Update:Blog - Community Management: Clan Submissions Page (December 2009)
This blog was written by Mod Timbo and dates to 22 December 2009.
Welcome to the Clan Submissions page where you will find an insight into RuneScape's clan community. Clans have a rich and colourful history in RuneScape ever since the game began. You may not know too much about the clan community, so this is an opportunity for you to see what it's like today. From clan artwork to put on your favourite website, to screen shots of your glorious victories in battle, and articles related to the clan community - we want to hear it all.
Clan artwork
Here is a selection of the finest clan art submitted this week. We look at all of the art sent in to us here at Jagex and have taken a selection of the finest so far. There is a lot of talent in the community and this is the perfect opportunity to show it off.
What we have this week is artwork from The BlacKnights, Heart Unit: Pest Control Clan and 'Obsidian Ancients.
If you think you can do better, have an incredible piece of artwork or a fantastic screen shot from an event or war, then send it through to us at [email protected] with the word ‘Clan’ in the subject line!
Clan interview: Caped Carousers, part 1
This month, Mod Timbo caught up with one of our more unusual clans: the Caped Carousers. They're a clan dedicated to questing with their main recruitment requirement being to own a Quest Cape and to have fun! Archaeox, leader of the Caped Carousers, was put in the chair to answer some questions about his clan, how a clan centred on quests can stay alive and his thoughts on the community.
Mod Timbo: Hello, Archaeox. The Caped Carousers are a Quest Cape clan, which is an odd choice of clan. How was the Carousers formed?
Archaeox: The initial idea came out of a pub crawl to celebrate obtaining a Quest Cape for the first time. We probably wouldn't be here if it weren't for the wonderfully over-the-top emote that goes with it! Our four founders gradually accumulated more members from among our friends and from chance encounters in the game, as well as from the forums, and almost two years later, here we still are.
MT: Many clans go out and do group activities such as minigames, PvPing or skilling together, but there are few quests that require group activity. Does this hinder your clan at all by not being able to use your clan's requirement as a focal point for activities?
A: Well, we go out and do group activities such as minigames, PvM trips and so on, as well as regular in-game pub crawls! So no, we don't feel hindered. All our pub crawl events include public displays of mass cape-emoting too, so really the cape itself is our focal point. I think our current record is 28 people simultaneously performing a sequence of emotes...
MT: New quests are released all of the time. Is there a strict time frame on when you must complete a new quest?
A: As long as people are clearly making an effort to get the requirements and/or do the quest within a reasonable amount of time, no there isn't - after all, most of our members are adults with busy real lives!
War Stories
With every great battle comes an equally great account of it. This week, we have a feature on the battle between Runescape Elites and The BlacKnights.
RE vs BK - 13th December 2009 - by BloodloverRE of Runescape Elites
Earlier this month, I approached a BlacKnights (BK) official for a fight. I was hoping they'd accept, but, unfortunately, they were taken for that particular Sunday. A couple of hours later, an interesting lad who goes by the name of 'Vanzant approached me. He said that the clan they were supposed to fight bailed on them, so he'd be interested in fighting us instead for that Sunday. Both sides started off with strong diplomacy! Rules were made and discussed. After some chit-chatting and elaborating we decided to agree to the following set of rules:
- Sunday, 13th of December.
- 1 hour capped turrets run in.
- 3:15 PM EST start.
- Ranged allowed
- No blasting.
- No cursing.
- No corrupted items.
- Rings allowed.
- 6 man sniper cap.
- Attack on sight.
The fight started off with BlacKnights standing in a turret in the northwest corner of the map. After we approached them, we rushed them and primed Pk Pena while they were focusing on Caparzif. After the rush, we quickly re-organised ourselves and started to quickly knockout (KO) the stragglers from BK's pile. After that, BK sent a decent number of snipers to keep us busy. The snipers were basically free KO's as we kept hitting them over and over again. After a while, they withdrew their snipers, so we started hitting their main pile.
Our snipers kept their pile busy for the most of our time, allowing our binders and rangers to fully inflict the damage they could, allowing us to speed up the KO process. BK's pile went from 40 people to a total of 28 at times, which made us believe we did a great job. RE's pile varied between 30 and 38, as we peaked 38 on voice communications.
As we continued hitting their main pile, we hit the occasional tank but most piles were a KO, causing us to be creating new piles and transitions almost all the time. Our big ranger unit, in combination with awesome binding, made sure that we kept the KO's going during the entire fight. BK fought back with all their might but the majority of the people they piled managed to tank it off. As time wore on, we realised that we were going to be victorious. And so, at the end, we were.
We'd like to thank BK for the clean and fun fight they gave us! We hope to do more of these in the future. We'd also like to give some kudos to BK for stepping out of their timezone by over two hours. We had to go out of our usual times a bit too, but that didn't prove to be too much of a problem. Good job to Runescape Elites members for your dedication!
Clan facts
To set the tone of the Clan Submissions page, we thought we’d have some facts about the clan community that you may or may not have known about!
Some of the oldest clans:
‘The’ Clan, Gladiatorz and BlacKnights.
Some of the newest clans:
Dead Eternity, Impulse! and The Black Knights of Taverley.
Some of our more unusual clans:
Wolves of Morkai, Rain of Heavenly Fire and Caped Carousers.
Some of our high-leveled clans:
Night Slayers, Skillers Inc and Zammy Elites.
If you think you know of other clans that fit these categories, let us know!
Jagex-hosted clan events
Throughout the year, Jagex likes to host competitions, get-togethers and many other fantastic events. It is in this section that you will hear about them.
The most notable event to mention from the past, to base future events on, was the first Jagex Cup in Summer 2009. It is these types of events, bringing clans together to achieve something and not necessarily knockout competitions, that we’re aiming to achieve. The next major event that we’re looking at is a Clan Celebration Month in February where we celebrate everything that is great about the clan community. More information to follow in a future Clan Submissions!
Events Planner
On top of wanting to see all of your creative talent, we also want to hear about the events that you have planned for your clan, the community or anything else related to clans. This can be done through our 'J-Mods! Fall in!' thread on the forums or by sending the events details the same way you’d send in a submission.
As this is the first edition of Clan Submissions, we really want to hear about your events. These could be events for the whole clan community, events your clan is holding or wars in your respective ladder, union or general PKing in the Wildy.
I look forward to seeing you at the events. Don’t forget that if you want your event listed next time on the events planner, let us know!
Want to be a part of Clan Submissions?
If you have a war report, story, article, banner or other clan-related content that you’d like to see on the Clan Submissions page, then it couldn’t be simpler. Email your content to [email protected] with ‘Clan’ in the subject line. For more information on restrictions on what you can send, please look at our Player Submissions page on the KB.
We hope you enjoyed this edition of the Clan Submission page. We’ll get all of the content ready for the next one!
Clan interview: Caped Carousers, part 2
MT: If a new quest pushes the Quest Cape requirements higher, as we've seen in the past, how do you help members who don't have these requirements, as a clan leader?
A: Lots of encouragement and advice! Some of our members train together, and being able to take part in the weekly pub crawl (for which the quest cape is a firm requirement) is a great incentive to get things done!
MT: Having a Quest Cape is a challenge within RuneScape and some people don't want to complete quests. Is it difficult finding new members and maintaining a good sense of community within your clan?
A: Because our thrice-weekly pub crawls are always fancy dress, and we do the public displays, our public profile is fairly high, so finding new members is not a particular problem. And, of course, we also recruit on the RS forums.
Dedicated questers have a fair amount in common already, which helps foster that community spirit, and this is also helped by our busy events schedule - typically 10+ events per week, staggered to cover a range of time zones.
We are also organised in such a way that anyone can volunteer to run an event, and there are no real restrictions on the type of event either. If it seems like something people are interested in, we'll do it! This flexibility helps maintain a casual and friendly atmosphere, as does our very flat 'hierarchy'.
MT: You have access to the Clan Leaders forum, a forum created by Jagex to increase communication between clans and themselves. In your honest opinion, do you feel this has increased communication between clans and Jagex? Is there more that could be done?
A: I think it has, and certainly the leaders posting are very open about what's on their minds, whether positive or negative! The regular in-game meetings for leaders are an added bonus, and it's good to know not only that we're being listened to, but also that we can have direct input into the organisation of large-scale events...
Could more be done? Of course! There's a long list of things that clan leaders would like to see added into the game to make their lives easier, from simple things like longer Friends Lists to horribly complex ideas like Clan Halls and Clan Banks, which would require masses of developer time. It would certainly be nice to know what's actively being slaved over in the backrooms of Jagex Towers!
MT: Running a clan is very similar to leading a team at a place of work and equally like being a parental figure in a group of people. What qualities do you think have helped you lead a clan and do you think any of your in-game experiences have benefited you in real life?
A: By habit and inclination I'm a solo player, so running a clan strikes many people I know as an odd thing for me to do...
The ability to plan ahead and see problems before they blow up into crises helps a great deal - as does being able to find the necessary time to lead a clan! A sense of humour is essential, and a willingness to tackle issues head on is also useful. Honesty and openness make life easier for everyone, myself included.
As to real life... I'd worked in marketing and management, as well as running archaeological site teams and a small business of my own, before I'd even heard of RuneScape, so there was plenty of experience to draw on already. On the other hand, I've made some extremely close friends, and learned about some cultures quite different from my own, so there have definitely been personal benefits!
MT: How would you describe being in a clan?
A: Fun! That's what it's all about, really: having fun, and spreading the good vibes around!
MT: Where do you see RuneScape, the clan community and your own clan in 2010?
A: RuneScape's developed a lot over the last year, with some really high-quality content being released. We're reaching a point where a lot of quest storylines are finally being developed and coming to an end, so 2010 should be very exciting from that point of view too.
The clan community is also evolving, and a lot of people are looking forward to the next Jagex Cup! I hear whispers of pan-Gielinor clan events early next year, too...so that should be fun as well.
As for the Carousers... Well, we expect to be partying all through 2010, keeping the memory of the late, great Alfred Grimhand alive and well!
MT: Can I join the Caped Carousers?
A: Sure thing! All you have to do is finish all the quests and fill out an application form.
MT: Thanks for your time and answers, Archaeox.
If you can think of someone in the clan community who would make for a great interviewee, then let us know and we’ll consider it for future editions.
For more information about clans, check out this Knowledge Base article.
If you would like to read through what the clan community is saying, check out our official clan forums here.
If you'd like to discuss this blog on the forums, please visit this forum thread.
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{{CiteDevBlog |author=Mod Timbo |url=http://services.runescape.com/m=devblog/view_post.ws?post_id=77&project_id=11 |title=Clan Submissions Page |blogdate=22 December 2009 |date=~~~~~ |name= }} |
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Introduction to CM • Volunteer Moderators • Player Visits • Events Support • Excl's Visit • A 2009 Retrospective |
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