Best way to organize your clan?

[Tristan]

Just curious what people think?

What is, in your opinion, the best way to organize and lead a strategus or crpg clan?

Cheers

[Fartface]

id say .
1.keeping ur members motivated, you can do this by organising stuff and have some trolls and jokes on ts and do raids etc.
2. solve any problems by members inside the clan if 2 members have an argue or something get the solution, sometimes an fight between 2 members doesnt make an big differance but it could get out of hand greatly if friends of one start going against the other etc this could lead to an great disband.
3. have certain rules there just needs to be rules.
this are my opinions, ( i posted alot so if somebody wants to start an clan this might help him out:D)

[Bromagi]

When 2 people argue.. organize a duel between them with best out of 5 wins... that way its fun for everyone to watch ><

[Beauchamp]

have no life

[Phazey]

Well it's a fair question.

For cRPG, i think it's pretty simple to get started:
Decide on a name, pick a banner that's not in use yet, make a thread on the factions forum and you're done. 

However, when the clan gets bigger, you might need to get a few more people to help out. Things you could do as the clan gets bigger:

Essential:
- Get one or two guys to be 'second in command' for when the clan leader is away.
- Get a forum or use a skype group, a steam group or even a google+ hangout to communicate better
- Get a teamspeak server or get a spot on on one of the existing teamspeak servers

Optional:
- Make a recruitment plan (set up criteria) and appoint recruitment officer(s)
- Set up a regular training day
- Make cool videos promoting your clan
- Record battles and stream live events
- Make a really cool clan website
- Make a skin pack (replace intro movie, crosshair, sounds, banner pack, etc)

Strategus specific:
- Appoint a commander (or council) for overall strategus strategy
- Set several trusted members to level 10 so they can manage the fiefs
- Appoint fiefs to very active players
- Recruit more no-life crazies that keep an eye on strategus 24/7
- Do lots and lots of politics, talking to other clans, cutting deals and making secret alliances

That's what popped into my mind when writing this. By no means a complete list, but perhaps a start. Please add more helpful suggestions and feel free to criticize.

[Dexxtaa]

Don't ever sleep on a fight between members.

Also, don't let these arguments cause rifts in your clan. You guys are all you have to depend on.

I don't really know why Acre disbanded, but I can imagine it was pretty messy, given that it was a one day split after getting roflstomped in a single Strat battle.

Which leads me to the next one;

Don't let demoralizing events shatter your boys. Always rally and know that you can come back.

[Tristan]

Two last posts very interesting. Keep it coming.

More about actual organization in-clan.
Does you leader(s) decide everything?
Do you vote on certain topics?
Is everything public in your clan?
Is somethings withheld members?

I see a lot of things concerning disputes. How do you normally handle them? Is it from your pow the biggest danger to a clan?

[Dexxtaa]

More about actual organization in-clan.
Does you leader(s) decide everything?
Do you vote on certain topics?
Is everything public in your clan?
Is somethings withheld members?

I see a lot of things concerning disputes. How do you normally handle them? Is it from your pow the biggest danger to a clan?

Leaders make the final call, but always get as much input as you can. An autocratic structure may be easier, but it can lead to a lot of dispute.

Letting everyone know stuff is at your discretion. But you have to achieve a balance. Too open mouthed a policy can lead to information leaks. Not enough communication leads to disgruntled troops and lower morale.

Disputes must always be handled in a private channel (this one can apply to RL too). Bring someone to mediate (but not arbitrate). Let the two sort out their differences without having the entire clan listening in, otherwise it becomes a drama fest.

Anyone can attack your clan on Strategus. But disbands, breakoffs and traitors come from the inside. Conceptual destruction of your clan is an internal root, not external.

Just think about this every time you have to make a call : What good is a leader without men to lead?

[Elindor]

Two last posts very interesting. Keep it coming.

More about actual organization in-clan.
Does you leader(s) decide everything?
Do you vote on certain topics?
Is everything public in your clan?
Is somethings withheld members?

I see a lot of things concerning disputes. How do you normally handle them? Is it from your pow the biggest danger to a clan?

- What Dexxtaa said...Leader at the top listens to info from others but he has final say - theres no time for democracy in online gaming in my experience.
- Trusted council below him that back him up - essential.
- Remove problem members - not worth it to mess around with them.
- Some information does not need to be exposed to everyone.
- For STRATEGUS:  Disperse holdings to your council/high level officers (Lords).  Assign each member to a Lord.  Each Lord is responsible for collecting the troops/money from the members assigned to him. 

** Do not promote poeple into leadership positions unless they are capable of that...if people are just good fighters/have been around for a long time give them proficiency ranks - not leadership ranks **

[Erasmas]

have no life

Plain and simple  +1

down @Baggy: Strat is back, so I'm back as well  The truth is, RL sucks...

[Baggy]

Plain and simple  +1

Yay Erasmus is back.

[Dexxtaa]

- What Dexxtaa said...Leader at the top listens to info from others but he has final say - theres no time for democracy in online gaming in my experience.
- Trusted council below him that back him up - essential.
- Remove problem members - not worth it to mess around with them.
- Some information does not need to be exposed to everyone.
- For STRATEGUS:  Disperse holdings to your council/high level officers (Lords).  Assign each member to a Lord.  Each Lord is responsible for collecting the troops/money from the members assigned to him. 

** Do not promote poeple into leadership positions unless they are capable of that...if people are just good fighters/have been around for a long time give them proficiency ranks - not leadership ranks **

Well, I've seen clans with a very successful democratic system. Leads to very pleased members, due to the integrated decision at the end.

Also, I disagree to an extent with the removal of  "problem members." If it's a one time deal, it can be trained out of them. HOWEVER if it a recurring event, then it will have to be dealt with more seriously .

And the promotion thing, yes.

[Artyem]

Instead of changing the clan to fit the player base, we find the people who fit in with us just right.

Interestingly, there aren't many of them.

[Digglez]

I've not been in 1 successful clan that had a head honcho type leadership structure.  Either the person turns into a power hungry dick or vanishes off the face of the earth leaving the clan leaderless.  I've always been in democratic clans with several officers that sit down together to hammer out issues.

I would most definitely remove problem members because they're like a cancer that will eat away a clan from the inside, ruin your clans reputation, and other bad stuff.  The thing is, you cant wait until they're gotten rotten bad, you need to privately address issues with them and give them a chance to change.  I've even had the pleasure of the 'private chat' when I got too out of line before...it does work but probably not in the majority of cases.

[Keshian]

Find what people wan to actually do.  Much of the "leadership" work is rather monotonous reminding people not verya ctive on strategus to transfer, collecting troops and gold, buying equipment absed on your gold and troops, transferring and sometimes having to travel to get things where they need to be, being online more than most because you need to respond to enemy forces (3x online as much during an active war), contacting various clans and individuals to get them to sign up for a battle, staying in touch with various clan leaders to coordinate actions, and staying in touch with other faction's leaders to maintain diplomatic relations.

If you find the few people willing to commit the kind of time to do this and work for the benefit of the clan, I say look to promote them the sooner the better.  Otherwise you need to look for ways for less active members to contribute and participate - having everyone given a chance to lead on the battle server, with the best given the opportunity to try on Strategus battles, having multiple people maintian the diplomatic relations with other (so many clans out there, hard to have just 1 diplomat), having people that handle the villages (kick out people, handle rent rates, etc.).

It kind of feels like a bureaucracy most of the time, but its aprt of the fun to have as many people as possible be able to be actively doing something.  For secretive and tentative diplomatic overtures, best to keep it among a few close-mouthed individuals with a firm understanding of the Strategus situation.  But for large decisions like wars, you have to have everyone in vent talk it over, because its quite frankly unfair for some autocratic individual to involve 50+ people in something that will eat up a lot of everyone's time.  Plus a lot of people have interesting perspectives that change the viewpoint of everyone and its usually fairly easy to geta  general sort of agreement on yes/no decisions.  For day-to-day and finesse decisions its best to rely on the bureaucracy.