Time also has a lot to do with things in general.

Many of the folks you loved / hated have likely changed quite
a bit since then. Remember the folks you just HATED in UO ?
Ya, well that was what. . . a DECADE ago ? Ya, you're
getting old ( so did they ) Get over it.

Think about how much YOU have changed in that time period,
then give some thought about that grudge. . .

I'm not sure how many of you played ShadowBane for the Nth time
when the Asian / American servers merged but I can tell you this:

It was old grudges that folks would not let go that ultimately
became their downfall. Their inability to put aside some silly
ass disagreement and work together got them obliterated.

Why ?

While individual guilds could hold their own against other
similar numbered guilds just fine, when the true Zerg came ( and I
assure you the Eastern guilds redefined the term ) we simply did
not have the numbers to counter them. These folks would bring
5-8 Groups to a MINE fight. A mine. :|

If you baned a single Eastern Guild, the entire MAP would show up
to defend it. It wasn't even a contest usually. More like, a
slaughter.

Had all the guilds took off their damn blinders and saw the
danger, it might have had a different outcome. However, infighting
and bickering over Mickey Mouse BS kept the guilds splintered and,
in the end, pretty much doomed the server.

Drak:

You've been around long enough to see all this mess before
The bigger or older a guild gets, it develops it's ' core '
members, cliques, and ideals about how it should be run. Sometimes
they conflict and splinter off and become new guilds.

Just goes with the territory I guess.

Show me a medium / large sized guild that doesn't have similar
issues and I'll show you a guild who hasn't been around for long

-Daye