Welcome to The Vanguardian recruiting thread. While walking the troll-infested streets of Bungie.net it's become apparent to me that many people have misconceptions about the purpose and value of well structured gaming communities like ours. Here are just a couple aspects of The Vanguardians that attracted this Grizzled Ancient. *Trash Filter - I pay around $60 annually for my gaming subscription and I've had more games ruined by trashy gamers than I care to count. You know the types, little kids screaming into their microphones, the louder more offensive guys, team killers, guys who go AFK for huge chunks of matches, cheaters. The Vanguardian community does not tolerate these types, filtering them out of my experience makes my $60 go a lot further. *Communication -When I join a match-made team game I find that teamwork and strategy nearly invariably will never enter the picture. Most people don't even have a microphone and the majority of people who do have them probably shouldn't. What I really find is a free-for-all with a lot of undesirable noise in which all the individual scores are added together. One of our members put it well in his application when he said something like "usually while the enemy is scoring strategic victories it seems like the match-made team im stuck on is doing The Harlem Shake". When you have a concentration of gamers who are willing to put in a bit of time and effort to get to know each other you can achieve a polar opposite experience. Once familiarity and tactics are introduced to the mix the dynamic changes. Perhaps my high standards are a result of my old age. While I was around for the classics like Wolfenstine, Doom, Diablo, Unreal Tournament, Half-Life ect., The foundation of my multiplayer experience originates with large Halo: Combat Evolved LAN parties, back when gaming friends and real friends were the same people. A connection existed between gamers that I suspect the current younger generation of gamers may never have experienced. Multiplayer gaming was like a spectacle, a scheduled event to anxiously look forward to. We could feel the tension together, the frustration of defeat, and the raucous cheers of the victorious were so loud they could annoy neighbors all around. Trust me, split screen with a couple pals does not compare to entire teams of friends. Don't get me wrong, we still screamed and cursed but you never heard the kind of offensive things you hear today, you didn't say that kind of garbage to someone who was in the room with you if you didn't want a black eye, or worse yet, to be kicked out all together, exiled to a lonely world of campaign only. A well organized gaming community is the best way I know of, particularly for adults who's old friends have moved on and lost touch, to replicate that much more satisfying experience. We have a private site with forums and a chat board to get to know each other better, optional game nights, podcasts, member gaming clip montages for those who seek glory and perhaps best of all, standards. http://vanguardians.enjin.com