Okay, so we've been waiting for this moment for a few months. The waiting probably hasn't involved breathless anticipation or anything, but there's definitely been waiting. It's now official, and there's very little to go wrong -- Vivendi is merging with Activision, destroying the Vivendi Games name in favor of the new entity: Activision-Blizzard.

Activision shareholders (and a little regulation-fu) were the only hold ups to the process. Today, Activision shareholders voted 92% in favor of merging with Vivendi. Which means that 8% voted against the deal -- I have to wonder what they were thinking. The old Vivendi folks have a 52% control of the new company (called Activision-Blizzard), which is projected to clock over $3.8 billion dollars annually.

The close date is tomorrow -- it's still technically possible that an enormous asteroid may fall from the heavens, plunging the entirety of the Earth into a post-nuclear wasteland. Or, zombies could attack. Maybe Zombie Murlocs, with their own MySpace accounts. But short of a Murloc invasion (I, for one, welcome our new Mrlglglglge overlords), there's nothing left for the merger but for the fat lady to sing.

Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.

Sometimes, real life can catch up to your guild leader. It's a big job that definitely cuts into time that may be spent doing other things, especially if he or she has a family. When your leader resigns from the position, how does your guild fill that void of power? This week's e-mail comes from someone who wants to step up and assume leadership.

Dear Officers' Quarters.

My guild is jammed. We had some people quit because of RL issues over Christmas, which then saw an outflux of people because we couldn't raid for class balance. So now, we're reduced to doing Kara with 4 paladins, some dps and a singe priest. Our MT burnt out and GQuit and we've gone from exploring SSC to lost and confused.

The current GM is [. . .] quite frankly, tired of being in charge. There's another guy who's put up his hand for taking on the role, but isn't really doing anything about taking the load off, so I've volunteered if nothing happens soon.

I've never GMed before, so I'm in a bit of a quandary – there are so few resources available!

Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.

Two weeks ago, Officers' Quarters presented Part 1 of an in-depth look at guild alliances -- how to avoid all the negativity and actually make them work. I talked about assessing compatibility, communicating, and keeping your finger on the pulse of your own members' feeling about the other guild. This week, we'll talk about leadership roles, loot rules, and more!

Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.

For some people, it is the fundamental question of Warcraft: friends -- or progression? Some people are lucky enough to be able to play the game with their friends and meet their in-game goals at the same time. This week's question is from an officer who has been able to live that dream but now has to choose between them after his guild splits apart.

Hey Scott,

My guild just recently went through a bit of a break up, and as one of the founding members/officers of the guild, I'm a bit uncertain of how to help handle things. Apparently this split had been near inevitable with a leadership (though not filled with ill will) clash between the shared guild leaders. Our guild had integrated a larger guild into our fold, and the split has largely fallen back on those old lines. The problem is, the original guild was started with my real life friends, so obviously there's an amount of loyalty there. Then again, I've made a few good friends from the incoming (and now outgoing) guild as well. I see my real life friends often enough, and I know the smaller guild would have both its upsides (namely better organization, a guild leadership I prefer, and a tighter knit group of people) and downsides(such as a lack of instance progression because of the lack of players). I play WoW for both the gameplay and friends, so I feel like I'd be sacrificing one for the other, at least for a while. Is it possible to interact with both, and do so diplomatically? I'm not trying to have my cake and eat it too, but this dissolving of the guild came rather suddenly and I'm at a loss. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has ever been (or will be) in this sort of situation before!

My thanks and regards,

Brandon