@shyb: Expect something in a few days. I'm still working on a game/tournament/ladder analysis program I promised everyone a few weeks ago, but I'm currently having real-life issues so I can't get to this immediately. But (typical programmer answer, I guess) it's trivial and shouldn't take very long to accomplish once I write code to parse player and clan pages.
@Fleecemaster:
The WL clan system is very minimalistic and doesn't offer any intrinsic benefits. If you just join
a clan, you really don't gain much. It's basically just a filtering system (you can filter players by clan name as well as name in WL's Search function when you create games) and a communication system. You also get a fancy little icon next to your name, but that's about it.
So clans are really a part of the metagame more than anything- all of their real advantages are player-created (which make sense, since the clan system allows players to form groups- and within these groups, they can do interesting things).
For example, there's a good number of clans that have at least a few players interested in strategy. Internally, these clans operate tournaments, ladders, and clan/inter-clan games. Moreover, these clans often organize inter-clan leagues or tournaments, the most famous of these being Clan League (about to enter its 7th season). There's also Clan Challenge League which is more template-focused.
Specifically, though, I can only really tell you the benefits for CORP since I haven't been in any other clans beyond T4R (
long ago), The Lost Wolves (mostly inactive), and Darklords (for a few minutes, just to see what was up in their forums); clans weren't a feature I understood or took seriously until I joined CORP. Here's what I would stand to lose if I were to immediately quit CORP:
- Most importantly, the ability to fully participate in CORP's internal ladders/leagues, the CORP Strategic League (
http://tinyurl.com/csldata) and the CORP Challenge League (
http://tinyurl.com/corpcldata). Neither of these is fully developed (I'll automate them when I get back from vacation) but both are a reliable sources of good 1v1/2v2/3v3 strategic games and have had a demonstrable impact in the growth of our players.
- Membership in CORP's Scorpio Dojo chat, where we frequently discuss games, tournaments, and strategies
- The ability to partake in CORP internal tournaments, especially Scorpio's monthly 1v1 and 2v2 challenges
- Invites to CORP games and tournaments, including inter-clan games (currently ongoing with FBG, USSR, and TLW, although there are a few other clans on the list)
- Ability to view/add to the CORP Clanwide Blacklist, where we track players with blacklist-worthy offenses and try to collectively avoid them (so we don't have to each go through bad experiences with them individually)
The reason I'm answering your question is that, fundamentally, it's at the center of CORP's existence in particular. It's like, "Okay, we exist- now what can we actually do for our members as a clan?"
The answer is that the system isn't designed for us to do a whole lot. There's nothing in Warlight's codebase that makes joining a clan intrinsically a worthwhile decision.
But there is something in how social interactions work. When you form groups of people, these groups have a tendency toward either dying out (if no one gains anything from being part of the group) or doing worthwhile things. I mean, who wants to participate in a group that does
nothing? So clans themselves tend toward either doing absolutely nothing and having no participation (a la Darklords) or doing a whole lot and having high participation (a la WM).
Edited 7/4/2015 20:03:47
