There are many great things going for Star Wars: The Old Republic, but guild features currently isn't one of them. In this week's Star Wars: The Old Republic column, we discuss the importance of guilds and how BioWare can improve on the game's guild feature set.

MMOs are about all manner of things for different people, but the one aspect that differentiates the genre from anything else is its emphasis on community. While this emphasis may have waned or taken a different shape over the last few years, it’s still the most powerful force an MMO can have going for it. Frankly, MMOs live or die on the health of their communities.

While having tons of individual players are important to any MMO community, it’s the strengthening force of guilds that really knit a server together. Guilds provide a place to call home amongst other likeminded players. Guilds also put on events (often involving other guilds on the server) and help foster relationships between players that persist for months, if not years.

Read more of Michael Bitton's Star Wars: The Old Republic: With Friends Like These.