The Vision

This article is intended to give insight to those in, or looking to apply to, Elysium.

Elysium was formed by Eidolon Night on 28 May 2008. The announcement of the game occurred quite some time before, but the nearing of its launch spurred the online community to grow. The epicenter of that growth was, and still is, AionSource.com. It was there that legions (the Aion term for guild) began to arise from the masses.

The lack of a serious adult legion is what sparked Elysium's creation. Note, serious in this case is a euphemism for decent.  Let me jump back out of third person and get personal. I'm a husband, and a father, and after a long day at work I like to come home, play with my son, eat dinner, and after the little guy is in bed it's my time. It's time for me to chill, chat with the Mrs. and have fun. My favorite past-times include: a beer, observing a monitor connected to high-tech machinery, and a bit of love-making before bed. I think that makes me pretty much like every other guy out there, and after I got my wife hooked on WoW I think that describes a lot of women too (although she prefers wine over beer). The number of legions catering to people like us was zip, zero, null.

So, here we are. When it comes to classification, Elysium is unique. Casual vs hardcore, pvp vs pve, it's all silly. Like most people who have entered the realm of adult responsibilities (kids, job, etc.), we take our free time pretty seriously, but at the same time we realize that junior may throw-up during a raid and you might be stuck working a double the next day. Hardcore guilds would punish your absence, and casual guilds... well they wouldn't even be raiding to begin with. So, if you really want a label, call us casually hardcore or balanced. If you want a catch phrase:     

Have fun and get it done. 

Besides the whole category thing, the second most frequent question is about our rules or rather our lack thereof. We have enough rules in our lives (I have the speeding tickets to prove it). You shouldn't need a written list of bullshit you shouldn't do. Don't be racist, don't steal loot... blah, blah, blah. If you don't know all of this by now then you don't belong here. One important rule that is absent (I'm pointing this out because it's common) is a language restriction. We're all adults, and I personally feel that every word in the dictionary (maybe even a few that aren't) is fair game. Think of Elysium. It's forums, voice chat, and other methods of communication as a bar. Game plan:    

1. Show up to bar and meet friends   
2. Chat, drink, eat peanuts, and drink   
3.  Meet some new friends   
4. Chat, drink, eat peanuts, and drink some more   
5. Take some attraction guy/gal home
6. Have fun 

See? Simple, yet effective game plan. Think of progression/raids/whatever as your desired food for the night. Most of the time it'll be some peanuts or chips. Something small to nibble on and enjoy. A couple times a week though, you and your buddies might order a platter of nachos or some chicken fingers. You'll feast and drink until late at night. Keep in mind however, that this will most likely be on nights that don't require you to go to work the next morning.

Did I miss anything? Oh yeah, our tiny web presence (pssst that was sarcasm). I'm of the school of thought that if you're going to do something then you do it right. That's why we had the first Aion podcast (yeah, we even beat the European NCSoft team to the punch), the first legion vidcast, the first countdown widget, and a number of other cool features. Lots of legions have web sites, and some fan sites have legions, but we're going for full convergence here. Everything is connected so that our members can get the most out of their game, whether their logged in or not.  Since the game is not yet released... mostly not.

Whether you like it or not, what happens in-game affects your life and what happens in life affects your gameplay.  Some legions ignore that.  They care about you so long as you're in the game helping out with raid progression and PvP rank.  We're not like them.  If you're going through a messy divorce, you have a whole legion of friends to talk to.  Chances are someone else did it too, and it's silly to think that you can log out of life completely while you're logged in to the game.  If you want to explore this more (and make sure I'm not making it up), please read Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games.  It's reccomended reading for any MMO player.

Now, let's get political.  Our governance follows the same laid back approach as our game strategy.

• Bar Owners         -> Legion Leaders
• Sexy Bartenders  -> Legion Officers
• Bar Patrons         -> Legion Members

The legion leaders handle the boring business aspects, maintain the ideals (which customers do we attract), and make the final decisions concerning the bar (what's served and what hours we're open).  The bartenders make sure that everyone's glass is full and that everyone is having a good time.  Sometimes they may need to take somebody's keys or bounce some punk, but in general officer's are here to tell amusing life stories and make people happy.  Patrons, it's their role to talk, drink, and have fun.  It's up to them what/how much they drink and how late they stay out.

I hope my analogy wasn't too convoluted.  Questions?  Visit our forums and let them out.  This page occasionally changes to address new issues, so check it out once in awhile.