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General: The Syndicate Gives All to F2P
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
In an announcement from the world renowned guild, The Syndicate, leaders have let it be know that from henceforth the guild will be officially in support of F2P titles. "Rather than fight the tide," the release states, "we have decided to embrace it."
Dragons, the chief DICtator for The Syndicate, expressed his thoughts about the conversion to a Micro-Transaction model by saying, "I have always wondered how I could get rich off running this juggernaut of a guild. I believe the micro-transaction model will achieve that goal. My monetizing every aspect of the guild I will soon be rolling in dollar bills. This plan is genius! Why I didn't think of it sooner alludes me."
The Syndicate continues to push the boundaries of what an entity, founded within the online gaming space, can achieve. With a lengthy track record of success; a motivated, mature and professional membership; and a strong vision for the future, The Syndicate now moves into an era of monetizing that success and turning virtual phat l00ts into real world bling. Long Live The Micro-Transaction!
Read more here.
Comments
April fools or not; can anyone from mmorpg.com shed any light on why and how this specific guild is getting news item exposure here?
It seems there is quite some controversy around them: sending cease and desist letters to members of similar named guilds for one.
I would be grateful if this can be answered.
Thanks.
My brand new bloggity blog.
Snore. Not really sure why this guild gets any major attention from mmorpg.com. I am here for the games, not some 'elite' guild.
I don't get why this is news. OMG the syndicate is doing something?! whoopty shit. Same even if its for april fools. Hey you guys my Aunt Cindy got RED car! lol tricked she hates the color red I totally tricked you. That's just as newsworthy.
Every top guild I have seen in MMO's has NOT been the syndicate. I think their famous just for being famous and don't actually do anything people care about.
In no way, not from any angle, is this a good news story or april fools joke. It is a total failure in the most literal and complete sense of the term.
Wow another article on a guild that nobody cares about. Why??
I got to say i did my best to show how they did not live up to some of the claims of some of the games they were in.
Syndicate who ? .. do they only play f2p games or something.. as i've never heard of them
Can't edit.. just wanted to add..
"The Syndicate isn't a guild, we are the industry leaders in gaming excellence and the most successful virtual community in the history of online gaming."
*roll eyes* If this clan keeps getting exposure to feed their ego-tistical heads, I will find my news else where.
Tactical Terror
Facebook / Twitter
No Mercy. No Remorse. Just Business.
Its ok... aprils fool joke or not... they are driving their own recruiting potential away.. who wants to pay $100 to apply?
Tactical Terror
Facebook / Twitter
No Mercy. No Remorse. Just Business.
Hey, my guild in xsyon is planning to hunt some animals this weekend, maybe build a bridge. Might wanna throw that up on the front page so people know whats going on in the world of mmos.
I opened the thread to say this.
The last thread was almost unanimously shunned by the community. Noone cares about what The Syndicate is doing or what they're "doing" on April Fools' Day.
Near-unanimous reaction by a community is an astounding thing from a group of people that can barely agree that yes, indeed, WoW's graphics are better than Tetris.
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug.
12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
They also seem to be on TTH's attention too, maybe they are really good, you guys need to relax.
Does anyone honestly care about these guys?
I used to be somewhat interested in joining The Syndicate after seeing "Second Skin", until I learned of the extreme elitist douchebaggery that takes place on a daily basis with them. In fact, my guild used to turn down joint raids with the Syndicate in Vanguard way back in the day simply because we couldn't stand their mindset.
They say "fun loving and eager person", what they really want are members who have a sense of overaccomplishment and delusions of grandeur. Being a Syndicate member means that you feel like you are the guardian for lost souls and the needy in an MMO... Not because you genuinely want to help them, but because you feel it makes you better than them.
Seriously, the Syndicate is a 500 member guild spanning across dozens of games. My previous WoW guild was 200 strong just on Alliance and 150 on Horde, and that was ONE GAME. AND they never cavorted about like a group of self indulgent asshats.
Stop posting Syndicate stuff, mmorpg.com. We... don't... care!
This.
There's no controversy around the guild at all. Yes, there's posters here that display unbridled hatred for them, but has anyone linked to anything that they've ever done wrong?
It's random intarweb malcontents, not controversy. It could also be a certain level of jealousy.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Lastly, their public image, if claims are to be believed, is terrible. Demanding guilds not use the word "Syndicate" in their name? Really?
But the strawbreaker is they're not even notable on the servers they're on. They're elitist but not elite having no notable achievements. The types of guilds the community should be interested in are world first, region first, or even server first guilds for the more popular games.
Is it still only one guild in the world that has glory of the cata hero? Interview them. Interview the furthest progressed RIFT guild--ask them about the things the community is talking about like addon usage and do these addons help.
Interview old guilds that are still around accomplishing notable things.. In other words, they weren't "once-great" but still running "full steam" even after years.
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug.
12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
no, it's really not. Putting a gaming organization that most people would have no reason to even be remotely interested in as important news every month is just odd and annoying.
I'm curious how many others share that same contention. How many others people in this 'we need more community, less gearscore' forum crowd feel that being the first to complete raids or the first to get a global quest broadcast is more noteworthy than the achievements of a guild that has over a decade of success at comaradarie, teamwork and a solid level of excellence as beta testing and QA.
One would think that when the topic of The Syndicate comes up, people here would be interested in how they keep players in the guild for years or want to talk to members of The Syndicate to find out how their focus on community can be applied to other gaming communities from guilds to factions to whole shards.
Guilds like Lost Order of Akalabeth, KGB and The Syndicate are guilds that both players and developers can learn a lot from. I'm not in The Syndicate but over the past decade or so I have interacted with them as a player, as a journalist and as a developer. I can say with complete confidence that the hatred displayed on these boards is both odd and appalling... let alone baseless.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
You mean like their self proclaimed "we're the oldest guild" out there in the history of MMO's lie that they like to spread around?
Or how they like to go after anyone that has a name in an MMO that's even remotely similar by threatening legal action?
Or their poorly written prima guides that they tout as being the best thing since sliced bread?
How about all the low blows they repeatedly take towards others and then try to justify them with their overly corporate policitcal correct sales pitch?
And you wonder why no one likes them? That's just epic.
I've never heard of either of those other guilds, and I've been playing MMO's since the originals, which came long before UO and EQ.
You know at first I really felt a bitter taste and thought it was poor taste in this site to show blatant favortism to a generic guild that's trying to self tout itself through an advertisement campaign.
But to be honest, I'm glad that this site is doing this. Because the more they talk about the guild, the more people become aware of just how bad this guild truly is. Everytime these posts get made regarding the Syndicate, the comments section seem to increase more and more by people who have had bad encounters with them and dislike them.
I'd say they're getting their just desserts in the end.
The only people that like "The Syndicate" are The Syndicate.
Banegrivm
Leader of the 1st Fist of Light
www.1stfistoflight.com
No guild should be getting coverage, and thats the reason for the backlash. Over a decade of gaming and comaradrie...i say so what honestly. I don't care about the guild and neither do a lot of people. Why should we care? Because they've stayed together for over a decade and have over 500 members...big whoop.
Thats not as amazing of an accomplishment as your making it sound, seriously... acting as if they can be some idol for guilds everywhere, but the thing is, theres guilds that have been around for less years, with more active members, or that have actually accomplished things in-game... which was the point of the person your quoting...
Theres probably guilds with more members and that are older and less ass hats then syndicate. Who Cares.
so i think the question is... why is this news worthy for mmorpg.com instead of actual mmo news? And what makes syndicate so amazing that they are getting this exposure when they are clearly not one of the better guilds out there, even when the readers here clearly don't want it?
Also, It would seem a lot of people don't share your opinion on what a nice community they are.
Generally we don't post publicly but here are a few thoughts to share towards some recent comments.
First, while our name is protected by two Trademarks (and several legal agreements with various developers based on those marks) the tall tales of wild enforcement actions make for good troll posts but do not line up with reality. There have definitely been enforcement actions in the past but if we had a dollar for every story of one, well, then we wouldn't need this April Fools Micro-Transaction based guild model.
Second, in terms of noteworthy reasons to report on the guild... More of those are likely to be discussed, on this site, in the coming weeks and months. Debate and feedback are always welcome and encouraged so please join into those discussions. That said, probably the most encompassing statement of why we have something noteworthy to say on some topics is that because for a huge number of the games out there, we assisted in their development in some form or fashion, often long before they were even on the public radar. We consult on them and test them with dozens to several hundred members for months or years before they go live. We typically have completed the go live content; killed the raid bosses; burnt out on the pvp areas; maxed out all the classes; solved all the quests and generally finished the go-live version of the game well before it launches. We don't brag we were the world first to kill XXX boss since its really not a fair race given we are often the only ones on the server when the boss is killed. We also don't put much stock in who stayed up all night versus who had a job and a family and thus killed a boss the next day. We take a more community focused approach and so long as each guild is getting from the game what they need to build their friendships and have a good time, then the game is a success for them.
Third, the "dude! those guys are jerks! I played with/against them in XXX game! my guild wouldnt do stuff with them!" types of quotes are another of those things that make for great posts to try to rile peope up but... err.. you didn't play against us in Vanguard (for example) as we had no "Syndicate" presence in the final game. You may well have played with a copycat guild as there are many that seek to pretend they are us. As I pointed out above, we have usually completed all of the content of a game by the time it launches due to our involvement for months or years before it launched. As such, we limit our post-launch official "named" presence to a few titles. Our members play those games but not branded with our name. We have a few entities we use in those games for our members to organize but do not publicly discuss what those group names are. So, the comments about having some "bad" experience with us in a game are almost always made about games we never had a branded presence in once the game went live. They make good sound-bites but there is no substance to them.
Thanks again for your interest. Whether positive or negative, debate is healthy and productive and drives hits to this site, our site and hopefully to related developer sites and ultimately that traffic strengthens the industry and everyone involved. Its when the world stops talking about MMOs and stops debating who is more l33t that we need to worry about the health and long term success of a hobby we all enjoy.
The Syndicate
The Syndicate got super popular, and cult status when they where featured in the documentory SecondSkin which is probably the second best doc I have ever seen on mmos link below if you have not watched it I would highly suggest it.
http://www.secondskinfilm.com/
I was talking about the skill to get things done and not anything to do with Gearscore/ That's one of the reasons I brought up RIFT's most progressed guild, whoever they may be because it would be interesting to note their stance things Rift doesn't support, like various addons. Here's some ideas where to take that interview.
Do you miss believe addons can improve a game experience?
Do you miss any of the addons?
Does your guild use some of the third party software anyway?
Do you think addons improve what developers expect from a raid encounter--Does recount, and the ability to assess your performance and your team's allow for tighter enrage timers? Does Omen allow for less easy-mode threat? (My experience in the beta was that if I could hit a mob, I could hold threat off anyone less than 5 levels higher than me.
Does DBM cross a line?
Should the native UI provide that much information instead of relying on addons like recount?
You can't deny RIFT is similar to other games, what do you think they've done to make the raiding experience better? What can they still do? (Shouldn't someone at this point be able to provide Ventrilo quality voice chat in-game?
What do you think of the raiding mechanics RIFT has demonstrated? Do you think you'll encounter things that other games never provided?
And yeah, I'd rather hear this opinion from RIFT's #1 guild, WoW's #5 (or #1), FFXI's #1 (even FFXIV's #1) rather than WoW's #38,347.
Maybe the top-ranked guilds aren't writing guides but there are very community-friendly well progressed guilds that are writing guides. Some have sites link tankspot, some is a random hunter talking about how his guild handled their first take down of a boss.
Some voice-over Andy Samberg....
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug.
12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
Dont pay attention dude trolls are just hating. Hell I wish I was in a guild as good as yours, but no WoW for this guy I will stick to my EQ2 till EQ3 comes out. I never wanted kids, but when I played WoW I felt like I was raising other ppls kids that did not want them either. Anyway keep up the good work you guys are a model in of what a guild should be friends that have fun with one another. The fact your able to do this in the game with the worst community WoW makes it even more immpressive.
While thats all very nice, you still didn't answer the number one complaint... why should we care and why is this newsworthy?
It's awesome that you've beta tested games, so have other guilds, and I'm sure you have been a big help to the testing of those games, and thats swell for you. But, it really has nothing to do with us or even the mmo's after they're out of testing to warrant a front page news article.
This is not even news, it's just advertising and publicity, which is even more clear after this post here. If they're going to start publishing guild news, then they need to start doing it for every top tier guild out there that has beta tested games, been around for a long time, accomplished things in-game, , ect.
And for the record, I really hope they don't , because its complete crap. People want mmo news, not guild ads.
Never even heard of these guys. Not sure how this is new. Maybe one of the most self indulgent things I have seen on the internet, and that is saying something.
Pretty lame for a news discussion.
--John Ruskin
and we care because ????