Clan Tysan Interview



When you think of a clan, what comes to mind? Better yet, what exactly is a clan? In modern times, clans are nothing more than a group of people who are working together to achieve the same goal. Sounds pretty simplistic, right? Back when Battle.net was in it's infancy, legendary clans that have impacted our online society were being born as well. We were fortunate enough to interview Clan Tysan, one of the most respected, well-known, and longest standing clans around USEast, and all of Battle.net for that matter. Specifically, Prospero, one of the most committed members of the clan, answered our call. Here is our somewhat lengthy, but amazingly memorable, interview with the great Clan Tysan.



DiabloFans: Clan Tysan has been around for quite some time, including your presence in the Clan Hall. What would you say are the key elements that birthed an enduring clan when most others died shortly after their founding?

Prospero: Well you have to consider that I joined Tysan in 2001, which is four years after it was founded. When it was first founded in 1997 it wasn't that different from the average Battle.net Clan, with a single "dictator" who called the shots. I don't think it lasted long, because in 1999 the clan was restarted with a more fair (albeit aristocratic) system of rule. I would say that there are four key elements that have ensured Tysan's endurance since then:

  • A core group of dedicated members. I've known many of Tysan's current members for years now, and I'd say that our friendship has kept us together even when our gaming activity dwindled.
  • A stubborn refusal to give up. I once said that if I ever voluntary left Tysan, it would be because nobody else was left. Seeing as several other members have made similar statements we're not going to be stopping anytime soon.
  • The ability of Tysan's leaders to recognize those who wish to take an active role in the clan and give them the opportunity to do so. One thing you see with many clans on Battle.net is that they have these huge hierarchies with dozens of ranks you have to climb through before you can do anything of significance. Tysan has very few such barriers. Theoretically, you could become Tysan's leader in about 4 months after you joined, and take an active role much sooner than that by joining one of the various committees or gaming groups.
  • Continuous reflection on our way of doing things. Our system of rule has changed a lot since I joined, and we continue to make improvements as we go along to ensure it remains fair.


DFans: What has been the largest challenge Clan Tysan has ever faced?

Prospero: I'd say there have been two large challenges. The first was back in 2001 just before I joined. It is quite a complicated story to recount in an interview but essentially the clan was split in two. On the one hand was a group of Tysan veterans (including 90% of the leadership) that decided to quit Tysan to create a new clan. On the other hand was a group of other members who felt the leaders were running from their responsibility. Tysan was in chaos and would have imploded if not for two things. The first was the fact that Midnight(K'MA), the rather notorious leader of one of Tysan's allied clans stepped in to reorganize those that wanted to keep Tysan going. He helped a new council form. The second thing was the fact that I took over website administration - the veterans who had left still had control of the website and I was one of the few people they trusted, having some history with Tysan prior to joining.

The second challenge was World of WarCraft. Quite a few of our members had access to the World of WarCraft closed beta due to our ties with Blood Legion (who seemed to have some connections at Blizzard who kept supplying them with beta keys) so we had quite some experience playing the game together. Seeing no harm in adding another game when the others were doing quite well, we decided to keep playing after release. While the beta had prepared us quite well for many of the facets of the game, Tysan had no other experience in MMORPGs. Things went horribly wrong once people started reaching level 60. Tysan has always had a mixture of hardcore gamers and more casual gamers. If you put those together in an MMO guild you're going to get clashes between people who want to do endgame and those who want to take their time enjoying the leveling process. We eventually decided it was best to stop playing World of WarCraft and most of our WoW member base moved to different guilds. This move eventually cost us about 60% of our members, and we still have not equaled the clan size we had before this happened.

Both these challenges have made Tysan a better clan as a whole. The first event has inspired us to ensure our leadership can be easily replaced if necessary, and the second event has ensured that we do not expand into new games without thorough planning.


DFans: Names function as banners for others to follow behind. Did "Tysan" come easily in the early days, and how was it chosen?

Prospero: Funny you should ask that. None of our current members were around when Tysan was founded in 1997 (except maybe Mach114). I joined Tysan in 2001 myself so naturally the name was already chosen at that point. I think the 2001 website explained the name as coming from an old Mongol clan that once rivaled that of Genghis Khan - this reflects the way we play games: not the best, but enough to be reckoned with. Another explanation I've heard is that it means "wealth" or "richness" in some language, which would also be correct if applied to our history, structure and our diversity of members.

Many clans seem to go for a rather formulaic names such as "the X Y" (where X is an adjective and Y a plural noun, for instance: the Forgotten Warriors) or something like "the Y of Z" (where Y is a plural noun and Z another noun, for instance: the Guardians of Light). I think part of Tysan's appeal comes from the fact that it's a rather unusual name for a clan and does not follow these formulas.


DFans: Tysan has an immensely thought-out and functioning hierarchy system, grouping members in to positions with voting power and influence, as well as rules to go along with the privileges. How important is such a system in new clans, and how has it benefited Tysan in its old age?

Prospero: I think that every clan should pick something that works for them. We've only been using our current system for about 5 months, but it was something we gradually grew into. When I first joined Tysan it was run by a council that picked it's own members. This was gradually replaced by a system where the whole clan could elect the council leader who in turn appointed the council members. From this point we gradually added more voting power until we ended up with the current system which more or less adheres to the principles of the Trias Politica. But it's important to understand that it was the result of gradual transitions rather than something we introduced at once. It's also important to understand that our website does a lot of our work for us.

One of my co-workers sometimes jokes that Tysan has more bureaucracy than a small country, and I think our system would be a bit unwieldy for a new clan to start out with (even though it was designed to scale down as well as up). I think it's most important to have a system in place which is fair to all members and rewards those that are willing to put in extra effort for the clan. I think it is also important to have a system that encourages friendship. New clans should focus on these aspects first and worry about extensive rules later on.


DFans: Tysan currently supports multiple Blizzard games, including Starcraft and Diablo. What made you decide to focus on these two games and how do you decide when to drop or add another one?

Prospero: This is actually an issue we're currently discussing in the clan. Formerly the addition of new games was the responsibility of the Chancellor, but since we moved to our current site 6 months ago it's not really anybody's responsibility. Our future plans include a sort of petition for new games. If one member wants to expand to a new game and he can find enough people to play it with him, we will accept the game. If too few people play a game the Chancellor can decide to remove it.

Our current games each have different reasons for being accepted. Diablo 2: LOD is basically the game we've been playing more or less continuously since before I joined and we're playing it mostly because it's what we've been doing this whole time. StarCraft 2 was added because we have quite a bit of history with RTS games (WarCraft 3 and Broodwar) and we wanted to start focusing on that again. I also think we'll be looking at Diablo 3 in the future, mainly because we all loved Diablo 2.


DFans: Joining Tysan could be considered a lengthy process, as opposed to many other clans that accept any new member right on the spot. What is a benefit and a disadvantage of this approach to recruitment?

Prospero: Well the obvious disadvantage is the length of the procedure. It takes us about 3-4 days before new members are actually given a trial membership, and another 17 days before that trial membership ends and the new members gets the rank of Junior Member (assuming he passes the vote). Our join procedures scare away a lot of potential recruits which really slows down our growth rate. On the other hand, it does give us the opportunity to get to know them better prior to making a final decision about wanting them as members. Suppose you have a member who does not break any rules but doesn't really get along with anyone. Kicking him out of the clan is possible, but messy, since our charter as well as our website prevents members from being kicked without a fair trial. Even if such a trial were not to exist then kicking someone out will likely result in drama. People tend to respond better to a voting process since it is the opinion of the whole clan, not just those in charge.


DFans: Do you have any advice for prospective clan founders for the Diablo series?

Prospero: I could go on for hours, so I'll just stick to a few basic "good ideas":

  • Get a few friends to help you out. This takes care of the "core group" I mentioned in my answer to the first question. But be careful not to give these friends privileges at the expense of other capable members
  • Know the game you're playing. You don't need to be the best player in the world to lead a clan, but a good grasp of game mechanics is essential. Clans always have to deal with in-game disputes (with regard to loot, skill choices, which class is best for PvP), and having good knowledge about the game can often settle these disputes peacefully.
  • Get a website and possibly a forum. Having a place to put down information about your clan is a must if you expect to live longer than a few weeks. If you don't know how to do this, find a guy who works with websites for a living.
  • Be ready to spend lots of time on this. You can manage a clan with minimal effort, but it won't be anything spectacular.
  • Be fair to your members. Being the almighty dictator only works as long as your members are willing to go along with it
  • You are not the best clan ever. There's always a bigger fish. Don't provoke them

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