What does the ideal team/clan look like?

[Word]

When I read Concord's article on the WGJ a while ago, I thought about several things I'd do differently now. I have some ideas, but I was wondering what you others think (and please give reasons).

Some of the questions I asked myself (feel free to add stuff):

"Who makes decisions, and how?" - democracy or dictatorship? some leaders or one for each day of the week/month of the year?
"How are you going to recruit people?" - invite-only, applications?
"How do you ensure they stay loyal?" - You probably can't, unless you have embarrassing photos or win almost every tournament you take part in.
"How do you keep getting new recruits?" (make it mandatory for each member to get at least one application per month?)
"How many wars?"/"Who can organize them?"
"Does regular 'training' really improve anything?"
"Do VoIP clients always help?"
"If you have training, is it mandatory?"
"How do you decide who can play in a tournament and who can't?"
"Should forum activity be mandatory?"
"It's obvious that your sanctions are limited and can easily lead to a valuable member's departure. Is there another way aside from trusting your gut feeling?"
"Should ladle teams have a 'strategist' in spectator mode who gives everyone tips during the game?"


etc.

Note that this is about competitive clans for tournaments, not so much clans that could be described as "server families".

[AI-team]

ideal team:

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      Word
   Word  Word
  Word    Word
Word 

[Flow]

ideal team:

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Interesting choice, AI.

I'd counter with

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      Vov
   Vov  Vov
  Vov    Vov
Vov 

[Gaz]

I'd counter with

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      Vov
   Vov  Vov
  Vov    Vov
Vov 

Hmm, interesting, I'd counter with

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            Vov
     Subfocus   Roter
   Gazelle     Dreadlord
  Soul 

[epsy]

Very funny. Would you guys at least pretend you read more than the title before replying?

[Gaz]

Very funny. Would you guys at least pretend you read more than the title before replying?

What do u mean!?? That's my ideal team/clan ladle team!

I def read the title.

[sinewav]

"Who makes decisions, and how?"

• I am a big fan of leaderless teams. This is not because I believe in some self-organizing ideal, but because a team without a leader is more fluid. The active players tend to be the bigger contributors and generally give the team momentum. In Armagetron, leaders are often replaced as much as players and some are downright bad for their team's image. However, it is nice to have someone take the reigns once in a while, but in a thriving, active team this is rarely needed anyway.

"How are you going to recruit people?"

• I don't think there is any perfect way to do this. Teams need to constatly re-evaluate themselves and bring talent in (or remove dead weight) whenever necessary. This community is small enough that all recruitment rules will be bent in one way or another.

"How do you ensure they stay loyal?"

• Be cool. You don't even have to be good and win games, just friendly. United Noobs of Armagetron was very active and they went years without winning a single tournament. But most of the players were fairly cool people and rarely caused trouble. The only way a team can survive and still be jerks is to have a massive roster that can handle mass departures when drama erupts.

"How do you keep getting new recruits?"

• Similar to above: be friendly. Of course, it helps to be active and be good. I would say these traits are most important in that order too: friendliness, activity, and talent. You can have a talented team with a bunch of jerks and it won't last very long.

"How many wars?"/"Who can organize them?"

• Play all the time! I think if everyone on the team is organizing meets then it works out best. Makes it clear who is the most enthusiastic.

"Does regular 'training' chat really improve anything?"

• I don't have any idea what 'training' chat is...

"If you have training, is it mandatory?"

• I would say yes. If the team isn't sharing their experiences and helping each other grow, then why be on a team? Of course, some clans don't care about performance. Those clans probably wouldn't have any training program at all.

"How do you decide who can play in a tournament and who can't?"

• This is the hardest thing about being part of a team. It's one of the few places where actual leadership helps. Internal ladders are one way (Crazy Tronners) and basing playing privileges on recent activity is another. This is probably the most interesting part of the discussion. We could have a whole thread about it.

"Should forum activity be mandatory?"

• Maybe. I guess it depends how important that tool is to the team. Some teams do almost all their communication through IRC/IM tools. Others spend so much time chatting in-game there is no need for a forum.

"It's obvious that your sanctions are limited and can easily lead to a valuable member's departure. Is there another way aside from trusting your gut feeling?"

• You don't want to get into micro-management. Ultimately, team come together in the friendly spirit of the game. If something disrupts that, your gut feeling is usually enough.

"Should ladle teams have a 'strategist' in spectator mode who gives everyone tips during the game?"

• The team should do whatever it takes to win, as long as it stays within the bounds of good sportsmanship. Sometimes is is really great to have someone who isn't playing help keep the team focused when things get emotional (like when we start yelling at each other).

* I'm at the laundromat and may edit this tomorrow.

[Word]

Thanks, obviously that's the kind of reply I tried to encourage.

I don't have any idea what 'training' chat is...

My mistake, it originally was "Do you think regular 'training'/using VoIP clients like teamspeak improves a team's performance?" - fixed.

[RoterBaron1337]

"Who makes decisions, and how?"
Every player should know what to do

"How are you going to recruit people?"
If the guy is friends with Liz - avoid him

"How do you ensure they stay loyal?"
^ answered

"How do you keep getting new recruits?"
If some people get less active, i would consider to try to get some sub for him

"How many wars?"/"Who can organize them?"
Organized by the leader - added in Skype maybe with the Status "Searching for war" or asking other leaders for a quick answer

"Does regular 'training' really improve anything?"
If you are experienced u should try to get some pickups before ladle or you are organizing a war before ladle (the sunday before).

"Do VoIP clients always help?"
Yes, Communication is a key factor in every team game.

"If you have training, is it mandatory?"
Belongs on the player, newer players should get training / newer formed teams its necessary for older clans with more experienced players i would say you dont need it.

"How do you decide who can play in a tournament and who can't?"
Activity / Experience and needyness, i would rather give a newbie my spot for the first rounds when its against a newer clan to let him gain experience and would switch him if he gets in trouble against better clans and/or we lose a game 'cause of his plays

"Should forum activity be mandatory?"
setting the Forum site into one of the starting sites in the browser or you just have skype / steam other programs you are using where u are more active

"It's obvious that your sanctions are limited and can easily lead to a valuable member's departure. Is there another way aside from trusting your gut feeling?"
dont invite every random idiot, try to know them for a while and see how they act in pub if they rage alot and are friends with liz, dont take them

"Should ladle teams have a 'strategist' in spectator mode who gives everyone tips during the game?"
they shouldn't if there is a guy who is dead and can call for some things its enough imo, because i mean make it fair and be on your self, no need to get help from other sources


hope i could help you

i dont hate liz, but she is the girlfriend who takes away your best friend and makes him to a douchebag out of nowhere, hope u had fun reading.. if you take this as a insult liz http://img.pandawhale.com/32183-Lakers- ... f-phtM.gif

Edit: Spelling

[Word]

Yeah Roter I'm kind of surprised and thankful that you've done a far better job than AI, Broken and Gazelle combined.

[RoterBaron1337]

you are the kind of person i hate to hang out with, prejudging before knowing the person well enough to really judge him.. what ever its only based on my experience and i srsly meant everything serious.

[Word]

You seem to have misunderstood the intention of my post. Your earlier reply was exactly what I was asking for, so again, thanks for that and I acknowledge the effort you put in it.

The prejudging thing could be turned into another question..."to what extent do clans depend on characters?", "is it right or wrong to differentiate players according to their abilities and assign them one specific, limited role? and how do you do that?" etc.

[sinewav]

i dont hate liz, but she is the girlfriend who takes away your best friend and makes him to a douchebag out of nowhere, hope u had fun reading..

Newsflash! If your friend turns into a douche-bag after he dates a girl, he was actually a douche-bag before too. You just didn't notice because you were in love with him.

[Phytotron]

i dont hate liz, but she is the girlfriend who takes away your best friend and makes him to a douchebag out of nowhere, hope u had fun reading..

Newsflash! If your friend turns into a douche-bag after he dates a girl, he was actually a douche-bag before too. You just didn't notice because you were in love with him.

I'll go a step further: L337Misogynist.

[Goodygumdrops]

i dont hate liz, but she is the girlfriend who takes away your best friend and makes him to a douchebag out of nowhere, hope u had fun reading..

Newsflash! If your friend turns into a douche-bag after he dates a girl, he was actually a douche-bag before too. You just didn't notice because you were in love with him.

I'll go a step further: L337Misogynist.

Grudge against one person who happens to be female?