Today I sat down with the leader of the Browncoats, a Republic guild that has an interesting commonality binding them all together, and had a very entertaining interview with her, yes guys a female guild leader and look out, she really knows her stuff, read on for the rest of the interview.
Firefly (TV show). Browncoats fought for the Independents against the
Alliance. “Browncoat” also means you are an avid fan of Firefly /
Serenity.
Q) Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentence description of your guild?
“Tell you, we get a mechanic, get her up and runnin‘ again, hire a
good pilot, maybe a cook. Live like real people. Small crew, them as
feel the need to be free, take jobs as they come. Ain’t never have to
be under the heel of nobody ever again.” — Captain Malcolm Reynolds,
Firefly
Can’t sum it up better than that.
Q) How did your guild come about?
My brother and I love Firefly and Star Wars. We knew we wanted to play
SWTOR with people who share a similar love for Firefly. So, we got
together some of our friends and began the search for other Browncoats
in the community… and here we are.
Q) What kind of play style do you focus on?
Social, with casual progression. We’re interested in all that SWTOR has
to offer, but we will be taking it at a more casual pace to balance it
with personal responsibilities. Light role-playing and PvP add to the
realism, so we are crossing our fingers for a RP-PvP server option.
Q) What is your guild set up? How do you run your guild?
As the Leader, I have the final say. But because we’re a small casual
guild, I can be more relaxed with the structure. I am open with my
members and listen to what they have to say.
Q) How serious do you play and/or run the guild?
I play hardcore to the point that I’m breaking out the calculator and
spreadsheets to maximize the effectiveness my character. But I play
casually in the sense that I can’t be tethered to a game several hours
every day. My goal with the Browncoats is to foster that kind of
environment, to help people get the most out of SWTOR without
sacrificing their personal lives.
Q) Do you have ranks or a certain hierarchy in your guild? If yes,
could you tell us a bit about it?
Other than a Leader and a few passionate Officers, there will be Class
Specialists. These people will be the experts in a certain class that
the guild can go to with questions. The Specialists have not been
officially assigned yet as we are giving people time to decided for
sure what main class they want to play.
Q) Why did you choose the Republic?
We chose Republic, this was a difficult choice. The Browncoats fought
for freedom and independence from an Alliance that is uncomfortably
similar to the Republic. However, I feel the Republic is the slightly
better choice, as we still aim to be “the good guys”.
That said, we will have a sister Empire guild that will be home to our
Empire characters.
Q) Why do you run a guild?
Because I want to foster the kind of environment I, personally, want
to be a part of. You might think running a casual guild doesn’t take
any work. But it does. I feel like I have the experience to avoid the
pitfalls that many Casual/Social guilds encounter.
Q) How will you approach Raid Planning?
We will coordinate Raids, however we won’t have anything like strict,
required participation. When we know what kinds of Raids there will be
in SWTOR, we’ll be able to figure out how to schedule participating.
Q) Are you always open for new recruits or do you want to keep a
certain guild size?
We would like to stay a smallish guild of avid Firefly fans, however
we are currently accepting more Browncoats into the crew.
None, however we tend to attract older players.
Q) Guild size?
Currently, we’re ~20 strong.
Q) What makes your guild stand out from everyone else? What makes your
guild unique?
Freedom, Loyalty, and a love for Firefly. There’s something special
about sharing an experience with fellow Browncoats.
Q) How do you spend your time until release? Do you know each other in
real life or do you spend a lot of time on forums?
My first Officer is my brother, and we have a few “real life” friends
at the core. But the rest we’ve more recently welcomed, so we’ve been
spending time on the forums, getting to know each other.
Q) What Other Games are you currently playing as a guild?
We are not a multi-gaming guild, however Halo, KotOR, Mass Effect, TF2
are among the favorites of some of our guild members.
Q) Guild systems in other MMOs? (Likes/Dislikes)
I am crossing my fingers that Bio-ware to give us good tools.
Customizable ranks as well as adequate room for announcements are
crucial. As a casual guild, members may not have time to be on forums
all the time, so a central place for organizing communication is key.
I have currently started using Twitter to send out announcements to
guild members who want to follow. (Follow @TOR_Browncoats if you’re
interested!)
Q) If somebody is interested now how and where can they apply for membership?
Firefly fans may apply at our swtor.com guild site:
Please make sure to include in your application what you enjoy about
Firefly and what it means to you to be a Browncoat.
Q) One last question, if there was one thing you could ask the Dev’s
to include, what would it be?
Being able to name your Ship (and maybe main weapon, too). Your ship
is your home, it deserves a proper name.
