Product Description

Cyd Serman (a.k.a. Codex) has hit bottom.  Dumped by her boyfriend, her employer, and her therapist, she drowns her sorrows the way any modern girl would--in the world of online gaming.  But after a fellow player mistakes their in game rapport for real-world romance and shows up on her doorstep, Codex brings all of the members of her online guild face-to-face...with very awkward results.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9290 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-05-19
• Format: NTSC

Amazon.com
Talk about revenge of the nerds: Talented actress Felicia Day has taken her own love of online gaming ("eight, nine hours a day," she confesses in the cast interviews of this DVD) and turned it into one of the Internet's most compulsively watchable, sympathetic web-based series ever. The Guild will instantly charm online gamers and fans of role-playing experiences like World of Warcraft, but the characters are so winning, the writing so sympathetic, that The Guild will win over non-gamers too.Day sparkles as Codex, an addicted gamer whose online posse, or "guild," includes about nine regular members whose avatars support and rescue and challenge them, day in and day out. Codex is winsome and darling, but lives most of her life online--so much so that season 1 begins with her therapist breaking up with her. "I don't live in an imaginary world!" Codex insists to the therapist, even as she juggles the phone to "save" one of her compatriots online.

But what happens when gamers come out from behind their avatars? That winning concept is what gives The Guild its sweet and guilty pleasure. One of Codex's guild members, Zaboo (Sandeep Parikh), "goes missing" (from the web) for 39 hours, and the rest of the gang chimes in via voice-web and IM how worried they are. But they needn't have been. Zaboo shows up on Codex's actual doorstep to continue the "relationship" he's convinced they developed online. The characters are believable and subtly hilarious, especially the two leads, but also including Robin Thorson as Clara, a mother of three unwashed, un-diapered tots. "I don't want to say Clara's neglectful, cuz that's harsh," says Thorson in an interview on the disc. "But she is," she concludes merrily. As Codex and her Scooby gang try to navigate their friendships offline, real emotions fight with online personas, in ways that everyone can relate to. Day is truly captivating, and is as talented a writer as she is an actress, and the rest of the cast is believable, sympathetic, and more than a little weird. The splendid first-season disc contains 10 webisodes and a wealth of extras, including commentary from the cast and from the director; gag reels for every single episode (bonus!); cast interviews, which may be the set's true highlight; the first-episode script, and more. The first season of The Guild is as bountiful as the web itself, and no avatar is necessary for its full enjoyment. --A.T. Hurley

Customer Reviews

A witty and hilarious celebration and parody of geek life
The fact that I am able to type a review here at Amazon for The Guild is kind of amazing. Considering this, the first season, was funded by Felicia Day with donations/help from the audience and considering how unlikely such a collaboration is, it's amazing that the show has become such a hit, spawning additional seasons and a more mainstream acceptance. Not that it should be very surprising since it's probably one of the funniest and heartfelt shows I've seen on either the web or TV.

Stepping back a bit, The Guild is a show about...well, an online guild of friends who live in the local area but only know each other through their online alter-egos. Cyd/Codex (Felicia Day) is struggling with what appears to be an addiction to their current MMO, dealing with a psychiatrist who hangs up on her and a gnome warlock who shows up at her front door, thinking they are romantically involved.

What works for The Guild is the fact that the characters are so vivid and played pitch perfectly by the entire cast. Yes, they verge on walking stereotypes, but the hilartiy and the love for these people (some of the kinds of people I know personally) gives the show a much needed heart. What's great is that, while a gaming geek will get the most enjoyment out of the show, I have shown this to friends who think gaming is limited to Rock Band and they, too, kept coming back, week after week, to watch it.

You can go view these shows online, still, either via the website, MSN or Xbox Live. I'm personally glad that there's now another option in this Amazon exclusive. Give it a chance. I bet you'll come back laughing.

Wave of the Future
The Guild is about people addicted to online gaming. They neglect their own lives, their children, their personal needs, all in service of their avatars, their game personas. Gamers can talk to but cannot see each other, but this guild of six decides to meet in the real world, and thus the central conflict that drives the story.Novelsmithing: The Structural Foundation of Plot, Character, and Narration

The Guild was created and written by Felicia Day (a gamer herself) of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame. She is also the star of The Guild and her character, Codex, introduces each episode. Felicia is one smart cookie, toting bachelors' degrees in both mathematics and music from the University of Texas, where she entered at sixteen and was valedictorian of her graduating class.

The Guild as a web series is on the leading edge of a wave of the future. As network television increasingly buckles under to reality and game shows, which cost much less to produce, good series are increasingly going under or going to the web. The Guild, in my opinion, is the best series ever. Felicia is simply adorable as Codex. She's witty, insightful, and naive all at once. The other characters are also unique, original, and are like no one you'll ever seen on a major network. It's just simply the most refreshing entertainment I've seen in a long, long time.

Perhaps the most appealing quality of The Guild is how personal it comes across. At the beginning of each episode (which are five to eight minutes in length) Felicia, as Codex, speaks directly to you, the viewer. She explains what has been going on with her since the last episode and foreshadows a little of the action to follow. These short introductions remind me so much of something out of Shakespeare. They are so smart and classy. The editing of these initial monologues is also artistically interesting. Take a look for yourself.

In Buffy, to me, Felicia never really stood out as an actress I would want to follow, and it's rather mystifying how she can be so appealing in The Guild. But she is. Just a part of the girl's magic. Once you've seen an episode or two, you'll be searching her website and blog for more information about her. As I've already said, she's simply adorable.

Absolutely Brilliant
The Guild is a comedic gem lovingly directed at and about geeks and gamers, but the cast is so great together and Felicia Day (Codex) is so charming and lovely that this show would be hard for anybody NOT to love. Filled with in-jokes and geeky subtext, every episode is an absolute riot to watch over and over again.