Should clans be removed or more strictly monitored?

[arsenal]

Please do not comment on this thread based on the title, please read the whole thing first, and then feel free to share your opinion.

Ok, so for a while now I have been considering whether to make this thread or not. It's quite clear that clans have both some positives and negatives in this community. For a while, I have always believed that the negatives slightly out way the benefits. After the recent thread by Foopy I have made up my mind, I have made this thread. I believe that clans should no longer be allowed. Here's why.

Lets start with the pros and cons.

Pros:

• You get to make new friends, and meet new people.
• You get to practice teamwork.
• It helps you improve your PVP skills.
• It's fun. (for most)

Cons:
I really only see one major problem with clans, that leads to numerous other problems. And that is, the level of seriousness that people take them, which ultimately leads to extreme levels of drama.

Most clans are taken to very competitive levels. Inside the clan there is a battle to move up in the ranks, and have a better chance of getting chosen to fight in a scrim/battle/war (whatever). Outside the clan, there is a battle between clans to win the clan wars, or be atop the leaderboards.

All this competitiveness has time and time again lead to more than serious issues. People DDOS each other. DDOS attacks are against international law. They are literally committing crime over a game made of blocks. So they can prove themselves superior than someone else at the other end of the cable. People bully others, to make them feel more superior. They fight over the rules, usually ending in no agreement. This means next time they battle the stakes are even higher, there is not only a matter of who wins, there is getting revenge because they "cheated" last time. This makes everything twice as intense. The drama and harassment intensifies. Things get taken to a whole new level. More people are bullied, more are harassed, more DDOS attacks are launched.

Oh, and did I mention, just because you aren't in a clan doesn't mean you are safe from these horrible things either. It spreads like the plague. No really it does. The people in clans develop bad habits. The harassment they use in their clan, suddenly becomes the natural thing to say an innocent tribute in a game. This effects all of us.

The drama caused by all of this means staff spend a lot of time dealing with clan issues, which ultimately means less time banning hackers.

MCSG use to have a Survival (Factions) server. It was taken down because of too much drama. A lot of it came from fights between clans, as they attacked each other's bases.

The benefits of clans are unfortunately out weighed by the negatives. The harassment and bulling has gotten to such a level that some are suffering serious depression. Someone could take their life because of this. If so then are clans really worth it? Keep in mind, Foopy is one person who was brave enough to come out and tell the community what is going on. There could be someone out there in a much worse situation, who is in such a bad state they can't even say anything. It is almost certainly not just one person. It is more. How many? We will never know. But, we can do all we can to prevent people from suffering until they are in a life threatening situation. Clans must end.

This does not mean that you can still make friends here. Team with your friends in a game. Have fun. No on should care if you win or lose. If you win, congratulations. If you lose, then just move on. No need to fight other groups of friends, just play together against other random players. Yes, people don't like teams. But, seriously, people in clans already team a lot when practicing. No one will ever notice a significant increase in teams.

So please, take a minute and let this soak in before you reply. Even if you are having the time of the life in your clan, and everything is going great for you, consider that in other clans, and between other clans there are serious issues. You individually might not be at fault, your clan might be clean. You personally may not have experienced or encountered these issues in a clan. Well then thats great, but keep in mind just because you clan experience is wonderful, if one person's is so bad they may take their own life. Then ask yourself, are clans really worth it?

Foopy's thread: http://www.minecraftsurvivalgames.com/threads/the-sad-but-actual-truth.128274/

I would kindly ask that all comments on this thread are respectful, and drama free. This is a very sensitive topic, keep that in mind. Lets keep this flame free, and all come out better from this, no matter what ends up happening.

Maybe this isn't the correct answer, if you have another solution please share. Clans don't have to be necessarily removed, it's just that the problems need to be addressed.

Edit: It's quite clear most of you want them to be kept, do you see any other ways to fix this problem?

 

[c o l t o n]

No

 

[NuJaan]

Clans will never be removed. As much as I agree with your points, I can't see MCG being as popular as it is right now without clans.

 

[Kauff]

 

[arsenal]

No

You did not read that whole thing in a minute. I would kindly ask that you read the whole thing, and then give a more thoughtful opinion.

 

[duckluv321]

I think that rules should be enforced to a more severe level, and the staff should keep a closer eye on clans, or, to disband any clans that frequently break rules.

It doesn't make much sense to completely remove clans when it's really only some clans that are causing the big issues.

Remove clans, and people will still find ways to be hateful, rude people. It's not the clans, it's the people. Clans simply group together these people, and often give them reasons, or opportunities to do wrong. That's not good, of course, but if someone really wants to cause issues, they will find other ways.

By removing clans, we would remove the title that comes with them, but not the groups, or issues that come with them. I am 95% positive that everyone associated with a clan would still associate with the same group, and still cause the same issues- they just wouldn't have the title of "___ member".


On a topic of this thread in general- please keep this civil. I know many people have extremely strong feelings about clans, and you want to express them, but remember to keep the language, and content appropriate.

Also, please don't just reply with "no". Read the thread, and reply with some actual opinions, and points rather than just a "no"

 

[Yoshie123455]

Most people play MCSG for clans. My friends would quit MCSG if it wasn't for clans. I agree with most of your statements.

 

[arsenal]

I think that rules should be enforced to a more severe level, and the staff should keep a closer eye on clans, or, to disband any clans that frequently break rules.

It doesn't make much sense to completely remove clans when it's really only some clans that are causing the big issues.

Remove clans, and people will still find ways to be hateful, rude people. It's not the clans, it's the people. Clans simply group together these people, and often give them reasons, or opportunities to do wrong. That's not good, of course, but if someone really wants to cause issues, they will find other ways.

By removing clans, we would remove the title that comes with them, but not the groups, or issues that come with them. I am 95% positive that everyone associated with a clan would still associate with the same group, and still cause the same issues- they just wouldn't have the title of "___ member".

Fair enough. Maybe removing clans isn't the final answer. But something for sure needs to be done.

 

[AGFire2013]

I agree and disagree.
Being in a clan is probably the reason why a ton of players at the top of the leaderboards haven't quit yet, because they're in a clan and it makes it fun and makes MCSG have more meaning for them. I've seen videos of clans playing together or just doing casual things, and they look like they're happy and having fun together.
On the other hand, I pretty much never want something like MichelleFoop's situation to happen again. So maybe they should just remove the abuse clans/players and leave the rest to play normally.

 

[arsenal]

I agree and disagree.
Being in a clan is probably the reason why a ton of players at the top of the leaderboards haven't quit yet, because they're in a clan and it makes it fun and makes MCSG have more meaning for them. I've seen videos of clans playing together or just doing casual things, and they look like they're happy and having fun together.
On the other hand, I pretty much never want something like MichelleFoop's situation to happen again. So maybe they should just remove the abuse clans/players and leave the rest to play normally.

I don't think it is possible to easily get rid of all the bad clans and players. It is really hard for the staff since all of this happens behind the scenes on private teamspeaks or skype. It is hard to regulate. Basically, what it comes down to is there is no easy solution to this problem.

 

[Ikanacanyon7]

Most people play MCSG for clans.

Not saying this in a rude way, but that it just an assumption of yours, based on the huge amount of playeres there is, its impossible to give a statement such as that one.

Please do not comment on this thread based on the title, please read the whole thing first, and then feel free to share your opinion.

Ok, so for a while now I have been considering whether to make this thread or not. It's quite clear that clans have both some positives and negatives in this community. For a while, I have always believed that the negatives slightly out way the benefits. After the recent thread by Foopy I have made up my mind, I have made this thread. I believe that clans should no longer be allowed. Here's why.

Lets start with the pros and cons.

Pros:

• You get to make new friends, and meet new people.
• You get to practice teamwork.
• It helps you improve your PVP skills.
• It's fun. (for most)

Cons:
I really only see one major problem with clans, that leads to numerous other problems. And that is, the level of seriousness that people take them, which ultimately leads to extreme levels of drama.

Most clans are taken to very competitive levels. Inside the clan there is a battle to move up in the ranks, and have a better chance of getting chosen to fight in a scrim/battle/war (whatever). Outside the clan, there is a battle between clans to win the clan wars, or be atop the leaderboards.

All this competitiveness has time and time again lead to more than serious issues. People DDOS each other. DDOS attacks are against international law. They are literally committing crime over a game made of blocks. So they can prove themselves superior than someone else at the other end of the cable. People bully others, to make them feel more superior. They fight over the rules, usually ending in no agreement. This means next time they battle the stakes are even higher, there is not only a matter of who wins, there is getting revenge because they "cheated" last time. This makes everything twice as intense. The drama and harassment intensifies. Things get taken to a whole new level. More people are bullied, more are harassed, more DDOS attacks are launched.

Oh, and did I mention, just because you aren't in a clan doesn't mean you are safe from these horrible things either. It spreads like the plague. No really it does. The people in clans develop bad habits. The harassment they use in their clan, suddenly becomes the natural thing to say an innocent tribute in a game. This effects all of us.

The drama caused by all of this means staff spend a lot of time dealing with clan issues, which ultimately means less time banning hackers.

MCSG use to have a Survival (Factions) server. It was taken down because of too much drama. A lot of it came from fights between clans, as they attacked each other's bases.

The benefits of clans are unfortunately out weighed by the negatives. The harassment and bulling has gotten to such a level that some are suffering serious depression. Someone could take their life because of this. If so then are clans really worth it? Keep in mind, Foopy is one person who was brave enough to come out and tell the community what is going on. There could be someone out there in a much worse situation, who is in such a bad state they can't even say anything. It is almost certainly not just one person. It is more. How many? We will never know. But, we can do all we can to prevent people from suffering until they are in a life threatening situation. Clans must end.

This does not mean that you can still make friends here. Team with your friends in a game. Have fun. No on should care if you win or lose. If you win, congratulations. If you lose, then just move on. No need to fight other groups of friends, just play together against other random players. Yes, people don't like teams. But, seriously, people in clans already team a lot when practicing. No one will ever notice a significant increase in teams.

So please, take a minute and let this soak in before you reply. Even if you are having the time of the life in your clan, and everything is going great for you, consider that in other clans, and between other clans there are serious issues. You individually might not be at fault, your clan might be clean. You personally may not have experienced or encountered these issues in a clan. Well then thats great, but keep in mind just because you clan experience is wonderful, if one person's is so bad they may take their own life. Then ask yourself, are clans really worth it?

Foopy's thread: http://www.minecraftsurvivalgames.com/threads/the-sad-but-actual-truth.128274/

I would kindly ask that all comments on this thread are respectful, and drama free. This is a very sensitive topic, keep that in mind. Lets keep this flame free, and all come out better from this, no matter what ends up happening.

Maybe this isn't the correct answer, if you have another solution please share.

On the topic of the thread, as much as I have never been interested in Clans, and thus, never been in one, it is absolutely impossible for clans to be removed, nor I think should be done.
The Clans part of the community needs some more control? Yes. (the response from some people on the Clan Rules thread was just proof of this)
Should they be removed? Absolutely not, thats too extreme.

 

[arsenal]

Snip

Thanks for the insight.
Edit: Why no? Just want to hear your opinion that's all.