World of Warcraft: But I play with real people

One of the most universal experiences in all MMORPGs is social interaction in the form of guilds. Forming associations and alliances with other players is a major part of the overall online game experience. And, as with almost any human interaction, we can use these associations to find humor and laugh at ourselves. A series of short films under the title, The Guild, explores the quirky ways online social gaming activity can impact life in the brick and mortar universe.

Created in large part by Felicia Day, a professional actress who also happens to have an affinity for online role-playing, The Guild short films do a great job of exposing the humor that can be found in online guild dramas. Felicia obviously has great understanding of how guilds work, and sometimes don’t work, in these online fantasy universes. Using caricatures and stereotypical representations of various common guild members and their typical mannerisms, she provides glimpses of behavior almost all MMO gamers can relate to and laugh at.

Technologia, the official unofficial World of Warcraft guild of TechRepublic, has been fortunate not to see much in the way of extreme stereotypical guild behavior. And the officers and I have made a concerted effort to keep Technologia casual, friendly, and non-confrontational. But that doesn’t mean we can’t laugh at the exploits of The Guild. As of this writing, there are five episodes of The Guild, I recommend them all — the filmmaking experience of all of the principals involved really shows.