One interesting concept that I’ve started to see pop up in more MMOs as of late is the establishment of an automatic beginner guild. The idea is that an unaffiliated new character will be placed in this newbie guild right from the start, giving the player a foothold to establish a social home in the game. Sometimes it’s just a chat channel, but MMOs such as RIFT have made this a standard feature of the new player experience.
I’ve been chewing on the usefulness of these automatic newbie guilds in my mind. I don’t see much harm in them, unless the game placing you into a guild somehow offends or annoys your sense of independence (and none of these MMOs force you to stay there, I might add). And I certainly like the idea of having others to talk to right from the start, even if the whole guild and these relationships might be extremely temporary. It might be a good way to encourage new players to seek out real guilds once they sample the benefits of belonging to a trial one.
Do you have thoughts or opinions on automatic newbie guilds? Do they have a legitimate purpose in growing an MMO’s social scene?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
