Whatever happened to Silvermoon University?

[ruejacobs]

i was browsing through Google, doing some research for a blog, when i stumbled across a few articles about a Guild called Silvermoon University that used to be on Twisting Nether. What i read intrigued me, but i can't find anything up-to-date concerning this Guild. the website links were all old and out of use. does anyone have any information regarding this Guild or other similar Guilds?

[Kayla]

Well.... I know the Guild name is still around and a couple of members are around on the forums and in game, but I heard they had disbanded.

Last year I was looking to join them, but they was pretty much gone then as well.

[Asyla]

they disbaned before Wrath. Just not enough intrest to keep it going - it was alot of effort by a hand full of people, and zero effort by the rest kind of thing, as far as I remember.

[Raziel]

they lost state funding, decided to be a community college and offer on-line degrees, then learned that only gnomes have access to the internet.

[Saphiara]

Basically, the officers were mostly either A) PvPers who eventually moved on to other games, or B) Raiders who moved on to other guilds in order to push content. There was also, as mentioned, an expectation from the largest segment of the membership that a small minority should do all the work of organizing for them. Finally, there was just an overall feeling that the wacky hijinks had kind of played themselves out.

[Ackley]

Sounds like a cool idea, but there are so many assholes and trolls in TN that most of these things don't last. I don't think I know of any guilds that are around, that have been around for like 1 year+

[Jeedup]

Sounds like a cool idea, but there are so many assholes and trolls in TN that most of these things don't last. I don't think I know of any guilds that are around, that have been around for like 1 year+

Then you don't know that many guilds.

[Evanthe]

Sounds like a cool idea, but there are so many assholes and trolls in TN that most of these things don't last. I don't think I know of any guilds that are around, that have been around for like 1 year+

Off the top of my head, Infection and The Grim have been around since... day 1 or day 2 of the server.

SU was a great guild. :) I wish it was still around. Alas.

[Ackley]

Off the top of my head, Infection and The Grim have been around since... day 1 or day 2 of the server.

SU was a great guild. :) I wish it was still around. Alas.

I honestly never see their members anywhere.

[Skaadvik]

Sounds like a cool idea, but there are so many assholes and trolls in TN that most of these things don't last. I don't think I know of any guilds that are around, that have been around for like 1 year+

Fabled Order, Invictus Sanctum, Sword of the Morning, First Legion, The Grim, Infection

off the top of my head

there are plenty of them

[Asyla]

Was going to say, First Legion celebrates its 4th birthday on Tuesday(Wednesday?) ;p


Lawl wrong account ftw ;p

[drippygoo]

I was in SMU at the time is disbanded.

The Headmaster, guild leader, Nicoletta(sp?) xfered off TN
There was a rogue, name started with a D, he xfered off also I think?

The guild was ALOT of fun, there are a few x members that I see on the TNG forums once in awhile.

[Villayna]

Silvermoon University started shortly after the Burning Crusade expansion and was one of the most well liked guilds for probably a good year. Then, as Saph pointed out, it sort of got split on whether it was a PVP guild or a PVE guild, and the management got tired of being the only ones organizing RP events.

[Ackley]

Didn't realize Fabled Order and IV were that old, I know Sword of the Morning is still semi-alive, though not as active as when I first started playing.

[Swerto]

God, I had an alt in SMU, I was more interested in the cartel, ofcourse.

[Anthek]

I was in Decimate with the guild's founders, way back when, and they formed SMU after Decimate disbanded.

[Cristok]

SMU was certainly one of the more creative guild endeavors at TN. Miss them I do.

[Grainia]

Grainia did lots of Continuing Ed classes with them. Unfortunately, she was unable to complete her degree.

Yes, Infection and the Grim have been around since Day 1.

[opalexian]

Actually, after SMU disbanded (about a year ago?) Nic, the officers, and some of their favorites made a Ghostbusters-themed guild that aimed to raid Kara with a regular group. I think that lasted a month, THEN they x-ferred. Nic in particular stops by here ever now and again. He was a fantastic RPer, had some of the wittiest things to say too.

[Ansha]

<Blades of Lordaeron> is also an old guild and has been around since the first couple of months of the server. Though it's seen three different forms so far, the first two Alliance and the most recent Horde.

I did love SMU's website. It was very professional and I'm sad I didn't transfer my horde here to play with them sooner. >__>

[Raynell]

I actually remember running into random RP by members of SMU. This was, of course, back in Ray's lowbie days, where I played her simply because my other paladin on Anvilmar stalled progression wise >.>

[Tía]

Mmm, I don't know any guild that's been around since "Day one". The Grim were formed two days after the server opened, Infection started up a few days after -that-. But yeah, there are a lot of oldie guilds around still.

[Swerto]

So two guilds that are really quiet these days... and surprisingly I was in both of those guilds (took my rogue out of the Grim when I stopped playing him, left Infection on my main for other reasons).

[Redburn]

Well, if you want to get technical, The Crimson Watch was born on the 1st day and I am still around (sort of). But it is just me and my assorted alts, and has been for about 2 years now, so......

[drippygoo]

Mmm, I don't know any guild that's been around since "Day one". The Grim were formed two days after the server opened, Infection started up a few days after -that-. But yeah, there are a lot of oldie guilds around still.

Citadel was, but they broke up before TBC

[Cabriel]

I don't think I know of any guilds that are around, that have been around for like 1 year+

Sanctuary.

I actually applied to SMU when I was a tiny lowbie, but that was right before they disbanded. Sad, too. I used to really enjoy their stuff.

[opalexian]

Cab in SMU woulda been fuckin HILARIOUS-the potions lab would have been forever expldoing and having dead test subjects laying around. (Not uncommon-cant remember who, but they kept leaving dead gnome laying around that Nic had to dispose of X D)

[Abric]

... where did they go, Venture Co? I honestly don't remember - one of the old Decimate folks who are still dwelling around here may know.

For the length of time, Grim is still the longest running RP guild, founded Sep 16, 2005.

[Raziel]

Mmm, I don't know any guild that's been around since "Day one". The Grim were formed two days after the server opened, Infection started up a few days after -that-. But yeah, there are a lot of oldie guilds around still.

it's hard to get that first 10 silver, y'know?

[Crushem]

My guild Esoterikos has been around for at least a year. We never were a large RP guild, but we RPed none the less. As of late, it seems to be dead since our leader is currently MIA for real life reasons.

[Malebrignon]

I have contact info for most of the SMU officer corps, though I'm not at liberty to give it out for the most part. Dewce/Meike is one of my closest friends IRL. The others keep in contact via TS and a private forum Dewce runs. Raiding is what really burnt them out. Herding cats is easier than teaching your average RP nerd to raid, or at least it was before WotLK. Had Blizzard dumbed down the game enough to where the SMU elite could carry the SMU chaff through raids, the guild would likely still exist.

Nicoleta/Phia and Dewce/Meike have both sworn off WoW completely. Pelerin may still play elsewhere, I don't really keep track of him. Several of the others whose character names I have forgotten are also still in touch.

*Disclaimer: Yes, I realize this site is full of RPers who raid and think they do it well. Some of them are even as good as they think they are. Your average RP nerd, especially one on their first character, takes an eternity to coach into being an adequate raider. All you old-guard have seen it. Hells, some of you got first-hand experience training ME. It's much easier to teach a raider to RP than to teach an RPer to raid. Wanna fight about it? Start another thread, please.

[Moknim]

*Disclaimer: Yes, I realize this site is full of RPers who raid and think they do it well. Some of them are even as good as they think they are. Your average RP nerd, especially one on their first character, takes an eternity to coach into being an adequate raider. All you old-guard have seen it. Hells, some of you got first-hand experience training ME. It's much easier to teach a raider to RP than to teach an RPer to raid. Wanna fight about it? Start another thread, please.

Some of us fail at RP and raiding, and are completely content. *Hugs himself*


SMU was around when I started playing, and I was sad to see them go. And, like many have said, there are a bunch of old guilds around it just depends on where they are in the ebb and flow that is guild activity.

[Abric]

Here's a link (http://www.wow.com/2007/10/18/silvermoon-university-holds-class-in-azeroth/) on wow.com about SMU when they attracted some attention during their prime. Unfortunately, their website is down, which was a very excellent website.

[Chikt]

Sounds like a cool idea, but there are so many assholes and trolls in TN that most of these things don't last. I don't think I know of any guilds that are around, that have been around for like 1 year+

The Raven Cross is actually 2+ years old.

There are plenty of older guilds here on the server. Compared to The Grim, Infection, Sanctuary and many Alliance guilds, the Raven Cross is damn young.

I think we were founded some time just before SMU was disbanded. I remember contacting Nicoleta about it and thanking her for being an inspiration.

[Naheal]

Fabled Order, Invictus Sanctum, Sword of the Morning, First Legion, The Grim, Infection

off the top of my head

there are plenty of them

Also, Raven Cross

[Malebrignon]

Any further comments/e-peen waggling within this thread about the ages of guilds will be deleted.

You have been warned.

Feel free to continue to discuss SMU.

[Ackley]

Any further comments/e-peen waggling within this thread about the ages of guilds will be deleted.

You have been warned.

Feel free to continue to discuss SMU.

I don't think they were e-peen wagging, just pointing out a fact.

Back on topic, so as a member of SMU were you a teacher or a student? And did they actually have classes?

[Izrail]

Back on topic, so as a member of SMU were you a teacher or a student? And did they actually have classes?

What was role-played to have happened was usually based on individual creativity. Officers were typically faculty with members being students. In-game, Izrail went to one guest lecture with Faelen about kodo, which took place in Silvermoon City outside the designated "SMU Library," and had warlock/demonic language lessons in Tirisfal with Ruri, who was a member of the SMU faculty. It was fun while it lasted.

[Xyria]

That does sound like an awesome idea for a strict RP guild. Maybe it can be reopened for alts? Just a pure fun-RP type guild? Is it still active? Does someone still have the GM status?

[Malebrignon]

I'm checking into it to see who is the placeholder GM. I do believe Nic or Dewce kept it on an alt.

As for how it worked, officers were instructors of sorts. Most were treated as student athletes. I think my hunter, Grooda, taught botany. Dewce was the head coach of the Dragonhawks. Nicoleta was Head Mistress.

I do feel the premise would've gotten stale after awhile if it had been taken too strictly, though. It was all about humor and fun for the most part. Until you got on TS with Dewce. Heh.

[Xyria]

I see what you mean by stale, especially if you aren't getting a good rotation of alts/players that play regularly and keep it fresh.

I think the only way that guild could really work is as an alt/RP-focused/high rotation kind of guild. There be core regulars and people cycle out as they place their alts in higher level guilds... unless by some form of magic it takes off and you're able to form the guild into an actual guild...

But I could also see it as a twink guild. Group PVP ("Let's go on a field trip and see what you've learned in class!") would be awesome! I had my priest in a premade forever. It was sad when our tank decided to go to the next bracket because that meant everyone else had to tooo.

[Chikt]

I do feel the premise would've gotten stale after awhile if it had been taken too strictly, though. It was all about humor and fun for the most part. Until you got on TS with Dewce. Heh.

It's just such a great premise, but the thing about any learning institution is that people graduate and move on. And you can't have every graduate just become a new lecturer or playing in the guilds sports team.

I imagine it would be very cool if graduates basically moved from one guild to another. Like, development over the course of two guilds. They choose something to major in at Silvermoon University and once they graduate they move on to another guild (Say, the Silvermoon Department of Business or something) where they actually work in their selected major. History students graduating from SMU run a museum or collect artifacts in SDB. Botanical students graduating from SMU tend to gardens run out of a business in SDB.

/shrug

Sort of a guild with one guy that basically acts as a sort of chairman (Guild Master) for a conglomerate of different companies, which are run by their own bosses (Officers) with each worker (Graduated members from SMU) dedicated to a specific business.

[Malebrignon]

Well, SMU was originally going to be a strict PvP guild. However, several of them discovered that once you got your gladiator gear, there wasn't a lot of incentive left to keep up your rankings. Others needed PvE items to round out their PvP sets. So, they set to raiding and opened themselves up to a whole new list of problems.

I'm not having any luck reaching Nic and Dewce, but I'll eventually bug one of them enough to get them to come post something here. I was much more of a consultant for SMU than an actual officer. They are the ones with the whole story.

[Dewce]

Brig pretty much hit the nail on the head with most of the points. We set out to be a fun loving not too serious PvP guild. We wanted a lax and fun environment that didn't force RP, but encouraged it if you wanted to. Officers were faculty, members were students. Silvermoon University was a labor of love for both Nic and myself. We had a ball thinking up silly shit for us to do and creating the website.

The idea was such a hit that we attracted a lot of alts from the RP community, which was a bit of a hindrance from the get go, since most of them leveled at a snails pace. We never really attracted any sort of end game material, be it PvP or raiding. The whole PvP focus was kind of difficult to get successful at because we had people interested in PvP, but the execution of group BGs seemed to fall a bit short and ended often in frustration. There are differentiating opinions on where guild started to crumble, but in my opinion, it had a lot to do with the fact that we just had too many casuals/alts and not enough people that wanted to put in any real effort into the guild outside of the faculty. We never really stopped wanting people to PvP, but we added in some raiding because we there was interest.

I could probably give a pretty detailed run of events from the start til the demise of the guild, but I'll spare everyone that. To sum it up, it was a good idea and fun. The whole university thing probably did get a bit stale, but what RP storyline doesn't after awhile. We made attempts at end game and ultimately, the people that spent week after week organizing stuff got burned out. Too much effort by some, and not enough by most. Our talent got bored with our lack of progression and starting going elsewhere. It's a perfect example of what happens when there aren't pretty clear ground rules and expectations set from day one.

Anyway, Nic and I transfered off after we tried a guild reboot with the Scourgebusters, but felt a similar problem arising. We just wanted a fresh start, and ultimately decided we were done with the game after a few months on Blackdragon Flight. For the purposes of RP the founders of Silvermoon University, Nicoleta, Dewce, Phia, and Meike, were rightfully accused of misappropriating Federal Horde funds that were given to the school and skipped town, never to be seen again. Though Meike has been spotted a time or two rubbing elbows with Haris Pilton at the World's End Tavern.

As Brig said, if WoW is what it is today, we would probably still be kicking ass and taking names. It was a good run while it lasted, even though I'm not much of an RPer I still had fun. I enjoyed being the head of our dysfunctional, performance enhanced, athletic department. I also got a kick out of scaring people away from TS/Vent. You RPers are so soft.

[opalexian]

<3 Dewce, and you just made me laugh in vent, but I came here from Tich so go figure ; b Hope you guys are all doing well-SMU pretty much convinced me to stay on TN after the trainwreck that was KKV (lolalekander)

[drippygoo]

hey its Dewce

[Whispersoft]

SMU was a great guild and the friends I made through them is what kept me playing for a long time. You all missed a great group of people:)

[Ironskull]

I liked them a lot too. They were the only ones who reliably showed up to my economics lecturers.

The problem with these sorts of guilds is that blizzard doesn't make it easy to do any kind of RP stuff. Which means the guild masters have to do a ton of work to create events that may or may not be much more fun than grinding BGs for gear or raiding. The appeal of RP is always going to be at odds with the addictive nature of WoW. The addiction is the repeated bar pressing for pellets of loot that come on a variable reinforcement schedule (the one shown by behaviorists to be maximize the rat bar pressing behavior). When you log out of wow and think, "I didn't accomplish anything..." that's the addiction. And RP doesn't result in any pellets of loot.

When I was running the Cartel I lived for reinforcement on the forums and on the TNG. My little pellets were a "good job" here or "WTB Cartel" on the forums. That was reinforcing for a long while, but eventually it felt like we were taken for granted, the novelty wore off, and we weren't really able to help RPers that much in the long run.

World PvP guilds suffer the same problem I think. The pellets in those dungeons and BGs are always calling...

edit: this is Sowell

[Broxigan]

Holy crap. Whisper AND Dewce in one thread?!

[Whispersoft]

If you build it, they will come.

Hi Brox!

[Broxigan]

Hi!

If I see a Lovely join in here anytime soon, I think I will drop a dewce. [Badum-pish.]

Speaking of which, anyone seen or heard from Lovely lately? I wonder if he quit AoC.

[Dewce]

I'm pretty sure lovely was just an alt of Nicoleta's. I mean we never heard Lovely on vent and I know Nic had two macs to play on. I think it was just dual boxing before multi boxing became popular. It would also explain how both of them were so horrible at the game.

[Yichimet]

I loved those ZA runs with you guys. I still miss having your silly antics around.

[Icia]

Aww... I do miss SMU. Good times, good times.