Manos Del Sol is a gamer’s guild – a community of gamers that go beyond any single game. At our core, we believe that the friendships, bonds, shared experiences, and camaraderie created through gaming together shouldn’t be limited to a single title, but that they should thrive no matter what game you’re playing – even if you’re not currently playing one at all.
If you’ve ever played an online game, especially an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game), then you may know the shared experience. Whether you call them clans, guilds, factions, leagues, or any other of the many names, players become members of a group, share resources, and game together.
The friendships and sense of belonging that form, even the purpose of the guild, become part of your identity. And while some may demonize gaming, the community it creates – even online – is powerful and meaningful. It builds real connections with real people from all over the world.
But life happens. People stop playing, new games come out, or old favorites shut down. Too often, when that happens, the guilds and communities we’ve built disappear right along with the game.
Manos Del Sol started out as a guild in World of Warcraft in 2007. It was an amazing community, creating friendships that have lasted over the years into the present. But, like what happens to every guild, life happened, and it was shelved for a while.
Recently, the guild was restarted, and conversations with members who were reminiscing about how it used to be—how those days were missed, how the people we once knew and that kind of community doesn’t really exist anymore—sparked an interesting question:
What if we didn’t just bring the guild back, but made the guild bigger than the game?
What if, instead of people playing a game and then going looking for a guild to join, hoping to find a community, it worked the other way around? What if they joined the guild first and became part of a community that they would be a member of, no matter what game they played?
That way, when life happens, along with everything that goes with it, the community created, the friendships formed, and those bonds, wouldn’t die with it.
That is what Manos Del Sol is. It’s no longer just a guild in World of Warcraft, but a gamer’s guild that seeks to build and preserve the camaraderie shared between gamers.
Lore: Where did the name Manos Del Sol come from? Check out our Q&A to learn more.