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Old 2012-06-20, 01:53 PM   [Ignore Me] #1
Andur
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Question Outfit leadership counsel?


You might be familiar with Massively's The Guild Counsel column: it features advice from seasoned guild leaders on various topics like how to recruit, how to schedule events etc.

I was wondering whether there was as guide somewhere about Planetside 1-2 specifics. I'm interested in things like how do you keep together players that want to do very different stuff (like drive an ATV, a tank, a Liberator, a MAX, rexo etc), and how to schedule events for a battle that basically never ends.

I guess I could search advice for other sandbox titles like EVE, but I think it's likely someone has already written a guide about PS specifics.

If not, what is your personal advice, as outfit leaders? Any obvious pitfalls I should be wary of?
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Old 2012-06-20, 02:22 PM   [Ignore Me] #2
Hosp
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Re: Outfit leadership counsel?


The obvious pitfall to be wary of is reading a guide and expecting to know what you're doing based on said guide. That becomes particularly true of leadership. What works for outfit A won't work for outfit B etc. Not to mention there are many different ways of leading where not everyone is open to being led in said fashion or have a preference to a certain fashion.

My personal advice, start small if you don't have much to work with already. Noone started at the top and those that were handed a position at the top probably didn't do so well in the long run.

As for how to bring people with different interests together. That's easy, offer them a good fight and find the best way to work with the combination of skill sets you have.

But as this is personal advice and i don't know anything about you...take it with a grain of salt as it may or may not apply.

Last edited by Hosp; 2012-06-20 at 02:23 PM.
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Old 2012-06-20, 03:47 PM   [Ignore Me] #3
iSpectre
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Re: Outfit leadership counsel?


Varies greatly depending on the sort of community your group/clan has.
you might just be mostly open leadership where anything goes and the odd attempt at getting big movements by asking on TS/vent ("alright guys, lets get a headcount for who's up for a raid on Tech Plant C")
vs setting up a more rigid structure of divisions and squads.

Depends how much time the leadership has as well, good groups will have very dedicated leaders that will always be around and willing to help new players or set something up when possible, whilst those with limited time frames might rely on impulse gaming.

Otherwise its general advice, stay in control - give authority/responsibility only to those you trust and make sure to maintain a good atmosphere within the clan/group.
Either way, good luck! Hope to see you and your group out in the field.
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Old 2012-06-21, 12:22 PM   [Ignore Me] #4
Andur
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Re: Outfit leadership counsel?


Good points. Outfit is really small, and I've considered being an autonomous squad inside a bigger outfit, at least until we're enough people to maintain our own.

I'm still unsure what to do with a Light Assault, an Infiltrator, a MAX, a tank pilot, an ATV pilot, and a Galaxy pilot :-) I guess we could do small galdrops with some ground-based artillery support.
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Old 2012-06-21, 12:49 PM   [Ignore Me] #5
Trolltaxi
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Re: Outfit leadership counsel?


If you want a long living outfit, think about sharing the OL-position with a council of 3 or even 5.

Leading an outfit may be a huge task and sometimes you simply don't feel like messing with the daily "paperwork". Or RL issues keep you away. Maybe you would get too bossy in time and you would alienate your members.

You can pretty much prevent it with a small council on the top of your outfit. The tasks may be divided, one sorts your forums, another one goes after the recruitment, the third is a great leader and good at inter-outfit intteractions and so on.

Having a council means that the high brass is more represented at any time of the day, there is always someone online.

If you don't have a one-person lead it means it is not a dynasty and not only your best buddy has the chance to make his/her way to the top. It may be very motivating for some of the members. They will do their best to impress the outfit, first with good teamplay or just by generally being friendly and fun for everyone, later you can rely him on small task (like leaving the main fight for a galaxy for your next move), he will be willing to lead or he may just stay in the second line and help the squadleaders, platoon leaders with tactical advice. At the later stages he may turn out to be a good leader, fun to follow, he may share his sights on your forums, work on tactics... or he will announce and lead fun events, be it an ATV race or a Liberator night where hundreds of bombers will provide shade for the soldiers on the ground. Anyways, by his work the outfit will be better organized, will have more fun, he will gain reputation throughout the empire and in the eyes of your enemy. And when the time comes, it will be a natural choice to offer him a seat in the council.

This is the carrer of the ideal, motivated and talented outfit member. But it is important to stress out, that he may know at the very moment of his joining, that he may be one of the leaders of this group.

About events. Set up an own forum, and have a sub-forum for that. Post your idea with an exact date and location, if you need special setup, make sure that the spots are filled early.

And be ready that sometimes an event would go waste... you may plan a huge armour column and dedicate the night for armour play, but your empire is cornered on all continents and you struggle to save your last base... Or the enemy is having an Anti-ground reaver event, and the third empire has his LIBnight... So what! Bend your event to an AA!

Leading an outfit needs dedication. Make sure you always have some!
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Old 2012-06-21, 07:36 PM   [Ignore Me] #6
iSpectre
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Re: Outfit leadership counsel?


Originally Posted by Andur View Post
Good points. Outfit is really small, and I've considered being an autonomous squad inside a bigger outfit, at least until we're enough people to maintain our own.

I'm still unsure what to do with a Light Assault, an Infiltrator, a MAX, a tank pilot, an ATV pilot, and a Galaxy pilot :-) I guess we could do small galdrops with some ground-based artillery support.
I can't be the only one that thought this: .
But in a PS2 setting.

I'd say if your group works well, try and be a merc group - working with other larger groups, if they attack a large facilty, you can work on a specific point whilst they get an armoured division to roll past and provide some covering fire.
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Old 2012-06-22, 02:29 AM   [Ignore Me] #7
Naz The Eternal
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Re: Outfit leadership counsel?


Originally Posted by Andur View Post
I was wondering whether there was as guide somewhere about Planetside 1-2 specifics. I'm interested in things like how do you keep together players that want to do very different stuff (like drive an ATV, a tank, a Liberator, a MAX, rexo etc), and how to schedule events for a battle that basically never ends.
Hey Andur, there are plenty of guides and large manifestos about Planetside 1 that you could go over.

One really good one is written by kiddpark from the Sentinels, called Leading Online Gaming Squads For Neither Fun Or Profit have a read.


Originally Posted by Andur View Post
If not, what is your personal advice, as outfit leaders? Any obvious pitfalls I should be wary of?
As far as scheduling events for a 24/7 battle. It is quite simple really. I'll use Toxin Raiders as an example.

We have something called "Prime-Time" or "Battle-Time" and this is the 2 hours period during which majority of our players are online. It is designated time similar to "raids" in any MMO.
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RECRUITING!

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Old 2012-06-22, 02:42 AM   [Ignore Me] #8
Synapse
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Re: Outfit leadership counsel?


I have one single piece of advice coming from a fair bit of leadership experience in a few games.

The bottom line in any gaming group is that you're all there to have fun. So long as you can provide the fun your crew is looking for then they will stay with you. The best eve online fleet commanders know that what they do is half organization and half standup comedy: people go not just because it will be succesful, but because it will be hilarious. Drunk/suicide ops are generally popular, especially when a ballsy move doesn't end as badly as expected.

Really if you can provide those two (fun and competence) then everything you need for a solid year will follow.

Beyond a year you'll start to need real organizational skill in promoting correctly, dispute resolution, longterm strategy and vision, etc. Most successful clans burn up at this stage and TBH most successful clan leaders don't want to make this transition anyway.

Last edited by Synapse; 2012-06-22 at 02:52 AM.
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Old 2012-06-23, 10:49 AM   [Ignore Me] #9
Andur
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Re: Outfit leadership counsel?


Great advice! Keep them coming!
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Old 2012-06-23, 11:38 AM   [Ignore Me] #10
Taru
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Re: Outfit leadership counsel?


For recruiting, the 'probation' technique has been really useful for us. We keep our squads open with the exception of planned outfit events and whoever squads with us is welcome to join our outfit. After that they have a 1000 outfit points to earn before they become a full member. That ensures there is a good fit for both the outfit and the new member.

In Planetside, there is very much a 'if you build it, they will come' mentality. For example, if people see you doing a coordinated armor column and that matches their playstyle they naturally gravitate towards your outfit. So keep doing what you want to do and growth will happen - if you let other people tag along.

Voice communications is also a must, but seeing as planetside 2 has VoIP I would hold off on getting a server if you don't have one already.

Don't go it alone. Have a good officer base to back you up, if you're the sole power in your outfit it will not survive.

And lastly, have a rule system. Yes, we are all here to have fun (obviously!) but if you have guidelines from the beginning that everyone has to agree to you will have a lot less headaches in the long run.
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Old 2012-06-23, 12:14 PM   [Ignore Me] #11
Maarvy
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Re: Outfit leadership counsel?


Learn how to use vent properly

Many guilds or outfits use vent .... not that many use it to its full effect .

Learn how to make sparate group channels with individual group leaders / secure officer channels / push to talk keys for different channels / global hotkeys for overall commanders / phantoms to monitor "other" groups .
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Old 2012-06-23, 03:09 PM   [Ignore Me] #12
MCYRook
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Re: Outfit leadership counsel?


You ain't no noob, Andur. Think Global Agenda season 2. If you want to do something with a small group, make sure you get them all online at the same time for starters.

Then stick together, set out for a goal that's within the capabilities of your group, and go for it. If people insist on wanting to do very different, seemingly incompatible things (like sniping vs tank driving), either try and make it work anyway (i.e. be creative), or do one thing first and another later.

As for recruitment and general leadership, the same principles you know from GA apply.
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Old 2012-06-24, 03:43 AM   [Ignore Me] #13
Redshift
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Re: Outfit leadership counsel?


Originally Posted by Andur View Post

I'm still unsure what to do with a Light Assault, an Infiltrator, a MAX, a tank pilot, an ATV pilot, and a Galaxy pilot :-) I guess we could do small galdrops with some ground-based artillery support.
You'll find as much as people like the sound of those roles that you end up using whatever is needed at a given time, probably best to just look at it as 6 guys.
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