Hi! Very interesting post. I tried to take the survey, but it was closed. I wish you luck with this study of MMO's and the human condition. I personally think perhaps I appear to have an odd profile for an mmo player. I started playing MMO's over nine years ago at the suggestion of my son. We as a family had been playing video games together so I would be able to monitor and more importantly understand what our son was doing and how he was developing personally. Best way to understand someone and what is important to them is to stand on common ground in my opinion. This approach, not only to games but pretty much to everything, has served me well with regard to my son. He of course wandered on to other interests. However I continued to play. We all started in WOW and I quickly found my in-game calling of progression raiding. My son was long gone from the mmo scene other than occasionally, but my husband and continued quite happily for years. Many epic raid experiences occurred and I was hooked.Now it is just me playing which my son brags and laughs about to his friends. So what in the world am I doing playing MMO's as a progression raider 9 years after my son recommended it? What type of gamer or personify profile do I have? Does it fall in with the motivational profile of most other mmo players? I've thought about this some as it is such a very tough thing to explain to non-players both in my personal and professional circles. And believe me, I am the rare exception in both of those groups. I'm very extroverted and outgoing at work. I'm not particularly private with friends or co-workers. However, I dislike forced social situations like happy hours, company picnics and large gatherings. I enjoy change and challenges. I'm a manager at work and pretty much within the family. Probably with my friends as well, though I don't like to admit it and they probably don't always like it. However, in game, I am most definitely different. I am generally pretty private as a rule in my in-game social interactions. I am very quiet in chat, to the point it is an ongoing joke in my guild raids. I am most definitely a follower as a healer and always seek out strong, confident raid leaders I can follow with quiet confidence and support. I do not desire or even like guild or especially raid leadership positions. In a nutshell, I am as introverted in game as I am extroverted at work and personally. All that said, I don't believe I am all that unusual as gamers go. MMO's fulfill a need I have in my life. It's tough to be a leader all the time. As a professional, a wife, a friend, a mother, the challenges we face are not as easily overcome as the challenges in MMO's. Even though some raid bosses take weeks to defeat at times, that is nothing compared to most real life challenges. What I am saying is many of us play simply for the sense of satisfaction, closure and self-affirmation that it offers. Bottom line for me personally is I play MMO's because they make me a better follower. I have learned to lead others better in all aspects of life simply by following and being the best support player I can possibly be. Not such a bad reason to play in my opinion. Not sure if this helps your academic assessment, but I wanted to offer an alternative motivation. MMO players are as varied as anyone in real life. After all, we are all real people behind those avatars. The unfortunate part of surveys like this is you are receiving input from only a tiny fraction of the population - those that read the forums and play this paricular game. However, a great majority of the players even in this small population of the mmo community rarely, if ever, read the general section of the forums, or any section at all. Best of luck! It would be fascinating to read your findings.

Great guild with consistent progress in hard mode DF and DP 16 man. I highly recommend it as it is a lot of fun. Welcome back, Eli !!! Does this mean I have to heal you AGAIN?

No objection Nibbs. I threw out Fusion just because it was a cool name for what we are trying to achieve. But I do kind of like it now that I think about it...sort of science themed and states our purpose as well. Up to you - as I said, I don't care too much.

I care what the name is only to the extent that it not be a form of troll to any group or person. Other than that, I could care less. Shadow Republic was always fine with me. Or we could just call it what it is - The Shadowlands Consortium, Consortium, Fusion, or whatever reflects a bringing together of like minded guilds/people to achieve a goal. Whatever works for me. I just wanna raid.

Serenity.

My vote is Serenity then Shadow Republic

Hi Civ! Yeah, it was fun running with you guys the other night. I’m sure Nibbon will be in touch when he returns. Now for my wall of text: I’ve read through the concerns some of the respondents voiced several times. These concerns seemed to fall into three main categories: 1. Exclusion from “core” progression raiding team and the resulting frustration/dissatisfaction 2. Loss of current raiding team and the cohesion/teamwork that has been developed 3. Newer players being ignored or left out – no formal development plan for newer/undergeared players I understand the first concern – I’ve been in guilds that run multiple groups and it can be frustrating to sit on the bench waiting for that spot. But let’s get real; most people aren’t in 16 man nightmare raiding groups right now – or 8 man for that matter. We have so many good players sitting in guilds that can’t fill those last few spots. So because we are afraid of being excluded from that main group, we’d rather sit around in our guilds and not raid at all because we can’t get the bodies. Bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy it seems. Personally, I'd rather just raid - core group or not. I definitely understand the second concern. I miss my old Stoic (and you too Exiles) raiders more than they probably know – I spent over a year there building an incredible team of players who intuitively knew what each person was going to do next. However, all the cohesion and teamwork in the world doesn’t do you much good as you sit around on the fleet. Guess you can do synchronized speeder formations around the Supplies section… As for newer/undergeared player development, that is precisely the kind of formalized program that could be accommodated with more people in a group. If you have a guild with barely enough people to fill the core team, it doesn’t leave much capacity for that sort of activity. I think what Nibbon is proposing here is something new, something different. He’s already said he’s willing to throw the traditional rules and practices out the window – even the Carnage name. If there is a core raid team that is determined to stay together, I think that could be accommodated – but wouldn’t it be nice to have access to a larger group of raiders? Maybe even make some new friends? If there are problems, let’s talk about practical ways to solve them. Concerns? Bring them on – let’s figure out how to make this work. Otherwise, I think a lot of the dedicated raiders on this server will finally wander on out of sheer frustration and boredom. Lofty

Hello Shadowlands and all my in game friends. I'm Loftus, a sage healer since launch. Nibbs has stated my concerns about the current end game raiding environment on our server very well. I think it is time for those who are interested in consistently raiding nightmare content to unite. I know so many good raiders who are in the same situation Carnage is in - great people, ready and willing to raid, but facing night after night of insufficient numbers to accomplish what we joined our guilds, and this game, to do in the first place. Competition among raiding guilds is healthy, but I think the situation on our server has become extreme. I've been in two very successful 16 man raiding guilds since the launch of this game and have become good friends with people in both. I've also done alot of raiding as a guest healer with so many awesome guilds filled with great people from around our server. Unfortunately, many view the top progression raiding guilds on this server with suspicion and distrust, perhaps thinking that those groups must be filled with egotistical jerks who sit around stroking each others' egos. I can say with certainty that is simply not the case. The main thing that has kept me playing this game is the community of raiders. Overall, they are mature, funny, laid back and a pleasure to spend the evening wiping on a boss with (or killing said boss!). This community is vastly superior to the one I experienced in my days of WOW raiding. However, the key word is raiding. If the people who are serious about kicking the end game bosses in the rear would just cooperate, compromise and form a single group with a sufficient pool of available raiders, we could first and foremost have alot of fun. And in the process challenge those current top progression guilds on other servers. Sounds fun to me. Lofty

I have a lot of raiding experience with these guys and can personally recommend them. Strong raid leadership, skilled members and just an all around nice bunch of people. Lofty

Nice bunch of people. Always enjoy running with you guys. Good luck with recruiting!

Great people, fun raids and relaxed environment. Oh, and Tourch has a spiffy new outfit!

Downed first three bosses in hm 16 man hardmode in less than 2 hours last night. Got Kephess down to 2% (he's going down tonight)! Fun night all around!

Operator IX down on HM 16 man TFB! Great job last night guys. Fun group with a great bunch of players. Cheers!

Did you mean the first list to be titled "Tier 3 - 8 Man Terror From Beyond"?

Stoic has also killed NM Pilgrim. Looks great otherwise.