Talk:The Guild (web series)

Mentioning of Classes

Isn't it wrong to rename the classes of the players? For instance Vork is a "fighter" but is also listed as warrior. This goes on with all the characters and all the classes within the parentheses are World of Warcraft classes. Especially since Tink is mentioned as a "ranger (hunter)". While Vork's "fighter (warrior)" is a bit more acceptable, a ranger is not always a hunter, and therefore seems fairly incorrect. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.251.83.205 (talk) 01:26, 8 August 2009 (UTC)

I agree that they should not just be "WoWized," though it can be difficult to choose for a couple as they're called by different class names (for example, Codex has been referred to as a Cleric and a Priest). In instances like that, I think simply "Healer" works. Zaboo, however, has always been referred to as a Warlock. However, Tink has never been called a Hunter, only a Ranger, and there usually is quite a bit of difference between Hunters and Rangers among MMOs.Hirachio11 (talk) 20:05, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

I am removing the parenthesis classes, as they all link to Wowwiki. The Game is not implied to be World of Warcraft, it is meant to be something inspired by all the fantasy MMOs on the market.Hirachio11 (talk) 20:09, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

Noteworthy?

I don't know if The Guild is of note or not, but their first episode is rapidly approaching 1,000,000 views. I think it is a noteworthy show and I've put together the best article I could with the information I found. Spineywolf (talk) 03:48, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

With the references to interviews and IMDB link added, the webcasts seems to match the notability guidelines of having independant sources reference it. Felsir (talk) 07:25, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

IMDb is not considered a reliable source. --Malcolmxl5 (talk) 10:43, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

There is now a reference from the News & Observer, a Raleigh, North Carolina, newspaper of long standing, which is definitely a reliable source per Wikipedia guidelines, regarding the SXSW win.Lawikitejana (talk) 17:26, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

Also now Rolling Stone magazine, Wired magazine, The Observer, and Entertainment Weekly. Jlahorn (talk) 01:05, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Cleanup

Assuming the article survives the AfD nom, it definitely needs wikifying, and I haven't been able to figure out where to start. The writing is very fannish and reeks of in-universe tone; e.g., "so far as the Guild knows" is a direct quote from the series.Lawikitejana (talk) 17:26, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

Well it's still here as of 3/24/08, so we can start working on it.White_Bishop (talk) 18:26, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

Here's a start for the "History" section to make it a bit more like a featured article (inspired by Firefly and Lost articles). Could still do with a grammer nazi and fanboy/girl for factual accuracy. Almost nothing was deleted, just modified and rearranged. If somebody else feels it is superior to the current version, please implement it into the main article because I don't have the arrogance or audacity to do something so drastic. 15:44, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

Production

Origins and Conception

The Guild was inspired and written by Day, an avid gamer, who plays World of Warcraft in between acting roles in several US television shows and movies.[5] After two years of video game addiction, Day decided to make something productive from her experiences and wrote the Guild as a sitcom pilot.

The Guild’s intended audience were MMO players, however, due to the large number of MMOs available, gaming terminology and gaming concepts were purposefully kept generic to appeal to a wider audience of gaming fans and also to avoid copyright issues.

Some of the concepts which Day hoped to promote with The Guild included dispelling the notion that the stereotypical gamer was of a young man living in his parents' basement and that gamers come from all walks of life.

Distribution/Marketing/Finance Issues (What do you reckon is a suitable title?)

The 10-episodes which comprised season 1, were originally conceived as the pilot episode for a possible TV series. Believing the niche setting would not appeal to standard television marketing executives,[1] Day collaborated with Jane Selle Morgan and Kim Evey to produce the show for online viewing. The format of the series was changed to fit that of a web-series, with the final episodes added to the original plot. After filming the first three episodes in two and a half days, they ran out of money and subsequent episodes were financed entirely through fan donations made via Paypal.[8][9]

The second season was initially financed through DVD retail sales of season 1 whilst Day searched for a sponsorship deal. Unable to find suitable sponsorship which would allow Day to retain creative and intellectual rights to her show, the second season was to be launched regardless, with the belief that Paypal donations would be required to fund future episodes. On 24 November 2008 just before the first episode of season 2 would be aired, Microsoft announced that they had signed an exclusive distribution deal with Guild creator Felicia Day, with Microsoft paying an "unspecified" license fee upfront[23]. Felicia Day retained the IP rights to the series and the freedom to sign a new nonexclusive distribution deal at the season’s end[24]. All twelve episodes of season 2 of The Guild premiered on Xbox 360, Zune, and MSN with a four week delay for release on The Guild's official website. The Microsoft releases were still free but were supported by Sprint advertisements and product placements[21][22].

Casting

There were six main cast members with Day taking the lead role as Codex. Day already knew both Sandeep Parikh, an Indian-American writer, director, actor and producer of comedy and founder of www.effinfunny.com, and Jeff Lewis, an accomplished character actor and comedian, from Empty Stage, a comedy theatre based in Los Angeles. The roles of Zaboo and Vork were written specifically for Sandeep and Jeff respectively, whilst the rest of the cast was filled through auditions.[6][7]

Shooting/Format/Locations (And again, what is a suitable title?)

Each episode begins with Codex recapping the events and her feelings of the previous episode in the form of a webcam diary. This is followed by...

As a cost-saving measure, locations were filmed almost entirely on location inside Day’s house. Through the combined usage of different camera angles lighting, rearrangement of furniture and addition of props, the illusion of different settings was created for each character at their computer. Real life meetings between characters occurred at a fictional diner called Cheesy Beards. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.192.7.118 (talk) 15:44, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

Fan Backlash at Youtube Snub

Also might be worthwhile editing reception to mention that they annoyed a lot of their fans by taking the series away from its origins on youtube and instead went for the profitable option of allowing a short term distribution with exclusivity restraints with microsoft. Not got any references beyond droves of forum conversation.... Devout Catalyst (talk) 15:15, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

Then unfortunately it probably wouldn't pass as a dependable source and would be branded original research. Keep your eyes peeled, though, if you see an online article or better discussing the issue. Then you'd be in the clear to add it.Luminum (talk) 18:25, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

God forbid they actually make money off of their hard work in making each and every episode. Who do they think they are?! Also, the part about short term distribution doesn't seem to be at all true, since all of the episodes are still available on their official website and are all free to watch last time I checked. --TwilightDuality (talk) 06:06, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

3rd Season plus Wil Wheaton

Wil Wheaton[1] just noted on his blog that he's been cast as a character for season three. —Wrathchild ^(talk) 17:46, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Class Arguments

All the character's classes, ability scores, and alignments are listed at their own site]. That should put an end to any class argument (but probably won't). Xavius, the Satyr Lord (talk) 14:35, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Done Hirachio11 (talk) 14:55, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Proposed merge

As Michele Boyd seems to be noteworthy only for her role in the series, I propose that the Michele Boyd article be redirected to this article, with any relevant content included in the Other characters section under "Riley". Comments?  Skomorokh, barbarian  10:03, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

• Oppose. Send it to AFD. There's already a detailed paragraph on the character and Boyd is said to be the actress that plays her. That's consistent with the other characters. Lara 15:00, 18 October 2009 (UTC)
• Oppose. I agree with the above statement. Also, Michele's article has a fair amount of biographical information that I think really belongs on its own. I'd suggest doing this for someone like Vincent Caso or Amy Okuda before Michele Boyd, but even then, I'd still oppose it.Hirachio11 (talk) 14:29, 19 October 2009 (UTC)
• Oppose. Clearly not appropriate to merge an actor's biography into a list of charaters. Besides, she seems notable enough to have her own page anyway.[2] Rob Sinden (talk) 13:13, 23 October 2009 (UTC)
• Oppose. Agree with everything said above. I wouldn't be opposed to taking actors whose only notability is this web series to AFD. But merging them here makes little sense. --Pboyd04 (talk) 19:07, 28 October 2009 (UTC)
• Oppose. I'm going to delete the box now, since it's 5-1 against the merge. Jabberwockgee (talk) 05:50, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

Bruiser listed as a cop

Is it a 100% certain he is one? Or is it possible he could have been posing as one, be a male stripper in a cop uniform, or some other twist? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.132.141.159 (talk) 13:15, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

The items in his room appear to be cop-themed items, such as work-out equipment and a used firing range target. Until we see difinitive proof saying otherwise, I'm going to say that yes, he's a cop.Hirachio11 (talk) 22:21, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

I have heard the fan speculation also that maybe he isn't really a cop. However I don't think wikipedia can cover themselves for every possible twist (before it happens anyway). At the moment he has been identified as a cop. Sure there could be a twist that turns out he is not. It is also possible that it could turn out that Zaboo is really a girl, pretending to be a guy, or that there isn't really a guild and it is all a dream. Until any twist is actually declared, we need to go by what is said or seen.24.255.229.253 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 21:53, 26 July 2010 (UTC).

Plot Synopsis Tags

To appease the folks who believe our plot synopsis is too long, perhaps we should break it down to episodes. The problem with writing a synopsis for an ongoing serial like this is that we only get a small portion every week, and we don't know what's important yet - it's like trying to write a synopsis for an ongoing comic book arc. Having written most of Season 3, I know that I strive to only include the relevant details, but it can be tricky to know what's relevant when the next part hasn't come out yet. I reference the Red vs Blue pages for an example of what kind of layout I'm talking about. Take a look at the Recreation page (the current running Red vs Blue season) to see what I'm talking about. Opinions? Hirachio11 (talk) 22:33, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

Flag in the Infobox

There is currently an edit war going on about this topic, and I hope The Guild is left out of it (we've already been slightly hit). So until the war is resolved, please do not undo any edits made by Madchester and Darrenhusted. Hirachio11 (talk) 15:53, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

Former Members

Maybe we should change it to Temporary members? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.46.74.117 (talk) 00:56, 15 December 2009 (UTC)

Continuing?

Any word on how long they plan to keep on churning out seasons? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.37.202.1 (talk) 01:54, 1 January 2010 (UTC)

Day has reported that they are working on season 4 now. Beyond that I don't believe there is any word. 70.179.140.100 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 03:12, 22 January 2010 (UTC).

Do we know when Season four is supose to come out? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.171.163.82 (talk) 21:45, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

First episode came out yesterday.... yay ^_^ --88.102.135.201 (talk) 22:50, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

—Preceding comment added by --TakeruDavis (talk) 22:54, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

i saw an interview where she said that she had ideas for season 5 already and that as she writes each season she gets the ideas for the next. it was a live interview but i can look for a recording or another source for it. Curtis871 (talk) 21:43, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

Tinkerballa

By the way — is her name a joke that I'm too old to get? —Tamfang (talk) 08:00, 4 August 2010 (UTC)

Cleaning question.

Hey everyone, I've recently come back to Wikipedia after having lost my Internet. Since I've gotten it back, I've gotten into a lot of "The Guild" stuff and was wondering if anyone would have a problem if I cleaned up the page a bit? --HELLØ ŦHERE 22:01, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

If anyone has a problem, that's what the undo button is for. —Tamfang (talk) 22:40, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Yes, except I made a lot of changes and some minor changes all within the same edit. That's what I meant. --HELLØ ŦHERE 04:08, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

I Wanna Be In Your Guild - noteworthy?

The song seems to be very basic fanart, that only gathered 10,000 views. That's nothing, since it probably gets hits because it's on Wikipedia (that's why I watched it for example) and because it's Guild related. If nobody disagrees, I'm gonna remove the mention. --CristiCbz (talk) 00:08, 16 October 2010 (UTC)

Game On music video redirect

Has close to 2.4 million views on youtube and Do You Wanna Date my Avatar had about 1.6 million when it was deemed noteworthy. Why does it redirect to this page? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.181.141.22 (talk) 22:01, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

"Real" names

The original 2007 script, as included on the season 1 DVD, lists both a last name for Bladezz (Simon Klemper) and a full name for Tinkerballa (Judy Lee). Anyone have an issue with my adding them just before the actor names perhaps if not adding to the names already given? WookMuff (talk) 01:27, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

TV Broadcast

I don't know how/where to mention it but I think it is a noticeable fact that the Guild was (later) broadcast on TV. I am not sure if there are other countries but it's currently being broadcast in France on national public channel France 4 in a late night program once a week (Studio 4.0, specialized in counter culture and productions that originated from the web, but still, it's being broadcast on a national channel). Also not sure it's worth mentioning but it's the same channel that brought Doctor Who to France, which for me stems of the same approach of culture and pop culture. I actually came here to verify if our case (I'm French) was an exception or if there had been other (notable) TV broadcasts around the world).

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Misleading information regarding initial distribution.

This article should be edited to clarify that the series was not started on nor was it ever exclusively uploaded to youtube. Youtube was still a relatively new thing at that point and everyone was still primarily distributing their content via their own web sites. The Guild was no different. Everything since the first episode was uploaded to watchtheguild.com (later geekandsundry) and it wasn't until a few episodes into the season when they saw the potential of youtube actually becoming big that they started mirroring the uploads over there. This was never a youtube series or created specifically to put on youtube. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.254.45.66 (talk) 20:01, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

While I agree the wording in the lede could use cleanup, contemporary sources like the Wired source ([3]) seem to verify that the first season was uploaded to YouTube as it aired (though it appears to also have been independently hosted on the watchtheguild.com website). I can't find any source which provides evidence that a version on the watchtheguild.com website existed prior to July 27, 2007. Dylnuge ^{(Talk • Edits)} 21:16, 24 April 2023 (UTC)