07 Apr
Keeping your gaming clan interesting
Posted by JohnnyLocke as Articles, Clan Managment | 0 Comments
If there’s one thing that can really sink a gaming clan it’s monotony. Members generally join gaming clans to break away from the monotony of gaming alone, and join in hopes of finding new partners to game with, and a new place to call home. But what happens when a member starts to feel those same feelings toward their new situation? They change soroundings. People (especially the young gamer crowd) are not always so easily entertained. Your first challenge is gathering the members. The second challenge is keeping them. Here are a few ideas for shaking things up:
Tournaments (Prized preferably)
Tournaments can really shake things up and make them exciting for your members. Whether you offer a small cash prize, a medal, or just recognition on your website, it gives something for your members to do that they don’t see every day. Try to switch up the types of tournaments you run as well. Maybe run a 1v1, or 2v2, or best of 3, or best of 5 setting.
Competitions
One thing that has worked for me on various occaisions is to offer a cash prize in a recruiting contest. The members are more obliged to recruit because there is light at the end of the tunnel, meanwhile your memberlist grows.
Hold Meetings (That involve all ranks)
Listen to your members. Whether most leaders like to admit it or not, the members usually see what happens day to day, and know the inner workings. Your members should be your most important resource when making decisions that effect the community as a whole.
02 Apr
How to create revenue for your gaming clan
Posted by JohnnyLocke as Articles, Website Managment | 1 Comment
A Big problem alot of clans have (especially FPS clans who have to worry about server costs.) is coming up with enough money to support their clan. This can be a daunting task when you factor in all the probable costs of any serious clan. There’s web hosting fee’s, advertising, server fee’s, scripting fee’s, and any other web design fee’s a webmaster may come across that he himself can not deal with. Below are a few strategies that I personally have found effective.
Donations- If you are able to provide a fun, stable gaming enviorment for your members, there are usually at least 3-4 older members who don’t mind donating a small amount of money to help you out. Place a paypal button on your page with big, colored, boldened letters above it that say “DONATE.” Perhaps even ocaisionally make a forum post reminding everyone that donations do in fact go to the clan, and not into your pockets.
Make sure your clan members know what their donation is going towards. If they know their $15 are going toward website improvements or an expansion into a new game, they will probably be more likely to donate. I’ve spoken with many clan leaders that have paid for all of their clans fee’s with donations alone.
Adsense – Since Clans (usually) don’t draw huge amounts of unique visitors outside of the memberbase, Adsense usually doesn’t generate all that much money. However, it can’t hurt to have it. A few points about Adsense:
http://www.adsense.com
There are numerous other advertising agencies, but if for some reason Adsense is not suiting you (AKA you are banned from it 
), then I would suggest using http://www.adbrite.com
JohnnyLocke
Let me start off by saying that deciding to expand to a new game is very risky business. On one hand it is the next step in growth and expansion, on the other it is the death of many clans. Never attempt to expand to a new game if you are not 100% satisfied and comfortable with the activity on your current game(s). Spreading yourself too thin and diverting your interests is the main mistake made when trying to expand to a new game.
What’s the big deal you ask? So what if it doesn’t work? The 2 or 3 members who were working to create a new division can always come back, right?
While that is true, it is also misguided. Let’s say your attempted expansion does fail. Guaranteed, anyone you would trust to build a new division will probably be some of your best members, and while their attention was diverted toward the new game that didn’t pan out, this means their attention was not toward your current game. All I am trying to say is, don’t throw all your eggs in one basket. There are a few ground rules and questions to consider before you decide to expand to the new game:
-Is there a demand for it? Will enough of your current members play this game to make the expansion there worthwhile for the current clan population?
-On the same hand, is there not too many members who will play this game? You’ve just gotten on your feet on your current game, you don’t want to pull the rug out from under your feet as soon as you step on it.
-What is the difference in community between the games? Alot of script-based, B.Net clans got a rude awakening when they tried to expand to Counter-Strike and realized that it was a completely different world, with completely different types of people over there. Not to say their bad. Just different. Will they get along?
Rules
-Never allow more then 3-4 members to try and expand. Too many members attempting to help expand diverts your activity from your current game. But at the same time, never allow less then 2, otherwise it is bound to fail. As the leader yourself, never be the soul driving force. Your attention needs to be on managing what’s already created.
-Set goals, and stick to them. If your expanding members are meeting these goals, call it off for the time being. There is no harm in calling it off before your in too deep, but there is harm in “waiting” it out and wasting valuable resources on soemthing that may never work.
-If the members working toward expansion are your “primary” or “best” members, make sure you have replacement members ready to step up to the challenge in their absence.
Remember to always be supportive, and listen to ideas though. Expansions are very make-or-break for a community. It is essentially agreeing to take on the task of creating a clan all over again, and I’m sure you remember how that one was.
By JohnnyLocke
