Since the early days of our podcast, we have spent a lot of time complaining about dicks. Gamer dicks to be more specific and less crude. It’s always a good time to trash some jerk on air. I doubt highly we ever shame them, but it’s still good for laughs. The problem is we hardly ever talk about the other side of the coin. The good folks in gaming who help each other out. After my long rainy weekend of gaming I have decided it’s time to change that. Time to pay tribute to the people who help each other out. Let’s hope this post will restore your faith in humanity, even if only slightly.

I think I have an interesting perspective on the topic of good guys. During the early days of multiplayer gaming I lone wolfed it a lot. Not because I had to mind you. I liked running around solo with no commitments or responsibilities. One thing it did was give me the chance to observe clans, guilds and gaming groups. The one thing that became immediately clear was there were good solid players in these groups. The question became could they outlast or keep at bay the standard enemies of all groups. Human created drama usually in the forum of politics or selfish behavior. In most cases the answer is no, but not always. The first guild I ever joined, the rat_stickers was a great group. I spent many a happy month in Everquest with them. It showed me that a good gaming group was possible. After my time in EQ, it was back to running alone until 2007 (no joke) when I bought an Xbox 360.

One of the first people to accept my friend request was are very own Patman. The poor bastard had no clue how deep that rabbit hole was going to go. In fact that was the starting point for what is today Wonderpod and Wonderpod-Online. Along with his friend I Pinch we wrecked our way through Gears of War 2 and COD MW2. Along the way fine folks like Gunsage, Glasenator, G, and Jon have joined the mob. This group even has it’s own resident troll. We keep him around to remind us of how lucky we are. The WPO crew is still going strong although we have our lulls and quiet moments. I very much look forward to blowing up noobs with them for years to come. I need to also send a shout out to the LFT minecraft group which I consider an extension to the WPO mob. Another good group of players to spend your time with.

Running with the WPO crew was a constant until this year. This year has become more about MMO games for me. Which if there was a game type that the group dynamic can be both good and bad it’s MMO’s. I experienced a disaster in WOW a couple years back that kind of soured me to guilds in general. So it was with some hesitation that I joined the Combat Wombat guild in Guild Wars 2. The Wombats turned out to be another awesome group to be around. This weekend we brawled our way through a massive event and spent most of the time joking and laughing. No getting mad when things went wrong. Just go back to battling and having a good time. People like Dusty, Robert, Jane, Eric and Jeremy make that so easy. I feel right at home with that mad mob. Finally the newest game I am playing has also lead me to another damn fine group. I am still new to this one, but I have a good feeling about it.

I started playing Wurm Online after learning about it on G+. The first 6 or 7 hours in this game was frustrating as hell. Finally just when I was about to quit I stumbled into a village known as Arcanum with a little help from a guy known as bobster. There Blkcobra took me in and gave me a place to learn the game. Where I wasn’t being hounded by mobs and jerks in world chat. In the blink of an eye the game went from frustration to fun. All due to good players who were willing to help the new guy.

While talking about jerks in gaming can be entertaining we must always remember there are good folks to. I hope that by briefly illustrating the good, all of you reading will think about your own good gaming experiences. Dicks will always be part of gaming, but I like to think for every dick there are one or two good folks. Remember we were all the new guy once. A key thing to keep in mind I feel. I would like to personally thank everyone mentioned here. Without them my game time would be less pleasant and that’s for sure.