- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Great guide! I had this lurking on some forums I made:
1: Foundation
A clan is a group of people who fight together as a team in team based games, and belong to the exclusive clan community who talk, form friendships, and are united.
One of the most asked questions when it comes to wannabe clan founders, is how to found.
It's actually really simple; you just need a clan name and symbol (such as the Dark Eagles, symbol -}DE{-). Once you've thought of that, you have a clan.
The first step is establishing yourself as the leader. You will always be in control of your clan, and it is your example that members are to follow. So, set up some basic guidelines about loyalty and respect, as well as any other rules you feel the need to include, then abide by them and set a good example.
Next, you'll want to play the game(s) of your choice on the platform(s) of your choice, so set those games up from the start. All your members, including yourself, should play with your clan's tag (symbol) at the front of their names, for example -}DE{- Leader.
You should have a good plan for your clan, like what it's main focus will be; community/serious gaming, and any hierarchy or special features it will have. To make your clan special, you need good ideas and principles, which you must stick by. Planned clans are always more popular and more successful.
And then you will have a clan, ready and good to go.
2: Hosting
A clan is little without an HQ area, some sort of website for all to access and learn about your clan, as well as easy opportunities to recruit.
First off you'll need a host. Some of the best and most popular are Freewebs, Tripod and Geocities. If you are really devoted, you'll probably want to purchase a domain, and there are always dedicated clan hosting sites, such as Horatio's Rampage.
One of the main problems is not how to acquire hosting, but how to actually make a site. If you are completely new to web design, your best bet is to use a ready made template (provided by the host) or site creator application (can be purchased from PC stores).
You'll want to have a few pages for your site, obviously a description and basic information (use the main page for this), but plenty of pages you might want, depending on what you think is relevant. Such pages include Member lists, organisation, affliate links and so on.
A wise idea is to include contact info and registration info, if you can do forms use them, or you could include your email address and fields to fill out for potential recruits.
3: Recruiting
So, you've got your clan all set up, and ready to accept members and get playing.
You need a way to get members, however, and this could be one of your biggest issues. Probably the best way is to host a recruitment server in your chosen clan game(s), putting the site address in the server name and wait til interested people start playing and ask to join.
Another successful method is to advertise in the appropriate areas on the game sites (for example, Halo clans can use the specified forum [the Classifieds] on Bungie.net to advertise).
If you promote with good adverts, showing that you are intelligent in your posts, and make your clan a good image, the members will start pouring in by the score (metaphorically speaking).
Obviously, in any adverts you make, the main point you want to get across is clear, defined information about your clan, as well as the contact information.
Sometimes membership will run thin, but you should never give up, as all hope is never lost!
4: Events
Obviously, a clan wouldn't be a clan if it didn't play games together.
So, your next step is to start organising events. One of the best ways is via a calendar; you can get these from hosts willing to share the code, or on your own forums. When you are going to host a clan event, post details on the calendar so that members will attend.
Another successful message is via Instant Messenger (AOL Instant Messenger and MSN are the most popular), where you can start events on the spot.
By playing as a team, your clan will become more trusting and more successful, and will begin to win more often.
Practice is one of the keys to being a good clan, so the more you practice, the better you will become.
5: Your forums
Part 5Copyright 2004 Halodude12344
Alot of clans like a forum to use. Sometimes its hard to communicate with other team members. Forums help set up events and meeting times. They are much more flexible than that. And they're easy to get. You're in one. An easy way is through invisionfree, which we're using now.
Go to InvisionFree for starters. Go to register. First fill in the name of your board. Next fill in your username, what you'll be known as. Choose a category, I'm not too sure if it matters. Next is your password. A perfect example is mine, which is *gets sniped by Psyched*. -blam- noob! I was typing! Oh yes, just enter a password. Then verify it. Do the same for your e-mail. Then you've got your own forum. You can change the settings from the Admin CP. You've got your own forum.
Bear in mind that InvisionFree is not the only free (or paid) forum service available, but is considered by many to be easily the best, so have a look around before committing to something you might later regret.
6: Expansion
So let's look back at what you've got now.
A clan with plenty of members, a good website, forums, and is fairly well known.
Now you can take the next step, into expansion.
You'll probably want a special feature of your clan, one of the most popular is a ranking system, based on military ranks. Some form of hierarchy is often a wise addition, as it serves as an incentive for members to be good, and it's also likely that you'll want some commanders to make your clan efficient.
With that set up, it's time to go pro.
A good, professional clan, has good principles (and sticks by them), knows what they're talking about, and is organised enough to be ready for any events that might occur. Another useful inclusion is a pro-looking site (a good idea is to advertise with a job opening for web designer, you might hit the jackpot and find someone who is great with HTML).
Organisation and efficiency will be the driving forces of your clan. If you can keep yourself organised, get things done without making a big fuss, then you will stand out and quickly battle your way to the Elite of clans.
7: Clan wars
Obviously, the main focus of a clan is to play online, get good, and win your battles.
Before long, you'll want to start challenging other clans to battles, for pride and glory. Remember, you cannot always win; but the best way to improve is to fight those better than you.
Clan battles are referred to in common terminology as Clan wars.
You can fight clan wars by having an even number of your team against an even number of an enemy team. The best way to find other clans that are willing to fight is to meet them on websites, one of the most commonly used and best places for this is the dedicated Klanwars site. Then you can record your results and have a running score, as well as position out of all other participating clans.
Another method is to just play online games and look for clans to fight, maybe they will find you. Of course, your games should have a password set up so only the right members can play (and you won't have to bother with kicking and banning).
Playing against others is a good method to see how good you and your clan are, as well as to rack up glory.
8: Maintenance
The final step is simply maintaining your clan!
Keep your systems and sites up and running, know when to draw the line (on member totals and so on), and maintain regular service.
An organised clan is much easier to maintain than an unorganised one, and in the end the good, organised ones will always shine through.