Out OF Character:
The Adventures of Adam Ant series has seen several good years of production.
The Adventures started back in April 2000, and continued in earnest until mid to late 2002 when Publish 16 was introduced. (You can read about the beginning’s here)
Publish 16 was in many ways responsible for the demise of GUL; the slain were automatically teleported out of the dungeon with all of their belongings, and consequently death lost it’s sting.
Now I won’t try and kid you into believing loot isn’t important to PKs, it is. But the greatest damage from the publish was that the Guardian could no longer demonstrate their honor.
A large part of what made GUL an exceptional guild was member integrity. Guardians would not talk smack and would treat the slain player with dignity. Guardians would often resurrect the player and leave behind much of the player’s belongs. Also, and as a part of strict GUL policy, Guardians would leave behind a red bandanna, a recall rune to town, a recall scroll, and a book explaining GUL’s purpose and laws with respect hunting in the dungeons.
The Publish 16 changes removed from the Guardian any opportunity to demonstrate honor. Respect comes from witnessing honorable actions, especially in a world where less than honorable behavior is the norm. Without this opportunity to demonstrate honor, there was little to distinguish GUL from any other run-of-the-mill murderous red guild.
Am I complaining? No not really. I was disappointed the game took this direction, but I also think it’s unreasonable to assume a 6 year old game isn’t going to evolve.
Mostly though, I am very happy; GUL achieved everything that I had hoped and more.
At our peak we had 80 or so members on two stones, and many more if you count the Guardians on the half a dozen or so other shards.
We never had to recruit, and were very selective. We would toss out those that would put their own needs above the principles of The Guardian.
The greater message that GUL sent to Origin Systems—and any other MMORPGs that happened to be listening—was that Evil has a Place in online gaming.
I don’t mean a contrived evil like that from the mind of some game developer, but a type of evil that can only be borne of an organized group of individuals to accomplish some common goal.
So is this it for Adam Ant and GUL?
No, but it is time to close this chapter of our history.
The Adventures of Adam Ant, Episodes 1-100, are now complete and chronicle Adam’s first 2 years in GUL.
Adam is currently living in Wind and has reportedly taken up the study of Necromancy from his father, Kahn. It is not yet known why he’s taken up these black arts and what he plans on doing with them. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
