Leading A Clan

I've been thinking about this whole idea of 'leadership', and all of its sub-issues, recently. Having been in only two clans - one of which is the one I lead currently - for only one game (I don't count the guild I was in for Guild Wars, as that was mainly a fun thing between me and two other friends, and we never competed or did things seriously), I don't even know if I'm qualified to talk about leading a clan. I know I have a lot to learn.

It's been five months since I started my own TF2-based clan, Total Crisis Panic Button (panic!) with Digit and three other friends, and so much has happened since then. Possibly the most important thing has been the friendships I've made in-game. I can't take anyone seriously if they don't believe in online friendships - my oldest friend is a guy in California I still haven't met in person, and my husband and I met in Guild Wars when we were half a world away from each other.

If I stop and think about these people I call friends and clanmates, the attendant thought that always crops up is: "How do I effectively lead a clan composed of friends?" It's the whole business vs. pleasure thing - how to keep one's 'professional' and 'personal' lives separate? When a clan leader cracks down on behaviour (as we must often do), a clan member we don't know well would probably take it better. Friends can get touchy about it, even if they know that they're technically under your authority.

We've had our share of shake-ups and retirements, despite being such a young clan, yet I'm happy to say that we've managed to avoid the majority of the dramas with which most other clans seem to be plagued. I'd place that fortunate position squarely at the feet of our dogged insistence on structure. Right from the word go, we set out to make a clan that had a solid structure - one that specified our short-term and long-term goals, our expectations of members, and what we wanted the clan to be. A lot of the things we inserted into our clan structure were in direct response to things that were missing or worked badly in my previous clan (which delivered more drama than I'd ever care to relive).

We also took the apparently not-so-common step of requiring new recruits to undergo a month-long trial period, during which they did NOT wear our clan tag, and during which we all assessed their behaviour, maturity, skill and personality. That trial period has been invaluable in weeding out those who perhaps just weren't heading in the same direction as us, those who were unwilling to accept leadership or constructive criticism, those who couldn't devote the necessary time to the clan, those who had the tendency to be immature or rise to other people's baits, or those who simply didn't suit the personality pool of our current clan members.

Right now, our clan is suspended halfway between being a social clan and being a competitive one. We never wanted to have a purely social component, but the one thing we neglected to take into account when recruiting was people's schedules, which haven't allowed for regular practices or training sessions. This has severely hampered our competitive push forward. At present we've pulled out of all TF2 ladders, but we're thinking about getting back into OZFL's new 6v6 league, as the numbers work better for the amount of members we can field in any given week.

Regardless of how we end up dealing with the competitive vs. social problem, and despite the problems of 'leading' a group of friends, I suspect we've all made friendships that we won't easily let go. Even if our members leave - and there is an undeniable barrier between being in the clan and being 'a friend of the clan' (despite our best efforts in maintaining outside friendships, there will always be a divide between the in-crowd and the hangers-on) - I hope we'll always be up for a game with each other, whether in TF2 or otherwise. Left 4 Dead is coming out soon and we've a few clan member super-keen on that, which could see us begin the predicted expansion into other games, which will be a whole new playing field as far as clan leadership goes.

No matter what happens, though, I don't think I'll ever regret what we've achieved with panic!. If nothing else, this has taught me, personally, a lot about leadership in a general sense - about responsibility, doing and saying the things nobody else wants to (that still need to be done or said), diplomacy, and when to compromise. Those things will stand me in good stead in anything I do later in life, so I'll always be thankful... to a game?

Heaven forbid. :)