Do you prefer to run a clan or be in one?

[Jamie]

What do you prefer with clan gaming; running it, or being just a regular member?

 

[Alanmwp]

I personally prefer to be in a clan without any obligation. Some people expect you to play with them all the time, and sometimes I don't have the time to dedicated to a particular game or games. I prefer to play when I want to play, how I want to play. If it required me to train because I was going to be joining a tournament, then that would be different. Although the idea of a tournament would boost me to train and play harder.

 

[Gladdy]

I voted for member. I honestly wouldn't want to be a leader. Maybe a few years back when I was younger and I could still be bothered with random drama but not anymore. I think in every guild some drama is bound to happen and I wouldn't want to be in the position to resolve it. That's the main reason as to why I wouldn't want to be the boss.

I play mainly for fun and I don't want to have to take care of XY of things while I'm playing. It's time consuming trying to keep the other clan members happy.

Clan leader just feels too much of a job for me without any actual benefits, unless you enjoy being in control and having power.

 

[Sino989]

Well, I am honestly not into the whole "clan" thing anymore but I didn't mind either way. I ran two clans in my lifetime and it was fun and all but sometimes it became to much. I also was a part of a few different clans and it was also fun but sometimes the leader can do things you don't agree with.

 

[Zyni]

My husband and I owned a guild and later I was an officer in another. I was in charge of recruiting members and stuff. I guess I got kind of used to having a role, so when I wasn't in one, I still tended to speak up a lot or just do things that needed to be done. Doing that is how I got roped into being an officer in my last guild, ha ha. It's just the way I'm built, I guess.

Now? I'd much rather just play the game than "be in charge" of anything. It's very demanding to be in such roles, and it can take away form your enjoyment of the game. Now that I'm not a serious player, I just want to log in (or not) as I feel the urge to play and do whatever I want without obligations.

 

[TheArticulate]

I would much rather just be a member of a guild and go about my own personal responsibilities. I've run clans and guilds in the past, and I don't have the time nor drive anymore to stay on top of recruitment, progression, and all that jazz as a leader. If I can just log on regularly and help in whatever way I can, I'm happy doing that!

 

[Zyni]

I would much rather just be a member of a guild and go about my own personal responsibilities. I've run clans and guilds in the past, and I don't have the time nor drive anymore to stay on top of recruitment, progression, and all that jazz as a leader. If I can just log on regularly and help in whatever way I can, I'm happy doing that!

Me too. It's a lot more work to keep a guild running smoothly than most people realize. It eats up a ton of time, and I definitely don't have that luxury any more. I also don't have the "drive" like you said (or even the patience, ha ha).

I'm happy to help the leaders if asked on occasion as well, but I don't want any regular obligations any more. I don't want demands made on my time. I paid my dues already. :tonguewink:

 

[Jonathan Solomon]

For me, running a clan is too much responsibility and time I don't have nowadays. Even back then, I've never been a fan of running a clan. I enjoy being 2IC or 3IC, but not a leader. I'm more than willing to help in any areas I can. But I'm not a consistent enough gamer on any platform to run a clan, let alone a successful clan.

 

[Torch3d]

I personally prefer to be a leader I don't like following other people's rules so much.

 

[Skybandino]

Rather be a member. I have a guild in WoW and there is sometimes guild drama. Most of the time its tame drama but it can get wild at times. The guild leader has some responsibility to maintain order, and that is too troublesome for me.

 

[gkillian]

Being a clan leader is like attempting to herd a group of particularly feral, vicious cats by use of a remotely controlled roomba. Recruiting, retention, drama, coordination, and just getting people to all be online to do stuff is a nightmare. I was an officer in one and later got promoted to leader in a somewhat-related one, and while I don't regret doing it (my core group of Internet friends are almost all from that period), I can't imagine ever doing something like that again.

Given my 'druthers, I wouldn't be in one at all because I do fine hanging out with my close friends and in game-related chats for 'pick up' groups, but being a member is way preferable. You have to be built the right way to lead, as Zyni said. Personally I can't administrate more than a dozen people without losing my mind, though I'm usually fine moderating and get roped into that more often than I'd strictly like to.

 

[Pady]

100% I will prefer to Clan for obvious reason. But tournament are great. It's gives courage to play hard.

 

[Zyni]

@gkillian it really depends on the people. Grown ups who work well as a team are much easier to lead, but I've dealt with all kinds.

When we tried to expand our raid team from 10 to 25 man, we made the mistake of absorbing what was left of another guild. Their leader said they didn't want to lead any more, just be a member. Well, he and his wife butted heads with us constantly. The wife was such a princess. When we asked them to leave, of course, we lost the whole group, putting us back to square one.

I was okay with that (although I wouldn't make that mistake again). I'd rather be having fun in 10 man with cool people than dealing with drama.

 

[littlestar]

It depends on how I'm doing in life. I'm in college, so some semesters I'm super busy and some semesters I have a lot of free time. For example, last semester, I was kicked out of four or five clans because of inactivity. It wasn't that I didn't want to play. I just wanted a decent amount of sleep. This semester, I could probably run a clan smoothly since I have a lot of online classes.

 

[ValX]

Definitely member. I'm good at neither recruiting nor leading game clans. Whenever I try to make a clan, I'd end up disbanding it anyway because no one is joining, or people just join and leave because I can't really keep my clan's reputation up nor lead my members. I'd rather be a member so I can just enjoy doing things as I won't have that much clan responsibilities.

 

[Zyni]

It definitely requires a time commitment and a lot of effort. So many people just start a guild and think that all they have to do is pick a cool name and it will just magically thrive on its own. Not so much, unless it's just a "social" guild. Even then, people do expect some input from the leader, but far less is required.

For a guild that actually wants to do stuff, be prepared to spend much if not most of your game time dealing with guild business. I used to start getting hit with whispers the second I logged on. I had to ask people to just give me a minute before they hit me up for stuff, because it got to the point where I wanted to log right back off. I finally made a 5 minute rule.

 

[Linen]

I don't mind being a member or even a moderator in guilds. That said, I have been an actual leader - I took over a guild when my at-the-time partner, the primary leader, was starting a new job and was busy with that (I was co-lead before this). While the guild definitely thrived under my influence, it was also very obviously taking a toll on me and I was pretty clearly overworking myself in order to do my best (constantly grinding stuff in order to build the guild ranks, for example). My partner forced me to give leadership back, but since certain things could only have been done by a leader in that game, a leader who was then no longer present...

In general, I do not mind being even #2... but I cannot function well as #1, especially not when I don't have the time to invest into an online game to that much of an extent. I don't really have the time to meet regular guild participation requirements as it is nowadays. At this point, I'd give feedback where I'm allowed to, but I'd strictly have to remain a member.

 

[Deen]

I prefer joining a clan with a defined rule like my present clan. We implement rules while we play.... One is if any engram drops (even a green) you must stop what you're doing and go get it. No firing or taking cover. The rule used to be that you had to equip it too but then strikes took forever. And if a player goes down and asks to be revived, everyone has to stop what they're doing and go revive. For some reason we have trouble keeping randoms in our raids though.

 

[Smokey]

I was a member of a few clans over the years on PS3 and there was always some type of drama going on so I left. When I got an Xbox 360 and met a few of my friends I have now, we started a clan called GDX or "Gamer Devils" and I've ran it with my girlfriend Nikki ever since. We're a small group but we mostly play FPS games on Xbox One now.

 

[Bayoneutra]

My motto is that if you don't wanna do things seriously, then just don't do them at all.

A clan, an actual serious clan, requires time and effort and it's just not easy to run. You have to be an effective leader and that takes commitment and effort, an effort I'm not actually willing to make since I have a bunch of IRL responsibilities to look after, and I'm not looking forward spending my limited free time by assuming the role of a leader. I'm a perfectionist, so if I tried to take charge I'd end up getting way too serious about it.

As things are right now, I'm happy with giving the leadership to others.