The Guild (web series)

This article is about the sitcom. For the historic park and hotel in Toronto, see Guild Inn. For the video game, see Europa 1400: The Guild.

The Guild
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Felicia Day
Starring	Felicia Day Vincent Caso Jeff Lewis Amy Okuda Sandeep Parikh Robin Thorsen
Composer	Don Schiff
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	58 (list of episodes)
Production
Producers	Felicia Day Kim Evey Jane Selle Morgan
Production locations	Los Angeles, California
Running time	3–13 minutes
Original release
Network	YouTube MSN Video Xbox Live Marketplace Zune Marketplace
Release	July 27, 2007 (2007-07-27) – present

The Guild is an American comedy web series created and written by Felicia Day, who also stars as Cyd Sherman (aka Codex). It premiered on YouTube on July 27, 2007. Subsequent webisodes premiered on Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace, Zune Marketplace, and MSN Video. The webisodes were later made available on the official Guild website, YouTube, and iTunes. The webisodes are also available via DVD and on Netflix and Hulu.

The show revolves around the lives of an online guild, The Knights of Good, who play countless hours of an MMORPG video game, aptly named "The Game". The story focuses on Codex, the guild's Priestess, who attempts to lead a normal life after one of her guild-mates, Warlock Zaboo (Sandeep Parikh), shows up on her doorstep.

Joss Whedon credits The Guild as one of the inspirations for Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, which also starred Felicia Day.

The series is currently pending renewal for a sixth season, which would have it continue to premiere through Microsoft's services.

History

The Guild was inspired and written by Felicia Day, an avid gamer, in between acting roles in several American television shows and movies. After two years of video game addiction, Day decided to make something productive from her experiences and wrote the series as a sitcom television pilot. The series was purposely kept generic to avoid copyright problems and to appeal to a wider audience of massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) fans. Day also hoped to show that the stereotypical man living in his parents' basement is not the only kind of gamer. Believing the niche setting wouldn't appeal to television marketers, she decided to produce the series online with Jane Selle Morgan and Kim Evey. Day already knew Sandeep Parikh and Jeff Lewis from Empty Stage, a Los Angeles-based comedy theatre, and their roles were written for them. The rest of the cast was filled through auditions. After filming the first three episodes in two and a half days, they ran out of money. After donations were invited through PayPal, the fourth and fifth episodes were almost solely financed by donations.

Format

Each episode opens with Codex (Felicia Day) recapping the previous events in the story in the form of a video blog. Usually it gives the audience a recap of the previous episode and shares Codex's feelings on the subject. The video blogs appear to be outside the timeline, as she is usually wearing an outfit (typically her pajamas) different from that in the episode itself, though some blogs take place in time line with other character or situations interrupting Codex.

Plot

See also: List of The Guild episodes

Season 1 (2007–2008)

Cyd Sherman struggles to limit her time online, where she games as her alter ego Codex, a member of the Knights of Good. After the guild realize that Zaboo has been offline for 39 hours, he appears on Codex's door step. Zaboo misunderstood Codex's in-game chats as flirting, and became a stalker living in the same apartment.

On the in-game side, trouble also arises when Bladezz is banned from the game for using a macro (to spam expletives "a few thousand times") in the trade house. Codex uses this as an excuse to have the guild help her with her Zaboo problem. The guild (sans Bladezz) reluctantly meets up in person — for the first time — at Cheesybeards, a local restaurant, only to find out that Vork had transferred all of their in-game valuables to Bladezz's account as part of a team building strategy. If they decided to kick out Bladezz, they would lose everything.

Things get worse when Bladezz begins to slander the Knights of Good by showing inappropriate videos of the members' characters, and Codex is no closer to getting Zaboo to go home. Then, Zaboo's home comes to him in the form of his overbearing mother. Zaboo confesses that his mother controls every aspect of his life besides the Internet, which she is beginning to read about. He saw this as his only escape.

Codex comes up with a plan to bring Bladezz down, using Zaboo's stalking skills. Zaboo finds out about Bladezz's modeling career and blackmails him into giving the gold and equipment back to the Guild. The Guild then fights off Zaboo's mom, and Bladezz redeems himself by landing the final blow. Codex soon realizes that she got Zaboo's mother's loot... Zaboo!

Season 2 (2008–2009)

Zaboo's mother takes revenge for losing Zaboo, by having Codex evicted. Codex and Zaboo move into a new apartment, where Codex meets a new love interest: Wade (Fernando Chien), a stunt man. Codex tries to get Zaboo to move out by telling him that he needs to level up before they can be together. She arranges for him to live with Vork, who will take in-game gold as rent, something Zaboo is really good at: farming. Codex focuses on trying to get Wade interested in her.

The Guild finds an a valuable in-game orb which Clara and Tink fight over. Just as Vork lets it go up for bid, Clara's children unplug her computer and Tink wins it. Clara vows revenge on Vork for giving it to Tink, and spends an entire weekend betraying Vork by corpse camping him on an alternate account as well as searching for her own orb.

Bladezz believes Tink is romantically interested in him and begins to max out his mother's credit cards to buy her stuff, when, in fact, Tink is using him to get what she wants. Vork is annoyed with Zaboo's lack of logic and his antics in trying to 'man-up' for Codex. Codex finds out that the stunt-man has a "stupid tall hot girlfriend," Riley.

The Game announces that the online play will be shut down for maintenance for 4 hours, during which Vork plans a strategy lecture for Zaboo and Bladezz, while Codex plans a quiet party with Clara and Tink. Bladezz coerces Vork to abandon the lecture in favor of a poker game (offline), hoping to make up some of what he spent on Tink. Clara advertises Codex's party and it becomes a crowded kegger.

Among Clara's random invitees, Wade and Riley (Michele Boyd) come to the party. After finding out that Riley is Wade's roommate and Wade is single, Tink and Clara try to hook Codex up with him. Zaboo, learning of this, persuades Vork and Bladezz to go to Codex's party to try to stop it. Vork discovers that Clara has been attacking him, and begins to question his quality of leadership. Bladezz confronts Tink about their relationship; upon learning that he has been used, Bladezz steals Tink's laptop and deletes her character. Meanwhile, Zaboo walks in on Wade and Codex kissing and challenges Wade to a fight. Wade is a much better fighter, but Zaboo's seriousness about Codex leads to Wade giving up his interest in her. Codex yells at Zaboo that she doesn't like him, and he leaves dejected. Then Codex sees a drunken Clara kissing with Wade, and decides to chase after Zaboo to apologize, but is hurt when she sees him making out with Riley.

Season 3 (2009)

Codex was able to recover from the disastrous party by the announcement of the new expansion pack for the game, Spires of Dragonor. The Knights of Good are first in line at GameStop until a rival guild, the Axis of Anarchy, cuts in front of them. After the Axis tricks a GameStop worker into sending the Knights to the back of line, Vork, still not over the events of the party, resigns as Guild Leader. Codex is elected as his successor, causing Tink to leave the Knights and join the Axis.

Most of the Knights are too busy with life to explore the expansion pack. Vork goes on a self discovery journey, Zaboo is preoccupied by his domineering girlfriend, Riley, Clara's husband finds photos of her kissing Wade, and Bladezz's sister keeps bothering him. The expansion also requires at least six members in a party, and without Tink they have only five.

Clara's husband demands that she spend more time with him, so Clara proposes that her husband take Tink's place, after auditions for a sixth member fail. Riley offers to join, but Codex chooses Clara's husband instead, adding "Mr Wiggly" to the guild. Riley then forces Zaboo to choose between her and the game. Bladezz begins to be targeted by Tink and the Axis of Anarchy, who expose his modeling alias to his school and plant weapons in his locker; later, a member of the Anarchists seduces his mom. Codex issues a message on the game's public forum to stand up against the Axis for the behavior, and in retaliation the Axis puts a bounty on the Guild. Mr. Wiggly unknowingly gives away information about the Guild to other gamers in exchange for loot, which leads to his expulsion from the Guild; with this he tells Clara to quit the game, which she does to save her marriage.

To end the Axis's harassment of Bladezz, Codex and Zaboo track down the Anarchist Valkyrie at his job, where is he playing the game on company time. After they take away some of his character's possessions and threaten to expose him, Valkyrie tells them where and when the next Axis of Anarchy meeting will take place. Vork returns after regaining his confidence to lead and, with Codex, reassembles the Guild to challenge the Axis at the Internet café where they planned to have a group raid. The battle begins, but both sides lose members quickly. Some of the Knights die in-game when their real life problems manifest: Clara's husband shows up, angry that she is playing the game; Riley destroys Zaboo's computer because he forgot to give her a massage. Clara tells her husband that they are going to have another child and he forgets about their argument. Zaboo breaks up with Riley, who then proceeds to make out with Venom.

Finally, only Codex is left to face off Tink and Axis leader Fawkes (Wil Wheaton). After Codex makes Bladezz apologize to Tink, Tink decides that the Axis members are even bigger jerks than she can stand and lets Codex kill her in-game. Codex, in a hallucinatory conversation with her game character, musters the courage to defeat Fawkes. The Knights welcome Tink back into the guild, and Bladezz makes tentative peace with the Axis member who seduced his mother. Fawkes invites Codex for drinks; she initially refuses but, in a twist ending, wakes up in bed with him the next morning.

Season 4 (2010)

An unexpected and unintentional one-night-stand with Fawkes (Wil Wheaton) causes Codex to stress over what the guild thinks of her and persuades him to cover for her in a pretend relationship. But after spending more time together, Codex realizes he is a "total tool-bag" and reevaluates her criteria for relationships with men. Her computer breaks and she is forced to get a job at Cheesybeards to pay for repairs but has no idea how to fulfill the expectations of her boss, Ollie (Frank Ashmore).

Zaboo tries to be a good friend to Codex during her fake relationship with Fawkes instead of trying to win her love. He dives into this new pursuit with his usual smothering intensity. When the truth of the relationship is revealed he realizes that his feelings for Codex have changed and he wants to be her friend.

An earnings competition for a new guild hall sparks a real life business for Tink and Clara that strengthens and strains their friendship.

Vork enlists Zaboo's mother, Avinashi (Viji Nathan), for her "brilliant economic mind" in his pursuit of his vision for the guild's hall and he sets up a stock market and loan company that is bankrupting players. However, her smothering tendencies enrage him to the point that he "make[s] a giant gesture that's really inappropriate" and proposes marriage in an attempt to repulse her. To his horror she accepts.

Codex and Bladezz film an online Cheesybeards commercial but the result is so horrible that it spawns a series of prank calls to the establishment. Ollie is furious and fires Codex. The guild helps Codex get her job back by organizing a celebration at Cheesybeards that attracts a large population of gamers. Bladezz attempts to perform a magic trick involving fire, which ends up torching the restaurant (costing Codex and Bladezz their jobs).

Zaboo begs Codex to intercede in the upcoming nuptials between his mother and Vork. And when Zaboo reveals he has used the money from auctioning a romantic painting of Codex and Fawkes he had commissioned to buy her a new computer she is touched by the gesture and resolves to break up the wedding.

Avinashi and Vork are about to speak their vows to each other, at a virtual wedding ceremony in the newly purchased prison-like Knights of Good guild hall, when all of the guild members object. Codex manages to convince Zaboo's mother that it is wrong to marry "someone [she] can't stand in order to be close to someone who doesn't want to be near [her]". Zaboo helps by suggesting that she visit every few weeks when she gets lonely, causing Codex to realize that he possesses all the qualities on her new litmus test, and consider a relationship with him.

The season wraps up with an official gamemaster crashing the ceremony to put an end to Vork's "Trogothian Stock Market" scheme. Codex convinces the GM, Kevinator (Simon Helberg), to change the design of the guild hall to the "bitchin' fairy palace" that Tink and Clara wanted. Kevinator is impressed to meet Bladezz, who has become an internet celebrity, and invites the whole guild to a gaming convention.

Season 5 (2011)

The Knights of Good travel to MegaGameORama-Con, a three-day gaming convention. Bladezz is convinced by Kevinator that he is invited as a special guest, but his name is not on the invite list. With all nearby hotels booked and no board offered for them, Rachel, a member of the convention staff, manages to secure a room from a special guest who cancelled at the last minute. However, the room is not offered to them for free, and Bladezz convinces the rest of the guild that he will clarify the situation to Kevinator. Meanwhile, Codex is more interested in getting close to Zaboo. However, Zaboo becomes engrossed in attending the events and panels.

On the first day of the convention, Bladezz and Vork discover that Kevinator had been fired from The Game before the day of the convention and Bladezz was one of his joke invites. To compensate for hotel fees, both of them start up a photo booth for the Cheeseybeard's pirate. Tink attempts to sell the t-shirts she and Clara made, but is forced to find a booth to avoid from being caught by the convention staff for selling without a permit. When she and Clara come upon a steampunk-themed booth, Clara is more interested in it than selling the shirts. Zaboo is denied entry to a panel because the seats are full, causing him to form a seat-saving network.

Codex tries out the new demo at The Game's booth, but unknowingly insults the creator, Floyd Petrovski, when he asks for her opinion. She becomes even more preoccupied when Zaboo spurns her advances, and is continuously stalked by a convention-goer in a furry costume. When she follows Petrovski to apologize, she discovers that he plans to sell The Game into a mainstream market. Concerned about the future of the game, which is the only thing in her life holding her friendships together, she tries to convince the rest of the guild to help, but all are concerned with their own matters.

Codex attempts to talk Petrovski out of the deal, but he is too stressed and urges her to face reality. Tink, who continuously changes costumes to hide her identity, unexpectedly reveals to Codex at a party, that she is hiding from her adoptive family. Her family still believes that she is studying pre-med when, in fact, she had changed her major into fashion design five semesters ago. Codex arranges a dinner with her family to explain the truth to them against Tink's will, and to Tink's surprise, her family is fine with the change. Meanwhile, Clara tries to join the steampunk group and is trained as their fourth member to help them win the costume contest, but the members of the group ultimately turn her away. Zaboo, who has not slept for two days, has become so preoccupied with his seat-saving network that he allows his companions, two Master Chiefs, to beat up celebrities. He is stopped by Clara, who brings back his old personality and urges him to go to sleep.

Bladezz and Vork's booth becomes successful, but Vork rejects all of the celebrities who want to spend time with Bladezz. His attention, however, is turned towards Madeleine, an actress who played his favorite character, Charity, on the show Time Rings. The two are invited to a celebrity party that night, but Bladezz realizes that all the celebrities lead normal lives, instantly finding them boring. Despite that he had promised to spend time with Rachel and her friends at the same time, he still rejects them for the celebrities and openly humiliates them. Vork, on the other hand, ends up repulsing Madeleine to the point where she loses interest in him too.

The next day, Bladezz has lost all support from the celebrities and his fans, so he is unable to continue the Cheeseybeard pirate's photo booth. Zaboo ends his involvement with the seat-saving network and helps Clara build a steampunk-themed blimp. Codex and Tink discover that Codex's stalker is Fawkes, who wants to join their guild after the Axis of Anarchy broke up, whom Codex instantly rejects. The girls later eavesdrop on Petrovski's conversation and discover he plans on revealing his decision at the costume contest that night. Both of them convince the rest of the guild to help them with the possibility that extra charges may be applied to future versions of the game. The guild is able to stop the changes and it is implied that Floyd Petrovski has given Codex a job.

Characters and cast

Knights of Good

The cast of The Guild at the 2009 Streamy Awards

Lewis (Vork), Okuda (Tinkerballa), and Thorsen (Clara)

• Codex (real name Cyd Sherman) is the Priest. Codex is shy and non-confrontational, tending to panic under stress. Outside the game she is a concert violinist (and former child prodigy), unemployed after setting fire to her boyfriend's cello. She is an addicted gamer who tries at first to control the time she spends online, but fails. For this reason, her therapist drops her. At the beginning of the series she is quite reclusive with no real-life friends; she is often self-conscious and awkward around men. Codex is portrayed by creator Felicia Day.
• Zaboo (real name Sujan Balakrishnan Goldberg) is the Warlock. Zaboo describes himself as a "HinJew", having a Hindu mother and Jewish father. He shows great skill with computers; for example, his stalking of Codex included obtaining (presumably through the Internet) the floor plan of her apartment and all her past residences. His obsessive attitude toward Codex reflects his mother's smothering. When talking, Zaboo often uses "-'d" after some key word or expression, self-commenting on what he just said (e.g. bladder'd, testosterone'd). While Zaboo doesn't appear to have a profession, he admits having attended college for four years (to which his mother drove him every day). Zaboo is portrayed by Sandeep Parikh, Indian-American writer, director, actor and producer of comedy and founder of effinfunny.com.
• Vork (real name Herman Holden) is the guild leader and Warrior. He enjoys managing the guild and budgeting, and believes only in rules and logic. He lives frugally (and illegally) on his late grandfather's Social Security checks and is a certified Notary Public. When he became Guild Leader he "cut the fats of life" including electric power; he steals his senile neighbor's wifi (and shed), and keeps his food cold by buying ice with food stamps. In the penultimate episode of season 3 he reveals that he can speak fluent Korean; in season 4, he speaks Hindi to Zaboo's mother and claims to know all languages. Vork comes to believe that shared hatred of him is what keeps the guild together. In Season 4, his desire to own a guild hall leads him to manipulating an in-game exchange market, nearly causing him to be banned from the game. Vork is portrayed by Jeff Lewis, an accomplished character actor and comedian.
• Bladezz (real name Simon) is the Rogue. He is a high school student who spends most of his time outside of school in his basement playing the Game. He is rude to the other male guild members, and hits on the female guild members, and makes lewd sexual jokes and comments. He is worried about being sent to military school, and to save up for college his mom forced him into modeling; he uses the name "Finn Smulders" to keep it a secret from everyone. Bladezz is by nature a Rogue, and tends to sneak around, betraying, lying, stealing and causing mayhem. Bladezz is portrayed by Vincent Caso.
• Clara (real name Clara Beane) is the Mage. Clara is a stay-at-home wife and mother, college partier, and ex-cheerleader. Her three children are all young, with the youngest still breastfeeding, and she is shown to be an irresponsible mother; though proud of her children, she tends to put gaming before her family, and sometimes tries to mix the two, such as by recruiting her husband "Mr. Wiggly" to the guild. She uses her real name as her avatar name because her kids saw her old name, "Mom-inatrix". She comes off as ditsy, scatter brained, and eccentric with occasional bursts of insight. In the Fifth season she proves herself to be a capable mother when she stops Zaboo from going mad with power and lack of sleep. Clara is portrayed by Robin Thorsen.
• Tinkerballa (real name April Lou) is the Ranger. Tink distances herself from the guild, trying not to let them know anything about her personal life. In reality, Tink is adopted and has two sisters. She also has been lying to her parents about being a pre-med student, when she has actually switched courses for a degree in costume design. She is shown to have a huge video game addiction, always having an alternate game in hand when not playing the guild's game, even when raiding. She is cold and manipulative, and uses men to get what she wants. When Vork resigns as leader and Tink is not elected his successor, she leaves the Knights of Good and joins the Axis of Anarchy, but later finds them too "douchey" even for her (she even says that she went on a date with Fawkes to join). Tink is revealed to be possibly the most social of the group although is incredibly grounded in the online world. In Season 5, Codex reunites Tink with her family at the gaming con. Tink is portrayed by Amy Okuda.

Temporary members

• Mr. Wiggly (real name George Beane) is a Hunter. He is Clara's husband, nominated by Clara to replace Tink; Codex hastily accepts him in order to prevent Zaboo from recruiting Riley. He is clearly inexperienced in gaming, mentioning that the last game he played was Pong (which Bladezz was unfamiliar with). Mr. Wiggly wants to spend time with Clara, but is at his wits' end with her distraction and infidelity. George is shown to be a conventional man who has a sense of responsibility, helping Clara when she spontaneously starts a gamer company. Mr. Wiggly is played by Brett Sheridan.

Axis of Anarchy

• Fawkes is the leader of the Axis of Anarchy. He always wears a black kilt and often wears a black "Axis of Anarchy" t-shirt. In person he speaks with a cool, calm, almost polite tone, though he is prone to angered outbursts when online. He seems to be quite educated as well, as he is constantly quoting philosophers, authors, or figures of history. He often demonstrates that he does not believe in following rules, unless it benefits him. Because of their top ranking, he expects constant perfection from his guild. He is also quite full of himself and manipulative, convincing people they are into him. During season four he has an on-off relationship with Codex, the future of which remains ambiguous at the season finale. He returns in Season 5, revealing that the Axis broke up (claiming no fault of his own). Fawkes is played by Wil Wheaton.
• Venom is the only female in her guild, until Tink joins. She is a parapalegic and uses a wheelchair to move around, but seems to have no problem exploiting her handicap for personal gain. She has a violent attitude and seems to dislike her guildmates. On at least two occasions she threatens suicide to get her way, and, when her character is killed in-game, feels ecstacy at this vicarious death. She works as a substitute art teacher at Bladezz's high school. Played by Teal Sherer.
• Bruiser is the guild's healer, and a corrupt police officer. Bruiser is probably the largest, loudest, and most vulgar member of the Axis. He had sex with Bladezz's mother to torment Bladezz. Played by J. Teddy Garces.
• Kwan is a champion StarCraft player and earns millions playing in South Korea. He only speaks Korean, and has a female assistant named Nik (played by Toni Lee) who massages his hands and translates for him. He seems to be able to understand some English, and it's possible that Fawkes can understand some of what he says (as his translator does not translate what Kwan says into English). Played by Alexander Yi.
• Valkyrie (alt-character Artemis) is the attempted joker of the guild, though his jokes seem to be funny only to himself. Based on dialogue with his off-screen boss, he works for some form of design or decorating firm - he claimed to be dealing with a client whose damask came in the wrong color. He also has web skills, claiming to be the one who created FinnSmulders.com. He also plays two girl characters because he claims to like looking at girls, although it is strongly implied he might be a closet homosexual. Played by Mike Rose.

Other characters

• Zaboo's mother (Avinashi Goldberg) epitomizes the over-controlling mother. She had Zaboo microchipped to keep track of his movements, punches Codex for (in her belief) trying to take her son away from her, manipulates him through a series of probably false ailments, and gets Codex evicted for helping him break free of her. She returns in Season 4, attempting to develop a real relationship with her son and ends up assisting Vork in earning gold to purchase a deluxe guild hall. She does manage to reconcile with Zaboo. She is played by Viji Nathan.
• Riley is Wade's roommate with benefits and temporarily dated Zaboo. Riley is an FPS gamer and is ranked in Halo on Xbox Live. Riley is very dominant and enjoys submissive underdogs like Zaboo, and later Codex. At first she was thrilled to meet Codex, another girl gamer, until after she learned that Codex was an MMORPG player, the two began a grudging rivalry. This parodies the normal relationship between MOG and MMORPG players. In the finale of Season 3, Riley straddles Venom and starts making out with her to get back at Zaboo for breaking up with her. Riley and Venom then start a relationship, which goes well into Season 4 Episode 10, where they're seen discussing Wench outfits. Riley is played by Team Unicorn member Michele Boyd.
• Dena is Bladezz' precocious little sister. She is first seen when she arrives at the table at Cheesybeards, just after Bladezz has informed the Guildies that he is in control of all the Guild gold and equipment, ruining his big exit. Dena often practices playing bass guitar in Bladezz' basement, to his annoyance, and reads Sun Tzu's The Art of War (along with building Civil War dioramas). In Season 4, she trained Bladezz in being an actor (calling him terrible). Dena is played by Tara Caso, the sister of Vincent Caso who plays Bladezz.
• Wade Wei is Codex's attractive neighbor and brief love interest. Not a gamer himself, Wade works as a martial arts stunt double; on first meeting Codex, he bumps into her and falls down some stairs, practicing a new stunt. He's fond of showing off his moves and flirting with Codex, making her extremely nervous. Having a queasy stomach, Codex vomits on him upon seeing him in makeup from a zombie movie he is playing in. He harbors a revulsion for gamers, expressing his desire to punch them. Ironically, he describes Codex's gaming-derived knowledge of weaponry as "sexy," though it is worth noting that she does not explain how she knows so much about weapons when he makes the compliment. In episode 10 of season 2, it was revealed that he did motion capture stunt work for the Game. Wade is played by Fernando Chien.
• Ollie is the manager of Cheesybeards. He runs his restaurant in a very casual style, allowing Bladezz to use a computer while working at the grill. He speaks entirely in pirate-slang and uses a hook on his left hand (which is hinted to be real). Ollie is responsible for Codex getting a job at the restaurant, after she says she can improve advertising and increase business (though Bladezz sabotages these efforts). Ollie is slightly at odds with Jeannete, who strongly disapproves of Bladezz's slacker work ethic. He first appeared in episode 3 of season 4 and is played by Frank Ashmore.
• Jeanette is Bladezz's superior at Cheesybeards. She is fed up with his horrible work ethic, but is at odds with Ollie (who is okay with Bladezz). At the end of Season 4, it is revealed she was one of Fawkes' one-night stands and proceeds to beat him up (as she knows mixed martial arts). Jeanette was the first new character to appear in Season 4 and was played by Tymberlee Hill.
• Kevinator is the official Gamemaster of the Game who appears at the end of Season 4 to undo Vork ruining the in game economy by hoarding craft items and selling them for massively inflated prices. Kevinator displays a high level of narcissism over his role, proclaiming ‘I am a god!’ before shooting lightning bolts around while giggling manically. After recognising Bladezz from the Cheesy Beards commercial and becoming friends, he provides the Knights of Good with tickets for a gaming convention focused on The Game. However, in Season 5, it is revealed that Kevinator was fired from the game just before the convention for unfair play. In addition, the invite for Bladezz turns out to be a joke, as he has a habit of inviting internet memes for his boss. Kevinator is played by Simon Helberg.
• Rachel is one of the staff members at Megagame-o-ramacon. She is amazed with meeting Bladezz (barely able to contain her excitement when meeting him), going out of her way to help get the Guild a room. The next day, Rachel is forced to get Tink and Clara to stop selling their shirts (with the help of stormtroopers). After being stood up by Bladezz she and her friends harass him by picketing and wrecking his booth at the convention, though Bladezz does manage to apologize later. She is played by Hayley Holmes.

Reception

The Guild currently has over 69 million upload views on YouTube as of September 2011. The series has won several awards since its launch, and in February 2009, Rolling Stone named it one of "The Net's Best Serial Shows". The Guild has inspired many fan efforts, including the tribute song "I Wanna Be in Your Guild".

Awards

Won

• 2007 YouTube Video Award – Best Series
• 2008 South by Southwest Greenlight Award – Best Original Production
• 2008 Yahoo! Video Award – Best Series
• 2009 Streamy Awards – Best Comedy Web Series, Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series, and Best Female Actor in a Comedy Web Series (Felicia Day)
• 2010 Streamy Awards – Best Directing for a Comedy Web Series (Sean Becker) and Best Female Actor in a Comedy Web Series (Felicia Day)

Nominated

• 2009 Streamy Awards – Audience Choice Award for Best Web Series, Best Director for a Comedy Web Series (Sean Becker), Best Writing for a Comedy Web Series (Felicia Day), Best Male Actor in a Comedy Web Series (Sandeep Parikh), Best Guest Star in a Web Series (Fernando Chien), Best Editing for a Web Series (Sean Becker), Best Art Direction (Leah Mann), Best Visual Effects (Doug Luberts) and Best Original Music (Eanan Patterson and Don Schiff)
• 2010 Streamy Awards – Best Comedy Web Series, Audience Choice Award for Best Web Series, Best Writing for a Comedy Web Series (Felicia Day), Best Male Actor in a Comedy Web Series (Sandeep Parikh), Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series and Best Guest Star in a Web Series (Wil Wheaton)

In other media

Comic books

On March 24, 2010, the first issue of the comic book limited series based on the show was released from Dark Horse Comics. It acts as a prequel to the show, and was written by Felicia Day and illustrated by Jim Rugg. The second issue was released on April 23, 2010, and the third and final issue was released on May 26, 2010. The collected volume was released on November 24, 2010.

A second five-issue series will be released in 2011. Each issue will focus on a single character (Vork, Zaboo, Clara, Tinkerballa and Bladezz) and be illustrated by a different artist.

Music videos

The Guild cast have appeared as their characters in two music videos to promote the series. In (Do You Wanna Date My) Avatar, the cast appear as their game characters. The song and video were released shortly before the start of Season 3 and were used to promote the show. Game On is a Bollywood-themed video about Zaboo trying to convince Codex to play the game. This second video was used in a similar fashion and promoted Season 4.

Production notes

Season 1

The Guild was originally intended to be a pilot episode for a TV series, but Felicia Day was advised that it would be much more suited for a web series. The show changed its format and script to fit a web series. The first episode "Wake-Up Call" premiered on YouTube on July 27, 2007. After the first three episodes, the group ran out of money; but a link to Day's PayPal brought enough donations to fund "Cheesybeards" and "Rather Be Raiding". The first season ended on May 15, 2008, consisting of 10 episodes and two specials (including the Christmas special, "Christmas Raid Carol").

The Guild season 1 DVD was released on Amazon.com on May 19, 2009. For Canadian audiences it was bundled with season 2, released on September 29, 2009, also available on Amazon.com.

Season 2

Filming for season 2 began in August 2008. "Link the Loot" premiered on Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft Zune Marketplace, and MSN Video on November 25, 2008. Season 2 ended with "Fight!" on February 17, 2009 and featured "Love During Wartime" by the Main Drag, as well as visual effects by Doug Luberts.

On November 24, 2008, Microsoft announced an exclusive distribution deal with Guild creator Felicia Day. All twelve episodes of season 2 premiered on Xbox 360, Zune, and MSN, with a four-week delay for release on The Guild's official website. The Microsoft releases will be free, but supported by Sprint advertisements and product placements. Creator Felicia Day retains the IP rights to the series, with Microsoft paying an "unspecified" license fee upfront. Sometime in late February 2009, when all episodes of season two had been released, Day and her team were free to sign a new nonexclusive distribution deal should they choose to do so.

The Guild season 2 DVD was released on Amazon.com on May 19, 2009, containing commentary tracks, gag reels, audition footage, and a "behind the scenes" documentary. It was also released for the Canadian audience along with season 1 on Amazon.com.

Season 2 was nominated for eleven Streamy Awards and won three: Best Comedy Web Series, Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series, and Best Female Actor in a Comedy Web Series (Felicia Day).

Season 3

On August 17, 2009, a music video – "(Do You Wanna Date My) Avatar" by Felicia Day – was released on Xbox Live to promote season 3, which would premiere on August 25, 2009 on Xbox Live for members with Gold Accounts first. Later it was announced that it would be released for members with Silver Accounts, as well as Zune and MSN Video users, on September 1, 2009. The season premiered with "Expansion Time" on August 25, 2009 and ended on November 24, 2009 with "Hero". The season featured guest star Wil Wheaton as the leader of a rival guild out to destroy the Knights of Good.

Season 4

In April 2010, The Guild's official website announced the show was renewed by Microsoft for a fourth season. On June 9, 2010, the official recap of season 3—an Auto-Tuned music video by The Gregory Brothers—was posted on Bing; the video included a message that season 4 would begin on July 13, 2010.

On July 27, 2010, a second music video, called "Game On", was posted to promote season 4. On September 14, 2010, another promotional video was posted of the Cheesybeard's full commercial.

Season 5

Season 5 takes place at the gaming convention mentioned at the end of season 4. Shooting began on April 21, 2011. The first episode of Season 5 was released on Xbox Live and Zune on July 26, 2011, and was released on MSN on July 28.

References

Further reading

• Sarno, David (February 7, 2008). "Worth Watching: 'The Guild' mixes dorkdom with humor and cute chicks". Web Scout:. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-01-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
• O'Rorke, Imogen (December 22, 2008). "WoW! How The Guild beat the system". The Guardian. pp. p6 of the Media news & features section. Retrieved 2009-01-10. {{cite web}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

External links

• Official website
• The Guild at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com

Streaming webisodes

• The Guild's channel on YouTube
• The Guild show on YouTube
• The Guild at Effinfunny
• The Guild at Zune
• The Guild at Xbox Live Marketplace

In-universe websites

• The Viral Site created by the Axis of Anarchy
• The Knights of Good
• Cheesybeard's Restaurant