Modern-day Ring-givers: How MMORPG Guilds Recreate Anglo-Saxon Social Structures

Boydell & Brewer
D. S. Brewer
Chapter Title: Modern-day Ring-givers: MMORPG Guild Cultures and the Influence of the
Anglo-Saxon World
Chapter Author(s): Lindsey Simon-Jones
Book Title: Studies in Medievalism XXIV
Book Subtitle: Medievalism on the Margins
Book Editor(s): Karl Fugelso, Vincent Ferr, Alicia C. Montoya
Published by: Boydell & Brewer , D. S. Brewer . (2015)
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Modern-day Ring-givers: MMORPG

Guild Cultures and the Influence
of the Anglo-Saxon World
Lindsey Simon-Jones
In modern, massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs),
players are creating and challenging normative cultural structures as they
establish, sustain, and cultivate new virtual societies. Moreover, many of
these games rely heavily on medieval aspects for both their game content and
their community frameworks. As Oliver Traxel notes, nearly all MMORPGs
include some aspect of the medieval: Some of the latter [computer games]
are grounded in thorough research on the historical circumstances of the
Middle Ages, but many more depend on overt fiction from or about the
period, and almost all incorporate at least some pseudo-medieval elements.1
Thus, it is no surprise to find many types of modern medievalism influencing
MMORPG game lore; even decidedly un-medieval games like Star Wars:
The Old Republic, DC Universe Online, and EVE Online frequently rely
on various forms of medievalism.2 There has been recent critical interest in
the many and varied reimaginings of the medieval world in modern video
games, and we know now that many social structures of the medieval world
Oliver M. Traxel, Medieval and Pseudo-Medieval Elements in Computer Role-Playing

Games: Use and Interactivity, in Studies in Medievalism XVI: Medievalism in Technology
Old and New, ed. Karl Fugelso with Carol Robinson (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2008),
125.
BioWare, Star Wars: The Old Republic (United States: Electronic Arts and Lucas Arts,
2011); CCP Games, EVE Online (United States: CCP Games, 2003); and Sony Online
Entertainment, DC Universe Online (United States: Sony Computer Entertainment, WB
Games and AsiaSoft, 2011).
Studies in Medievalism XXIV, 2015
218
Studies in Medievalism
are replicated in modern MMORPGs gaming communities.3 For example,

Edward Castronova has recently explored the cultural effects of online games
and concludes: the same institutions that make norms effective in the real
world make them effective in the synthetic world. In general, the forces
that create and evolve institutions are human social forces, and they will
operate the same way whether the humans find themselves on Earth or
on some cybernetic version of Pluto.4 In addition, Lauryn S. Mayer has
explored the ways in which neo-medieval MMORPGs reproduce restrictive gender norms while they simultaneously provide the foundation for
radical challenges to traditional concepts of gender and its embodiments.5
Of particular interest to this study is Mayers exploration of the ways that
in MMORPGs the implicit rules of governing culture [] make some of
the less-articulated but still powerful normative forces behind that culture
more visible.6 Although Mayers work focuses on representations of gender,
her speculation that modern video games can both fortify and undermine
cultural norms by making them more visible opens up significant avenues
of inquiry for exploring the representation of other cultural phenomenon in
modern video games.
It is my contention that MMORPG guilds and guild leaders are remaking
centuries-old methods of leadership, building their guilds on cultural and
economic systems that are strikingly reminiscent of those seen in Anglo-Saxon
warrior culture. More than merely adapting storylines from early Germanic
3
4
5
For recent studies on medievalism in modern video games, see: Brent Moberly and Kevin
Moberly, Revising the Future: The Medieval Self and the Sovereign Ethics of Empire
in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, in Studies in Medievalism XVI: Medievalism in
Technology Old and New, ed. Karl Fugelso with Carol Robinson (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer,
2008), 15983; Neomedievalism in the Media: Essays on Film, Television, and Electronic
Games, ed. Carol L. Robinson and Pamela Clements (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press,
2012); Carol L. Robinson, An Introduction to Medievalist Video Games, in Studies in
Medievalism XVI: Medievalism in Technology Old and New, ed. Karl Fugelso with Carol
Robinson (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2008), 12324; and Tison Pugh and Angela Jane
Weisl, Medievalisms: Making the Past in the Present (New York: Routledge, 2013). See
also online work on sites like the International Society for the Study of Medievalisms
Medievally Speaking: An Open Access Review Journal Encouraging Critical Engagement with
the Continuing Process of Inventing the Middle Ages, The Virtual Society for the Study of
Popular Culture and the Middles Studies of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages, and
the Medieval Electronic Multimedia Organizations The Medieval in Motion: The Blog for
Medieval Electronic Multimedia Organization.
Edward Castronova, Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Worlds (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2005), 102.
Lauryn S. Mayer, Promises of Monsters: The Rethinking of Gender in MMORPGs, in
Studies in Medievalism XVI: Medievalism in Technology Old and New, ed. Karl Fugelso with
Carol Robinson (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2008), 184205 (195).
Mayer, Promises of Monsters, 19293.
Modern-day Ring-givers
219
and Anglo-Saxon texts, real-world gaming guilds are enacting, recreating,

and reimagining Saxon societies. Like the Germanic and Scandinavian tribes
that came to prominence in England after the fall of the Roman Empire, in
order to survive and thrive, global MMORPG guilds particularly raidingguilds working towards end-game content must ensure sustainable and
reliable participation from their members. To secure such fealty, MMORPG
guilds have appropriated the social structures that bound Anglo-Saxon tribes
together by developing looting systems, wherein guild members are rewarded
for their skill, time, and effort. Moreover, in the MMORPG world, the guild
master/leader acts as a Beowulfian baggifa (ring or treasure-giver), and, like
those early raiding warriors, raiding guild members are reliant on the baggifa
for gear upgrades that will ensure more likely survival in high-level combat.
In doing so, MMO guilds create micro-economies based not on modern
modes of market systems, but on more traditional and communal structures
of trade and goods distribution.
MMORPG Guild Cultures
Although anecdotal evidence may suggest that video game culture is individualistic rather than community-based, as if MMO games and gamers
frequently suffer from isolation and detachment from society, research has
shown (and any gamer will tell you) that these stereotypes are erroneous.
Given the social nature of human development, we should not be surprised
that online games have also developed strongly social features. Moreover,
this social interaction provides online gamers with a sense of community
and shared experience. To wit, Sarah Bowmans recent work on the functions of role-playing demonstrates the community-building that RPGs and
MMORPGs simulate:
in Werewolf [] the role-playing practice itself recapitulates traditional, tribal ideals into modern rituals and storytelling forms. In this
way, the game designers call the players attention to the potential for
role-playing to act as a unifying communal practice.7
More than merely side effects of the game, social and community structures
tied to but external of the game itself often shape an entire gaming
experience.
Sarah Lynne Bowman, The Function of Role-Playing Games: How Participants Create
Community, Solve Problems and Explore Identity (London: McFarland & Company Inc.,
2010), 77.
220
In fact, social interaction between gamers has been found to be central to

many types of gameplay by social scientists working to quantify and qualify
the effects of online gaming; recent studies on EverQuest outline the importance of just such interaction.8 For example, Florence Chee, Marcelo Vieta,
and Richard Smith have found that:
[EverQuest experiences] are deep social involvements between future
directed and co-responsible working selves committed to meaningful
mutual projects []. For these players, EverQuest holds deeply meaningful and shared experiences that are rooted in community values and
reciprocal projects [] with deep investments of emotion and time.9
In fact, as T. L. Taylor notes, those who play most intently (here identified
as power gamers) are, perhaps, the most intensely social:
the participation of power gamers in guilds points to a sociability we
do not normally associate with this kind of focused play style. [] This
commitment to a larger group moves the idea of socializing beyond
simply chatting, or informal friendship networks, to a recognition that
there is a fundamental necessity to rely on others in a game like EverQuest. The power gamers are not exempt from this. Their intense focus,
commitment to instrumental action, and love of efficiency does not in
the context of EQ produce an isolated and individualistic player, but
a highly networked one.10
Power (or hardcore) gamers may participate in one or more, four- to fivehour raids per week. In addition, power gamers will need to play individual
hours restocking consumables, rebuilding bank/credit accounts, and earning
reputation; they will also often gear up alternate characters, aid in the development of lower-level characters, and play for fun. In all, power gamers
devote a considerable number of hours to gameplay, and nearly all of their
activities involve in-game social interaction.
8
9
10
Sony Online Entertainment, EverQuest (United States: Sony Online Entertainment,

2009).
Florence Chee, Marcelo Vieta, and Richard Smith, Online Gaming and the Interactional
Self: Identity Interplay in Situated Practice, in Gaming as Culture: Essays on Reality,
Identity and Experience in Fantasy Games, ed. J. Patrick Williams, Sean Q. Hendricks, and
W. Keith Winkler (London: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2006), 168.
T. L. Taylor, Play between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture (Cambridge, MA: The
MIT Press, 2006), 88.
221
These social interactions, however, are not solely about advancing to game
completion. They are also a key element in establishing and maintaining
online gamer satisfaction. As studies like Collaborate and Share: An Experimental Study of the Effects of Task and Reward Interdependencies in Online
Games have shown,
The experience of collaborative play has been found to increase gamers
enjoyment and the popularity of the game. For this reason, most online
games, especially MMORPGs, are designed to generate interdependencies among players that lead them to depend on, relate to, or interact
with other players.11
Since game loyalty increases in games with significant inter-player dependence, game developers have increasingly built social interactivity often in
the form of requisite grouping tasks into game progression in an attempt
to maintain or increase gameplay and paid game subscriptions. Because it
is often impossible to complete important elements of the game as a solo
player, many players join ready-made social units to ensure easy access to
players with similar interests, playing strategies, and/or skill levels. These
units often, but not always, take on the medieval nomenclature of Guilds
or Clans, signifying the importance of collective effort for successful task
completion.
MMO guilds/clans can take many forms, as Taylor has outlined. Many
guilds are family guilds (sometimes called social guilds) that emphasize
personal connections and playful engagement with the game.12 Some guilds
are simply moving a real-world social or professional network into an
online environment for work and play13 like the World of Warcraft guild
The Truants, an active group of academics, a full contingent of PhDs and
advanced graduate students who dedicate a significant portion of their lives
to the study of MMORPGs.14 Other guilds form organically as players
meet and establish friendships or playing/questing partnerships in-game.
Guilds vary in their expectations of members time, dedication, and skill.
The most demanding guilds function as raiding guilds (sometimes called
11
12
13
14
Boreum Choi, Inseong Lee, Dongseong Choi, and Jinwoo Kim, Collaborate and Share:
An Experimental Study of the Effects of Task and Reward Interdependencies in Online
Games, Cyberpsychology and Behavior 10:4 (2007): 591.
Taylor, Play between Worlds, 43.
Scott Rettberg, Corporate Ideology in World of Warcraft, in Digital Culture, Play, and
Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader, ed. Hilde G. Corneliussen and Jill Walker Rettberg
(Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008), 33.
Rettberg, Corporate Ideology, 19.
222
uber guilds); these raiding guilds can be quite large, boasting memberships
in the thousands, and are marked by a very well-articulated commitment
to pursuing the high-end game.15 At their heart, online guilds are sophisticated networks in which reputation, trust, and responsibility form the
predominant modes of organization.16 When a guild is strong, the bonds
between dedicated guild members can be quite powerful; large, successful
guilds have even been known to shift en masse from game to game.
Some community ties are so strong that they withstand multiple moves
and regenerate in some surprising ways. A small band of online friends, with
members on multiple continents, may grow uninterested in one game only to
find each other again in new games, sometimes years later. Smaller guilds can
be absorbed into larger ones, only to break away again as a unit. This type of
guild migration has been tracked on a much larger scale by Celia Pearce in
an eighteen-month ethnographic study of what she terms the Uru diaspora
across multiple games and platforms.17 She traces a guild (neighborhood, in
this context), The Gathering of Uru, displaced by the unannounced shuttering of their home-game/home-world in Uru Ages: Beyond Myst, as they
search through There.com, Second Life, and Beyond Uru for a new homeland.
She argues that this particular guild/neighborhood identifies collectively as
a single group [] and carry persistent identities concurrently across no less
than five different networked environments.18
Although such strong social ties might suggest that guild/clan membership is integral to MMO gameplay, players are not required to participate in
guild cultures; in fact, many players never desire to align themselves formally
with a guild. There are valid reasons to avoid guilding; casual gamers, for
example, may dislike the time demands or obligations that often accompany
guild membership. However, by not joining, players suffer: like a medieval craftsman without a guild, or the Wanderer in search of a new clan,
unguilded players are forced to fend for themselves. Without a guild or
clan, players have to group with strangers of varying skill and gear levels
(pick-up groups, or PUGS), and playing in such groups offers little assurance
to a player of a fair distribution of goods/winnings. For these reasons, most
players, at one time or another, join a guild or clan.
15
16
17
18

Mikael Jakobsson and T. L. Taylor, The Sopranos meets EverQuest: Social Networking in
Massively Multiplayer Online Games, Proceedings of Melbourne DAC, the 5th International
Digital Arts and Culture Conference, 2003, <http://hypertext.rmit.edu.au/dac/papers/
Jakobsson.pdf> [accessed 15 March 2013], 85.
Celia Pearce and Artemesia, Communities of Play: Emergent Cultures in Multiplayer Games
and Virtual Worlds (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2009), 69.
Pearce and Artemesia, Communities of Play, 178.
223
Establishing trust and maintaining player alliances is necessary to sustain

healthy guilds. In most online games, creating or disbanding a guild is a
simple process. Because of this, the possibilities for MMORPG guilds are
nearly limitless, and because leaving a guild can be as easy as typing a simple
command (/gquit), it can be a challenge to hold a large guild together.
Indeed, as Taylor suggests, just like with the historical bonds uniting tribes
or warriors, trust and strong leadership are often the only things that can
hold a large raiding guild together: Guild members are constantly risking
their characters lives for each other and, in turn, trusting each other that
hunting and raids will be well planned, loot distributed fairly, and that if
problems arise the group will band together to solve them.19 While good
conflict-management and proper planning are essential to a well-functioning
guild, we would be remiss to overlook the importance of the fair distribution
of in-game treasure, the sharing of the loot namely, the giving of weapons,
gear, and rare items to dedicated guild members to guild management.
Players of various MMOs in multiple online forum discussions indicated
the importance of gear and loot to their continued play; this is particularly true of hard-core players who raid.20 In a survey of responses on three
different forums to the general question Why do you raid?, the attainment
of special raid Loot consistently ranked as one of the most significant
motivators. Specifically, Loot came in first on the WoWForum discussion,
with seventeen players mentioning it as a motivating factor; players on this
forum mentioned Game Progression fifteen times, The Challenge twelve
19
20

Recently, some in the MMO gaming world were forecasting the end of hardcore raiding,
given decreasing popularity and significant changes to raiding structures in the most
popular games, for example, the institution of the Looking for Raid (LFR) feature
in World of Warcraft (see, for example, the various opinions expressed on the MikeB
staffblog Community Spotlight: Is Raiding Dead, MMORPG.com, 1 July 2012). However,
Wildstar, a new MMORPG launched in June 2014, is bringing back hardcore raiding
with no apologies (William Murphy, WildStar Interviews: Making Raids Matter Again,
MMORPG.com, 13 May 2014, <http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/632/
feature/8507/Making-Raids-Matter-Again.html> [accessed 24 June 2014]). Wildstar is still
in its primacy, so it is difficult to know how its focus on hardcore raiding features will
fair, but, thus far, the response seems positive. Furthermore, perhaps in response to both
Wildstars launch and the generally negative feedback it had been receiving on the changes
to raid structures, the World of Warcraft expansion Warlords of Draenor, set for release in
fall 2014, will reintroduce large-scale raids (raids had been scaled back to primarily 10-man
raids in the 2010 Cataclysm expansion). Raids in Normal and Heroic modes will be
available to 1025 player groups, while raids set at the Mythic difficulty level will require
a mandatory 20 players (Bashiok, Warlords of Draenor: Dungeons and Raids, World
of Warcraft Battle.net, 9 November 2013, <http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/11499600/
Warlords_of_Draenor_Dungeons_and_Raids-11_9_2013> [accessed 24 June 2014]).
224
times, and both Social Aspects and Fun eleven times. Additionally,
Loot ranked only one behind Game Progression on the MMOChampion forum, ranking at eighteen mentions compared to nineteen for Game
Progression. On the Joystiq.com forum, Loot ranked below The Challenge, Social Aspects, and Game Progression; however, that thread was
set up as a choice between seeing the storys conclusion and the challenge
of killing difficult bosses. Loot was not mentioned in the initial question;
thus, it is not surprising to see numbers significantly lower than those in
the categories specifically identified by the original poster. The statistics
are compiled in Fig. 1, and clearly show the role that Loot plays in the
sustained interest of these hard-core raiding players.
Figure 1. Why do you raid?
50
45
40
12
10
15
35
30
25
15
14
4
17
12
20
11
11
15
10
19
18
16
15
14
Ga me
Progres s i on
Loot
The
Cha l l enge
Soci a l
As pects
Fun
Joystiq
WOWForum
MMOCHAMPION
Moreover, players desire good gear and loot for more than merely its
aesthetic appeal. In the WoWForum, Razr, a level-90 Orc Rogue from
the Prophesy of Hellscream guild, sparked a lengthy debate about the role
and importance of gear/loot in raiding when he suggested that Everyone
raids because it gives a sense of accomplishment/character progression/bragging rights []. There is no way Im buying any other explainaition [sic]
having seen what Ive [sic] seen for years. Take away the gear, see how many
still keep raiding.21 Such a declarative statement ignited some outrage from
21
Razr, Why do you raid? Why did you start raiding? World of Warcraft forum Battle.net,
225
other players, who cited multiple reasons for raiding; nevertheless, most
admitted that loot was an important (albeit not the sole) reason for raiding.
In one response, for example, Bodom, a level-90 Orc Death Knight from
the Exertus guild, argued, Im pretty sure most people get a bigger sense
of satisfaction from defeating new bosses than they get from gear upgrades.
Gear is just one way to progress your character, but a new boss kill is a way
to progress your whole guild and raid group.22 What Bodoms response
suggests is that even those players who defend Game Progression or The
Challenge in this case defeating new bosses as their primary reason for
raiding acknowledge the necessity of Loot or gear in their quest to conquer
increasingly difficulty opponents. Indeed, we might compare this to the need
that Anglo-Saxon warriors had for functional armament.
While some degree of wealth and respect might be garnered by the attainment of impressive weaponry, Anglo-Saxon thanes required such weaponry
as a means of protecting their own lives, the lives of their families, and of
community members. They, too, needed to defeat their foes, and the loot
provided by their ring-givers allowed them to believe they could do just
that. In Beowulf, for example, we find named swords and exceptional armor
exchanging hands often, although not solely through the auspices of a ringgiver. Most of the weaponry that gains fame in Anglo-Saxon poetry does
so because of its strength and usefulness in battle, and, as in modern video
games, when one weapon is not up to the battle at hand, it is cast aside for
better arms. Readers will recall, for example, when the sword Hrunting fails
Beowulf in his fight with Grendels mother (lines 152128). In this instance,
Beowulf abandons Hrunting and turns instead to a stronger, giant-made
sword (lines 152857), essentially upgrading his weaponry, as do modern
players as they encounter more dangerous and resilient foes.
How then, can guild leaders ensure the continued satisfaction of their
guild mates, each of whom has his or her own desires and motivations for
devoting significant time and energy to the guild and to the game? In order
to meet these challenges, MMORPG guilds and guild leaders are revisioning
time-tested methods of group management based on loot distribution
employed by early Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon tribes in order to sustain
and grow their virtual societies. This is not meant to suggest that guild
leaders have studied and are deliberately mimicking the social structures of
the Anglo-Saxon world; rather, as Nicholas Perkins and David Clark remind
22
18 March 2012 <http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3523082610?page=2> [accessed

24 June 2014].
Bodom, Why do you raid? Why did you start raiding?, World of Warcraft forum Battle.
net, 18 March 2012 <http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3523082610?page=2>
[accessed 24 June 2014].
226
us, Anglo-Saxon culture works its way into the dreams and landscapes of the
modern arts in ways neither to be ignored as obscurantist nor dismissed as
clich-ridden.23 In short, we are now seeing bygone social systems and their
tensions work their way into modern MMORPG cultures that replicate
the hoard distribution, social behavior, and communal economies of the
Anglo-Saxon world.
Anglo-Saxon Ring-Giving
We know that weaponry, armor, and treasure played a central role in the
social structure of the Anglo-Saxon world. Hugh Magennis views gift-giving
as an integral part of the Old English feasting trope, which he identifies as
the encapsulation of community in Old English poetry; this trope is particularly well developed in Beowulf. Anglo-Saxon leaders, eodnas, are repeatedly praised for their generosity and even-handed distribution of beagas, the
bounty of war; good leadership is frequently aligned in the texts with effective and responsible gift-giving.24 Further, Joseph E. Marshall argues that,
even in his final moments, Beowulf believes that distributed treasure is for
the good of the people while hoarded treasure (like that of the Dragon and
Grendel) is wicked.25 In many ways, gift-giving and the exchange of treasure
drive the action and adventure of these early tales.
Ring-giving and treasure distribution extend far beyond the Beowulf text,
though; their significance is also seen in a number of other Old English
poems. The speakers in these poems frequently lament their loss of or
distance from their baggifa [treasure-giver], goldgifa (gold-giver), or goldwine
[generous lord]. In two of the most famous elegies from the tenth-century
Exeter Book, The Seafarer and The Wanderer, we find intense longings for
not only the economic luxuries bestowed by a ring-giving lord, but also for
the social amenities such community afforded. In The Seafarer, a Christian
poem contrasting the hardships of seagoing and mortal life with the joys
of heavenly salvation, the speaker mourns the loss of his ring-giving lord:
Dagas sind gewitene, / ealle onmdlan eoran rces; / nearon n cyningas ne
cseras/ ne goldgiefan swylce i wron [The days [of glory] and all magnificent earthly kingdoms are departed. There are no new kings, nor emperors,
23
24
25
Nicholas Perkins and David Clark, introduction to Anglo-Saxon Culture and the Modern
Imagination, ed. David Clark and Nicholas Perkins (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2012), 9.
Hugh Magennis, Images of Community in Old English Poetry (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1996).
Joseph E. Marshall, Goldgyfan or Goldwlance: A Christian Apology for Beowulf and
Treasure, Studies in Philology107:1 (2010): 124.
227
nor gold-givers such as there were].26 The poem goes on to suggest that age
and time have altered nobility and have left only sadness on Earth.
The Wanderer amplifies this theme. The narrative poem depicts an exiled
speakers search for community and acceptance; that community is codified by the presence of a ring-giving lord. The narrator in The Wanderer is
wretched and abject as he searches for a new treasure lord after his
previous ring-giver has passed away (was hidden in the earth). He yearns
for a single friend or companion who would accept him, protect him, and
honor his contributions to the group with treasure. Here, the relationship
between social acceptance and the receiving of goods is crystallized. The
poem juxtaposes loss and isolation with the joys of hall life: an exiled path
accompanies him, not braided gold; a frozen spirit, not earthly riches. To be
alone is to be bereft of the economic benefits of community; being forced to
survive without the aid and comfort of companions is the narrators greatest
sadness. Although the narrator speaks of the death of his previous lord, the
joy that has perished is the treasure-giving social system that sustained his
community.
We need not rely solely on literary evidence to understand the importance of such gift-giving in the Anglo-Saxon world; their representations are
supported by historical evidence. Take, for instance, the burial mounds at
Sutton Hoo and the discovery of the Staffordshire hoard, along with archeological finds in many North Sea-facing countries, suggesting that such treasures were critical to foundational cultural events like funeral rites, military
victories, and to the maintenance of community. The Staffordshire hoard
contains more than 3,500 items that are nearly all martial or warlike in
nature,27 and the Sutton Hoo burial is particularly relevant to the Beowulf
text, given the texts ties to the East Anglian region of England. In addition
to these burial mounds (and buried treasures), archeologists have identified a number of structures that, like Heorot, were seen as centers for the
distribution of gold, war booty, and treasures. For example, digs in Gudme,
Denmark have uncovered detached gold rings that Catherine M. Hills
argues suggest this was a place where such rings were given out, as Hrothgar
did at Heorot.28 As Hills has pointed out, the Anglo-Saxon author(s) of
the poem reflect the material cultures in England, Sweden, and Denmark
26
27
28
The Seafarer, in A Guide to Old English, 6th ed., ed. Bruce Mitchell and Fred C. Robinson
(Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2001), 27782, lines 8083. All subsequent line numbers
are given parenthetically.
About Staffordshire Hoard, <http://www.staffordshirehoard.org.uk/about> [accessed 13
November 2013].
Catherine M. Hills, Beowulf and Archaeology, in A Beowulf Handbook, ed. Robert E.
Bjork and John D. Niles (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997), 307.
228
from the sixth to the eleventh centuries; thus, the author of Beowulf need
not have been fantasizing. It all really existed, in Suffolk in the seventh
century.29
Yet, gift-giving exchanges in Anglo-Saxon culture were not merely
economic in nature. Ring-givers in the Anglo-Saxon world created a circular
system of exchange wherein gifts awarded were repaid by the continued
fealty of the recipient. Indeed, as represented in literature, Beowulf begins
by implying a direct relationship between a lords ability and willingness to
provide treasures to his people with the loyalty and support of those people:
Swa sceal geong guma gode gewyrcean
Fromum feohgiftum on fder bearme
t hine on ylde eft gewunigen
Wilgesias onne wig cume,
Leode gelsten30
[Thus should a young man bring good gifts, splendid treasures from his fathers possessions, so that later in life loyal
comrades will stand beside him. When war comes, the people
will support him.]
Here, Beowulf clearly links the distribution of goods with the ensured loyalty
of the lords retainers. Moreover, it suggests that a leaders ability to provide
such treasures will result in the affections and support of the larger community (not only of those who have personally received the gifts). As Marshall
notes, The three ideal lords (Hrothgar, Hygelac, and Beowulf ) magnanimously distribute treasure to their thanes in exchange for loyalty and
service, whereas the four anti-lords (Grendel, the dragon, the last survivor,
and the Geats) avariciously hoard treasure.31 Such ring-giving also seems to
have implied long-term support. For example, after the defeat of Grendel,
Wealeow leverages the gifts Hrothgar has bestowed upon the Geats for
continued loyalty to her sons, Hreric and Hromund (lines 122631). Her
speech reminds the men that these gifts are not merely payment for the
service of ridding the hall of Grendel, but rather that she expects they will
establish a relationship between the two kingdoms that ought to remain
29
30
31
Hills, Beowulf and Archaeology, 294.

Beowulf: An Edition with Relevant Shorter Texts, ed. Bruce Mitchell and Fred C. Robinson
(Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1998), lines 2024. All subsequent line numbers are given
parenthetically.
Marshall, Goldgyfan or Goldwlance, 24.
229
intact for generations to come (and that should protect her sons from any
ideas Beowulf might have had about his right to the Danish throne).
In essence, the ring-giving culture of the Anglo-Saxon world is a system
designed to negotiate complex social interactions between various hierarchies of people, tribes, and cultures: through its proper use and exchange,
treasure comes to represent the inner and outer mettle of a kingdom. How
a kingdom uses treasure is a good indication of how well that kingdom
conducts itself.32 So, too, is the management of loot distribution a marker
of a well-functioning and sustainable guild. Even a quick survey of online
loot system descriptions demonstrates that one of the main priorities of most
guilds is to establish a system that will, in short, eliminate bickering, discontent, and drama among its members. Indeed, one player noted that loot
drama is a monstrous guild killer,33 and Scott F. Andrews has suggested
in the entire history of MMO gaming, no single issue has caused more
drama than loot. Loot drama is the main cause of players dropping out of
raid, players turning on each other, players leaving guilds and guilds ripping
themselves apart. 34 The adoption of a cultural system of goods distribution
similar to those used by Anglo-Saxon communities offers members a clear,
sometimes mathematical method by which they can see how their participation affects their likelihood of receiving loot and ensuring that all players are
bound by the same looting rules. In this way, modern loot systems provide
MMORPG guild members with security and safety. With the right system in
place, even members who may feel that they have been wronged or slighted
in the past can be placated by the knowledge that system is transparent and
just.
Looting Structures
MMO guilds employ numerous strategies for the distribution of items
rewarded to the group for defeating various in-game opponents. Most games
also offer in-game systems for the random or semi-random dispersal of lesser
content that may, or may not, also be used by MMO guilds. However,
many large guilds, working on game-progression tasks in large raids have
found the random distribution of loot unacceptable. As one player noted:
There is essentially only one requirement for loot systems for a raid: you
32
33
34
Marshall, Goldgyfan or Goldwlance, 20.

Valkeo, A Guild Leaders Guide, Rift community forum, 18 March 2014, <http://forums.
riftgame.com/game-discussions/rift-guides-strategies/421103-guild-leaders-guide.html>
Scott F. Andrews, The Guild Leaders Handbook: Strategies and Guidance from a BattleScarred MMO Veteran, Kindle edition (Ann Arbor, 2010), chapter 6.
230
dole out the gear in such a way that best benefits the raid team, rather than
any individual. Generally speaking you want to equitably distribute the loot
rather than over-gearing one person.35 In response to these desires, guilds
have turned to regimented systems to ensure a just system of distribution
for individual players that result in the betterment of the guild as a whole.
Many of the top world guilds choose to rely on a Loot Council, wherein
guild leaders keep track of members progress, participation, and gear. The
council, usually composed of a representative sampling of long-term guild
members, determines loot distribution based on democratic decisions about
what is best for the guild. This system requires significant trust and respect
among guild members and a significant investment of time for the Loot
Council. Each member must know the best statistics for his/her own class
along the strengths and weakness of each player in the raid. Some of the top
raiding guilds use this system because their primary goal is game progression.
As one player put it, Loot council is designed to keep a guild progressing.
This means who ever will benefit the guild the most with the piece is the
person who should receive it. This person is someone who we know is reliable
and a quality player. 36 Players in guilds using this system understand that
a group is only as strong as its weakest player; thus, it is of utmost importance that guilds adequately gear-up active members. Any soldier stands a
better chance of survival and victory if s/he carries the best possible weapon
into battle. This is the same logic seen in Beowulf; it is why, for example,
despite his earlier vitriol, Unferth offers Beowulf the sword Hrunting, which
is described as a maegenfultuma [a mighty aid ] (line 1455), a foran ealdgestreona [a foremost heirloom] (line 1458). Knowing the danger he would
face, and the repercussions that might result if he is defeated, the Danes hope
to shift fortune in their favor by offering Beowulf their greatest weapon.
This council-based system, while more problematic than some of the mathematical systems (because it is far less transparent), is probably closest to
the method employed by Anglo-Saxon baggifas [ring-givers]. Certainly, a
lord would make subjective decisions about which of his aelingas [noble
warriors] deserved or needed particular treasures based on his own assessment or on the recommendation of his advisors; a loot council makes the
same types of decisions based on the same criteria.
Some guilds prefer point-based systems. Created in 1999 by Thott, guild
35
36
Elgunaz, 90 Orc, Warrior Dominion guild Loot system?, World of Warcraft, Raid
and Guild Leadership forum, 2 March 2013, <http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/
topic/8088208899?page=1> [accessed 24 June 2014].
Blazekronic, 85 Undead Rogue, Why do guilds use dkp/loot council systems?, World of
Warcraft forums, 7 October 2011, <http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3341754783>
231
leader of Afterlife, the DKP (Dragon Kill Points) system, upon which many
modern raid-loot systems are based, emerged from the Tolkienesque and
pseudo-medieval world of EverQuest.37 Variations of basic DKP (Dragon
Kill Points) or EP/GP (Effort Points/Gear Points) systems are most common
among guilds using a point-based system. These systems reward points to
players for their dedication to the guild, not just to their individual skill, and
those dedication points determine which player will receive a desirable loot
item. Such point-based systems ensure that guild members who regularly
participate, who illustrate the social values appreciated by the culture (such
as promptness), and who aid guild progression are rewarded for their loyalty,
time, and effort, often regardless of success and failure. We might compare
this type of reward system to the distribution of goods demonstrated after
the defeat of Grendel. In the text, we see Hrothgar doling out treasures and
gold to the loyal Geats who have traveled with Beowulf to Heorot. Even
though none of the men participate in the battle (on Beowulf s orders),
they are nonetheless rewarded for their time and loyalty to the group with
maum [treasure] and yrfelafe [heirlooms] (lines 105055). Like the heroes
of Anglo-Saxon epic poetry, modern MMO guild leaders understand that
the health of the larger social system requires various types of participation
and they distribute wealth and goods based on measures of loyalty.
Although a point-based systems primary function is to reward culturally acceptable behaviors, guild leaders may also reduce a players point
total punitively. As in the real world, underperforming or causing strife in
the guild will damage a players reputation. Because guild leaders are free
to reduce DKP at their discretion, point totals are an essential means for
monitoring a players participation and behavior. Since gear and in-game
loot are highly prized in MMORPGs, a guild is able to modify the poor
performance of its members for the greater good of the group.38 The (in)
famous 50 DKP minus meme and viral video encapsulates the pressure
37
38
Thott, DKP Explanation, Afterlife Guild, < http://afterlifeguild.org/dkpinfo/> [accessed

20 October 2012].
The pressure to perform can be exacerbated by the use of damage meters (in-game data
collectors that quantify individual contributions to battles/raids). Data can then be used
to moderate point totals; however, such meters are also seen as promoting unhealthy
competition that is detrimental to the group and individual (over-)achieving (seeking
to be top of the damage meter) can be seen as jeopardizing the groups success (T. L.
Taylor, Does World of Warcraft Change Everything? How PVP Server, Multinational
Playerbase, and Surveillance Mod Scene Caused Me Pause, in Digital Culture, 190). Guild
leaders/Ring-Givers, then, are faced with the difficult task of evaluating a players service
to the guild, encouraging better and more active gameplay, while simultaneously keeping
in mind that the good of the group as a whole must take precedence over individual
achievements.
232
on power players to execute strategies flawlessly and the harsh penalties for
inadequacy and error.39 The meme is certainly an extreme example of guild
point reduction, but is not dissimilar to the rant Wiglaf unleashes on the
men who fled the dragon fight. Wiglaf promises that those men will not only
lose personal reputation for their cowardice, but they and their kin will also
suffer economic hardships:
Nu sceal sincego one swyrdgifu,
Eall eelwyn eowrum cynne
Lufen alicgean; londrihtes mot
re mgburge monna ghwylc
Idel hweorgan, syan elingas
Feorran gefricgean fleam eowerne,
Domleasdan dd. (288490)
[Now shall the receiving of treasure and sword-gifts, all the
comforts of your homeland, fail your kin. Every man of the
clan will be deprived of land-rights when lords from afar hear
of your flight, your inglorious deed.]
Wiglaf s tirade equates the loss of reputation with the loss of sword-gifts,
treasure, and land. Beowulf s men will, essentially, lose gear points because
of their failures in battle. Just as in the Anglo-Saxon world, modern gamers
are motivated by their desire to earn treasure; guild leaders rely on this desire
to ensure continued and satisfactory participation in the guild.
A survey of guilds listed as primarily interested in Raids on MMORPG.
com in the top five MMORPGs (as consistently ranked by The Nosy
Gamer)40 as well as Wild Star, the newest MMO to focus on raiding at the
time of writing, demonstrates some substantial consistencies in loot distribution over significantly disparate gaming experiences. Table 1 indicates a
strong preference for some type of structured looting system, be it the Loot
Council, DKP, or some other method: Overall, 63.5% of guilds choose a
non-randomized method of loot distribution. This survey indicates that 36%
of guilds chose the randomized Need before Greed system, with undefined
39
40
Scott Williams, Many Memes, Handle It, WoW Archivist, 18 January 2013 <http://wow.
joystiq.com/2013/01/18/wow-archivist-many-memes-handle-it/> [accessed 30 June 2013].
The Nosey Gamer has weekly statistical data for game play dating back to 2012 based
on xfire.com use in its The Digital Dozen blog posts. Please see <http://nosygamer.
blogspot.com.au/> for further information. The Google Docs spreadsheet for all historical
data collected by the site is available at <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ai
mCXydAYDLYdHUwWGhfWXg2S3pVWFY5QjcxOWlLRUE#gid=0>, accessed 21 June
2014.
233
Other systems in use 26% of the time and Loot Council in use 22.5% of
the time. The DKP system is used most infrequently, appearing as the guild
choice only 15% of the time. The high percentage of guilds using a Need
before Greed system is partially explained by casual guilds that run raids a
part of their game play, but who are not intensely focused on game progression. This system does not require much if any outside research or record
keeping. Differences in looting structures are also likely tied to differences in
gameplay; nevertheless, these numbers demonstrate a strong preference for
some type of structure in a guilds looting system.
Table 1. MMORPG.com raid guilds loot-systems of choice
Need
Before
Greed
Loot
Council
DKP
Other
World of
Warcraft
118
(32%)
94
(26%)
76
(21%)
79
(21%)
Star Wars: The Final Fantasy Guild

Old Republic
XIV
Wars 2
115
26
77
(38%)
(39%)
(42%)
54
(18%)
52
(17%)
78
(26%)
9
(13%)
12
(18%)
20
(30%)
EVE
Online
13
(25%)
WildStar
10
(29.5%)
Totals
359
(36%)
46
15
(25%) (29%)
6
1
(3%)
(2%)
54
22
(29.5%) (43%)
8
(23.5%)
8
(23.5%)
8
(23.5%)
226
(22.5%)
155
(15%)
261
(26%)
The focus of guilds and players on the equal distribution of goods replicates historical structures, such as are seen in the song of Finnsburh
section of Beowulf where we find that Finn, [] Folcwaldan sunu / dgra
gehwylce Dene weorode, / Hengst hap hringum wenede / efne sw swie
sincgestronum / fttan goldes, sw h Fresena cyn / on borsele byldan
wolde [With feasting gifts, should honor the Danes each and every day,
gladden the troops of Hengst with gold rings and ancient treasures, ornamented gold, just as often as he would encourage the hosts of the Frisians
in the beerhall].41 Although this intertextual allusion is a little obscure, it is
also retold in the Finnsburh fragment, and is worth noting here because it
demonstrates the power loot distribution has in community-building. The
fragment tells us that the Frisians ambushed the Danes, who were visiting
Hildeburh, sister of Danish prince Hnf. Hengst, a surviving Danish retainer,
then led an uprising against Finn, the Frisian king. The sides were so evenly
matched that they were forced to come to an agreement wherein the Frisians
41
The Battle of Finnsburh, ll. 108994, Old English Minor Poems, The Labyrinth:
Resources for Medieval Studies, Georgetown University <http://www8.georgetown.edu/
departments/medieval/labyrinth/library/oe/texts/a7.html> [accessed 20 March 2013].
234
allowed the Danes to settle on their land. Despite the vitriol between the
two groups, peace was maintained through the equal exchange of treasures:
the Danes were honored with goods just as the Frisians were honored. Thus,
a fair and equal loot distribution system pacified conflicted communities.
This ethic of fairness is reproduced in virtual gaming communities that rely
on the dissemination of weapons, gear, and goods to stabilize and maintain
what can be a vast and disparate community of players.
What these raiding guilds create, then, is an interconnected system of
individual micro-economies.42 While most MMO games utilize some traditional features of a market economy players often can, for example, earn
monetary rewards for completing tasks; they can also participate in market
exchanges by gathering raw production materials, crafting products from
those raw materials, or selling rare items discovered during the course of
gameplay this essay hopes to have shown that the primary economic
systems chosen by the main social structures (guilds) in MMO games deviate
significantly from modern market-based and capitalist systems. What we
see in the guild distribution of loot, particularly in high-end raiding guilds,
is a preference for a far more communal disbursement of goods, particularly systems that harken back to the more traditional economies of the
Anglo-Saxon world. Guilds favoring the Loot Council system have chosen a
command economy designed to allocate loot in a manner that best serves the
group, rather than the individual. Guilds favoring a points-based system, by
instilling points decay, EP/GP ratios, or a zero-sum system,43 have chosen a
mixed system in which effort is rewarded, but no one player is able to amass
an extraordinary amount of capital, thus combining some attributes of capitalism with more socialist tendencies. Even guilds that employ the Need
before Greed system, effectively leaving the loot distribution up to chance,
demonstrate a turn from strictly market modes of economic structure. Few,
if any, guilds enact a monetary or market-based system for the sole purpose
of bestowing honor or glory on a select few. Rather, the collective goals of the
guild are the driving force in the establishment of the distribution system;
42
43
Admittedly, we need not localize reward systems that originate solely in the Anglo-Saxon
world. Modern psychology now employs what they call token reward systems and/
or token economies in behavior modification. Just as in modern guild loot systems,
behavior psychologists use tokens (which we might equate with loot) to reward desirable
behaviors (like active raid participation and prompt arrival). In behavior modification,
these tokens are converted to meaningful objects or rewards over time, and MMO games
have begun to include just such systems again to ensure customer/gamer loyalty
wherein players must collect a certain number of tokens from daily tasks in order to earn
a special piece of equipment, set of armor, or enhancement.
For more on the complexities of the EP/GP system, see WoW Wiki, EPGP, <http://
www.wowwiki.com/EPGP> [accessed 20 October 2012].
235
in high-functioning guilds, the needs, desires, and goals of the individual

are secondary to the group cause. As Traxel has suggested, as medievalism
and pseudo-medievalism represent popular notions of the Middle Ages, they
particularly foster interactivity, for they often revolve around the belief that
success, and perhaps even survival, during that period required both rugged
individualism and careful diplomacy.44 What we can see in this comparison,
then, is that by instituting looting systems that require just such rugged
individualism in the form of raid participation and careful diplomacy in
the form of loot distribution, modern guilds are replicating age-old social
and economic systems in an effort to stabilize and ensure the continuation
of their virtual communities.
44
Traxel, Medieval and Pseudo-Medieval Elements, 137.

Modern-day Ring-givers: How MMORPG Guilds Recreate Anglo-Saxon Social Structures

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Boydell & Brewer

Modern-day Ring-givers: MMORPG

Oliver M. Traxel, Medieval and Pseudo-Medieval Elements in Computer Role-Playing

Studies in Medievalism XXIV, 2015

are replicated in modern MMORPGs gaming communities.3 For example,

and Anglo-Saxon texts, real-world gaming guilds are enacting, recreating,

In fact, social interaction between gamers has been found to be central to

Sony Online Entertainment, EverQuest (United States: Sony Online Entertainment,

Taylor, Play between Worlds, 43.

Establishing trust and maintaining player alliances is necessary to sustain

Taylor, Play between Worlds, 46.

18 March 2012 <http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3523082610?page=2> [accessed

Hills, Beowulf and Archaeology, 294.

Marshall, Goldgyfan or Goldwlance, 20.

Thott, DKP Explanation, Afterlife Guild, < http://afterlifeguild.org/dkpinfo/> [accessed

Star Wars: The Final Fantasy Guild

in high-functioning guilds, the needs, desires, and goals of the individual

Traxel, Medieval and Pseudo-Medieval Elements, 137.

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