So in “preparation” for this blog I came across a YouTube video called ‘the top ten web series of all time’. Inevitably I had to watch it, and to my absolutely shock I realised I had not watched a single one mentioned. I am only on my second blog of this series and so far I feel I have terribly under represented the scope and spectrum of the medium. In a rather desperate attempt to catch up on years of neglect, I decided to dive in and pretty much blitzed an entire Web Series this week. All six seasons. You may now be wondering; doesn’t this girl go to Oxford? Isn’t she meant to be working?
Well yes. And stop trying to freak me out, imaginary readership.
So what was this, for which I felt the need to delay my three essays? A fantastic series called ‘The Guild’.
Running since 2007, this comedy web series was originally supported by fans through PayPal before Kickstarter was even a thing. Seasons 2-5 were supported by Xbox, which affronts my strong proletariat inclinations a little, but doesn’t ultimately detract from it being a great show. It is now also available on Netflix, Hulu and has its own website watchtheguild.com. According to the website it has over 300 million views.
So what is it actually about?
The Guild explores the lives of a group of gamers and the effect of these games on their day to day lives and relationships. It presents interaction through video games in a positive if self-deprecating light, while remaining very honest about the impact such games and communities can have in real life. The series begins when one of the players (Zaboo) is offline for a whole 39 hours and all the other Guild members begin to freak out. Zaboo turns up a little while later at one of the other player’s houses (Codex), having tracked down her address and building plans online. And so the online becomes physical and Zaboo, having been misled by casual online flirting, attempts to woo the woman of his dreams. Lolz and nerdiness follow. It’s great light entertainment and each episode being approximately 8 minutes each, it is very easy to get hooked. Which happened. And here I am, still fangirling a week later when I really should be writing essays.
The Guild is not a group you should ever go to for help on such matters of procrastination. They built a series pretty much on just that.
