Ok, its NOT about definining a clan, its about clan governments, yes the 1st few senteces are solely about clans, and the 1st one defines it ,yes i know, just if you read the whole thing, you would see that.
Brandt G.
October 19, 2006
On Clan Governments:
A clan is something that many people see, but wonder what it is. A clan, as defined by Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary as: “a group united by a common interest or common characteristics.” Think of your average clan nowadays, ranging from 30-40 members, with many communication problems. Why is this? Why is it so hard for a clan to grow so fast? Many think it is impossible for a clan to grow from a single member, who was bored where he was in the game, deciding to get some of his friends together, to a clan that expanses over 5 games with over 100 members in less then a year. Its not. It is actually quite easy, once the basics on how a clan government can affect a clan so immensely. It is with the clan government that the size limits are created, and that the expanse is sprung into existence. These governments are the key to survival, and expansion of a clan, much like that of an empire. Though there is not one single successful clan governments, there are many more unsuccessful clan governments out there. The governments are they to unlocking the door to unlimited growth, and unlimited potential.
As with all things in life, there are endless possibilities to the ways a clan could be run. With all infinite pools of choices, there are only a few ones that are used, some good, and some bad. As for the bad, there are a few that most clans choose, that they later regret doing so. Of these, the worst is the Dictatorship. With this kind of government, there is a single person in charge of everything, and all decisions are made up to him. While this may be good for temporary status, it will fail to get you to expand to the maximum capacity. Clans have people of all ages, all ethnicities, and many languages. One person alone cannot hope to even cope with the decisions they have to make. One person alone cannot decide for people from all over the world. One person cannot hope to be able to be friends with all their clans. One person can never hope to be able to deal with all languages and all time zones at once. One person having total power will only get you as far as dealing with people their age, of their language, and of their ethnicity. This one person can never understand all others ethnicity, nor be able to deal with every age group, from 10-60, it is impossible to deal with every one all the time. It is because of this, a major communication vacuum occurs. With this communication problem comes the downfall of the clan. People are not told the times of events, or are not communicated all the rules. People are not dealt with right across ages, a 12 year old being treated as a 25 year doesn’t seem fair does it, solely because the leader doesn’t know how to deal with them. This here causes tension in the clan. Think of a rubber band, when pulled too much, it will eventually let go, but that tension there deals damage, leaving it now how it was at best, sometimes even breaking it. It is the same with a clan. With the creation of tension, due to a lack of communication, when it gets released one of a few things with happen. One, members involving that tension will leave, leaving the clan fully as it was, damaged, and permanent. Two, the government changes, seeing as how their current form is ineffective, causing the last leader to either have to share power, or lose total power. Three, the clan dies, the people move on, and the name and title of the clan is forgotten, except the imprint of failure it made. It is because of these results, that a clan that lives under a dictatorship way will soon be damaged, changed, or killed. Any of these circumstances leaves a lasting imprint of failure, on the people, and on the game. This is one of the few main forms of government that are mistakenly and foolishly taken.
The second of the three worst forms is government is a Mock Republic. This one is one that many clans use to start with, though they soon find it doesn’t prevail. This form of government entails a council of people, but, either there is one person above them, or there is one council member that has more power then the other. Many people say why is this bad? This is bad because it gives the clan members a false sense of having power. With this, they might have their council representative make a vote, but, in the long run, that vote doesn’t matter. With this, even if the council votes yes on something, by popular demand of the clan, the sole leader can then make it a no, causing all the clan members, and council members to dissuade that they actually have a voice. In a clan, you do not want this, for everyone wants a voice, and everyone deserves a voice. Why should a sole member be able to decide for an entire group of people, who can’t decide for all the time zones and ethnicities that play in a clan? There should be no reason why every clan member cannot have a voice that counts, even if it’s a small one. If you give a member a voice, but it’s a voice that does not count, it’s as good as saying “I’m better then you, I’m higher then you and I know what the best choice is for all.” This here causes again tension, though not because of communication. This time, the tension here is caused by emotion, and a clash between the ages, areas, and intelligences. With this form of tension, those who are older then the leader might feel that they deserve more of a voice, if not more then the leader, solely because the leader is younger, and has less experience. For the area, the people of a different time zone might feel that the clan leader isn’t putting them into account, and is merely ignoring them, and all requests they make. And for the intelligence, the members might feel that they know more then the leader, and possibly even have more experience with clans. This one is the worst of all, because then, as they give their experience, the leader, who most of the time feels what he/she is doing is best, will ignore this act against his opinions. This here leaves more tension, and this tension does not form one at a time, but most of the time, it forms all together, or at two categories at a time. This tension here will lead to the break of the clan. This break comes in the same ways as the Dictatorship, but most often leads in either a change in government, in which the leader is cast out of power, or a separation of the clan, where the members that felt the tension would leave, splitting the clan, in most cases, in half, leaving a void that is nearly impossible to overcome. With this failure, the leader most of the time loses some, or all, of his/her power, and the members become dissuade of that form of government, even in clans all together. This imprint is left with the members, and leaves a lasting impression on clans, especially if it was their first clan. This imprint can be fixed solely with the coming of a new clan with a form of government that is the opposite of this. This imprint is avoidable, and can be easily left behind.
The third of the major mistaken clan governments is that of a council, but a council with all one mind set, of one ethnicity, one age group, and/or one area. This form of government, to most, seems like a fair and just government, with a council of equal power, deciding. This though, is not what you want. What is wanted is instead a variety of those categories. A single mind set cannot decide for the rest of the members. Can a single age group, say 18-25, decide matters for a person who is older? Can a person tell another of a different ethnicity how to behave? Or can a person from say England, tell someone in America where to be, solely because it is good for them? The answers to all of these are no. A single mind set does not speak for all, just as a single person does not speak for all. A single mind set essentially causes a form of dictatorship, where instead of one person ruling, it is one mind ruling. The tension caused here is not one of communication, or of emotion, but a cultural clash. With here, a clash of area and age will lead in a tension between its members that will gradually grow, though not exactly immediately, maybe not even snapping for months, but rather over a person of months, possibly a year, where the clan will experience a slower join rate, and a much slower expanding government, even to a complete halt or decline. While the third tension with ethnicity will most of the time lead to a fast release, mostly causing in either a reform in government, or a large group of people leaving. This form of government will leave an imprint, though not as large as the others. This imprint, and failure, happens in most clans after sometime, forming them to reform, into hopefully a better form of government.
Now, these failures can be counteracted with those few governments that are overall successful, allowing the clan to expand freely to its will, with little or very few limitations and tensions. The best form on government here is the Democratic-Republic. Here, all the clan members have a voice that a single representative listens to, and brings to the Republic council. The question is, how do I assign my representatives? Here is the answer. One representative to represent each age group, each ethnicity, and area. For the ages, consider the age groups 12-18, 18-25, 25-35, and 35- . This here will take care of most of the age groups and sets, along with tensions and problems. What your wondering is, most my members have all different areas, ethnicities, and ages. For the ethnicities, they don’t have to be grouped by exact ones, rather, ones that are similar. For areas, try to aim for the categories of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Pacific Islands (including Australia, ect). Now, this narrows it down, and you’re now wondering, do I have representatives for Age, then Area, then Culture, or have an Age category, then a different representative for all the ages? The answer is, now, as long as you cover one of these with representatives that can understand or cover the other areas, your fine. Try to get 1 representative per 10 members. This way, no single representative is given too much burdens, and every member will thus get a voice. It is in this way alone, can all be seen on an equal footing. In this form of government, a clan can still have a “leader”, but this leader is just a mere image to show to other clans, and has the same power as any of the other council members. This form, whilst good, still has a few minor tensions. Some members, if their decision is not made can still feel as if the clan is against them, even though it isn’t. These small tensions that are formed are natural, and as long as they do not get to high, it will not do any harm to the clan. The best way to run this is to, for every decision, even small ones, have each representative go to its people, gain their vote, and take that winning vote to the council, where another vote will be taken, given by the representatives. As always, there is room for corruption, and to minimize this, and have full trust in the representatives, each representative must be voted upon by the clan members as a whole, thus giving them the trust, and the feeling that they choose who leads them. This, for the clan founder, will make him/her loses power, but, instead, be the founder of a clan that will expand across the gaming world.
The second major clan government that will lead far is one that is not often used, but if done correctly can lead to a great clan, called a Shared Leadership. Here, the clan founder is seen as the founder, and has some power over large decisions are things that deal with money, or otherwise things that only the founder could deal with. Then, the founder appoints other members for other tasks to lead. Some of these would be for instance someone to take charge of the Ventrilo server, or someone to take control of recruiting, or someone to take care of the webpage. These people can then get people to help them, and to be a secondary leader in that category. And example of this is a clan founder appoints Person A to lead the game server. Person A then gets Person B, C, and D to be administrators on the server to help with boot/banning’s. This here will give Person B, C, and D power, but still be under person A. The clan founders and those he appoints to lead other categories then meet in a time agreed upon by all or most to discuss how it can be changed, thus making it so no one person has total power, but all are in equal succession, just with different jobs. With this though, gives immense responsibility to the leaders there, as they are the only ones who lead that given part. Is Person A goes wrong, it is only he that is put on blame. But with this, allows for equal and even sharing and power, not a single person has too much power, and everyone here still has something to do. As for the normal members in here, they can apply to join a certain group to help, ect. These groups could be battle teams, to web page designer’s, or to server administrators, allowing for all to be capable of having some job in the clan. This here will cause tensions, but only minute ones. Here, the tensions can form is someone applies for a job, and doesn’t make it. This will happen, but it is nothing to agree with, as the tension will go away slowly, and cause no harm to the clan.
In a clan government, there are many wrong possibilities, along with many right ones. Ideas to look for in a good government are equality and shared power. You NEVER want a member to feel as if his/her voice is not being heard. You want all to be equal, and all to have some power in what goes on in a clan. Having a clan where people on top are treated better then those below will only cause major tension, causing the lowers to leave, or in extreme situations, force a reform upon the leaders, leaving them in power, and the top to become the controlled. Every member having a voice is the key, and without this, now clan can ever thrive. When dealing with people of all ages, locations, and ethnicities, it is essential that all are given a voice somehow in the managing of the clan. Any clan government can be created that allows equality and a unified voice in the clan, but the Shared Government, though risky as it is, and the Democratic Republic are the two largest forms, that will have the best form of government, and thus, a larger expanse and larger population. With these two keys, any person can create a government that will unlock to them the doors to leadership.
A clan government is the most essential part of a clan. It is with this that the clan can either thrive in the world, spreading across from game to game, person to person, slowly becoming an empire across the digital world, or in contrast, it can make a clan die out fast, leaving an imprint among the game and the people. It is clans that build the digital gaming world, not the people, not the servers, not the maps. These clans need to be built strong, so that they may last long, and become a key role in all gaming communities. To do this, the main item needed is a strong government. Some governments might be good for temporary uses, such as the dictatorship, though these limit the clan’s growth dramatically. The governments such as the Democratic-Republic are for clans that are there to last a while, and grow and expand. Clans are around to last for a long time, not just a few months, and with these strong governments, clans can slowly become a part of every game community’s life.
Please tell me what u think, and any revisions to be made
