Clan Creation

Recruiting Tips

One of the most critical, and usually one of the hardest tasks for any clan is recruitment.  Bear in mind that these tips are based off of my experiences as a clan leader. The goal behind this article is to help Clan Leaders develop their own recruitment tactics and strategies within their respective games.

Before I really get into the basics, you need to ask yourself some simple questions:  Why do players want to join my clan, and what does my clan have that sets us apart from the other clans?  Think about it because when your out recruiting, these two questions are surely going to come up.

First and foremost, the most important aspect of a recruiter is their overall conduct and discipline over voice and text chats.  Their actions reflect upon not only themselves, but the clans that they represent. Think about a company that has given you poor customer service, you will think poorly not only about the representative, but the company as well.  The concept is the same for both.

“No one wants to join a clan that is full of smack-talking children”

Corporal Kevin C. MacManus, 29th Infantry Division for Darkest Hour

Games Servers are your top recruiter!

Time after time, no matter what clan I become part of, the game servers always bring in the bulk of your new recruits.  If your looking for any decent numbers for your clan, then a game server is pretty much a requirement.  You do want to make sure you get a decent game server with the maximum possible slots for your respective games.  Larger servers allow more players to be exposed to your clan’s name, and in theory the clan should gain more members.

Play The Game and Walk the Talk.

This should be a no brainer, but I’ll say it… play the game!  Exposing yourself to the community you recruit from is ideal, especially when your trying to get to know the players.  This is a good way to determine and single out possible recruits.  If your website promotes good teamwork and discipline, walk the talk.  I understand that it might be a little difficult to get public players to work together, but at least try.  Anyone interested in good teamwork will at least take a look at your website because of your efforts.  That’s a foot in the door, and possibly another recruit.

Community Forums.

There are plenty of gaming and community forums to which you can recruit from.  I would recommend joining some forums related to your clan’s game and respond to some board post before dropping a recruitment post. This gives you the benefit of not being a “No Name”, rather someone who is a respected by members of that community.  Creating a signature with your clan’s name and website address will also expose the clan for each quality post you have.

Search Engine Optimization 101

Now, this is something that is not really talked about in clan recruitment, but is still valid in gaining new members, developing the clan’s search engine optimization will get you noticed whenever someone searches on Google, Yahoo and MSN.  Always having  a lot of fresh content for your clan’s website is key.  The internet is faceless with billions of websites out there, so giving your website a face would be bumping your clan’s rank on the major search engines.  The video below shows the basics of SEOs:

Source: Vertical Measures

Picking a Game Server Provider

One of the most important aspects to clans are game servers.  It has nearly become a requirement for clans to have a game server to be successful.  The market itself is extremely saturated with small and massive companies looking to earn your business.  So what is best for your clan?

I’m going to briefly outline several things that need to be thought of when choosing a Game Server Provider:

• Ping: The network infrastructure should be one of the most important factors in choosing a game server provider.  The old saying “you get what you pay for” is very relevant in the gaming server industry.  Networking happens to be one of the areas affected when hosts choose to save money.  This alone can bring inferior pings to your members and can be a deal-breaker in regards to recruitment.  The location of these hosts should be considered when attempting to maximize the best possible pings.  The most common rule of thumb, if the bulk of your clan is located in country A, then the game server should be located in country A.

• Per Slot Servers: This is the cheapest option for any clan on a budget.  This is where a clan pays for the maximum number of slots on a game server.  The server hardware itself is most likely shared among other clans, but this shouldn’t be a problem as long as the game does not require much processing power.  These servers also lack the ability control the system like a traditional computer. However control panels make game server management easy and pain free.

• Dedicated Servers: This is the most expense way for a clan to host their game servers. The benefit of a dedicated server is the ability to host multiple game servers without the limitations of a maximum number of slots.  Some companies also give you the ability to remote into these systems to perform complex configurations and to install moderations.  Picking the correct hardware also depends on what you plan on doing with the server.  If single game server requires a 2 GHz machine with 512 MB of RAM, and you want to host four game servers, then the math should add up to a 2 GHz Quad Core machine with 2 GB of RAM.

• Service: Something that is usually overlooked when shopping for a game server is the company’s customer service.  If they say they provide 24/7 support, then call them at 3AM to see if they’re really there and talk to them.  This interaction should indicate the level of service and assistances that you’re going to get when the time comes.

• Satisfaction: Finally, do your HOMEWORK!  Find reviews that been posted about them by other clans.  Do take into account that people will have bad experiences with these companies, and will be more willing to post about them.  Obviously all game server providers have issues, but how they handle them will determine their level of quality.  Keep an eye out for trends that happens over and over.  This shows that the company is not permanently resolving the issues, and are more then likely going to repeat them again.

This isn’t a full list of things you should consider when shopping, but hopefully this article was helpful in giving you an idea of what to look for when picking the right game server provider for your clan.

Why create a clan?

Creating a clan could be the most difficult and challenging task for anyone.  There is a lot things involved in making a clan and it would not be recommended to anyone who has never been part of a clan to start a clan.  Some of the most important questions you need to ask yourself first are:

• Why do I want to create a clan when I can join another?
• What is my goals for the clan I’m about to create?
• Where am I going to get my members?
• When is the best time to launch my clan?
• How am I going to effectively dedicate my time to the clan?

The benefit of joining an already created clan is simple, all the leg work is already done and hopefully they already have some dedicated servers.  However, if the type of clan you want does not exist, then it’s a perfect time to ahead and create it a clan.

Before launching, you do want to develop realistic goals to reach.  When I talk about goals, I’m not talking about “recruiting 20 members a week” type goals. I’m talking setting time frames to have a website up by, or when you’re going to get a dedicated server.  Things of that nature.

Where are the members going to be coming from?  Are you wanting just members from your home country, or you just want former military members to fill your ranks?  Well, this is pretty self explanatory and you should have this in mind.

The best time to launch your clan shouldn’t be immediately.  It takes time to develop a website, ranks, forums, and other important plans needed to run a clan.  Having things developed and planned out is the best course of action.  Not planning is a plan for failure.

This is the most important, dedication.  Just don’t be lazy.  Your members will need to build a sense of trust with you, and the best way to do this is being dedicated.  No one in the world would want to a join a clan where the leader did nothing, or was never around… would you?  Hopefully you’ll be planning on renting dedicated servers and will be asking for donations from these members.  To show that you are trustworthy, dedication to your clan will be biggest factor, make it your one and only.  Sometimes it’ll feel like a second job at first, but once you start providing jobs to your members, it’ll get easier.

If your dedicated enough to go through all the stress, then go ahead and discover if you have what it takes to create a clan.  It does take a lot time and effort, but the awards are countless and friendships are priceless.  Take it from someone who has created and ran clans before… Your first one will fail.  Keep that in Mind.