the iron fist

those who know me, know i'm usually an extremely reclusive person - especially in online games.

i'm not one for socialising or joining guilds and groups no matter what game i play. i remember playing ultima online for months without hardly talking to anyone. i made one or two friends on it, but nothing worth gaming for. it just felt like everyone was maybe twelve years old or had completely different goals to me. they were always more concerned with the numbers than the gameplay, if you know what i mean.

and then there were the other gamers more interested in mutual masturbation sessions - and that just creeps me out. i mean, i'm trying to kill stuff here, and that kind of thing is just so totally sad. amazing how many there are, though.

anyway, i still remember how i was recruited and how nervous i was about the whole thing. by the end of the first adventure i was already considering finding how to quit the guild. however, by the next day i was hooked. i had accidently fallen in with a rather unique crowd.

you see, the thing i've enjoyed most about the iron fist is that they're not like other guilds i've met, touched with, and encountered briefly. my experience with guilds is that they're often focussed on acquisition and levelling. twinking and raiding seem the norm and there's a big push for getting what you can get. an extreme version of capitalism i find repugnant.

fortunately, the iron fist is something more positive. they have a more humorous attitude to levelling, and when someone dings we cheer and encourage without focussing on it as the prime motivation for playing. often you'll find everyone just trying to lend each other a hand. we admit freely there's less guild questing than normal, but we've been remedying that and so far i've truly enjoyed all my guild activities as they're very loose and easy-going. i find with very few exceptions that everyone's just totally happy to get in there and get their fists wet with blood and die if they have to without getting all pointy and angry and abusive about it - yelling at someone else to do their job, or something retarded like that. and i haven't had to worry about anyone needing for something they don't need or anything like that. it's all extremely uncaring in relation to that kind of thing. often we're all just there so one person can get one thing and everything else is just secondary junk which we all acknowledge as. we may not run in with set tactics and following the rulebook on how to do stuff, but we go in there with enthusiasm and a greater respect for our companions, i think, than anyone else in the game that i've ever seen.

whereas on the few occaisions i've had to quest with other guilds/randoms, they often go with their own agenda and once they've completed that, they hearth out without a word. extremely annoying.

we may not have a fistful of 60s. we may not have the best euqipment - most of us are totally self-funded and lacking in twinks. we may do things in a completely unprofessional way. but i know that, to some, our guild may seem a little less than one of the others, but there's no way you could pursuade me to leave for another - not for all the gold in the game or all the armour in naxx. not even for a big shiny whirling green axe.