This is both an interesting and difficult post for me to write because of my status within the nerd community. I'm not a n00b by any stretch of the imagination, but I have many friends and I'm sure many readers who are much more familiar with the nerd society than I am. My family got a computer at a pretty early time and I became much more experienced with computers and then the internet than most people my age. I was on the early lines of music downloading (though I never got into IRC) and spent a lot of time downloading albums and songs and making my friends mix CDs with that newfangled CD burner. All through my life I have been into some fantasy and sci-fi, am now pretty well versed in comics, and hell in college I was even a physics major.
Although I had the credentials and promise of being an uber-nerd, I never quite fulfilled that destiny. During college I reached a certain level of understanding with computers and kind of just stopped there. But I really think the reason I never fully submerged myself into the nerd culture was because of my lack of interest in online gaming. I played a ton of video games as a kid (sorry Mom!) and still keep up with some console titles to this day, but I never got into online gaming. All of the biggest nerds I know really got into Diablo or some RPG which implemented online play at a young age, and then World of Warcraft or some other MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) when online play was even bigger. Although I know I missed out on a little bit of important culture related to my interests, I've seen lives destroyed by online game addiction so I don't regret it too much.
Why do I bring up all this nerd-cred talk? Well this post is about The Guild and Felicia Day, who is the 'it girl' of the nerd community. Most of you who are aware of Felica Day know her from playing Penny on Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (which if you haven't seen, you should do so now!) but she's pretty much a superstar to those who consider going to comic-con a holy pilgrimage. She obviously has some sex appeal, more in the girl-next-door way than in the Megan Fox way, but I think the majority of her appeal comes from the way she interacts with her fans. It's a little bit of a case of the right person at the right time, but the way she interacts with her fans via flickr, twitter, her blog and in public appearances gives her fans the feeling like they are in her life. She interacts with her fans on the internet like one of their friends might, not like some kind of aloof celebrity. It also doesn't hurt that she has some major nerd-cred.
Her online series The Guild is based on her love and previous addiction with World of Warcraft. I think everyone of my age has met someone in their life who had a major addiction to this game. People will spend upwards of 20 hours a day playing WoW at the expense of everything else in their lives. I knew someone in college who was not only brilliant but was majoring in biochemistry. I had some of the most intellectually stimulating conversations of my college career with him, but it was impossible to engage him beyond a certain level because of his investment in WoW. Day took this common phenomenon, and something she knew quite well, and turned it into an idea for a TV sitcom. After being shot down by TV execs because the show was for such a niche audience, she decided to turn it into an online series.
The Guild is a series of 5-8 minute 'episodes' that was originally posted on YouTube and produced on the creator's own dollar. Although they had free hosting due to the (possibly fleeting) glory of YouTube, having the correct equipment and people to run that equipment is fairly expensive to get that profession look. The creators actually paid for the first few episodes until running out of money, using PayPal donations to pay for the rest of the first season. They have a few sponsors now which are combined with DVD sales to produce the show.
I will not pretend to be very knowledgeable about other web series, because frankly most of them that I have watched have been absolutely dreadful. The reason I think that The Guild succeeded and these others have not is that both Day and the others that helped make the show had previous experience in film and television. They knew what was needed to make a professional and interesting show, and combined that with their internet savvy and nerd knowledge to create possibly the most successful web based series to date.
I finally got around to watching The Guild after knowing of it for a year or so because of the above video. The video (which is extremely catchy) is a promotion for the third season which comes out to the general public this week. The video has the 6 characters dressed up as their online personas from the show. It also gives further evidence to Felicia Day's unmistakable charisma. I then went to YouTube to watch the first season and their website for the second.
As stated above, the show is a comedy based on Day's life and her experience with online addiction. If the show has any stated 'purpose', it's to make outsiders aware that more people than just teenage boys in their parents basements play and are addicted to online games. The actors are pretty much unknowns (except for Day) but they do a decent job with what they are given. The show makes plenty of gamer jokes, but they stay away from specific WoW terminology so that those who are uninitiated can follow along. I got most of the jokes and phrases just from being vaguely familiar with WoW, so the show is definitely not strictly for insiders.
The show is pretty funny, as long as you like nerd jokes and jokes about nerds, and I often had a pretty big grin while watching (I'm not a laugh out loud kind of person). The shows all start with a 30 second or so online diary entry by Day talking about the events in the previous or upcoming episode which are often the best part of the show. The first season starts with all 6 characters talking to each other purely through voice-chat while they play a WoW-like game until they have reason to finally meet in person. Of course many of them are opposed to meeting in RL (real life) and their social interactions are pretty awkward and amusing. To give a run-down the 6 characters include a sexually aggressive Mama's boy Indian, a technology obsessed Asian girl, a teenager who lives in his parent's basement, a neglectful mother, the cheap middle aged guildmaster, and Day's cute but awkward ex-violin prodigy. The episodes in a given season all run together right after each other, and tell one story that ends with them defeating a videogame like 'boss'.
The internet has definitely changed how we think about and view TV and movies, and although it's still in its infancy I think web-based material has a huge role to play. Dr. Horrible was the first web-based film to which many people were exposed (Buffy's Joss Whedon created it during the infamous writer's strike) and it's not surprising that Day was the inspiration for its creation. She has combined her knowledge about film and television with her love of gaming, nerd culture, and her irresistible charm to become one of the first successful web series creators. The Guild may be harder to watch as one 5 minute clip every month but I look forward to the upcoming season.
