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Where to start … how about what a strange name for a gaming community? Why use it? Crazy old eccentric people? Much of the name has to do with the environment that we have created and the history of the leadership team. We have been close friends in the real world since before the Internet, gaming since the era of Commodore 64s, Atari 2600s and TRS-80s, many of us having been involved with old style BBSs, hex game programming and old fashioned pen and paper role playing. Since that time we have continued to game, experiencing a dynamic range of dedication to such entertainment, from hardcore role-playing immersion to a leisurely nonchalant attitude.
As with everything else, we took the massive growth of online gaming with a tongue-in-cheek viewpoint and developed our original gaming clan: Daffy Bastards. This small community has existed since the 1990s in an attempt to provide a location for gaming individuals to visit, smile and spend a small amount of time back in the real world while playing: an escape for an escape.
Then came World of Warcraft; having been previously involved with several alphas and betas online over the years, we went into this one with a good amount of apprehension. However, we were quite stunned to find an excellent development crew, strong community foundation and a doggone good game. We were hooked. All our Lineage, Evercrack, Asheron's Call, Star Wars Galaxies and Ultima Online accounts were abandoned; WoW or bust. But how do we approach developing this community? Do we run immersive? Do we role-play? Do we hardcore PvP? Do we even need a guild at all? Will the naming policy be our bane? :)
For starters, yes, we had to rename a few non-policy friendly names but we found Daffy Blokes to be quite comfortable, as it still imparts the same feeling as Daffy Bastards but within the confines of a more community friendly sound. Once again, we took a humorous viewpoint and decided to step outside this realm of losing oneself in a game and remain ourselves in spirit. Thus was born the Daffy Blokes guild for World of Warcraft.
Eventually, we began applying the Daffy Blokes term to any gaming gathering we, as friends, joined in on and so what started as a "clan", then moved to a "guild" is now a deeply rooted gaming community. We offer an old style Tavern or Coffee Shop that friends old and new can just come on in and have easy going fun.
When gaming, we tend not to be an immersive community although we do love a good role-playing game. We tend not to go hardcore PvP but we do enjoy a good toss in the street. We usually are not all that competitive although some of us (others are too lazy) can hold our own. We are a community of gamers that approach gaming with a sly grin on our faces and a dry wit to boot. Our culture, our raising is that it is more important to that everyone gets to play games. Gaming is in our blood and as we watch the next generations come of age, we hope they appreciate gaming as much as we do … we strive to impress all the positives that can come from gaming together as a group, as a family as a culture.
So after this fairly long description, one that I'm sure was about as entertaining as a 2 hour lecture on the best techniques for painting the lines in a parking structure, I will end this with … game on … Mosey your way to fun. … now off wit 'cha, ya … poor sap.
-Tcheekin
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