Guild hosting service

A guild hosting or clan hosting service is a specialized type of web hosting service designed to support online gaming communities, generally referred to as guilds or clans. They vary from game server hosting in that the focus of such companies is to provide applications and communication tools outside of the gaming environments themselves.

Guild hosting services address a guild's basic need to have an online presence and allow guild members to communicate with each other outside of the game. While it is possible for any guild to do this on their own, setting up and maintaining a site requires constant maintenance, upgrades and integration of new software. One of the key reasons for the popularity of guild hosting services is their focus on relieving the guild from this overhead and freeing them up to spend more time playing the game.

Typical Features

The services typically offered by such a service include:

• Public and/or private forums for members to communicate with each other, or other tools for communications such as instant messaging or chat servers.
• Tools for tracking the roster of characters that a player might have in an MMORPG.
• An application for scheduling and organizing raids, tournaments and other gaming events.
• Applications for tracking treasure, items, or points accrued toward redeeming treasure (often referred to as a DKP system).

History

Originally, most people who decided to create a website for their guild used bulletin board software such as vBulletin and phpBB on traditional web hosting services. However, as the complexity of online games increased, many guilds sought after more advanced management features and turned to specialized services to accommodate their needs.

One of the earliest such companies was GuildPortal, formed in 2001. In 2006, competition increased with the launch of 3 new services: GuildCafe (now GamerDNA), GuildLaunch and MMO Guildsites. In 2007, Guildomatic launched as the first game-specific guild host, paving the way for even more specialized services tailored to individual games. The number of guild hosting services continues to grow with the rising popularity of Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games.

List of Guild Hosting Services

• DKPSystem.com
• Enjin
• GamerDNA
• GildenDKP
• GuildLaunch
• Guildomatic
• GuildPortal
• Guildtag
• MMO Guildsites
• mmolecule.com
• Zuild.net