Line #9 Headscratchers/TheGuild


1	* So, what did Vork do, exactly, that was so against the rules? Are they really that opposed to the stock market?
2	** I'd imagine it wasn't really against the rules, just kind of GameBreaker to launch a privately owned, price-fixing economy. Plus, they totally want their own version.
3	*** Actually, that probably is a terms of service violation.
4	** If you read the actual terms of service for just about every MMO, it gives a huge amount of latitude in defining what a "violation" is, and they can change the terms of service anytime they want. If it wasn't originally a violation, they could easily have made it one before hitting him with it.
5	* The first episode of season 3. I'm supposed to buy that these hardcore gamers didn't pre-order the expansion?
6	** Fun for the visual. Geeks camping out for things is a classic, and they wanted to pay homage to it.
7	** Not only that but plenty of people still wait in line for games and/or game consoles. Sure, plenty of people pre-order (and it's a bit surprising that Vork, given his borderline agoraphobia, ''doesn't'') but any newsworthy game launch will in fact likely come with a line at a few game stores.
8	** Virtually everyone that waits in lines like that for games pre-order it. They aren't worried about getting a copy, they want to get the game as quickly as possible.
9	** Perhaps they ''did'' preorder, and they were going to get a copy anyway, they just wanted to get theirs first.
10	*** I think that reason is explicitly given in the intro. Codex makes a big deal about The Knights of Good being the first to get it and that is part of the reason The Axis barging in front of them is such a downer.
11	*** Okay, but...why then did they include that "You should have pre-ordered!" line from the homeless lady? I assumed the joke there was that pre-ordering was [[CaptainObvious such a blindingly obvious solution to their problem]] that even some street-corner bum knew it, but somehow it completely slipped the Guildies minds. And incidentally, if they do have it pre-ordered why is it such a big deal that the Axis cut in front of them? It's not like the fiasco with Venom got them banned from the store or anything, they just got sent to the back of the line. If they do have the expansion pre-ordered then the Gamestop guy is legally required to give them what they already paid for. So at worst the Axis has, what, a few hours head start on them? I've never played an MMO but I find it hard to believe that the Axis could make any serious progress in a brand new expansion in just a few hours.
12	** At least where I live, when [=WoW=] launched, people camped out to be sure to get their preorders. The store had I think 1000 copies, and went through them to fill parts of the preorders, and then it was a couple of days before they got any more. It's not unreasonable The Game could have had a similar distribution disaster.
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14	* The only way The Game works with all the out of character stuff is if it's somehow a One City MMORPG, which doesn't feel... right. The Knights of Good are a local guild who've never met each other, the entire Axis of Anarchy live in the same city (well, I guess they MIGHT have other members), and Clara was able to gain a restaurant full of game players by just spamming the server. Seriously?
15	** Actually, it only requires that the server they all use is a local one... which, for a continent-spanning MMO, would actually make sense lag-wise. Even at the speed of light, there's some delay if you're on a server located 100 miles away.
16	** I figured it's just a very popular game (à la ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''), so with them living in a major city there's bound to be a few dozen locals on their server.
17	** Most MMO's prioritize the "suggested" server by proximity, which makes it fairly plausible. There also are quite a few guilds out there in MMO's that only include people from a specific area, even if most of the people in it haven't met.
18	** And it doesn't apply directly to this, but if the guild is big enough, you can end up with tons of people in close-proximity just due to connections. One guild of mine had close to 20 people in my general area, but I only knew one of them in real life, the rest were his friends I'd never met before.
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20	* Why was it considered sheer idiocy for (the out-of-game) Mr. Wiggly to use spells? He had "borrowed" Clara's monitor, and was playing within the time it took him to tap a few keys, and Clara's a battle mage (unless I and the characters page both misunderstood). Was that supposed to imply that he managed to log on to his character with no startup time, and was conveniently (and reasonably, considering pre-planning) in the same physical place in-game? That wouldn't make sense, since Clara should be able to log back in as Clara even though Mr Wiggly was dead (which, by the way, [[ICallHimMisterHappy sounds really dirty for some reason]]).
21	** I assumed that he was still playing as Clara's character just randomly hitting a few keys and just managed to get lucky.
22	*** Yes, but she's a battle mage. Spells are a key part of her class. She could concievably be a paladin-style Buffs and Bruising character, nothing in the show seems to directly contradict that (as of the end of Season 4), but I haven't seen the rest of it aside from [[MusicVideo "Date My Avatar"]], so something there could be supporting the battle mage information.
23	*** She was specified as a Frost Mage by Codex at one point. And the sheer idiocy was in Mr. Wiggly's selection of spells, not the use of spells themselves. He used a NotCompletelyUseless Spell that the Korean Ringer wasn't expecting.
24	*** Clara probably isn't using an optimized build for her class anyway. In one of the comics she tries to claim loot that her class wouldn't bother with normally because it looks better. It wouldn't be a stretch to think she picks spells based on what is more appealing rather than what's most effective.
25	* So how exactly does Vork use his computer without paying for electricity? Or does he steal electricity from his neighbor for the sake of running his computer, along with the internet?
26	** I think the shed he stole from his neighbor has electricity as you can see a microwave in the background.
27	* So, if Bruiser actually liked Bladezz mom, why did he say "in your fucking dream." Seemed to me like he was just going to keep dating her out of spite.
28	** He was probably just messing with Bladezz. He is a [[StrawmanPolitical Straw Anarchist,]] after all.
29	** I believe the "dream" comment was directed at his previous statement that maybe he and Bladezz were "kinda equals." (Also, IIRC, Bladezz confirms in season 4 that Bruiser did continue to date his mother after that conversation.)
30	** Depending on how loyal he was to the deal, he could not continue to date her out of spite, since if they lost they had to stop messing with the KOG in game and out. So he must have really liked the mom and wanted to continue seeing her not to mess with Bladezz. I also believe the "in your dreams" was just about his statement of being equals.
31	* What does Cyd do for money? Unlike the others, she doesn't seem to have anyone giving her money (or is... focused like Vork), and she lives on her own in an apartment. Was it mentioned sometime in the series?
32	** She's a violinist who used to be a child prodigy, but she was fired at the beginning of the series for lighting her boyfriend's cello on fire. In Season 4 she had to get a job at Cheesybeards to pay for a new computer.
33	** I know ''that'', I'm wondering what she's doing now. When her computer got fried, she mentioned how all of her credit cards were maxed. So unless she has a fairly large stash (Or Cheesybreads gave her several thousand dollars) I'm wondering how she's getting by now. Of course, I could be wrong (no sarcasm, I'm serious).
34	** The comic explains that her father ran off with another man and is paying for her therapy out of guilt. Presumably he's also paying for all her other expenses.
35	** Don't we see her once playing her violin at a restaurant? She may get a few freelance gigs here and there.
36	** The series doesn't seem to be taking place over a very long timeframe. The entirety of S4, for example, is only a few days at the Game Convention. It's possible she is broke but simply hasn't reached the point where her utilities are being shut off and she's getting evicted.
37	** The curious thing is that the annotated version of season 4 says that 'for years people have wondered how the Guildies pay their rent. It felt good to justify at least one of them' in reference to Codex's job at Cheesybeards. But Codex was the ''only'' one who has no obvious means of support. Bladezz lives with his parents; Tink's at college, no doubt living off some combination of student loans, and (rich) parental support; Wiggly has a job and supports Clara; Vork has all kinds of money-saving/scrounging schemes, and sells in-game gold; Zaboo pays rent to Vork in in-game gold.
38	** Since it was based on Felicia's own experience. She said that during her [=WoW=] addiction, she was of course working as an actress, but getting very few jobs, so she played for LONG periods in between, but the money she did make from jobs supported her during downtime, though not well, enough to pay the modest rent, food, etc. Cyd works as a violinist, also with gigs few and far between but likely paying enough to support her in between, though not for extravagances or unexpected things like a fried computer.
39	* So why didn't they get Bladezz's sister to be Tink's replacement over... Mr. Wiggly? She'd probably make a great member. I guess she had too much school stuff to devote her time to playing but still...
40	** Cuz while she knows strategy, she would make it hard for Bladezz to play well.
41	* If Mr. Wiggly knows next to nothing about video games (the last game he played was Pong), why does he have a tattoo of an 8-bit anchor on his right bicep? Did Bladezz convince him to get it? If so, why wasn't this sudden change acknowledged by Clara?.
42	** Yes, Bladezz was taking Mr. Wiggly under his wing in season 6, and his tastes rubbed off on Wiggly.
43	* Where does the Gamestop guy get off sending ''everyone'' to the back of the line? As far as he knows, Vork was the only one who did anything wrong. And why didn't any of the Guildies object to being punished for something they really had nothing to do with?
44	** The Guildies did object but they were overruled by the manager. I don't think the manager was painted as being particularly competent. He was clearly pretty gullible if he believed Vork assaulted Venom.
45	* Is Codex actually brodcasting to anyone or is it a talking head segment plot device that's not to be taken seriously in-universe (like Modern Family?)? I imagine if she had people watching her stream and stuff they might give her advice as well as help when things get really dire. She might not, say, need to call her therapist.
46	* Why does only Zaboo have the ability to harvest Gold? Why can't Vork do it himself?
47	* Exactly how much personal interaction do people have in this game? I've never played [=WoW=] but if some guy is starting to get obsessed with you, and another is a teenager who's planning on destroying your guild (Bladezz, the main protagonist of Season 1), wouldn't you have figured it out before you all met in real life and maybe decided to quit that particular guild to play with more like-minded personalities?

Context Headscratchers / TheGuild