Breakfast Topic: Have you belonged to more WoW guilds than socks you've lost in the dryer?

Dwarven Baby Socks "At first you thought they were petrified. But no, they are just really crusty."

Guilds are like socks. Some people prefer long, lovely stockings and guilds that go on for ages, while others prefer sturdy little footies and curtailed groups that ride below the water line. The fashionistas among us stick with a delicate swath of nylon to cradle their toes in their stilettos -- and a sexy guild name will do, thanks, with no need for all those nasty rules and raids. And some people, of course, don't wear socks or belong to guilds at all.

See? Socks. Guilds. It's a thing.

When I was working last week on our guide to a drama-free departure from a guild, one of my goals was to help players see that no matter how disappointed or frustrated or hurt they were, there was no reason to lob a guild over the back of the couch like a pair of stinky athletic socks after a day of rugby in the mud. Even when drama erupts and things hit rock bottom, a guild still represents a collective hope, a fellowship of something bigger than petty schemes and loot rules and social dramas. But when things don't evolve quite the way you'd planned and your efforts to effect a positive change have failed, it's time to move on. Sometimes more than once. Sometimes, over and over again -- until you find what you're looking for.

At some point, obviously, you'll either figure out what you're doing wrong (whether it's unrealistic expectations or some issue with your own behavior that's throwing guild membership out of sync for you) or give up in frustration. But maybe you've just had a string of colossal bad luck. Or maybe your circumstances have changed quite a bit through the game's eras, or the people you play with have gone through their own metamorphosis. Maybe your realm slowly withered beneath your feet, or maybe That Guy showed up and drama-bombed things to hell and back. Repeatedly.

Do you think you've belonged to a particularly high number of guilds over time? What was behind all the changes? Did the turmoil sour you on guild membership in general, or are you going strong in a solid guild home or in hopes of finding one? How did you find the One True Guild? Tags: featured, game-discussion, gamer-discussion, guilds, socks, world-of-warcraft-discussion, world-of-warcraft-topics, wow-discussion, wow-hot-topics, wow-issues, wow-topics

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