The Beginning

Four months after WoW first launched, a rogue by the name of Karin found himself with a spiffy new website he'd created for a guild that had just imploded. Reluctant to waste the burgeoning community's energy and the new website, he invited many of the previous members to become part of a new guild named Sleeper Cartel, which went live on March 11, 2005.

It sounded kind of rogue-ish and like an underground spy organization, and appealed to his sense of humor about the many possible meanings of "sleeper". And despite its vaguely shadowy name, Sleeper Cartel was a social guild from the beginning. From events created within the guild for weekly gatherings called "Guild Night" came the idea to create a large-scale event that the entire server could attend. It would be a way to pull the guild together with a common goal, a way to recruit and advertise and it would be a lot of fun for everyone. Thus the first server-wide event, the First Perenolde Footrace from Thelsamar to Darkshire, occurred on April 9, 2005. First prize was a 14-slot Runecloth Bag plus a Minor Speed to Boots enchant.

Transitions

These activities soon drew Blizzard's attention and in 2006 the Sleeper Cartel was invited to join the Guild Relations Program. Karin stepped down from leadership in June of 2007 and appointed Darias the guild leader. Since then we've transitioned from spies to Godfather-esque mobsters and the guild has flourished. Currently we have around 120 members within the guild from most every walk of life. We have chefs, engineers, students, veterans, retired grandparents, programmers, and many more. We have people that are hardcore raiders or PvPers and people who use WoW as a chat client. Some log in once a week and others play many hours per day. If you're in here, you're family.

Our two biggest services are our in game parties and our RL charities. In game we hold at least one party a year (which we make sure to tell everyone about, including WoW.com :D ). These parties are the end result of many guildies' farming and creativity, all to give our attendees a good time through games, events, dancing and comedy. In addition, our past two parties have been DJ'd by Chaotica of Split Infinity Radio, dedicating the entire online station to our use for a three hour block.

While we have countless in-game donations for our parties, the RL charities generate nearly as much. As a guild, we've donated to several organizations including Toys for Tots last winter, Military Working Dogs this past summer, the DSACO Buddy Walk for Down syndrome and Autism Speaks last year, and our current charity is the One Meal Organization. Through the generous donations of our guildies, we've helped make the world a better place, a little bit at a time.

Looking Ahead

Sleeper Cartel has no plans to stop anytime soon. We'll still continue our party traditions, making them bigger and better every year, as well as our charity drives. We may not be the biggest guild, or the most hardcore, but we're strong and resilient. The Sleeper Cartel has always been a family friendly guild, committed to providing a warm, welcoming environment to our members, regardless of (and sometimes due to) their RL situation. In Sleeper Cartel we never lose sight of the fact that every toon represents a real person, and the guild is as much about the person behind the screen as it is about the character being played. This view has generated the mantra, "RL > WoW." We understand the complications of Real Life. We support our friends. We are Family.

Tags: contest, contests, giveaway, gotm, guild, guild-of-the-month, guilds, sleeper-cartel, swagdog, sweepstakes

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Events, Guilds, Contests