So you love the game. You want more out of your multiplayer experience. What to do? Start a clan! In the greatest tradition of over 5 years of online fragging of course. But how to do it?
Take it from me, a long time veteran of online gaming. Its not as easy as you think it is.
So here I have, a nice little list of suggestions a serious clan founder should pursue before recruiting for their clan.
Veterans Clan Creation Checklist
Relevant Clan Name
This little detail is what can make a clan, or break one. Needless to say, in Quake 3 Arena; Crack Whore Killas might be relevant, but the chances of that name being effectively transferred to another game genre is pretty slim. Also, with the current trend of large, well run, well lead clans/guilds competing in multi genre FPS games, sometimes...simpler is better. A word, or an acronym, or even a symbol, thats not easily associated with one game is the style here. But if your just going to play JK2 and thats it...a Star Wars based name is fine, if thats what suits you.
Domain Name or Subdomain Name Website
Needless to say, this is almost a requirement. Putting a pathetic little piece of MS Frontpage design on your ISP allotted webspace, i.e. ;
http://members.aol.com/screename/joebobdebussy/JK2CLAN!.HTML), just isn't going to work if you want to be taken seriously by potential recruits. So go for
www.clanname.com) or clanname.domain.com if you can.
Professional or Semi Professional Site Design
Invest some time in learning DHTML, Flash, PHP and ASP. Now while alot of this may sound Greek to you at the moment, most of the professional grade websites out there use them JK2.net works under a PHP or ASP administration system. And if your totally without a clue, you can have a PHP portal easily generated for your clan by using free member sites such as phpnuke.org, magelo.com and dk3.com. But the basic difference here is what people will see when they access your site would you rather they see THIS (
http://www.teamabuse.com) or OH GOD HELP ME, THIS. (
http://airstrike.150m.com/news.html) Spend some time online, looking around at top clan sites, and do what you can to produce as professional site as you can. The difference is people getting the impression that your a professional bunch to watch in the leagues....or a bunch of JeffK wannabees that still think lensflares in Photoshop are elite.
Clan Structure
How is the clan run? Is it just a bunch of people hanging out? Is there a ranking system? Is there a promotional system? Will you be organizing for league play or just general pub crawling? Who will be responsible for training and practice and match coordination? These are all questions you should answer first, before even asking for recruits. Expecting others to be able to provide answers and solutions for YOUR clan is rather unfair...since if they wanted to build a clan...they'd have taken the time to make their own. Have your goals and ideals and internal structure well designed and availible for anyone to see should they want to. Organization is the key to a long lasting, top level clan. Flying blind is not.
Servers, Servers, Servers
Now personally, after over 5 years of online play, I've come to the point that I won't even take a clan seriously that doesn't even have one server. Now thats not exactly fair of course, not everyone has access to high bandwidth lines and extra computers. But essentially, if the clan doesn't have somewhere to match with other clans or practice together uninterrupted...whats the point? Practicing on public servers is unfair to the public players in general, but usually so because the clan teams up on everyone thats not in their clan. So if you can't host a server yourself, you should investigate the possibilities of remote hosting. There are several companies out there offering 24/7 servers for as little as 60 bucks a month Gameservers.com is one, I believe Clanpages.com also offers dedicated servers for competitive prices. Investigate your options, could be your dad could host a server on a box at his business, or theres an extra computer in the house no one uses and your on DSL or better connection wise. A server is highly important, without one...you might as well join a clan that does have one.
GET OFF THE ZONE
Welcome to the 21st Century, and the Quake 3: Team Arena engine. The Zone was a necessity in 1997 when Jedi Knight came out, and its multiplayer options were all peer to peer networking. But gaming has evolved quite a bit while you've been stagnating on that little island of internet gaming. Everything The Zone provides, the rest of the internet provides better. IRC for clan chats (irc.enterthegame.com is recommended), Trillian, AIM, ICQ or MSN Internet Messenger for private messaging. Gamevoice and Roger Wilco for in game communication, and a whole SLEW of game leagues to participate in. The Zone, while it might be the old hunting grounds for Jedi Knight, is pretty much Internet Newbie Town for JK2. Get off it and get into the real competition, you won't regret it.
League Play
Now, once you've gotten your group together...what are you going to do with it? 60 percent of all clans formed do nothing except play the occasional pub server game together...and get in flame wars with other newbie clans on message boards across the internet. "Wars" between clans are probably right up there in the top 5 or 10 dumbest things I've ever heard of, and most of them have occurred on The Zone between JK clans....amazing. There are currently several major game leagues on the Internet, the only one I can definitively guarantee at this time is building a JK2 League is The OGL. The OGL is pretty much a cornerstone of internet gaming, especially for Quake 3 Arena engine games (They didn't do much for Tribes as I remember), but theres also the Cyber Athlete Amateur League, The Team Warfare League, and no doubt several other smaller leagues that I haven't heard of. A well organized clan should be able to, within a few weeks of recruiting a full roster, be able to participate in any of them. Investigate for yourself, and you'll find theres quite a bit more to do out there than bad mouth other clans on website forums.
Your Roster
This is important to watch closely, as a clans roster can explode quite quickly if you play actively together where people can see you. Consider the needs of your clans structure when recruiting. Are you playing one game? Do you plan to open divisions for other games? And above all, remember that more is NOT better. HEL Guild has something over 500 members, all spread out over several different games, and none of them really know each other. And nor do they actively compete in most of the games. They're just there...taking up space and being HEL I suppose. Also, large rosters are a direct result of sloppy recruitment policies. Just because Johnny is in your clan, doesn't exactly mean that his best friend Bill is going to bring anything to the clan but a loud mouth trouble maker. Restrict recruitment privelegdes to a few trusted officers, and have a set standard that recruits should meet to even be considered....age limits, connection speeds, location...that kind of thing. Also, if your just playing JK2, how often are you going to need to field a 40 player roster in any league you play in? Keep these things in mind as you grow your clan, and don't over feed it people.....too many people can lead to players being unhappy because they aren't getting equal play time, whole new clans can form and splinter off from yours, leaving you in a serious manpower crunch when push comes to shove. Let the size of your roster reflect what your clan is doing. If your just out to dominate one game....one league. You don't need more than 12 people. But if your shooting a little higher, wanting your clan to compete in multiple games...you may need more. Think rationally, and I'm sure you'll do fine.
Game Knowledge
Simply put, you should know your stuff. A clan founder/leader doesn't have to be the best player in the clan, but they should know enough about the game...and the games engine to be able to help or teach the people they bring in. Personally, if I get involved with a clan, and it quickly becomes apparent that I know more about the game than the so called "Officers" or "Leaders" do, its not generally something that instills a feeling of confidence in me. So get to know your game, learn the tricks and tweaks that it takes to make being good look -incredible-. And overall, be approachable, be availible and be willing to consider ideas from your membership. A good clan leader recognizes talent and puts it to work. If JoeBob is your friend, and you make him your offensive arms company coordinator, and you recruit some guy that runs rings around JoeBob in knowledge and skills....it may be time to re-evaluate JoeBob's current position. Nothing will grind down a players patience more than having to take orders from someone they feel isn't half as good as them. Don't run your clan like your boss runs the place you work...and you'll find you not only have happier players, but a more efficient clan that is constantly developing new ideas and tactics.
Cultivation of Peripheral Interests
Be sure to encourage and help develop any third party game development within your clan/guild. You will recruit people that do skinning, mapping, modeling and all manner of game related things as a side hobby, positively encourage people to make things within the clan. A good map with a clan members name attached to it can do alot to show the community that your clan is "involved" with the game community. A clan only game model can do alot to foster good morale amongst clan players and the development of a mod for the game can offer an entirely new way to play the game. Overall, don't form your clan and shuffle off to some island in the Pacific and never be heard of. Get involved, even if its only in active game discussions on major forums. Be around, show your there to positively enhance the community, rather than what alot of clans do...which is nothing except for mouth off and start fights with people.
Thats the basics, the rest is up to you. Remember, that clans, and competitive play is what keeps a game alive, an active community, an active competition scene...and a good game can last for years.....even Quake still has clans and leagues playing it, JK2's destiny is in -your- hands, and no one elses. Do it right.