MMO Guild Gets Corporate Sponsorship?

Thanks to Warcry for its report revealing what's claimed to be the first corporate sponsorship for a massively multiplayer game guild. The press release explains: "The Syndicate is one of the oldest and largest guilds in online gaming... [and] has become the first guild in online gaming to obtain corporate sponsorship [from a custom PC manufacturer]." Although sponsorship of FPS teams are common, sponsoring a larger gathering of MMO players, currently playing on titles such as Ultima Online and EverQuest, is much less normal - though it's unclear exactly how 'sponsorship' will work with so many members and no FPS-style showcase competitions.

Maybe they will all get t-shirts

[ObviousGuy]

And hats.

Re:Maybe they will all get t-shirts

[radicalskeptic]

Yeah, I was wondering about that. The article gives absolutely no mention of what they'll get. Actually, this is the most obvious advertisement posing as an article I've ever seen. It contains almost no information, beyond the first few sentences.

Is it tax detuctible?

[ArcticPuppy]

..Because after reading their web page which betrays more than a few personality disorders in whoever wrote that pseudo-prose-documentary-crap one must wonder: Who the hell wants to be associated with that bullshit? Furthermore i am hard pressed to see how a brand/company would benefit from having Griffin running around in a game. Also i imagine their law #1 "We are a secretive guild and a very close team" would cause some trouble, marketing wise.

Just a look in from the outside.

[Neck_of_the_Woods]

So let me get this straight. A guild, in games that thrive of male ego and boasting, is getting blasted on slashdot. How ironic.

I am not in this guild, but I have played in a number of games that they circulate in. They are very well organized, also float to the top, and on average are nice guys.

I think it is funny and ironic that some of you would look at a website, which I looked at, and realize it is a spoof of sorts.

Anyway, good on them. They just got sponsered to play games. Hell, most people can't get sponsered to work....just look at a large portion of slashdot.

Meh..

[Verros]

Back when I was actually playing EverQuest 'The Syndicate' was in fact probably the largest guild on our server. However, bloated might be the better term. 'The Syndicate' rarely turned anyone away, their tactics tended to be the 'zerg rush' style of sending as many bodies at a target as possible. This was a few years ago however, so they may have possibly changed their ways since then.

What I don't understand however, is what does the guild get out of the corporate sponsorship? Last time I checked there wasn't much in the way of a financial cost of running a guild aside from the cost of hosting a website and forums.

Re:Meh..

[AuMatar]

Large voice comm servers can get pricey. I know, I'm pricing for my guild currently.

Well it got posted on slashdot!

[Anonymous Coward]

They will get some publicity for simply being the 'first' sponsors of an MMOPG guild. If all it cost them is some hosting and a few hats 'n t-shirts then i'm sure the cost will be worth it.

The who???

[Vermifax]

For the oldest and largest guild in mmorpg'dom, the 15 random MMORPGers I asked had never heard of em.

Re:The who???

[Tofino]

Make that 16.

Re:The who???

[Verros]

Well they're big, they have that going for them, and they have been around for a long time however, I never saw them as being high on the list of guilds that accomlished something first.

As far as being famous (and I mean famous in EQ circles) they were literally nobodies compared to guilds like 'Fires of Heaven' which was the most accomplished guild that I ever saw. Realistically the only reason I've ever heard of them is because I played on the same server as they did (Tarew Marr) and well you couldn't

Re:The who???

[Cosmik]

Then you need to turn your "Everquest Fanatic" badge and membership in.

my own research

[PublicOutcry]

I spent some time over a couple of months about a year ago, researching The Syndicate for an article i was doing for my news site. I read their claims of size, success and other things and being the skeptic I am, I put alot of time into researching them. I will have to admit I had hoped I could shoot alot of holes in their claims as that would have made for a very interesting story. I ended up not being able to shoot holes in it but I did end up with a really cool story. I learned a whole bunch in my re