2002
War Heralds Journal
(Dec 2002):
Throughout the end of 2002, The Syndicate
participated heavily in the Shadowbane Beta. They were no stranger to
sieging cities and guild warfare. Afterall, that is what Shadowbane is
all about. Wandering the land were Heralds who would keep war journals
of sieges. For example they were there when The Syndicate crushed
Nevah, major city of the Purity Council in a build during late
November. They were there when the capital city of Haven fell to
Syndicate (called Arx or Arx Draconis in the beta), LT and other
forces. Since the NDA was still in place, only limited information was
released publically on various battles but here is one such article
from the SB site
You can click
here for the complete story.
SB Stratics Interview
(Oct 2002):
Rage, of Shadowbane Stratics, did an
interview with Dragons probing into some areas other interviews have
left unasked. Here is an exerpt from that interview:
Dragons, Guild Master of The Syndicate, has been gracious enough to take time out for an interview with Shadowbane Stratics.
For those who are not familiar with this guild, The Syndicate
is arguably one of the oldest and largest official MMORPG guilds
around. With roots dating back to March of 1996, this guild has been a
strong fixture within Ultima Online and Everquest. Organizations such
as The Syndicate add great depth to the gaming environment, likes of
which cannot be delivered by the original game development team. Now
with the up and coming release of Shadowbane, Dragons and his group
look to take another step towards further expansion.
You can click
here for the complete story.
UbiSoft Article on 2002 Synd. Conference
(Sept 2002):
In Sept of 2002, The Syndicate held its World
Conference in Washington DC. Vosx from Ubisoft was the guest speaker.
After the conference an article about it was placed on Ubisoft's site.
Here is an exerpt from it:
The Syndicate is one of the oldest and
largest guilds in online gaming today, with over 550 members worldwide.
Last weekend, The Syndicate held it's annual World Conference in
Washington D.C. and invited Vosx to come and talk to the assembled
members about Shadowbane.
Vosx started by shouting the guild's slogan "Long live The
Syndicate!" and proceeded to give a two hour lecture to a room of
nearly 100 Syndicate members, with several dozen more listening via a
conference call. He discussed the finer points and philosophies about
Shadowbane's design and aspirations in the MMO genre.
You can click
here for the complete story.
Warcry Article on 2002 Synd. Conference
(Sept 2002):
In Sept of 2002, The Syndicate held its World Conference in Washington DC.
Almost 100 members attended and another 50+ were on conference calls for the meetings. That
was monumental because its the largest single guild gathering, by far, in the history of
gaming, at that time. They had a guest speaker, Vosx of Ubisoft there to talk about
Shadowbane which was still in a private beta stage. Warcry asked for some details and
since they asked, they were given the exclusive article with unknown information at that time.
Here is an exerpt from it:
On his way to Austin, Vosx stopped in the Washington, D.C. area this
weekend, and stopped at the World Conference player gathering organized
by the mega-guild, LLTS. By request, LLTS guild leader Dragons filed
this report on Vosx's presentation.
Dragons got all the hot points you can name: items, leveling, PvP/PvM,
sieging, NPCs, potions (!), dungeons, and...
You can click
here for the complete story.
Whiners and Kiddies
(Sept 2002):
Any time any group gets something good, there are those in the
gaming community who throw a temper tantrum and whine. This is doubly true with the Syndicate
since we are one of the most visible guilds being so large, old and active. In this case some
kiddies had a heart attack when we received beta accts as a guild. Ubisoft and the news media
were quick to put them in their place though siting many reasons why it was not favoritism or
the wrong thing to do. One article by Sachant at SB Vault sums up what many were saying. Here is an exerpt:
I hate to blow away the cries of "conspiracy" or "unfair" here. If
anything, the Syndicate should be saying "It's about time." The other
guilds should now be saying "Where's ours? Screw the people that were
promised betas at GenCon.. We were first!" Though many of them have
also given up all hope that what was promised to them will never come
to be and have been playing other games to pass the time.
You can click
here for the complete story.
The Trip Results
(Aug 2002):
When Faust returned from Westwood, he wrote
an article for Earth and Beyond Portal about the trip. Here is an
exerpt from his article:
Why ask guilds to check it out? E&B will soon add Guilds. As
each members gains experience the guild will get some too. This can be
applied to special features which membership in that particular guild
will allow. Guild Decals on the side of ships, even hull upgrades or
rocket boosters for membership. We were asked what other things would
be nice. My hand constantly shot up with regard to collection and
distribution of stuff between guildmates. My wife spends an hour or two
each night organizing, collecting, and distributing spells/gems in EQ…
she doesn’t complain (much) but that kinda stuff can’t be fun. Westwood
also showed us their In-Game browsers, which will show guild rosters
and tradesmen abilities and all kinds of neat stuff.
You can click
here for the complete story.
Virtues Interview
(July 2002):
Nobile from the Virtues gaming news network approached us about
doing an interview in July of 2002. He had questions that were different than many of
the commonly asked ones which made this one an interesting one to do.
Here is an exerpt from it:
I came across this guild by looking at top veteran member rankings at
the UO community Site where they are at the top with 417 members
listed.
It's certainly a very well marketed and successful guild.
Wherever you run a UO related search, The Syndicate always shows up in
a lot of the search result annotations.
What impressed me the most is how it looks on paper:
You can click
here for the complete story.
Visiting Westwood
(July 2002):
Westwood Studios is famous for such games as Command and Conquer
and Nox. The C&C line is an immensely popular line that a great many online gamers also
enjoyed. They are branching out into the MMORPG world with their offering known as Earth
And Beyond. This scifi MMORPG was in beta over the summer of 2002. The Syndicate
received an invitation to be brought out to Westwood's headquarters to have a 1:1
chat with the developers to discuss guild management in MMORPGs and our ideas and suggestions
to improve the system. Being the largest guild, by far, in online gaming and having
survived for 6+ years (at the time of the invite) The Syndicate had vast experience
in what works and what doesnt in guild management. Hundreds of thousands of other guilds
had risen and fallen during that same time, many due to poor management. We gladly accepted
Westwoods offer and participated in discussions with them on that topic as well as exploring
how it would work in their current beta build. In taking this approach of soliciting feedback
on guild management by talking to one of the oldest and most successful gaming guilds, Westwood
took a revolutionary approach to gaming development that, to date, hadnt been tried.
Joining Player Panel
(July 2002):
Icanmonkey is a company that specializes in gaming publications
ranging from manuals to strategy guides to books and magazines on gaming. Working
closely with game developers they are one of the top companies in the industry having
done manuals and publications for UO, EQ, DAOC, AC, AO and more. Taking an industry leading
approach, they put together a panel of elite players who offer feedback and insight and other
assistance as requested to the
development of gaming material. Specific work done is confidential but needless to say, it
is a rare honor
to be part of the team and the Syndicate was proud to be asked to be on that panel. Incanmonkey
produces works that nearly every MMORPG gamer and developer has read and used so to be
part of that process and able to give back to the gaming community is something we are
happy to do.
MMORPG Magazine Article
(June 2002):
Icanmonkey is a company that specializes in gaming publications
ranging from manuals to strategy guides to books and magazines on gaming. Their mid2002 project
was to create a new print magazine about MMORPG gaming. As part of their lead edition (that hit stores in Sept 2002),
a writeup on The Syndicate was featured. Here is an exerpt from it:
The
Syndicate (www.llts.org) is among the oldest guilds in online gaming.
Founded in early 1996 and setting the standard for future MMORPG
guilds, The Syndicate heavily influenced the development of other
gaming groups, particularly those in Ultima Online. Guildmaster Dragons
founded the guild with the concept that it should be made up of a team
of mature, team-focused, friendly, and fun-loving friends. The
Syndicate does not believe in player killing (“pking”), cheating, or
exploiting the game code and guild members have helped locate and
report numerous bugs within games. In UO, The Syndicate has also been a
leader in the ongoing war with the murderous and despised "PKs.”
You can click
here for the complete story.
T^4 Interview
(May 2002):
Ions of UnknownPlayer was doing a feature called the Tag Team Tournament
series of guild interviews. Attached is the one done on The Syndicate. Here is an exerpt:
The Syndicate has had it shares of challenges. Perhaps the most
misunderstood one is our recruiting policy. Since we play on the side
of "good" in games we play (i.e. we believe in honorable play. We don't
cheat or pkill. And we tend to fight against those who do) we have made
our share of enemies among kiddies in the gaming world. We get along
well with mature players on the side of "evil" since they realize its a
fun game with two sides but kiddies tend to base their self worth on
pixels and who can press the macro button the fastest. As such, we have
our detractors in that community. One of the most common things they
say is that we are "newbies" because we will accept anyone which they
assume since we are large. In reality, we get more than 4,000
applications to join every year and nearly all of them are rejected. We
only take mature, team focused, friendly gamers that we know, have
adventured with and like. Getting into the Syndicate is not an easy
process. One might think so because we are large but we are large, not
because its easy to get in, but because once in, members have found a
guild for life and very few of them wish to leave. You wont get in
overnight but if you do get accepted you will be part of a huge, very
organized, very loyal and friendly team that you will likely wish to
remain in for years to come.
You can click
here for the complete story.
Interview with Dragons of the Syndicate
(Jan 2002):
The SB Vault was doing a series where they picked key guilds and
interviewed them on their plans for Shadowbane. Here is an exerpt:
Have you decided on what kind of government system you would like to run?
Dragons - The Syndicate itself is structured most closely with
the SB monarchy system. As guildmaster im ultimately responsible for
decisions made and once made, they are "final" (until/unless
circumstances dictate a revision). Under me I have several advisors. We
have a cadre of squad leaders under them with each squad having a
purpose. Lts, Sgt etc.. all exist within the squads.
The Syndicate is a very old guild and also incredibly large.
In order to become "old" and remain large, a very structured guild
setup has to exist. Otherwise things become chaotic, the guild ceases
to be unified and it falls apart. More than 100 (closer to 200 now)
guilds are created each day and an equal number fail. The average guild
life expectancy is under 3months with under 20 members. So just about
any guild out there that exceeds those thresholds has a structure that
works for them of some sort. In our case it most closely aligns with
the monarchy style in Shadowbane and that will likely be the choice
made there.
You can click
here for the complete story.
