So you wanna' join an on line clan, eh? Okay, so let's start with the basics. Maybe you already get the basics, but I'll start by explaining what an on line clan is, it's purpose and typical pitfalls that can cause a clan to fail or general make you the target of someones hate. I think what brought this article on would be the mention of the two RPGX clan sites that are under development (to be finished late march, early April) and all the questions that I have received since.
For starters, what are these “clans” and “guilds” that you speak of? Well kiddies, let me ask you... where have you been for the passed 10 years? Just kidding. Well a clan is a group of on line gamers that get together on line to play either a specific game or a specific group of games. When specific players group together to play in groups, they will often form what we call a clan. The earliest experience I can remember having with any kind of on line clan was in the days of the first Diablo game by Blizzard Entertainment. Night after late night I would sit up on battle.net thinking that I was the top dog. I would power level my wizard winning duel after duel thinking my light forge armor and Archangel's Staff of Apocalypse were indestructible. That was until I met a certain member of the Dark Force Clan. Within minutes I had been destroyed by the single most bad-ass rouge I had ever met. From then on, I refused to play Diablo unless I was part of a clan.
The reason he was able to beat me was due to the fact that his particular clan was comprised of game developers who happened to be able write applets that allowed them hack their characters. While this isn't always a perk of clan gaming it is a common one. Clans will develop special tools that will give all their members roughly the same advantages over other normal players. This is viewed as cheating by many non-clan gamers and for the most part it is. But in more recent years gamers have split their game play into clan bases and non-clan based servers. That means you know what your getting into before you play so there are no unfair advantages. But, that's getting ahead of ourselves.
There are two main views of what exactly an on line clan is. One positive view about on line clans is that they are on line communities in which a player will always be able to find others to game with. In this respect a clan may have their own server with games playing 24 hours a day, possibly open to outsiders to come challenge a clan player or sign up. A clan site will typically have forums for people to post tips, cheats, questions and tutorials in and possibly plan on line or IRL events such as tournaments or conventions.
However, there is always a negative outlook for every positive activity (usually based in fact.) Gaming clans are little more than on-line gangs out to push other gamers around with strength of numbers. I think this outlook goes back to the example I gave before. The Dark Force clan was famous for about a month when bulletins went up across battle.net to look out for any members of the clan. They would PK even in non PK games simply to steal a characters equipment and gold simply because the could.
Ironically, other people, in response to this kind of on line terrorism were forming clans of their own dedicated to protecting people from becoming victims. The idea was strength in numbers.
As more and more games became on line compatible multi player adventures clans became a more common approach to how they would be played. Eventually games like Tribes and Guild Wars would be released. Games designed specifically for clan play that would allow bonuses to anyone who clicked an option showing that they were affiliated with same clans would receive in game bonuses like shared experience or extra damage.
Okay, so what is a clan? Personal view points aside, a game clan is an organized group of individuals who get together either in person or on line to play a single game or a group of games together and are usually represented by some sort of web site or on line forum.
So what are the advantages and disadvantages of clan based gaming? Well the most obvious answer is game availability and familiarity. Most clans today own their own “clan server.” This means that 24 hours a day, 7 days a week there will be dedicated space on the web where members of that clan will be able play their game with other members and new recruits. Now while it may not be hard to find random people to play with, open servers are often unregulated, lag, or have so many people of different skill levels in them that playing the game is more frustrating than fun. On a closed clan server you will be matched against the same players time and time again, ping rates are usually monitored, and traffic is controlled. On a well maintained server (that you may be paying a due to use) game play is smoother and less frustrating. On the other hand, a clan member may find it difficult to find a game going at particular times of the day or night depending on the size of their clan and how spread out over the world it might be. A small clan might not have any games going at 2:00am.
However, being a small clan is not always a disadvantage. Smaller clans tend to be more tight knit, coordinated, always recruiting, and able to function together in game as a more cohesive unit. Traits clans start to lose after they get too big.
Big clans have advantages over the smaller ones as well. Cooperate sponsorship from game companies, booths at conventions, and product demos are all perks that a large clan might receive.
So, you want to join a clan. How do you get into one you ask? Well there are several different ways. Back in the day you had to be recruited, but that is almost completely a thing of the past. Very few clans are invitation exclusive anymore. Most clans want to grow as many members as possible to help pay for their servers. A simple Google of gaming clans followed by the game of your choice should pull up a big list of possible candidates. After that it's a simple matter of checking out the clans home page, seeing what looks like something you would like to try and following the sign up instructions. It's usually as simple as registering on a clan forum, but a few might screen. Beware of anyone who asks for money up front, many scams have been pulled this way and all transactions should be made through pay pal for safety.
Sometime towards the end of March and the beginning of April, keep an eye out for 2 clans that will be created and sponsored by RPGX. The clans that we are creating will be like no others. Unlike other clan sites, we will be hosting two separate factions under one server. (While we are of course all friends regardless of clan alignment) the two factions will be locked in war. The idea is based of the structure of a PvP server, but will apply to a slew of different games. This will make the clan appealing to all kinds of PC gamers. Events will be organized for the two rival clans to battle it out for prizes and dominance over the clans themselves. The sites should be interesting and players will be encouraged to try both out to decide which flavor is right for their style of play. Each clan will have it's own theme: One being “Good” the other “Evil.” Drawing a line in the themes in this way will allow our members to decide if they want to play a good guy or bad guy in the war of the games.
Of course more on that at a later date... for now, enjoy your games and above all find new ways to enjoy the things that you love doing.
For starters, what are these “clans” and “guilds” that you speak of? Well kiddies, let me ask you... where have you been for the passed 10 years? Just kidding. Well a clan is a group of on line gamers that get together on line to play either a specific game or a specific group of games. When specific players group together to play in groups, they will often form what we call a clan. The earliest experience I can remember having with any kind of on line clan was in the days of the first Diablo game by Blizzard Entertainment. Night after late night I would sit up on battle.net thinking that I was the top dog. I would power level my wizard winning duel after duel thinking my light forge armor and Archangel's Staff of Apocalypse were indestructible. That was until I met a certain member of the Dark Force Clan. Within minutes I had been destroyed by the single most bad-ass rouge I had ever met. From then on, I refused to play Diablo unless I was part of a clan.The reason he was able to beat me was due to the fact that his particular clan was comprised of game developers who happened to be able write applets that allowed them hack their characters. While this isn't always a perk of clan gaming it is a common one. Clans will develop special tools that will give all their members roughly the same advantages over other normal players. This is viewed as cheating by many non-clan gamers and for the most part it is. But in more recent years gamers have split their game play into clan bases and non-clan based servers. That means you know what your getting into before you play so there are no unfair advantages. But, that's getting ahead of ourselves.There are two main views of what exactly an on line clan is. One positive view about on line clans is that they are on line communities in which a player will always be able to find others to game with. In this respect a clan may have their own server with games playing 24 hours a day, possibly open to outsiders to come challenge a clan player or sign up. A clan site will typically have forums for people to post tips, cheats, questions and tutorials in and possibly plan on line or IRL events such as tournaments or conventions.
However, there is always a negative outlook for every positive activity (usually based in fact.) Gaming clans are little more than on-line gangs out to push other gamers around with strength of numbers. I think this outlook goes back to the example I gave before. The Dark Force clan was famous for about a month when bulletins went up across battle.net to look out for any members of the clan. They would PK even in non PK games simply to steal a characters equipment and gold simply because the could.
Ironically, other people, in response to this kind of on line terrorism were forming clans of their own dedicated to protecting people from becoming victims. The idea was strength in numbers.
As more and more games became on line compatible multi player adventures clans became a more common approach to how they would be played. Eventually games like Tribes and Guild Wars would be released. Games designed specifically for clan play that would allow bonuses to anyone who clicked an option showing that they were affiliated with same clans would receive in game bonuses like shared experience or extra damage.Okay, so what is a clan? Personal view points aside, a game clan is an organized group of individuals who get together either in person or on line to play a single game or a group of games together and are usually represented by some sort of web site or on line forum.
So what are the advantages and disadvantages of clan based gaming? Well the most obvious answer is game availability and familiarity. Most clans today own their own “clan server.” This means that 24 hours a day, 7 days a week there will be dedicated space on the web where members of that clan will be able play their game with other members and new recruits. Now while it may not be hard to find random people to play with, open servers are often unregulated, lag, or have so many people of different skill levels in them that playing the game is more frustrating than fun. On a closed clan server you will be matched against the same players time and time again, ping rates are usually monitored, and traffic is controlled. On a well maintained server (that you may be paying a due to use) game play is smoother and less frustrating. On the other hand, a clan member may find it difficult to find a game going at particular times of the day or night depending on the size of their clan and how spread out over the world it might be. A small clan might not have any games going at 2:00am.
However, being a small clan is not always a disadvantage. Smaller clans tend to be more tight knit, coordinated, always recruiting, and able to function together in game as a more cohesive unit. Traits clans start to lose after they get too big.
Big clans have advantages over the smaller ones as well. Cooperate sponsorship from game companies, booths at conventions, and product demos are all perks that a large clan might receive.
So, you want to join a clan. How do you get into one you ask? Well there are several different ways. Back in the day you had to be recruited, but that is almost completely a thing of the past. Very few clans are invitation exclusive anymore. Most clans want to grow as many members as possible to help pay for their servers. A simple Google of gaming clans followed by the game of your choice should pull up a big list of possible candidates. After that it's a simple matter of checking out the clans home page, seeing what looks like something you would like to try and following the sign up instructions. It's usually as simple as registering on a clan forum, but a few might screen. Beware of anyone who asks for money up front, many scams have been pulled this way and all transactions should be made through pay pal for safety.
Sometime towards the end of March and the beginning of April, keep an eye out for 2 clans that will be created and sponsored by RPGX. The clans that we are creating will be like no others. Unlike other clan sites, we will be hosting two separate factions under one server. (While we are of course all friends regardless of clan alignment) the two factions will be locked in war. The idea is based of the structure of a PvP server, but will apply to a slew of different games. This will make the clan appealing to all kinds of PC gamers. Events will be organized for the two rival clans to battle it out for prizes and dominance over the clans themselves. The sites should be interesting and players will be encouraged to try both out to decide which flavor is right for their style of play. Each clan will have it's own theme: One being “Good” the other “Evil.” Drawing a line in the themes in this way will allow our members to decide if they want to play a good guy or bad guy in the war of the games.
Of course more on that at a later date... for now, enjoy your games and above all find new ways to enjoy the things that you love doing.
No comments:
Post a Comment