The more MMOGs that come out, the harder it is to keep friends and family together in Guilds. I often play with people whom I've known for up to ten years. We started out in a wee guild called "The InnMates," and we've traversed a lot of worlds since. We are a small, very close-knit group and get together a few times each year to celebrate our geekness.

Still, when four of us go to one new game and a half dozen to another, while the rest stay put in their present game... well, it's hard to run that sort of guild effectively.

Enter Warhammer Online. One of The InnMates came across the "Casualties of War" forums, and we were sold. I mean... the acronym is "COW" - what more can you ask for!

CoW runs both an Order and Destruction guild, with separate leaders. It seems like a fine system to me, and much as I'd love to have just one main, I admit that I have two. Brazze (Goblin Shaman) and Brasse (Dwarf Runepriest), and my usual motley assortment of alts that I have not even asked to have guilded yet.

CoW was founded by a bunch of writers and bloggers, including Gendax, who allowed me to stuff him sideways into this comic. The leader of the Destruction side, Gendax is also known as "The Grouchy Gamer"

Other members of CoW includes some guy who is Not Funny, Ever (unless you accidentally run into him and die laughing as a gimp group of sub-level 10 Greenskins - yes, there are comics to come, I promise).

Oh yeah, one of our officers is a random pirate who claims we've won already. But then, I think he said he won the internetz last year too.

The membership list of this guild reads like a who's who of people who make me look like an amateur, not that I'd say that out loud... oh darnitall, I did it again. Must learn not to post before my first beer of the night. Anyway, it makes for an interesting experience, and if they continue to make me look bad with their brilliance, I can pick them off, one by one, from the inside. They'll never see it coming.

CoW ended up being a lot more popular than the founders expected in Beta (I mean, who wouldn't want to sidle up to uber cool writer geeks? I mean, besides people with real lives).

As they careened into Live like an overloaded commuter bus in a Mumbai suburb, they stopped open recruitment. I was very happy to see their Friends and Family program, allowing longstanding friends to still join in.

We'll see how many are still playing a year from now.
I sure hope to be one of them, because my early days experience in WAR has been very good. It is presently ensconced as my "other" game, right by EQII.

Now, maybe I'll have time to get a little WAAAAGH in before work finds me again!

;-)#
Brazze
Defnitli not dum Stuntee.
Gobbos kan hav beer tu, rite? RITE??

Ps. Send more Order peeps to Thorgrim server to kick Schwayder's ego around some - you know you want to!