just use a new name rather than trying to re-define an existing one.

By: canazza

canazza — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:59:18 +0000

ST:O is going to have a hard time coming up with a good Guild replacement. Each race has different command structures, so what’s right for one race would be wrong for another. The only Federation Analogue I can think of would be the Corps of Engineers, so perhaps Corps would be the Federation Guilds and perhaps Houses for the Klingons.

By: Stabs

Stabs — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:16:48 +0000

I think it does make a difference in Eve.

A Fleet Commander is expected to have a sound tactical understanding of the game and I’ve never met or heard of one that doesn’t.

A Corporation can tax its members and they accept it whereas I think most people would riot in WoW if the guild started taxing them.