- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Hey how are you guys. This is my first guide but I was looking all around the forums for info on guides for the bungie.net groups and I couldn't find anything except for cannon's guide to making a clan. Well that's for a clan and this is for a group. Here we go.
~Machinima Maniac's Guide To Making A Group~
Step 1
The first step is to think about what kind of group you want. Do you want one that is disiplined like a military group? Something that is just like bungie.net? Or something where everyong just has a good time and does what they want? There are endless possibilities. You need to find what you most like. The only exception to this is that you also need to figure out if it is going to be easy for you to get known and to get people to join your group.
Step 2
Next you need to navigate to the Create New Group link. To get here, look at the top of your screen and click My Groups. Once there you will find a list of all of the groups you are in (if in any) and you will also find two links. Create New Group and Find Existing Group. Click create new group and fill out all of the information.
Step 3 (step 2 continued)
When you are filling out the name be sure that it is something that is easy to read. Do not make it something like 7h3 C14n F0r P30p13 7h47 w4n7 70 83 1n 4 c14n. Could you read that? It said The clan for people that want to be in a clan. Either way it is a stupid name. You need something that encapsulates what your clan is about. If it is strictly military then you could call it ODST Marines, ODST, Marines, something along the lines of a military name. But be sure to make it short, sweet, and easy to read. DO NOT SUBSTITUTE NUMBERS FOR LETTERS.
Step 4
Now that you are an administrator in your new group, it is time to vamp it up and make it good before you even invite someone into it. It's like a new house. You buy it and there's a whole bunch of nothing and everything is dirty. Then you invite someone over and they cringe the entire time. Yet if you take a half hour and spend some time on it then people will come in smiling. First put the mouse over HOME at the top of the screen and go to Group Settings. In here you will find many options such as Change Motto, Change HQ, Change Group Description and the 1 thing that you are definately going to change, Change the skin. Be sure to try the different skins out and make sure you try them in the forums because some of them juse aren't good for typing in the forums.
Step 5
The next thing you might want to do is change the admin settings. Once again go to HOME and drag the mouse overr to Admin. Here you can do a number of things such as manage the blacklisting center, change security roles, group history, etc. You probably won't need to do much in here yet but as the group unfolds you will be going here alot. If you are a military clan then you might want to change the security roles to that of real marines. Or you can just make your own security roles for the fun of it. A must have that alot of people don't do is that you need to have Moderators for your group. If you are the only moderator then everyone is going to leave your group.
Step 6
Now it's on to my favorite part. The forums. Click New Topic and call it something like Rules and regulations or Ranks or the Septagon or something like that. This topic should contain all of your rules for your group and it should contain what the ranks are (security roles) and what you must do to get promoted. Then you can make a few extra stickies that tickle your fancy. Just make sure they aren't stupid stickies. For reference you should look in all of the bungie.net boards and read ALL of the stickies in order to know what you will need. Also to keep things in order you should make a thread called The Flood or Danger Zone. This way people can post all their random things in there.
Step 7
Announcements and News are things that you should have on your group home page before you recruit members so that they can easily read up about what you guys are about and why you recruited them. In order to make news just go to the home page of your group and scroll to the bottom and click submit news. Here you have the option to make it either news or announcement. The two options on the right are announcement while the two on the left are news.
Step 8
Recruiting members has now come. You are now set with your group, and you have it just as you like it (I would assume at least). Now click on My Settings and change your signature so that a link to your group is in there. Then go to The Classifieds and post a new topic about your group. Be sure to post what your group is about and be sure to be nice. Another great method of getting people to join your group is to go to Zanzibar and click on anyones name and send them this message.
"Hi. I've seen you around the forums and you seem like a good member. I was just wondering If you'd like to join my group. It has active forums and I need a moderator (this is optional. Only offer this to the first people you get to join your group). Here is a link. linky .
Also in order to assure that you will get people to join your group put a topic in your forums saying that if you put a link in your sig then you will get promoted 1 rank up. This will ensure that you will get more people in your group.
Step 9
Just have a good time and make sure that your moderators are doing a good job. If anyone is breaking the rules then you should blacklist them from the forum for at the most 7 days. If they continue to do so then you should ban them and delete them from your group.
~Machinima Maniac's Guide To Making A Successful Bungie.net Group~
I hope this guide helped you and if you have any questions then you can email me at imguitarded@gmail.com or you can find me on AIM (Machinima Maniac). Or you can PM me. Please post to this and tell me what you think.
Please post with things that I might have missed that should be added.
[Edited on 2/6/2006]