Clan's
Robert_Paulson
Join Date: 2003-07-29 Member: 18543Members
Join Date: 2003-07-29 Member: 18543Members
<div class="IPBDescription">How they effect you, er what do I know..</div> What is a clan, why does NS seem to move towards clan play over pub play? I really don't know why I am posting this, maybe it is the posts as of late about clan play dieing, or make NS more pub friendly. Hopefully anyone reading this will get a wild hair and start a clan of there own.
In my honest opinion, organized team play is the creators original goal. This is the same as the creators of CS, DoD, TFC, etc...the clan scene is what makes the game. We play NS because it requires teamwork, at least I do. Where do you find better teamwork than in a clan...er, right?
Having ran a clan for 3 years (well 3 years this Feb), that is what it is all about. It is about getting everyone on the same page, having fun, and working together. Trying out the strats that you have been using on pubs, about having practice and seeing what works and doesn't. It is dedication and motivation that makes clan play fun, it is seeing people get better, learn strats and take out the other team.
Running a clan isn't easy, it takes a lot of time. You have websites to build, forums to mod, servers to admin, members to appease, and issues to work out. Then you have to decide what do you want out of this clan. If you want competition, scrims, or match's you have just increased your workload for the clan. People hate loosing, it sucks to loose time and time again, so you then decide to practice. Then it happens, schedules are different for everyone so practices get put off, match's are lost, and people take what is left of there pride and disban the clan. That or they move to another clan that promise's a bigger better deal. Before long no one knows of the original NS clan, or who was around the longest, because these clans no longer exist, or the members moved on to another mod/game. It could be as simple as real life got in the way of things, and people had to give up the massive amounts of time spent online. It all comes down to one thing, people evolve and move on.
So why does it seem that NS is loosing clans? My viewpoint is simple. It is the way of the internet, people are fickled and loose interest very easily. In the 3 years I have been leading KCSA, I have seen dozens of clans spawned from our members leaving, a few from regulars of our servers, others that stop by and say hi. What do all these clans have in common with each other? 90% of them are no longer around.
So what can we as members of the NS community do to bring clans back to the forefront. Start a clan with some of your closest friends, and never give up. That is what I did. Started a clan with 4 of my closest friends and started recruiting, started making more friends, and always said we play together because we are friends first, gamers second. To this day we have about 30 members, of course if it wasn't for our 3 month recruit period and stringent recruit process we would have about 100+ members, but that is besides the point.
We play NS because it is fun, we play with each other because we are friends. That is a clan, playing together because it is fun. KCSA isnt' the best NS clan, hell we are probably not even in the top 10, but we have the staying power to be here until the NS community decides to call it quits (not without a fight from me). We will stay as long as you will have us, and will continue to pay for constellation, admin servers, and try and provide insight to the NS community.
To start a clan it is easy, the hard part is keepin it together. Keep that in mind when you start looking around for a clan, and if you don't find one that suits your needs, then make your own, just make sure you are in it for the long haul, and don't give up at the first fork in the road.
In my honest opinion, organized team play is the creators original goal. This is the same as the creators of CS, DoD, TFC, etc...the clan scene is what makes the game. We play NS because it requires teamwork, at least I do. Where do you find better teamwork than in a clan...er, right?
Having ran a clan for 3 years (well 3 years this Feb), that is what it is all about. It is about getting everyone on the same page, having fun, and working together. Trying out the strats that you have been using on pubs, about having practice and seeing what works and doesn't. It is dedication and motivation that makes clan play fun, it is seeing people get better, learn strats and take out the other team.
Running a clan isn't easy, it takes a lot of time. You have websites to build, forums to mod, servers to admin, members to appease, and issues to work out. Then you have to decide what do you want out of this clan. If you want competition, scrims, or match's you have just increased your workload for the clan. People hate loosing, it sucks to loose time and time again, so you then decide to practice. Then it happens, schedules are different for everyone so practices get put off, match's are lost, and people take what is left of there pride and disban the clan. That or they move to another clan that promise's a bigger better deal. Before long no one knows of the original NS clan, or who was around the longest, because these clans no longer exist, or the members moved on to another mod/game. It could be as simple as real life got in the way of things, and people had to give up the massive amounts of time spent online. It all comes down to one thing, people evolve and move on.
So why does it seem that NS is loosing clans? My viewpoint is simple. It is the way of the internet, people are fickled and loose interest very easily. In the 3 years I have been leading KCSA, I have seen dozens of clans spawned from our members leaving, a few from regulars of our servers, others that stop by and say hi. What do all these clans have in common with each other? 90% of them are no longer around.
So what can we as members of the NS community do to bring clans back to the forefront. Start a clan with some of your closest friends, and never give up. That is what I did. Started a clan with 4 of my closest friends and started recruiting, started making more friends, and always said we play together because we are friends first, gamers second. To this day we have about 30 members, of course if it wasn't for our 3 month recruit period and stringent recruit process we would have about 100+ members, but that is besides the point.
We play NS because it is fun, we play with each other because we are friends. That is a clan, playing together because it is fun. KCSA isnt' the best NS clan, hell we are probably not even in the top 10, but we have the staying power to be here until the NS community decides to call it quits (not without a fight from me). We will stay as long as you will have us, and will continue to pay for constellation, admin servers, and try and provide insight to the NS community.
To start a clan it is easy, the hard part is keepin it together. Keep that in mind when you start looking around for a clan, and if you don't find one that suits your needs, then make your own, just make sure you are in it for the long haul, and don't give up at the first fork in the road.
Comments
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NS is just a hard game to play in unregulated public servers because of the high demand for teamwork involved. You have to understand, this is by far one of the most teamwork-involved games out there. It's just not well suited to public unorganized play like TFC or CS is.
You don't have to join a clan either just try to find a veterans server(like "the hamptons") or a server that at least requires you to be a semi-pro and work as a team. It's great and all that we have nub servers (like voogru or g4b2s) for nubs to play on and that kind of helps produce more veterans wanting something better.
The one thing i would say that is 'hurting' the clan scene is a severe lack in skilled players and the still eduring problem of aliens being to powerfull in clan play.
Of course, this game is still growing too.
<b>Edit: Typo</b> If you ask me, clan play probably came a *bit too early for it to be a success. Just give it some time. Let the devs throw in the changes that need to be made, and the community will improve.
you have my twust. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
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NS is just a hard game to play in unregulated public servers because of the high demand for teamwork involved. You have to understand, this is by far one of the most teamwork-involved games out there. It's just not well suited to public unorganized play like TFC or CS is.
You don't have to join a clan either just try to find a veterans server(like "the hamptons") or a server that at least requires you to be a semi-pro and work as a team. It's great and all that we have nub servers (like voogru or g4b2s) for nubs to play on and that kind of helps produce more veterans wanting something better. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
voogru's servers do anything BUT produce more veterans or pros, trust me.
But back on topic, I'm sort of surprised that the "community opinion," to my understanding, is that NS clans/leagues are not working out. Granted, the alien team doesn't require much time work,(just communication and a competant teammate or 4 should be enough) and the marines truly only need someone that can comm and comms well (provided the marine players know how to build, what the aliens look like, what to do when they see an alien, etc.), I always have thought strategy was the key point in this game. The way I view strategy is not only does it produce teamwork, but it can help keep you "conceiled in enemy territory." What I mean by this is knowing when to and when not to attack an enemy structure, what structures to attack first, what upgrades to get based on the type of style you want to play this turn or the type of lifeform you want to evolve to (for aliens, obviously), if your comm gives you a jp/ha/hmg/gl, don't wander away from the group unless specifically told by the comm, if you are comm, do your best to find out what upgrade chamber(s) aliens have early in the game and what their starting hive is (usually the most undefended if they have more than 1), and some more i don't want to get into detail about or expand upon.
I'm just really surprised people don't view NS as a clan game <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
So in the sense that they get people into the game, they add to the number of vets and what have you. Skill can always be developed, but the abiding interest in the game necessary to stick with it long enough is a fleeting thing.
The reason for the decline might be that only a select few are willing to go through the time struggles, superiority complexes, and other headaches known as an internet gaming clan. Heh, personally I think clan is a four letter word for a reason. I've waded through my share of male bovine feces playing and competing with a clan, I'm not too keen on trying it again. So if people asked (though I'm not saying anyone would) it would take some serious convincing.
There are a lot of people who want to be able to jump in, play a game and get enjoyment despite winning or losing, and leave without feeling beholden to any group.
Scorpion, no one's ever said that all the talent is in the clans. In fact, hambone (for example) has said several times that he could think of 6 club gorge regs that, put together, would be a top10 clan pretty quickly.
I have only played once on Voogru's server as well. I hate that med armory thing with a passion.