Roland Daemon

Guild Wars 2. The highly anticipated MMORPG by Arenanet that will break all sorts of traditions, pitfalls, and conventions to bring a story of epic proportions to all the players of the world with gameplay that has yet to be experienced.

With everything that we have been told about Guild Wars 2, everything that seems old is getting an overhaul and just watching videos of the alpha has been a joy. Many things are subject to change gameplay-wise but there is something I want to ask as a challenge to the general population that has been watching this game as intently as I have been.


The Challenge

Lets break the traditional norms of new MMO's: Can we help each other and not treat each other like total jerks?

First of all, I'm not so conceited that everyone that reads this will turn into a nice person. In fact, I'm expecting there to be a lot of negativity towards each other when the game comes out just because of all the diverse backgrounds we're all going to come from. That single fact alone will cause rifts between players but it doesn't mean it has to be that way.

We can almost all admit we're from a certain game type or another. First Person Shooter, RPG, Sport's Games, Other MMO's and everything in between. We all have opinions of what is fun to play and what isn't. The biggest thing that we will bring with us when the game comes out is our diverse backgrounds, but this also includes all the negatives (and positives) that we have experienced before.

I've seen fights break out because someone mentioned World of Warcraft. People are going to talk about WoW (and many, many other games) when Guild Wars 2 comes out. This WILL BE inevitable as the game will be compared to every other game that anyone can find a reason to compare it to. This will upset someone. Regardless of what negative experiences we have had in other games, we should grow more mature as we delve into Guild Wars 2. Lets keep the negative experiences from other games and take what you've learned forward with a hope that we can achieve something greater.


We have a golden opportunity here. We have a fresh, new MMORPG. We have the means to communicate and be able to do things on a server (or even cross-server) level with very little effort because of how Arenanet is designing the game. There are a lot of people out there that have been watching every little bit of the game they can get there hands on and there are some people who just hear about this game in passing, the ones that have not been watching the game will want to know why they want to keep coming back. While we can hope the game will keep the attention of many gamers, what really keeps the MMO experience alive and worth playing for months and years is the community.

Lets do something most games fail to do. Let's actually create a community that will help each other out. No, i'm not pointing fingers at anyone and I'm well aware that there are already many Guild Wars communities out there doing what i'm trying to ask of everyone, but we're only a small portion of who will eventually play the game. We're going to be getting into something new and with that mean's that all of us (even the diehards) will start at square one. With systems in place to be able to help each other (in nearly all the things), there's no reason for player hostility towards each other unless they actually harass you to the point of requiring some kind of action.

I guess at the heart of what i'm trying to say is that can we please treat each other like humans (or charr, slyvari, norn or asura) and be nice? The biggest killer to any kind of MMO for me has been communities. When people are more interested in trolling the living daylights out of people instead of answering easy, legitimate questions (we all probably asked some of the questions we see today at one point)... is it really what we want to people to join the world of Tyria with us and see?

I know I don't. For the first time, I want to go out of my way and help people. I want to explore with new people, experience new things with new people. I want to know that i'm not alone in a world where everyone hangs out in a city, waiting for the next big content, I want people to see spots they wouldn't normally go, I want to find the spots with others where we can stop and stare in awe at the world that was created for us.


I challenge everyone that reads this blog. Everyone.

Help a newbie. Help twenty newbies. Help everyone you see.

Because this time, at the very least... we get Karma for it.

See you in-game, everyone. Mace and shield at the ready to defend everyone that requires my assistance.

~Roland Daemon of the Free Frag Network
If you'd like to follow me on Twitter, my twitter is here -> http://twitter.com/RolandDaemon

Seriously. Help someone out, don't be a bitter elitest :|

Also: For the sake of Continuity and professionalism, I will be posting a blog on Guild Wars 2 every wednesday up till release. Depending on my involvement in PvP for the game, I may continue afterwards to show off stories I want people to hear.

~Edit~

I apologize for taking so long to fix some really bad (and glaring) grammar mistakes and terrible sentence structure. For the amount of visit's I've had on this, I should of had it done sooner. Seriously, thank you for reading this and making my last week one of the best I've had in a long time!