Guild Hosting

From Website Hosting Wiki

Many people may not be aware of what ‘guild hosting’ is. Guild hosting – sometimes known as clan hosting – is a specialized web hosting service that has been specifically designed to support online gaming communities which are known in the gaming world as guilds or clans. The name comes from the days of Dungeons and Dragons groups, some of the first gaming communities to find homes on the internet. Guild hosting services provide users with application and communications tools outside the gaming environment.

Guild hosting services typically offer players, but are not limit to, the following: public and private forums or other communications means like instant messaging or chat rooms; tools for tracking character rosters for each player; scheduling application and means for organizing raids, tournaments, and other events; and applications for tracking treasures, items, or points accrued towards redeeming treasure.

Bulletin board software was originally used by gamers for their guilds so that they could communicate and game with like players. The complexity of these role playing games has increased and as memberships have grown, something better has needed. Scheduling tools and roster-management features were needed and GuildPortal was formed in 2001 in an effort to meet gamer’s needs. GamerDNA, which came out in 2006, was the first guild hosting service that provided the gaming network with a social network.

This service gives a guild the ability to have an online presence and allows members to communicate with each other outside the main gaming area on a more social level. Guild hosting service allows the guild to have a place to work while the providers maintain, upgrades, and integrates new software on the site. This overhead is not a burden to the guild and the members are able to devote their time to gaming. There are numerous different guild sites available with some of them dedicated to specific games such as World of Warcraft.