2007
Ten Ton Hammer Interviews Dragons
(Nov 2007):
Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle of Ten Ton Hammer followed up his review of
Legend with an interview of Dragons about The Syndicate and the book.
An exerpt from the article is:
Following last week's review of
Legend of the Syndicate - a written history of a guild called The
Syndicate over its 10 years of existence - we contacted the guild
leader and author Sean "Dragons" Stalzer and were thrilled when he
agreed to a brief follow-up interview. We discussed Sean's inspirations
and motivations for writing the book, the guild's reaction to the
book's success, the ongoing partnership between The Syndicate and the
charity Youth Opportunities Unlimited, and the future of the guild. And
as an extra bonus, you'll see below that Sean revealed a recent piece
of art commissioned by The Syndicate for the first time right here at
Ten Ton Hammer.
You can click
here for the complete story.
Ten Ton Hammer Reviews Legend
(Nov 2007):
Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle of Ten Ton Hammer picked up a copy of our book
and sat down and wrote a review our it. An exerpt from the article is:
All
in all, this is an enjoyable read for any seasoned fan of MMORPGs on
game nostalgia alone, but. I'd go so far as to say that this is a book
that should be on every guild leader's shelf. It won't take you an
evening to filter through the 200-odd pages, but you'll likely distill
some important answers and encouragement to deal with the many causes
of drama in today's guilds.
You can click
here for the complete story.
MMORPG.COM Reviews Legend
(Oct 2007):
Jon Wood of MMORPG.COM took time out from his busy schedule to read and
review our book Legend of The Syndicate. An exerpt from the article is:
Legend of The Syndicate could be used as a “How-To” book on running
a large guild. Throughout the book, Dragons goes into detail about the
steps that had to be taken and the decisions that had to be made in
order to keep the guild from becoming a flash-in-the-pan and making
sure that everyone had a good time. Recruitment practices, logo
trademarking, in-game decisions, game choices, philosophies,
conventions… It’s all here.
You can click
here for the complete story.
WoW Stratics Interviews Syndicate Members
(Sept 2007):
This is a bit of a unique article for us. Typically Dragons is
interviewed on behalf of the guild. In this case Traveler from WoW
Stratics sent in some questions that were posed to The Syndicate at
large and a number of members sent in responses which are included in
this interview. An exerpt from the article is:
Recently I had the
opportunity to do a Q&A session with The Syndicate (
http://www.llts.org/) guild. At first I thought this would be a look at
The Syndicate and World of Warcraft. Before long I realized this was
actually a look at the guild and it's members. The answers given
provide an interesting view of the people that keep a guild alive for
over 10 years.
You can click
here for the complete story.
Second Skin Comments On Synd-World 2007
(Sept 2007):
The Second Skin movie team joined us for our 2007 Conference and they
blogged about their experience there. An exerpt from the article is:
The
Syndicate Conference. Wow. Nearly 150 guild members of all ages,
colors, sizes, temperments and classes. They took up an entire floor of
the Marriott… and what a rowdy bunch! Talk about dispelling every
stereotype about gamers (are there even any stereotypes left?) you
could find every kind of personality in this bunch. From a couple of
fourteen year old members, to a handful of septagenarians, Syndies run
the gamut… and are definitely well-versed in the art of the party.
You can click
here for the complete story.
MarkeeDragon Reviews of Legend of The Syndicate
(Aug 2007):
Adam Bleeker of MarkeeDragon read Legend of The Syndicate and authored
a review of the book for MarkeeDragon. An exerpt from the article is:
The
Syndicate is one of, if not the oldest guilds in the world of online
gaming today. Having been a working and unified guild since the
beginning of the online gaming trend ten years ago, Dragons and his
guild were present at the birth of what is now an international
phenomenon with 8 million players in games as diverse as they are
exciting. Writing from this viewpoint, Dragons creates an atmosphere of
a seasoned camp fire story teller, ready at a moments notice to spin a
tale of wondrous worlds that he not only was a part of, but helped
steer and create with programmers and multi national companies alike.
You can click
here for the complete story.
John Smedley Reviews of Legend of The Syndicate
(Aug 2007):
John Smedley, the President of Sony Online Entertainment read Legend of
The Syndicate and had some thoughts to share when he was finished. He
shared those thoughts both in an email to us and on his "Stationblog"
An exerpt from the article is:
I have to say this is by far the
best book about online gaming I’ve ever read. Once I got it, I couldn’t
put it down and just read it straight through. The overall sense I got
from reading the book was something that I’ve personally felt for a
very long time – online gaming can lead to making lifelong friends. You
spend a lot of time playing with people, and over that time these bonds
can be just as powerful as friends you met back in school. I strongly
believe that’s the biggest reason people like to play online games in
the first place. It may not be what brings them in, but it is certainly
one of the biggest drivers of what keeps them playing.
You can click
here for the complete story.
Amazon.com Reviews of Legend of The Syndicate
(July 2007):
The wholesaler that Amazon buys from reviewed Legend of The Syndicate
and decided that the book was very good and that they could sell a
great many of them. As such, they ordered cases of the book 3 months
before it was due to be released and began selling them to Amazon and
other sites. As the book began to sell, great reviews of the book began
popping up on Amazon. An exerpt from the article is:
The
overarching theme of this book is the power of friendship. The motto of
The Syndicate® is, “In Friendship We Conquer”. While it is unknown
(outside of the guild) how egalitarian The Syndicate® is, it is
demonstrated that they truly like and care for one another. Starting at
the Dedication at the beginning of the book to guild members that have
passed away, every section of this book stresses the importance of true
friendship coming first before everything else.
You can click
here for the complete story.
WoW Stratics Reviews of Legend of The Syndicate
(July 2007):
JoeMcDoug, one of WoW Stratic's reports read our book and wrote a review of it. An exerpt from the article is:
I
have to say this is by far the best book about online gaming I’ve ever
read. Once I got it, I couldn’t put it down and just read it straight
through. The overall sense I got from reading the book was something
that I’ve personally felt for a very long time – online gaming can lead
to making lifelong friends. You spend a lot of time playing with
people, and over that time these bonds can be just as powerful as
friends you met back in school. I strongly believe that’s the biggest
reason people like to play online games in the first place. It may not
be what brings them in, but it is certainly one of the biggest drivers
of what keeps them playing.
You can click
here for the complete story.
Slashdot Reviews Legend of The Syndicate
(July 2007):
Zonk of Slashdot read and reviewed our book Legend of The Syndicate An exerpt from the article is:
In the world of Massively Multiplayer Online Games, guilds live and die
like generations of fruit flies. In the time it takes you to read this
review, another group of friends will probably have decided to go their
separate ways. Due to what is commonly referred to as 'drama', and the
nature of the currently most popular online game, the modern MMOG guild
tends to be a short-lived affair. A book published about a single
guild, then, has to be discussing a singular organization. And indeed,
The Syndicate has lasted for over a decade. Well known in both Ultima
Online and EverQuest, and going strong into the days of World of
Warcraft, they've had numerous public successes and some notorious
failures. Their tale is a strange, and utterly personal view of the
history of Massive games. It's also highly self-aggrandizing and
probably contentious, but that's to be expected. Legend of the
Syndicate is a publication worth reading by anyone interested in the
history of the Massive genre, or the future of social networks online.
You can click
here for the complete story.
MMORPG-GAMER Interviews Dragons
(June 2007):
Kenny from MMORPG-GAMER sat down with Dragons in June to do an
interview about the guild and the book. You can read the entire
interview via the link above. An exerpt from the article is:
Gamer: What was the best advice you got? What advice would you give someone who is about to have a first book published?
Dragons: Be patient. The process from the time you are "finished" to
the time the book appears in your hands is not overnight. I am not the
world's most patient person and for awhile there I about drove my
publisher crazy. But they are good people and tolerated my 'first time'
rookie questions and inquiries about where things stood. If you find a
good publisher, the process is enjoyable. If you find the wrong one...
at least according to some author friends of mine.. it can be a real
pain in the rear. I would definitely recommend Avari to anyone working
on a piece of Fantasy literature which is their specialty. They are
great to work with.
You can click
here for the complete story.
Gamasutra Releases Excerpts From The Book
(June 2007):
Gamasutra released a series of excerpts from Legend of The Syndicate.
The attached are screenshots of the overview of their article from the
Gamasutra site. The actual excepts, being straight from the book
itself, can be read by purchasing a copy of the book.
You can click
here for the complete story.
UO Stratics Legend of The Syndicate Interview & Review
(June 2007):
El of LA read and reviewed Legend of The Syndicate and also did an
interview with Dragons about the guild and book. Those two artcles are
linked here: An exerpt from the article is:
What brought you to write this book on The Syndicate®?
The Syndicate, being a very old guild (established in 1996) has
had a very rich history. We developed a number of strong relationships
with some development teams. We have a good number of members serving
on those teams. We achieved a number of 'firsts' like Trademarking our
name, getting a corporate sponsor etc.. But most of all, we developed a
model for a successful guild. In today's gaming world, hundreds of
guilds rise and fall every day. While there are some notable
exceptions, the vast majority of guilds will not be around in six
months to two years from now.
You can click
here for the complete story.
Guild Cafe Interviews The Syndicate
(Mar 2007):
PlayerVox from Guildcafe.com approached us about doing an interview of
The Syndicate. This one touches on our book, the challenge of running a
guild this size and some other interesting areas: An exerpt from the
article is:
For the premier of GuildCafe’s PlayerVox, we’re
bringing you an interview with one of the oldest and largest guilds in
the online gaming world. The Syndicate, established in 1996, has grown
to nearly 600 members and become known around the world for various
achievements including being the first guild to trademark its name,
being the first guild to get a corporate sponsor, being the first guild
to land a book deal about their history, partnering with Prima games to
deliver more detailed, higher quality strategy guides to gamers and for
being filmed for an upcoming MMORPG documentary.
You can click
here for the complete story.
Stratics Interviews The Syndicate
(Jan 2007):
GenX from Guildhelper.com approached us about doing an interview of The Syndicate. He looked at
a number of interesting aspects of the guild and included some cool screenshots.
An exerpt from the article is:
Hello MMO Community and all you wonderful gamers. I recently had the
pleasure of interviewing Dragons of The Syndicate. The Syndicate has
been around for many years. They are known for playing a huge array of
video games and will soon be publishing their very own book. Keep your
eyes open.
Q: Tell us a little history regarding your guild and when was it
established? The history of The Syndicate™ goes back 11 years as of Feb
07 so there is quite a lot to tell. So much so that there is a book
being published in the summer of 2007 all about the history of The
Syndicate. Avari Press will be releasing “Legend of The Syndicate”
around the June timeframe.
You can click
here for the complete story.
