**sorry for shitty formatting and/or grammar errors, I usually just write and think about how shit it looks afterwards :^)**
I was thinking of writing a massive introduction explaining everything that I've personally dealt with and experienced during the 3 years of running one of the larger sc2sea clans, but honestly, I just want to open a discussion for one of the largest issues that is plaguing the sc2sea clan "scene" right now, and hopefully get some feedback on what should be done. As many of the usual users of this site have probably noticed, even though there was a lot of hype surrounding the release of LotV, the decline of clans and clan wars has continued unhindered by the hype of LotV and come to a complete halt. There hasn't been a clan war since once of the last weeks of HotS, and honestly, I don't think there will be many more given the course we're currently on. I believe the reason clans won't bounce back with LotV is that the issue is just too established and won't change without solid action.
The issue being players that are "Dual clanning"~
There are only 4 clans currently active on sc2sea; sR, ETL, mGG and FaDe. I don't see that number changing either, considering the fact there are people in some of these clans who are actually members of the the other 3 whilst remaining in their "main clan". 4 clans presents one of the bigger issues SEA's faced before, in the form of ladder: Things just get really stale when you're fighting the same handful of people. Asking ETL and mGG every other week for a repeat of the previous clan war with the same people, format and rivalry has just gotten old. It's at the point where clans aren't even actively seeking one-another out for wars, there's ****-all banter online (even mild banter.. none.) and I can't get myself to keep asking the same group for the same event week in and week out.
It was far more exciting and a great deal better when clans like DGTV, eMp, FS, TCP and many more were around. Not just to give me a choice or vary each weekend's clan war "flavour", but it truly felt like being in one of the clans meant something. When sR would go out to fight one of the big boys such as ToR, then the next day fight FS, and another 2 clans the next weekend... it felt exciting. The exact opposite of what fighting ETL then MAYBE fighting mGG/FaDe the next weekend feels like. It feels way too stale.
I'll go back to my point of "dual clanning", the reason I think shutting this sort've thing down (atleast to some extent) would help is it would give a player a greater identity, it'd create a greater gap between the clans, allow more banter, and perhaps bring about more exciting clan wars. The first step will just succeed in reshaping the clans into the individual entities they should be, the second step would need to open up the possibility of growth in other clans and open the door for new clans once more.
NEW CLANS. That's something we need.
Why aren't we getting many new clans? I'll tell you why, it's not solely because there "aren't enough people", it's because the new clans that do pop up can't compete with the likes of mGG/sR/ETL/FaDe muscling them out with their insanely extensive and almost entirely shared rosters. Look at HvG for example, a new clan full of a bunch of new people who showed a lot of promise; very recently closed their doors and merged into the larger clans like ETL. I had a little chat with Ice, their leader, and he mentioned how he wished they were one of the "top dogs" of SEA clans right now. This saddens me greatly, though there was a great deal of banter, myself and many members of sR had a great deal of respect for what Ice and HvG had accomplished, and what they wanted to accomplish. There are plenty more examples of clans that just dry up and die because they lack the strength when first developing to take on the ONLY other clans in SEA, who also happen to be the strongest thanks to how it's all worked out.
Atleast on the bright side I've heard chatter of a TA revival on the cards... I bloody hope so, not only because a bunch of those guys are mates, but also because it could provide a kick-start for healthy competition once more between sc2sea clans.
I can already see the arguments coming out of this being things along the lines of "but my friends are in x clan and i have other friends in y clan", this is something I can't just brush off and say "suck it up" because it comes down to how people individually feel. At the end of the day, do you want competition to return to the clans of sc2sea? Do you want clan leagues again? Do you want to be able to talk a bit of smack for being the best clan among a bunch of them? We need to splinter the clans back into their original forms somehow and open up room for growth. We need to make it a fair playing field instead of choking the competition out.
Sorry if I didn't produce many solutions to the issue, but I was really hoping for the community's input on a matter that's been a thorn in my side as a leader of a large clan for almost 3 years. We've got a thriving community on sc2sea thanks to the OSC system, why not bring our clan system up to scratch?
Thanks,
fry`Rice.
P.S. - To any leaders of clans that have disbanded who have read this and were already considering reforming your clan, please do. There are plenty of people available, you just need to get the ball rolling and start small.
** If you're also just someone who wants to start up a clan/thought about it, message me on Skype @ jessie6726 if you have any questions about it. I can, and will help you with anything.
Something worth stating. I think we may need to bring in a one "clan" mentality. Like i agree being in multiple chats is cool coz friends in each but when it comes to clan wars and such i think said player should only have 1. Also thinking if we get a good clan scene going allows for more entertainment and who knows we could run a clan league along side SSTL if we can get numbers and a solid enough base.
Clans, clan structure and clanwars should be organic and events that people want to do for fun.
Don't try to force the issue. It'll either happen naturally and be great fun (ala original SEACL et al.), or we'll force the issue, players will be disinterested and it'll fall apart as per all recent attempts.
The original clan wars were so great because of the conflict and competitiveness between different communities and personalities in our scene. We're missing that now. Maybe it will return in the future, and if it does, I'll be there waiting to join in the festivities.
I agree with everything you said mate. The whole clan system we have here has gotten extremely stale and feels like there is no point to it at all currently. I have no solutions to this but am up for change in some way
I think he brought it up because since the rise of academy and how the scene changed pretty much ANYONE can get on a team. Now that everyone has a team and individual grudge are solved with some showmatch with OSC points instead of measuring egos or teams shut them up before they say anything that could be detrimental to the organization.
Not only the clan system but the scene becomes stale.
Clans, clan structure and clanwars should be organic and events that people want to do for fun.
Don't try to force the issue. It'll either happen naturally and be great fun (ala original SEACL et al.), or we'll force the issue, players will be disinterested and it'll fall apart as per all recent attempts.
Very good point, I don't think we can really force it too much... But I also can't help but feel we need to get something happening to entice new startups and offer a fair playing field.
Not sure yet. Hopefully someone has a decent idea of something the leaders can have a crack at doing.
Is dual clanning really a big deal? Currently in ETL we only have one member who is dual clanning, that being Elusory. His 2nd clan is ToR which is completely dead anyway, so whatevs.
I think the clan/team divide is a bigger deal arguably. JunO actually made a good point about all the good players being on teams, which are obviously going to be their first loyalty, so the clan pride isn't anywhere near as high these days. Plus when you're that good you're not thinking about clan wars, you're thinking about SEAcraft, WCS and ACL. There's not many people left in ETL teamless or below Master.
I'm fine with ETL being just a social group of friends with no clan wars because these guys are my bestest online buddies, but stuff like SC2ITL we played in twice was pretty awesome. That's the only stuff we've done in the last 6 months+ though.
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The Transformer Zerg, Jadron Burgerman @Soundwave
@Soundwave Yeah after some discussion in chatbox I really think team/clan divide is the bigger deal, dual-clanning might be something really minor in comparison.
@NXZ wally plays for both though... ;o
@Fullmetal I really do want to be excited about that idea, but DGTV closing shop and coming back like a couple months later then repeating has been far too common of a trend.
I agree with what has been said, but I don't think that the reason people aren't as dedicated too their clans is necisarily because acads especially since only one team has them (too what juno said)
anyway whatever happens I would love to see more clan wars, as would everyone else here : )
@Soundwave Yeah after some discussion in chatbox I really think team/clan divide is the bigger deal, dual-clanning might be something really minor in comparison.
@NXZ wally plays for both though... ;o
@Fullmetal I really do want to be excited about that idea, but DGTV closing shop and coming back like a couple months later then repeating has been far too common of a trend.
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