It's a Family Affair
Yesterday I was playing on my Alt (Alternate Character) with a good friend of mine who has recently caved to the allure of the World of Warcraft machine. The experience of playing with someone still caught up in the discovery of quests and rewards, angry wolves and strange murlocks brought me back to my own beginning in this world I now call home. As I watched my good friend hit each new first - His first kill, first DING, first heal.... etc, the magic of each moment led to another. We came upon a chest and in the difficulty of the moment of learning how to roll on the chest, knowing this is something fundamentally needed for his eventual progression in the game, suddenly ---- NINJA !!! Someone swooped down and openned the chest and took what loot (albeit insinificant) there was and disappeared into the techno colored world my friend was learning to call home.
The bubbled "WTF" above my friends head (as he was still learning to communicate in party chat) showed the true result of the moment --- this world he is coming to know and love has a monster --- a NINJA --- controlled by some snot nosed kid or overly frustrated adult sitting in a dark room either getting his jollies and venting his frustrations or simply never having been taught what it is to earn his way.
I "lol" and told my friend he must have felt he needed the loot more then my friend and we continued our lesson on rolling for the chest (which to be honest I am not sure we ever got down). But as we moved on to our fast moving pace of pick up quest perform task turn in, grab reward ---- it hit me.
This little NINJA was guildless. Now albeit he was very low level he is not in a guild. So as I pondered this I realized what Guild should stand for and how fitting it was that he was not in one. A guild is a "Family". A marriage of ideals and goals all culminating into a series of relationships. Every member has a distinct family awaiting it's arrival in this world. But wait is that truely the case??
A successful guild is built on dedication and shared visions but more importantly it is built on friendships and "Family Values". A generic term I know but it does ring true. Family values meaning -- truely caring about the success and well being of another player that has chosen to partake on this little adventure with you. So where does the NINJA fit into this picture??
Well he has his place. He should act to remind us what can bring us down. What will make us weak. And make even the greatest of guilds fall to their knees. Individualism!!!
What !!! Really!!! Absolutely.
The definition of “Individual” is - From the seventeenth century on, individual indicates separateness, as in individualism.[1] Individuality is the state or quality of being an individual; a person separate from other persons and possessing his or her own needs, goals, and desires.
Someone that is a NINJA is an individual and that simply does not work for a guild. A guild is a collection of individuals working toward a common goal and putting aside their own goals for the goals of the group. Hard work perserverence, self denial, Turely caring about the shared goal and you know what --- Having fun doing it…..
So the next time that NINJA crosses your path…
Smile --- He has his place to remind you how much you enjoy your ingame family….