Every single one of those games, each of which told myself "I'll be back" when I stopped playing, has lost a bit of luster for me.

Guild Wars 2 accomplishes something that has almost never happened in an online game.

I genuinely wanted to know how you could get a battle pig.

Galaxies even created its own 1% with ill-conceived rules by which only a select few could be Jedi.

I've certainly run into my share of jerks and saints in other games. Does Guild Wars 2 really make that much of a difference, or has Tom just been lucky so far? How have your experiences online varied by game, and what makes some games communities better than others?

The release and early success of Guild Wars 2 has made quite a splash in the world of online gaming. What's going on in there? Let's find out: Tom Chick emerges once a week to bring you tales from inside the world of ArenaNet's iconoclastic MMO.I've never been in a cult, although I did just get an iPad. (It's hard to proselytize when you're the last guy on the bandwagon. If there's anyone out there who doesn't have an iPad, please contact me so I can tell you all about it.) But I do get that cult feeling with how much I want to tell people about Guild Wars 2, and specifically the remarkable way people act when they're playing. I feel the urge to corner innocent bystanders to hold forth. In fact, that's what I'm going to do to you right now. Can I come in? Mind if I sit down? I have a bota bag with enough delicious Kool-Aid for both of us.I understand you're busy. Maybe you're on the verge of playing something that's adding panda bears and Pokemons. Maybe you're playing something that just got a rocket launcher. Maybe you're playing something that finally added more side missions to Gotham and Metropolis. Maybe you're mere weeks from Rohan at last. Those are all good and well, and there but for the grace of ArenaNet go I. Every single one of those games, each of which I've variously played and enjoyed and told myself "I'll be back" when I stopped playing, has lost a bit of luster for me.It's not just Guild Wars 2 forgoing the subscription fee, as well as the traditional free-to-play nags and limitations. It's not just the slick and varied combat, with different classes that play in different ways. It's not just the character development, which lets me freely rejigger my character, like in Diablo 3, but without sacrificing any sense of investment and customization. It's not just a world brimming with dynamic events that replace the traditional quest log. It's not just the gratifying collectibles. It's not just the economy. It's not just the various money sinks, none of which is a mount or runspeed boost. It's not just the epic player-versus-player battles. It's not just the amazing graphics.Those things are all good and well, and you can even find some of them in other MMOs. The reason I want you to play Guild Wars 2 is that it accomplishes something that has almost never happened in an online game: by default, I like the other people playing. I love fighting alongside them, and taking away their poison or bleeding, and reviving them if they die, and watching them try a jumping puzzle, and seeing them show up to an unexpected event like a bandit attack or giant spider hatching, and the two of us picking carrots from the same patch of grass afterwards because there's no reason for us to compete against each other. Did you get dandelions that time? Because I got dandelions.Until proven otherwise, every avatar in other MMOs is potentially hiding a shrill socially awkward loser getting Doritos on his keyboard who a) sucks at the game, b) is good because he plays way too much, and/or c) is every bit as much a misanthropic a-hole as I am. Fine, I'll be in your pick-up group, but only because I need this dungeon.But every avatar in Guild Wars 2 is a confederate. "Where'd you get that pig?" I asked in chat when I first started playing and saw a tiny asura fighting alongside her pet pig. The pig, which was normal size, dwarfed her. She could have ridden it."The pig getting place," she said, slinging some sort of spell at a wolf.Normally, I would have felt a bit slighted. I genuinely wanted to know how you could get a battle pig. But I hadn't met a single jerk in Guild Wars 2 yet, partly because player interaction is, by default, pleasant and helpful and not requiring much chat. The screen lights up with "ty" and "cheers" after a fierce fight as the survivors work their way through the casualties, helping them back into the world. I want those pauldrons I see in the auction house, except that it isn't an auction house. It's a commodities market where people mostly surf the going rates rather than snipe at each other's bids. I am now wearing those pauldrons.In 2003, Raph Koster's ambitious and doomed Star Wars: Galaxies attempted social engineering by shunting players into dependencies. For instance, between missions, you had to get another player's medic to restore your health and another player's entertainer to dance in a cantina to restore your morale. Regardless of how silly or sensible you think this sounds, it has a side effect: it breeds resentment. When I can't play without you doing something to help me, all sorts of weird psychological baggage comes spilling out of the overhead bins. Why is my character so inadequate? Are you charging me a fair price? Are you taking advantage of me? Why don't you just help me for free, since it's no skin off your nose? Do you, in turn, need me? Who has the upper hand here?Galaxies' interdependency was a broader version of the standard tank/healer/DPS model that drives so many RPGs, and particularly MMOs. A team is only as strong as its weakest co-dependant. In my experience as a healer, that's usually the tank, who can't hold aggro because he sucks at his job. Tanks are the drummers of MMO bands to my lead singer superstar/priest. Galaxies even created its own 1% with ill-conceived rules by which only a select few could be Jedi. Talk about breeding resentment.Guild Wars 2 tears down structured interdependency and lets us assume the best about each other. The tank/healer/DPS trinity is no longer a group dynamic. Instead, it exists in every single character to whatever degree he or she wants. We do not wriggle into narrowly defined pre-designated slots. We merely play the game. I don't care if you're a smuggler or a medic, a Jedi or a cantina dancer, a mesmer or a thief. In Guild Wars 2, everyone is helpful because everyone is flexible.Furthermore, there is never a downside to helping someone. In fact, it almost always behooves the helper to help. I can't tell if people help me because they're good or because Guild Wars 2 is good, and I don't really care. The end result is the same in a game with so few ways for people to express their inner jerk.The little asura finished her fight with some wolves and trotted over to me. "I got it from a town. I forget the name. Do you want me 2 show u?"