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January 2001 Archive

21 January 2001 - Clantastic

I have been in a clan for practically all of my online life, and I'm nearly two and a half years old now you know :). In fact I've been clanless for less than 2 months. I've been a member of a clan full of newbies, starting out in the UKCCL, as well as a clan in the top flight. I've been both a grunt player and also a squad captain, so I'm as qualified as anyone to write a short piece about clans and what they mean to us all :).

I don't have any precise statistics and I don't think it would be possible to get them, but I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of online gamers are in or have been in clans, for at least some of their time online. The question is, why? Why force yourself to play with the same people week in week out? Why give yourself responsibilities when you only want to play when you feel like it? Why get involved in petty clan rivalries when you just want the quiet life? Why do people clan-hop every other week? These questions, amongst others, are some of the issues I'm going to try to address in this article.

The word "clan" conjures up quite a "primitive" image in my mind. You kind of expect forest dwellers or cavemen or wandering nomads to be in clans. Even now, after two years online, the use of the word "clan" for a team of online gamers still strikes me as very odd sometimes. Whenever I talk about online life in real life, which isn't very often, I always avoid the word and describe my clan as a "team".

However, the word clan is actually very appropriate. Let's just look, for a second, at what makes up a tribal clan and compare that to the modern cyberclan. Firstly, a tribal clan has to have members. There must be some kind of hierarchy or structure, if only a single leader. There may be roles and responsibilities, or even rites of passage that members are expected and required to fulfil. Lastly, clans are usually formed for mutual protection or to defend territory for example.

Cyberclans can have all these features. Members are selected from the wilderness of public servers. Scouts look out for qualities that will benefit the clan. Fighting skills tend to be the priority, but some may seek social skills as well. The clan's roster is updated, and the new recruit is entitled to all the privileges of clan membership. New members have to be introduced to the clan but they will have to prove themselves on the battlefield before they are truly accepted as kin. They get to wear the emblem of the clan, the tag. They wear this to show their loyalty and their pride in being a member. In exchange they must be available to fight when called upon by the leader. I suppose the only tenuous link is the mutual protection/territory aspect. Territory is impossible to define online but you could argue that a clan's irc channel is the closest they get to having territory, hehe. Some have servers of course ;). Isn't there a kind of buzz in an irc channel when the op'ed clan members kick someone out? Removing a trespasser from their territory perhaps :). (OK he's finally flipped you think, hehe).

Why do people want to be in clans though? Obviously everyone is different and it's difficult to generalise about people's motives, but I think it's clear that a lot of people are looking for some kind of companionship from a clan. Whilst the net may be vast, almost without limits, it can actually seem a very lonely place when you don't know anyone. It's pretty much like being plonked in the middle of London's Leicester Square by yourself. If you're in a clan you usually make friends with the people in that clan. Also, the shared experiences of fighting in matches bond the clan together and strengthens these ties. There's also the very obvious and basic reason of wanting to play team games. Wanting to be in a league and put your skills to the test in a competitive match. You may also want to improve and learn new skills from your team-mates. From my short time unclanned I remember feeling very aimless and the whole experience seemed pointless. It just felt like a trawl from one public server to another.

Not all the possible reasons are quite so innocent, though. There are many players on the servers who desperately want to make a name for themselves. I imagine most players out there would love to be known as a great player, but most are realistic and happy with their skills and with whatever "rep" they feel they have. Other players, though, want fame or notoriety so badly that they can end up going to extreme lengths. Very few have either the time or the talent to become a wonderplayer so the fame must be achieved in other ways. This is one of the motivations for cheaters, who try to shortcut the practice required. However, there is another kind of glory hunter who uses clan membership to get his rep.

By being in a top clan, no matter what your genuine or proven level of skill, you will get a certain level of reflected glory. The fact is that everyone knows that you have been chosen to be amongst their ranks and therefore you must be a good player. Indeed in most cases you probably are a good player if you've managed to join a top clan. Unfortunately, because they joined with this motive, these players frequently aren't loyal to the clan and in bad times they are likely to jump ship and move elsewhere, lest their rep be tarnished by the clan's failure.

Over a year ago, I was a member of HooD, which was a top Quake 2 clan. (One day I may tire of reminding people, hehe). I was a decent modemer, it's true, but I was never brilliant. When I joined I didn't know any of them and I won't deny that the "rep" of the clan and the chance to be a part of it was an offer I felt I couldn't turn down. I enjoyed all my time in the clan and even now I still get people saying "you were in HooD weren't you?". I'm benefiting from reflected glory despite only having been in the clan for a few months and not even playing that many league games with them. People may think I'm better than I ever really was because of it, so it's very apparent what the easy benefits of top clan membership are. This is what other players actively seek and it causes them to clan hop until they find a clan that gives them the best possible rep. Of course you have to get there, but everyone is capable of playing well, and pretty much like comedy, it's just a matter of timing ;).

In fact, it's my belief that many players do indeed appear better than they truly are when playing in a good clan. The skills of the team-mates seem to multiply together rather than add together, and a seemingly good player in a Division 2 clan may suddenly become a top player in a Division 1 clan. They don't suddenly have more skills but the strength of their team-mates means they die less, have access to more weapons and can generally benefit from an easier game all round. The perfect environment. Because of this clan hoppers will be seen performing well and may find upward moves easier and easier as they go.

There are some unusual players out there who seek to join clans just for the experience or buzz. They may even alias and join several clans at the same time. Each alias brings with it a new persona and an opportunity to be someone new, with no history. A chance to try things out that they wouldn't normally dare perhaps. There are no consequences; they can just stop using the nick if things go wrong. These players aren't so much looking for glory as looking for a sense of personal achievement. They know that they have joined all these clans and it will boost their ego to know that so many clans want them. There is a buzz I imagine in sailing through a trial and having people suck up to you so you'll join :).

Not everyone is a glory hunter though. You can also look at those who form clans and analyse them :). Why build a clan? There are many reasons I suppose. You may relish the challenge of setting things up. Designing a pretty website. Joining a league. Shocking established clans when you rise through the divisions unbeaten and kick their arse :). Some maybe like the sense of power of being a clan leader. Holding the power to decide who plays and who doesn't. Who stays in the clan and who doesn't. The reality for the majority of clan leaders is probably a mixture of these things, but any benefits are generally well deserved due to the effort they have to put in to run things. I have never started a clan myself but I have until recently been the Q2 captain for MKC. Whilst there's a lot of work involved there is an undeniable buzz about being in charge :). I'm not the sort to ever try and lord it though, oh no, I somehow don't think they'd let me really :).

Being in a clan isn't always a bed of roses though. At times it can be very annoying having to attend practices and matches. Feeling that you *have* to play when maybe you don't really feel like it. Not wanting to let people down... This is even worse in a small clan when you not playing could mean the clan defaulting a game, or struggling to save face. You may even be frustrated and have the feeling that you're being held back. That you'd "do better" in a different clan perhaps. There is the flipside too where you play a match and play really poorly, letting down your team-mates with a terrible score. I remember seeing a demo of a game where one such player tried to fake a disconnection near the end of the match and mistyped it as "quti", hehe.

There is also the question of losing. No one likes losing and sometimes, despite a lot of effort, you lose. You're simply beaten by a better side, or you don't play as well as you know you can. When you've worked hard and still lose it's all the more demoralising because there's no excuse. Of course you can always find an excuse. Your connection... Maybe they were cheating... Your mouse... This is why some people don't try in life, generally. If you don't try and don't achieve you've never truly failed. Have you ever spoken to a person before an exam who said, "I've worked really hard and I think I'm ready for this exam." Er, not likely. "I've hardly done any revision" is the most common comment :). It's amazing anyone ever passes with the minuscule amount of work anyone ever does. However, when you do put in effort for a match, practising the map, preparing killer tactics, etc., and then you put it into action and get the result you deserve it makes the experience even more satisfying and binds the clan together even more strongly :).

Other disadvantages include clan members you may dislike. People you have to get on with, but this is something you have to cope with in any walk of life. You may also end up being dragged into petty clan disputes with other clans, that you can't be bothered with. You maybe even like the people you're supposed to hate :). The clan may earn itself a bad reputation that will tarnish your name for the association. Your clan may recruit carelessly and end up with a ringer or a cheater or just some cry-baby "ffs ffs" wannabe l33t player, who will make you all look sad.

There may be internal aspects of the clan that get you down. An annoying clan leader who puts winning above everything and only ever picks the best players in spite of individual players' dedication. At the end of the day winning is great but it's not everything. People are in a clan for a good time. Some players are better, some are worse but everyone deserves a game. Personally I would prefer to reward commitment and effort above sometimes-lazy skills. There are some arrogant players out there who come waltzing in at the last minute and expect to play without having attended praccy just because they're so good. A wiser clan leader might wonder how much better still they would be, and how much better a team-mate they would be, if they were encouraged to actually work for their place. The clan itself may even be run poorly. Your captain might never arrange practices or might give you details too late so you're always rushing to be ready.

The range of skills and personalities out there means that there are many types of clan and almost every one is unique. For example there are the top clans who expect to win every game they play. They recruit the best they can to get the skills (if not the people) they need. Players in these clans are under pressure to perform and to maintain a standard that is impossible to keep up all the time. This encourages aliasing, which hides their true identity and takes the pressure off. Some of these top clans are genuine clans of friends. They have grown and become great over time. UNR is a clan like this. The core players are the same players who formed the clan three years ago. Other top clans may be artificial. They are put together with the sole purpose of winning. The problem with such clans is that the ambition and individual egos can be so great that they simply cannot cope with losing. They are loyal to the collective goal of winning but not loyal to their clan or to their team-mates in the proper sense. This is why so many clans form, win a load of matches, lose one and then fold. The illusion is shattered.

Then there are the clans who genuinely play for fun. Clans that are made up of real friends who enjoy playing together. This is surely the healthiest type of clan. Some players or clans, who only look at division placings to value worth, may not respect such clans but there will also be many who can appreciate and who want to be part of a decent clan of sporting players.

And on that note I'll wind this up. I've talked about most aspects of clans and I hope I've managed to say or even imply some things that have made you think about your own experiences. Thanks for reading :).

5 January 2001 - Complete Guide to Quake 2

Happy New Year!!! Some might say it's a bit late in the day to do a guide to Quake 2 but I don't care, there are still some non-veteran players out there I'm sure :). Over the last week or so I've tried to put together the complete guide to Quake 2, calling on all my two year's experience. I hope you will find the guide at least useful if not truly definitive, which is unfortunately impossible for such a massive game :).

I begin with a general playing guide and follow this up with a brand new map guide for both deathmatch and teamplay. Next up are the basic and advanced binds guides that have been on my site for some time. However, I've now also published my own autoexec and teamplay configs, which I guarantee are some of the most unusual and complex out there :oP. Lastly, I've uploaded my pak files for you to download and use if you don't have one already or if you fancy a change. My paks provide a nice clear display, improved sounds and there's even a pak there to help HPBs. Find it all in the Quake 2 Guide.

3 January 2001 - UK Quake 3 Team

Just a quick post to point you in the direction of the site for the UK Quake 3 Team that will be travelling to France to play at LAN Arena 5. The final team was Tasan, Luke, Blokey, Shan and Mozilla. Two of these players, Luke and Blokey, were also on the Q2 team that travelled to France back in 1999.

The team site is very informative and features a long list of trials demos both of sucessful and unsuccessful applicants.

Contact Information - E-Mail: REViLLA, ICQ: 21345065

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