Clan Theory: from Founding to a Top Clan

Founding, growth, maturity and the top

What are theories like this for? More to organize your own knowledge and get new ideas than as a literal manual. You will agree with some things and not with others, but what you agree with will fall into a clear system, making your knowledge easier to use. The subject is clans as in-game organizations: how they appear, grow, fall apart, ally, wage war and rise to the top.

1. The birth of a clan

"Man is a social animal." Clans form for many reasons: shared ideas and goals, the need to defend together against enemies, the wish to explore the game world together. But the common feature is always the same - "together".

A clan usually starts with one person or a small group wanting to create an in-game organization and lead it toward certain goals. The goals need not be ambitious: there are peaceful clans of traders or explorers, but they are a minority. Most clans are military organizations aiming for the top of the game world.

Over time the founding group becomes the clan's core - a kind of family that holds it together. These are the true believers, who will leave the clan only when they leave the game. The clan's idea matters a great deal: it creates a unique atmosphere and binds a person to the clan for good. This is clan charisma. It is hard to put into words, and there is no need to, but a person who has absorbed it becomes a fan of the clan, because he is an inseparable part of it. Even if the clan is not at the very top, to him it is the best - something akin to patriotism.

The idea can be light (protecting players from aggressors, keeping the peace, helping, creating), dark (the frenzy of destruction, endless battles, robbery) or plain reckless ("The clan is coming, make way!").

Leadership

A clan needs a leader with brains, organizing skills, charisma and the ability to speak, write, analyze and work with people. But even a talented loner makes mistakes. A clan council is not the best option either: by Murphy's laws, "the effectiveness of a meeting is inversely proportional to the number of participants and the time spent", and a council member cannot decide anything without waiting for the others. The best option is a "parliamentary monarchy": the leader consults advisers but does not depend on them and can decide alone when they are not around.

Clan structure

Once the clan is founded and has a leader, a starting roster, an idea and first goals, it is time to work out the structure, roles, charter and near-term tasks.

Roles usually match the game's features: someone handles the economy, someone handles combat training, and someone must be responsible for discipline. External relations need a diplomat who watches both the clan's reputation and everything happening in the game world.
The charter, if there is one, should cover every situation. It will not be right on the first try, so be ready to revise it. But it should not be long and tedious like a constitution: brevity is the soul of wit.
Knowing the game. Study the game world, its features and rules, or your clan will be a clan of noobs nobody takes seriously.
Economy. The better off each member is, the more room he has to develop, and the strength of each member is the strength of the whole clan.
Recruiting. At the start, do not be picky about applicants: people looking to profit rarely join a new clan. A probation period is needed, but a token one - about five days to take a look at the person.

Taxes

The leader must be careful with taxes and calculate everything: it may turn out that it is better for everyone to provide for themselves. But if you need to buy something for the clan or equip fighters, taxes are necessary.

The tax should be the amount anyone can earn playing 2-3 hours a day (more if people agree).
Collect taxes only for specific goals.
If the end goal can be broken into smaller ones, do so - for visibility. For example, the goal "set up weapon production for the clan" (an example from the game TimeZero) needs big investments, and after a couple of weeks of weekly collections people start to worry: the money is going out and there are no results. If you break it into quick steps (buying a factory, blueprints, resources), the results are visible right away. The same goes for "equip the combat squad": gear up fighters one by one - soon the first one is beating enemies, fewer people want to mess with the clan, and once the second is geared, it is almost an army.

Announcing the clan

Every self-respecting game has a forum, and that is where you announce yourself. Do not write something like "Uh... I made a clan... the name is... one sec... well, join".

The announcement should give as much information about the clan as possible, in a form that is interesting to read.
Keep an eye on the thread, answer questions promptly, put down flooders wittily and bump the thread.
Do not act as if you will conquer the world in a couple of days: be simple and modest. After a couple of days the thread can be wound down - whoever needed to see it already has.

2. Early growth

PR

Whether to promote yourself depends on the age of the game and the level of its clans. If the game is already about a year old, keep quiet: a noisy new clan will be bullied at every step, just to show who is stronger. Do not expect nobility.

If the game is young and your clan is one of the first, promote yourself at every step, but wisely:

elegantly, as if in passing, show the clan's best sides and act according to its ideology;
boldly go to war with insolent clans (wisely too - having to capitulate would be sad);
keep the clan's name in the public eye: after answering a newbie's question on the forum, you can add "by the way, our clan's website has had all this for ages".

For that, the website must actually have this information: collect game data, write newbie guides, manuals, articles and stories, run a news feed on world events, do interviews. Be sure to add convenient comments so news can be discussed and the authors see their work is in demand.

The website as a whole needs attention too: keep adding something new, convenient and stylish - small details add up to the overall picture. It needs easy navigation, a bright memorable look, a motto in the top corner and a clan history - better as a story than a dry list of dates. Be careful with pathos: "GREAT GOAL" and "MISSION" at every step only make people smile. A couple of simple flash games will also earn the site some points.

People

People are not everything, but they matter a lot. They come to the clan in different ways: they saw the announcement, talked to members, have friends in the clan. During probation, each newcomer should be checked, and what you learn about him compared with what he wrote in the application form. Do not keep mean people, even in a dark clan: they may betray you too, and the clan's reputation will suffer.

The leader must be the leader in the members' eyes, ideally a "father". "An ounce of image is worth a pound of performance" (Murphy's laws).
Make sure there is no disorder and everyone is busy, preferably with their own job. Many hang in the clan chat as dead weight and flood, without even trying to earn anything, and ignore polite reminders. A sharp shout from the leader helps; if it does not, kick them out. It is a pity to expel someone who has settled in, but it gives a double benefit: the bad example disappears, and the rest, seeing how easily one can be expelled, get busier.
Keep members in constant contact - forums, chats and so on. Let them take part in clan life, build it with you and be proud of it. Those who spread defeatist moods must not be kept.

Diplomacy

Look for diplomatic ties with other clans from the very beginning - preferably not the weakest ones, although you can trade with them too.

Be careful with top clans. If they are at war with each other, have nothing to do with them. Keep normal or at least neutral relations, but no more, or you will be crushed.
Joining a war on the side of one top clan against another is the height of folly: your clan will be like a small ship in a storm that can only wait for it to pass.
Even with a peaceful top clan, an alliance is a bad idea: you will be in its shadow, its satellite, and to grow further you will have to break the treaty - the worst kind of publicity.
Uniting with equal clans is worthwhile, but work out every point of the treaty so you do not end up in a silly position later.

An alliance treaty should contain at least:

No hostile actions against members of either clan (the purpose of the treaty).
All issues and conflicts are settled peacefully.
What one clan does if the other is at war: a) against a completely unrelated clan; b) against a clan that had earlier allied with the first one.
Keeping each other informed of planned, past and current diplomatic moves.
Terms of trade between the allied clans.
Access to the other clan's information.
Access to the other clan's shared property (real estate).
Members moving from one allied clan to the other.
"Blacklists" of the allied clans.
The term of the treaty.
The possibility of amendments.
The specifics of the particular game.
Making sure every member of both clans knows the terms.

Once you have the support of a couple of equal clans and have grown stronger, you can go on the warpath - again against equals. Unlike war with a top clan, this brings name, authority and experience, and experience is priceless: one experienced player is worth five inexperienced ones. Work out battle tactics (in a closed section of the forum) and perhaps appoint a combat commander: in most games, skilled battle management wins, not brute force.

3. A mature clan

A mature clan is a close-knit team with a worked-out system and a developed economy that has already smelled gunpowder. It has game experience, a developed website and a large information base. At this stage PR is a must, whatever the age of the game.

Create a new recruiting thread on the game forum - more serious than at the start, and no less informative:

Title: for example, "Clan 'Nubian' is recruiting sensible, competent people".
The clan legend - its history as a short story that fits the game world.
Positions needed: journalist, programmer, fighter, trader, scout, crafter and so on.
The invitation: if you agree with the charter (link), fill in the application form on the clan forum (link).

The minimum set of questions for the application form:

Main character's name.
All characters and their levels.
Reason for joining.
Previous clans.
Reason for leaving.
Hobbies, a few words about yourself.
Desired position.
Experience in this game.
Contact details (ICQ, e-mail, etc.).

Check the application data carefully and extend probation from a token 5 days to a couple of weeks. Revise the recruiting rules and set a bar - for example, no newbies.
Keep the thread alive all the time, but use the standard "up" as rarely as possible - be creative. It is good if several people take turns bumping it. The tone should be calm and dignified; ignore flooders or put them down with a precise remark. Take an active part in forum discussions without becoming flooders yourselves.
Keep working with people: during probation a newcomer should absorb the clan's atmosphere, and that takes dedicated recruiters. Watch the quality of everyone's work; freeloaders and whiners go.
Revise your diplomatic ties. A weak clan is a burden, so do not renew its treaty when it expires. Allies should be few, but real. Top clans should not see you as a threat: avoid overly aggressive policy, fight only to save face and do not interfere in a fight between two top clans - it is too early.

Your task at this stage is growth: the economy, leveling players, refining tactics. Build up enough potential for a year of nonstop war with some to spare. Ahead lies the test of your clan's capability - reaching the top tier.

4. Reaching the top

The conditions for turning a strong clan into a top clan are simple: a practically inexhaustible economy, all members well provided for, characters of a high enough level by the game's standards, combat experience, coordinated and well-worked-out actions, a complete information base. Trifles, right?

PR moves to a new, low-key level: post on the game forum much less often - gods should be as inaccessible as possible. Those who sit on top of the mountain are feared and respected.
Direct recruiting stops. An additional "academy" clan is created, and recruiting goes there. Newcomers stay in the academy until they reach the level of the weakest member of the main clan. Probation is extended by another week, and checks become stricter.
Diplomacy: now you can sign treaties with other top clans and with "mature" clans. This strengthens your position and passively keeps the "mature" clans from reaching the top - in people's eyes they are in your shadow.
Wars: now you can go to war boldly, winning name and glory. If you have assessed your strength correctly, there will be no losses, the game becomes more varied, and you gain authority, experience and, if the enemy capitulates, reparations. If another top clan proves too tough, your diplomats and PR people must "kill" the enemy's PR and bring the war to a "peace without annexations or reparations" so you do not look like the losers.
The clan's image: a top clan's first priority is that no one can compromise it. But you do not need to react to every flooder's jab: ignore most of them, and in rare cases limit yourself to a brief comment - "deign to notice the fuss".

5. Staying afloat

You have become a top clan, and everyone in the game knows it. Now the main thing is never to relax: keep growing, recruiting, fighting and negotiating. Otherwise you will be swept away, and getting back to the same level will be much harder.

Building a clan is hard work that takes experience, skill, talent and diligence. But it is great fun: you create the history of your clan and of the game, meet all kinds of people and learn all kinds of things. And how nice it is to see that the people in your clan feel part of it and are proud of it. It is worth the effort.

Original article author: Shido Oda-Shin