- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Introduction:
* Many of Bungie.net’s newly created groups fail within two weeks. The cause? Lack of activity due to poor content and/or neglect of the administrative staff. A group is almost like a child; in its first few steps, it needs much attention before it can walk on its own. To give you a concept of what a successful group looks like, I strongly suggest that you take a look at the Top 7 largest groups on Bungie.net as role models to use for your own group’s structure. (Please PM me with any inaccuracies)
1. The Marty Army: 1608 members
2. Halo Movie Clan: 1449 members
3. Mjolnir Battle Tactics: 1506 members
4. Chapter Founders: 1073 members
5. M@5t3r Ch13f'5 Online 786 members
6. Chaos Redefined: 762 members
7. Igni Ferroque:726 members
If you join any one of these groups, you will learn quite a bit. You will immediately notice that each is highly active, its members are very enthused and patriotic, and each group’s respective content is high quality through and through. Most have a supporting .com site or one in development. To encourage even more activity, clans are usually linked to these larger groups. The Top 7 is a list to aspire to and with luck and a bit of determination; you’ll see your name up there too!
Step 1: Making Your Group:
Before you make a group, you must be willing to devote hours, days, weeks, and months towards it for it to succeed. Note that if your members see you aren’t posting frequently with any explanation, or your content hasn’t been updated, your group will slowly die. To make a successful group, there are certain steps you need to go through. Complete each step thoroughly, and your group will be a success before you know it.
Planning the Group: Part I
* To have a successful group, everything about it must be planned and organized. Let’s go ahead and start with your group’s subject:
Group’s Subject
Before making your group, decide what you want the subject of your group to be about. It has to be something interesting for everyone: try to avoid aiming your group at a niche if you want to reach the Top 7. If it involves creating multimedia content like montages, or comic design, make sure you have the basics (Xbox Live & a capture card, or digital scanner and artistic skills). Again, if it is multimedia content, it must be high quality for it to succeed. Amateur videos will not attract the crowds you desire. If you don’t have the skills to make a solely multimedia forum, go ahead and make a discussion or guides forum like the Top 7 groups the Marty Army, Mjolnir Battle Tactics, or Chaos Redefined.
Naming Your Group:
* Obviously, you want your group’s name to reflect the subject that your group is discussing. Attempt not to make it too general and flat (such as Halo 2 Discussion), but not so exotic that it is no longer rememberable. (e.g.1337Z0R$$ AW3S0M3 G\_/iD3$$) Good names will be abbreviated out of either member fondness or convenience, try to keep this in mind when naming your group (it’s hard to imagine abbreviating 1337Z0R$$ AW3S0M3 G\_/iD3$$ as an example, but Mjolnir Battle Tactics neatly shortens to MBT).
With that done, go make your group. Go to My Groups>Create New Group. You should reach a screen that asks you to accept Bungie.net’s contractual agreement. Read that before continuing. Once you are done, go to Planning the Group: Part Two.
Planning the Group: Part II
You should now be greeted with a form, the first subject of the form being “Group Name: (required)” By now, you should already have decided on this; go ahead and paste it into the text field. Below is a check box, “Membership requires approval”. Keep the box checked; you can change it in your group settings later. With your group locked, you can PM members a welcome message to get them acquainted with your rules, mission, and whatnot. Remember to keep the welcome message crisp and clear; go ahead and write a pre-scripted one in Microsoft Word after this guide.
Group Motto: (required)
* This is one of the two large text forms that will influence the character of your group’s homepage. The group motto is not a thesis: keep it concise, sweet, and focused. What is your group truly about? This part doesn’t even have to be very informative; it just brushes over the subject. Here are a few choice examples from bnet’s Top 7:
Mjolnir Battle Tactics’ Group Motto:
* “Know your Weapons. Know your Enemy. Know the Combat Zone. LIVE THE EXPERIENCE.”
M@5t3r Ch13f'5 Online’s Group Motto:
* “Bringing Multiplayer for single players everywhere!”
Chaos Redefined’s Group Motto:
* "So the Spartans at Bungie can hear that pin drop in the Storm of Chaos."
-Notice how each of these mottos have a somewhat, veiled if you will, meaning behind them:-
* MBT’s (Mjolnir Battle Tactics) mission is to create Halo 2 guides to benefit the Bungie.net community; notice how their motto talks about “knowing the combat zone” and “your enemy”. Precisely what their guides will help you do.
* The M@5t3r Ch13f'5 Online group mission is to have great online Halo multiplayer battles. Their motto brings this point across easily and quickly, telling new members what their group does, and keeping old members focused and directed.
* The Chaos Redefined mission is to gather fan submissions, and submit the best of them to Bungie for the designers to use while making Halo 3. Their motto, with mentions to “That pin” (ideas), Spartans at Bungie (Bungie employees), and the “Storm of Chaos (Bungie.net forums) hints towards their mission, but like MBT, doesn’t say it outright like M@5t3r Ch13f'5 Online. Whichever method you prefer (stated out-loud or hinted at) you may use for your group. Make sure everything is spellchecked. Blatant spelling errors on your homepage indicate unprofessionalism, and prospective members will not take your group seriously.
Write Your Group Rules:
* Write rules that everyone in your group must follow…and make it clear what will happen if they are disobeyed. Don’t be incredibly harsh over the small things, (or members will leave) but don’t be easy on the larger ones (racism, flaming, threats, spam, etc.) You need to run your forum equally and fairly: a list of rules will help both you do that and help your members obey.
Group Description: (required)
* This is not like the Group Motto; here is not the place to be vague and slightly mystic. The group description is where you get your point across clearly and loudly, feel free to use bold and italicize when necessary. Most groups also use the 500 character maximum to put in handy things like group allies (discussed later), or a link to their supporting website (group websites also discussed later).
* Five hundred words gives the freedom to go into fairly extensive detail about your group. Don’t write so much that your homepage is cluttered, but don’t skimp out on important details. Give new members the gist of things; try to focus on what makes your group unique, and what your ultimate goal is (most active group on Bungie.net, most numerous, largest movie group, best guides, etc). Newer members will refer to this at first glance to see if your group is right for them, and older members will come back to it for insight. Remember that this will show up on your page every day, so be eloquent and spell-check.
Group Location: (Group HQ City, Group HQ State/Province, Group HQ Country, Group HQ Zip Code)
* This is optional, but it is recommended that you put something, perhaps the country that you the group founder are actually located, or maybe something fictional (e.g. The Library, Delta Halo). If it is fictional, make it something original, unique, and preferably humorous. If you poke a little fun every now and then, it lightens up the unfamiliar nature of the forum that new members often feel. You should try hard to make them feel at home…a fictional group location is a good way to do that. Note: Don’t feel obligated to fill up each location box, you don’t want your location (and thus your homepage) to look cluttered.
* With that, everything on this Bungie.net provided group creation form is complete enough for submission, so press the Create Group button and continue.
[Edited on 8/30/2005]