why Clans

[Retired Army]

Being the new kilroy, I may not understand why you all call the collective groups CLANS?

Wouldnt UNITS, OUTFITS, of company be a some what better way to organize?

[joshblancett]

Re: why Clans

becuase most have to pay to be in the clan, not drafted

[chaz32]

Re: why Clans

Wouldn't that make people 'outfitters'? That's silly, they don't sell suits :P

[Flares]

Re: why Clans

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_(c...erson_shooters)

"Clan" is just a generic historical term m8, usually used in First Person Shooters and goes all the way back to games like Doom and Quake. Many clans in BF2 still have military sounding names like 1MEU, 22SAS etc and a military style organisation. Most others are pretty loose.
"Guilds" are similar but generally belong to fantasy MMORPGs.

Play a game like WWII Online (Battleground Europe), and "clan" is never used. Players are in regiments, battalions, units, outfits, squads, squadrons etc. Similarly flight sim players will usually form squadrons, flights, wings etc.

[BlueBunny63]

Re: why Clans

I think that it goes back to the days of counterstrike, when people in California, for whatever reason, called some of the first groups of gamers "clans"... probably because they hung out together in real life so much that they were like a real clan - a group of related people who lived together.

Or maybe somebody had a thing for the history of Scottish clan warfare, and made the misinterpretation that "clan" meant something military, rather than its real meaning, which has to do with family and nothing more.

Whatever the real genesis of the term, it's always made me smile, for the same reason as the OP mentions... what does it have to do with warfare? There are so many other terms one could use... unit, team, squad, company, battalion, division, strike force, task group, squadron... the list goes on and on.

But "clan", which means "family"? OK, whatever dude.

[TeLe-LoE-]

Re: why Clans

I like saying "Squads" better than "Clans" cause clan sounds silly lol.

[TotalBF2er]

Re: why Clans

I thought clans went back to the days of 'Highlander'

[Retired Army]

Re: why Clans

Wouldn't that make people 'outfitters'? That's silly, they don't sell suits :P

No they would be recruits.

Outfit is a slang for Company sized unit.

I agree SQUAD would be much better than CLAN.

I know what a clan is, but its more for those who play with stone knives and bear skins.

Not us lean green fightin machines!

[chaz32]

Re: why Clans

No they would be recruits.

Outfit is a slang for Company sized unit.

I agree SQUAD would be much better than CLAN.

I know what a clan is, but its more for those who play with stone knives and bear skins.

Not us lean green fightin machines!

No really?!?!*&^&%

I never knew...

[lmimmfn]

Re: why Clans

"Clan" is not silly, its a good auld irish/Gaeilge/Gallic word, and it means family :), so there!!!!!!
I have my online clan and my real clan, wOOt!!!!!

[Cantina_Fly]

Re: why Clans

My first experience with clans was in MechWarrior, where the actual in-game originazations are called Clans. I figured it was a natural carry-over to other games from there. And it's not a hard and fast rule by any means. Take the group I play with, we call ourselves a guild even though the majority of the games we play are FPS games. CoH/CoV is the only MMO some of us play.

[imported_Predator]

Re: why Clans

Sometimes the term "team" is used.

[DesertFalcon]

Re: why Clans

I say squad or unit depends on the size.

[|D|-Max]

Re: why Clans

becuase most have to pay to be in the clan

ypu don't have to pay to be in a clan

[Repent]

Re: why Clans

"Clan" is not silly, its a good auld irish/Gaeilge/Gallic word, and it means family :), so there!!!!!!
I have my online clan and my real clan, wOOt!!!!!

True...I have Scottish, and Irish clans.

The Ku Klux Klan, gave the word "clan" a bad name.

A Clan IS a family.