Clan (video gaming)

As communities organized teams or clubs are referred to in the e- sports.

The term comes from the computer game Quake, in which players' unions could be officially recognized as "clan" register. Over time, he has established himself as a term for associations of computer players. In MMORPGs also the names guild, alliance, and alliance have prevailed.

Much of the clan is legally speaking a collection of individuals, but there are also clans that persons or operate as an association, corporation. According to the German eSport Federation in Germany there are about 40,000 Clans ( 2005).

Clans often aim to actively participate in leagues and tournaments. However, there are clans that have no ambitions to compete with other clans, as standing with them the common aspects of computer gaming center stage. Such clans usually use the term Funclan, but does not preclude participation in competitions altogether.

Unlike clans from the early days of e-sports, which have generally focused on a single computer game today, many clans so -called multi- gaming clan dar. Here, the clan divided mostly self in teams or squads (English for " squads ") that show that more or less self-sufficient groups of players within the clan. Each team focuses on a particular game and performs under the name of the parent clan.

Naming

Each clan chooses its own name and created with a matching " day " (English for "Mark "). This clan tag is inserted in the game before or after the player's name. This allows the player immediately assign a clan. A clan tag is usually composed of the clan initials or other short versions of the clan name, sometimes bracketed with special characters (eg: XY, [XY ] =] XY [ =). There are also clans, where the clan name matches with the clan tag, for example fnatic.

The clan name is to make the communities on the Internet and at events identified. It does not necessarily coincide with the club or company name corresponds, in its function so a brand. In contrast to associations and companies, there is no clan tab, in the Clans to have to enter and thus it may be that several clans have the same name and / or the same clan tag. Professional clans have their names usually get a brand (eg, the German Patent and Trademark Office ) to avoid trademark conflicts.

Organizational structure

Basically, there are no fixed structures, which relates to the structure and organization of a clan. However, basic models have evolved over time, which are used in most clans.

It can be a progressive professionalisation of clan structures determined. While earlier names such as clan leader were common, is now at performance-based clans mostly from a management talk. In the following, the clan organization, a distinction between these two forms.

• Management: The management manages the clan and cares about the strategic objective. It is subject to one or more managers or project managers. Usually it consists of several members, each with their respective areas of responsibility. Possible positions include: Business Development, Marketing Director, Team Director, General Manager.
• Organization: The organizers of a clan ensure that the management plans are enforced. You are responsible for the daily operations, but can also take on further responsibilities.
• Team Manager or Team Leader: Each team of a clan has its own team manager who is responsible for the organizational aspects of the team. He plans to play in leagues and tournaments and operating mostly represents the link between the players and management / organization dar. There is often called Orgas team to assist the team manager in his work.
• Players and Members (English for Member ): A regular member of the clan.

• Clan Leader (English for clan leader ): A person, usually the founder or a former player. It manages and organizes the clan.
• Co - Leader (English for co-leader ): A co-leader represents the clan leader in the absence and support him in his work.
• Team Leader (English for team leader ): A team or squad leader is the leader within the team and also the middleman between the team members and the clan leader.
• War - Orga ( engl. in about the OC ): A War - organization seeks new opponent or training partner to agree with this Schedule. It further ensures that agreed deadlines are adhered to.
• Players and Members (English for Member ): A regular member of the clan.

Professional Clans

Due to the increasing professionalism in e- sports are now pursuing more and more clans and financial interests by seeking sponsorship deals and prize money from the tournament victories. These sponsorship deals sometimes lead to the fact that the name of the sponsor will be integrated into the clan name, which in turn has the consequence that with every mention of the clans also the sponsor is mentioned. Partial companies operate even some factory teams. Examples are the German team Alternate and the factory teams of Samsung Galaxy and SK Telecom T1 in South Korea.

Professional clans to their players normally a contract bound ratio. You pay their players usually content and cover the travel costs for participating in e-sports competitions. The successful clans themselves have become to companies that employ their own full-time employees and have annual budgets in the six -to seven- figure range. My offices are not unusual anymore, they are also often combined with training rooms for the players. A special case in this case represents the clubhouse of n! Faculty, which is also pursuing social purposes and to raise awareness for e-sports.

While in the past often the achievements of individual players were in the foreground, the popularity has increasingly shifted to the individual clans with time. This can be explained well by the fact that the fluctuation of individual players is very high, the clans, however, are now "popular" for years at the top of the leagues. The biggest teams have their own fan shops where they sell merchandise (such as T -shirts or mousepads with the logo of the clan ).