Beginning a new Gaming Community - Leaders and members wanted!

[ekusu]

We're building a new multi-game community, and we want strong roots in the genre of MMORPG.
I myself am a long-time player of the genre, with hours sunk into Ragnarok Online, Guild Wars, 'offbeats' like Diablo, and far more.

First, I would like to give you a little background information about who we are.
We have been in many clans and communities in the past, and our consensus is that we've always had to leave due to a combination of the following reasons:

- Excluding potential-members for reasons like not being casual or competitive enough, or not being in a certain region
- Favoritism towards members through a system that rewards primarily for money/server donations, leading to abusive high-ranks
- Lack of goals or vision for what the community/clan is trying to accomplish, meaning a poor foundation to build upon
- Leaders that do not value the input of their members, narrowing the scope and vision of what the clan or community can be
- Poorly designed and/or disorganized mediums like forums, website, voice protocols, etc
- Time and resources wasted on pointless hateful pursuits, like defaming ex-members or making rival clans/communities
- Unprofessional approaches to league-play, limiting the potential of members pursuing a competitive environment

These are all issues that can damage or negate the overall potential of a gaming organization as a whole.
The foundation has to be strong, and built upon the right goals, morals, and vision to build a successful and welcoming community.
We've seen the issues with organized gaming groups over the past decade, and we know how to pave the way for something better, and our golden rule of community development is:
"If your community supports and respects you, you will be more inclined to support and respect your community."

I'd like to discuss some basic features we believe you may be interested in, regardless of what type of gamer you are.


We don't want to waste your time, so please read as much or as little as you like.
For a quick summary, just read text that looks like this.
For more details, just read more into the sections that interest you.




System of hierarchy that appreciates each member's contribution
Many of us have already seen the clans and communities that have a gigantic webpage or stickied thread with multiple dozen rankings or positions, as a 'beat-around-the-bush' way of measuring their potential as a member and giving them a false sense of accomplishment for remaining with them for long periods of time, or pouring in your hard-earned cash just to earn meaning to your name within the community.

We do not believe that is the way to mould a successful community.

Every member is a living being, with as much experience to offer as they have years lived.
They are also a precious resource that drives a community towards it's goals, and communicates with other members to establish a bond between members. This is why we have multiple categories of rewarded contribution that tailor to each of the interests that a gamer may join our community for. Some (but not all) of these categories are described below:

Members who contribute by management -- organizing and maintaining the community. You keep things running smoothly!
Members who contribute by participation -- chatting and gaming as a part of the community. You're the everlasting purpose of the community!
Members who contribute by resources -- contributing to the community's necessities. You give sustenance to our purpose!
Members who contribute by skills -- making use of skills like graphic/web design. You give us an image that reaches out to potential members!

All of these contribute to the development of a good community experience.

Some example roles can be found in our leadership positions:
Founders: Those who established the original vision, and enforce the current best known vision for the community
Advisors: Highly-experienced individuals who's insight provides guidance to all roles within the community
Division Managers: Dedicated leaders, who strive to maintain their game division to a high standard

Recognition of members that is based off of respect rather than time spent
It does not take two years of experience with a member to know that they would be a good leader, or that their advice is refined and meaningful. This is why our members can apply for roles via interview rights, which can be earned through mature interaction within the community. The ability to give out such rights would be assigned to highly responsible and respected individuals, known for good judgement.

Servers for communication, play, and training
A community can not grow well without considerations into each of these types of servers.
Members also need a modern, reliable means of communication like Teamspeak, Ventrilo, or Mumble.
Our managers must strive to make sure each division has a sufficient server, and that there is always a high-slot VoIP server running. For this reason, we have prepared a local hosting rig with specifications that suffice for servers.

Hosting Specifications:
CPU: 6 cores, overclocked to 4.0GHz (Watercooled)
RAM: 8GB DDR-1600 CL9 (Upgrades to 16GB or 32GB will be executed when necessary)
HDDs: 3 x 1TB WD Black Caviar
Connection: *Can not post link to Speedtest* ~50Mb/s download // ~10Mb/s upload

Support for any game, based on community demand
Communities should grow and create new standards, rather than set boundaries or obstacles.
For this reason, we want to support whatever games or mediums our community has demand for.
If there is demand for Team Fortress 2, they're going to get a Team Fortress 2 division, forum, VoIP channel, and server.
If there is demand for Battlefield 3, there's going to be a Battlefield 3 division, forum, VoIP channel, and server.
These are just examples, and do not represent a limited standard or scope of what we would support.
Recreational pursuits like Garry's Mod and Minecraft are more than welcome, as are more obscure titles.

Supporting both casual AND competitive gamers, and distinguishing between different levels of competition
Some gamers don't want to delve deeply into gameplay mechanics, and training. Others do.
Either way, they're the lifeblood of a healthy community, and both should be welcome to join us.
This alone, is a simple enough concept that most people already know.

I would like to discuss though, the format of competitive gaming environments.
We would like to try different templates of competitive standards that have potential.

The typical standard of competitive play is what we would like to call a 'Static' standard.
- Preset practice times/dates
- Removal for inactivity
- Training familiarizes users to eachother in small groups
- Fewer members in roster

This format is fine, and we would support it. However, we would also try an 'Improvised' standard, alongside the usual sort.
- Few or no preset practice times
- No removal for inactivity
- Training has increased emphasis on improvising with selections of (PUG) members
- More members in roster

Regardless of which standard of team competitive players would pursue, both would imply heavy and accurate analysis of gameplay mechanics, to mark out what skills need to be honed for success, how to train them efficiently, and how to maintain them in different gameplay situations. The physical health of our competitive players will also be a strong consideration, and we would guide members serious about competition in the right direction. Sportsmanship, logic, and realism are all enforced heavily. For more information on our competitive vision, contact me to inquire.

Fighting is a waste of time -- we won't waste our time, or yours
This explains itself.

Maturity guidelines rather than age restrictions
Maturity is a must in a community that aims to be meaningful in it's pursuits, but maturity can not be measured by age.
Some of us have met people of age 15 that act and speak very intelligently, and most of us have met people 20-40 who act immaturely. For this reason, we will have a means of separating Lobbies by age and issuing separate rules or guidelines to each. Younger members will also be considered on an individual basis to receive an invisible 'maturity tag', allowing them to join otherwise forbidden rooms. This gives everyone a chance to participate, removes discrimination by age, and also keeps speaker-shredding kids out of mature mediums.






If you would like to contribute in building a community like this, you can PM me or post below for an interview. We have empty staff positions, and need of people who are passionate about community and gaming. There are many things we need to discuss.

If you would like to join this community, you can PM me or leave a post below with contact information like Steam or Xfire.

If you would like to voice something about this community vision that you dislike, you would have our gratitude if you replied to this thread explaining what you dislike and why. We respect your input, and the time you take to write it.