SC2SEA.com - Starcraft 2 SEA eSports Community Site

SEA clans and the future.
 

**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.

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

I agree with everything stated. Please bring back the beef. Need more exciting matches / rivalries once again.

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

Why is Team (monkey) not part of this clan list what the hell man

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

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.

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

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.

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

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

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

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.

Pretty lame

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

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.

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

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.

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

Kid wanted to play axs


You turned us down



You are killing sea clans Jessie. It's you

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

I heard DGTV will likely be returning soon.

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

Most subtle calling out of Chase ever

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

@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.

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

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 : )

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

No wally isnt a traitor

Wally is a kid at heart

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

What can I say, I'm just a kid

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

< kicked out of most clans in aus

I'm running outta teams bois.

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

I wanted to post this, but I was afraid to get another infraction from the mods

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

I have noticed a lot more people from the SEA region especially playing games on the ladder, whether it be 1v1, archon mode, arcade, or teams. Perhaps we should host more SEA sponsored events that are promoted widely through social media and Blizzard outlets to get more people active on the site.

I personally (not being a top dog player, or too active on Sc2Sea) am always intimidated by the players who seem to only engage in conversation with the same people or always win tournaments (or finish at a high placing) I feel as if Sc2Sea needs to solve these issues first to get more people wanting to use the site more regularly. Perhaps having more fun nights with clans, archon mode, arcade etc would solve this, where prizes (if there were any) were not geared only towards the winners, instead any player of any skill had a chance to win something. Embracing the fact that SC2 is no longer a purely competitive environment is probably the best thing we could do to bring more people to the site and bring back the competition we love.

I'm not saying we should abolish competitive play either, but I do think that the root of the Starcaft competitive scene lies with the players who don't actually play competitively. Those are the guys that get their friends along to have fun, look up to the pro players, and help by being active members of the community.

The hardest challenge I think we have to overcome at the moment is that most of us that are left that do use sc2sea play competitively, and often don't feel like they have much time to spare for "meaningless" arcade games as they don't attribute towards their skill progression as much as ladder would.

Perhaps one of the best thing we could do would be to actively use the SC2SEA group and chat channels more often, and actively promote the channel as a place to find other people from the sea community that are looking for any sort of game.

Once the casuals come back I'm sure It'll spice up the clan scene with all of the new blood flowing :] Here's hoping anyways.

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

Yeah. I remember the last v clan war.
It was just Matt v Myself and, I regret to say, Fusion Slugs r3kt IXL.

It was a sad day, and pretty much the death of IXL
But we're making a comeback for LotV and I'm sure, one day I'll beat Matt and reclaim our pride

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

I was in the Australian Brood War nation team from 2005 - 2007. Between when I played from 01-07 the clan scene was nuts. Aus scene had an active yearly seasonal format, where some overseas teams sometimes joined as well. People smurfed as they always will but it wasn't too much of a big deal.

The reason I bring this up is on BW there was a site/league called WGTour which was hosted on Europe server. They had an international clan league with divisions etc which really boasted the clan scene in BW. I'm not sure if anything like this exists in SC2? Anyways, due to wgtour, the time zones sorta sucked so AUS teams didn't really participate in the league, however, there were always other clans you could go find and practice with.

We always had the AUS BW Clan scene then you could just jump to euro etc find other clans to vs against nearly anytime! PGT/ICCUP also implemented a clan league ladder which brought heaps of interest (in aus scene largely as well) Maybe blizz should do the same. Kept the clans pretty active. Aus Scene probably had 8+ active clans at any given time, dropping to 6 in 2007. Still was a competitive league though.

So do international clan leagues exist that aus clans could participate in to maybe boost interest?

Double clanning, pretty simple is if there is a clan league you register for one team only. If both your clans are playing in the league, don't be a dick and play with the team who needs the players? :P

I think the problem is everyone wants to be in a " sponsored " team or any of that stupid shiet. Clans can create the most fun in a gaming community. Should get our shit together aus!

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

Don't think you have been around long enough, but that was an issue back when we were active as well. Stagnation is always going to be an issue due to the fact that many new members will naturally form bonds with already existing structures, i.e. clans with a lot of history such as , who also run a lot of community based events, so obviously there will be a lot of interest in joining a clan like that.

However, Deth makes a good point, Clans and events such as clan leagues should be organic in nature, I mean realistically you can't just regulate every individual across the SEA in regards to joining X Clan vs Y clan due to friendships formed.

I retain that the issue is still the inescapable fact that there are less individuals that are prepared to shoulder the responsibility of running events, enhancing player performance and overall maintaining a clan. Regardless of how easy people may perceive to run a clan, it takes a fair bit of personal investment. Obviously, the latter often results in people wanting to join something that is easily accessible, and with history.

And @Soundwave, we aren't dead. Just inactive, and no they don't constitute the same thing.

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

This sounds awesome actually, would love to see this. Perhaps even making clans a more integral part to the homepage with a ladder ranking system would help.

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

This would be pretty damn interesting.

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

TA players are mostly old and have real lives... If you want to entice them back - bring up the -/+ rep system.. :P choo choo.

Re: SEA clans and the future.
 

So what does the community need more? Teams or players? Obviously both is what we're looking for.

I'm only new coming back to the scene but I was very active around 2 years ago on this site but never joined a team because I didn't feel like I was good enough.

I would be interested in forming a team or joining one in the future maybe. I don't really know many people that still play from back then so it'd be completely word of mouth on this site.