What is Clan Orb?

The clan was founded in the Summer of 2000, based on the simple premise that players could come together and just have fun time playing a game of Tribes. Tired of rude or too serious (sometimes both) clans, we agreed that the game Tribes is only a game, not a job. Orb was created by just 4 members, Lucid (at the time known as Raven), Cells (in rpgs as Ahmetal), Doom Train (also known as Tomb), and Vorax-1.

Clan Orb has since evolved into more of a selective gaming community. Our players span the globe, and have a presence in a variety of games. While our origins are in mod 'Shifter' for Tribes, there are quite a few games Orb members play in, in several different genres. To name a few that we have put our feet in : World of Warcraft, Tribes, Half-life, Day of Defeat, Battlefield 2, Guild Wars. We're not just limited to games either; many of the players are active in game modding, website design and graphic design. Many Orb members have even met, changing the relationship from online clan mates to more of actual friends. In the forums we're a relaxed (and more often then not, downright goofy) bunch of gamers.

Be sure to bear in mind as you read this, that a lot of this refers to various games with you may not be familiar with. This page tries to be general but oftentimes game specific references are made. If you encounter any grammatical, or just plain confusing parts of this, be sure to let me (Lucid) know. Oftentimes its hard for someone to find errors in something their own writing because it all makes sense to them.

The Clan Orb philosophy is simple.

If you you're looking to learn anything about Orb, the most important aspect of our clan is understanding our ideal, our philosophy. Orb is about enhancing the game experience shared with friends. We beleive that there is real life in one hand, and online life in the other. Our goal is to make online life a fun and rewarding experience without infringing on real life. We want enjoyable and sometimes outrageous game experiences to be the norm, so when we share our stories, others say "Only in orb would you see that!". We also aim to make an impact on the gamers we come in contact with; We want to leave a server, regardless of the game, and have something say "Man, those Orb guys are a ton of fun to play with". We want others to see us as respectful, funny, mature, and fun to be around. One of the core principles in what it is to be part of the Orb community is understanding the balance between maturity and fun. We want clan members to be proud of the tag, proud of the name, and feel like it represents their friends, their humor, and their way of online life regardless if their name is at the top or the bottom of the scoreboard.

The Question: "How do I join Orb"

Orb doesn't need any players. We look for and accept players who we know and have a great time playing with. Orb doesn't participate in organized competitive events. The single most deciding factor of our players is the person's attitude. We use quite a different approach to accepting members then your average clan. Orb does not mass recruit, or invite anyone to bear the orb tag just to boost our clan's numbers. We believe that the most effective way to build a clan that upholds orb's ideals, lies in how people join our community.

Several things are considered of people requesting to join orb :

• Character
• Attitude
• Participation in the community
• Teamwork
• Healthy sense of humor

While character and attitude are similar, by character, I am referring to how a person acts and treats others. If you want to join orb, you have to prove to us that 'respectfulness & maturity' are natural parts of your character. Your attitude is how you approach the 'purpose' to playing games. Do you aim to win at any cost? or do you focus all of your attention at whatever you find most fun. And ideal candidate for an orb member is someone who can say 'I try to play well but enjoying the game, and being enjoyable to be around is a greater priority '. Your participation in the community, whether it be in-game or on the orb forums is a vital part of the orb community. Its alright if you're not a forum dweller waiting to reply to every post, but being part of the community means making a post every once in a while, providing your thoughts, ideas, criticisms, and engaging in the social aspect that is the community. There are many games out there where being a lone wolf is feasible. But in most of those games, having a cooperative and enjoyable teammate makes the game significantly more fun. We enjoy an orb member who can request that we get in an APC to help coordinate an attempt to retake a vital position. And then can laugh when he accidentally drives the vehicle off a cliff into the ocean. And underlying all of that, a healthy sense of humor is almost mandatory. You don't have to be a jokester, or outright silly, but enjoying a good laugh between us, whether on the forums or over a microphone, is a really important part of the 'orb experience'.

When someone makes it known that they are interested in joining orb, a poll is started allowing orb members to 'vouch' for that person. Their vouch status is not based on the specific numeric outcome of that vote. The vouch system serves one purpose only : To provide me, Lucid, with information about potential new orb members , as seen from multiple orb members. I base my decisions on what the numbers tell me, not the exact numbers themselves. Should I decide that someone is suitable to join orb, I will add them to the official orb roster, and it will be complete. Please note that 1.In most cases this process can only be finalized by me, Lucid. and 2. It is mandatory that you have an orb forums account before you can become an orb member.

Joining orb does not happen overnight. Interest alone will not gain anyone access to Orb. Joining Orb can take a long time. However, this is based on a few factors. Most notably, "How well do we know them?". If they post once or twice, don't expect us to hop up and make a decision based on those 10 words. Keep in mind, we've been around a very long time; we've seen our fair share of people looking to join and losing patience after not being accepted immediately. Things that can speed up the process : Playing games with Orb members, frequenting our forums, joining our group events (if they are public), communicating with other orb members that play the same game as you. Remember, the point of our join process is not to determine if someone has the 'mad skillz'. The point is to learn about them, and determine if they will be a important part of the orb community. If they do very little to show who they are and don't let us get to know them, they'll have to keep waiting until we do. This does Not mean spamming the forums or bugging orb members constantly.

So, what are the rules?

Orb does not have many rules at all. If you have been invited to Orb, you already have the natural traits which we'd be setting rules for, and therefore most rules are unnecessary.

Once in Orb, I ask that you are not in any other clan. This topic has a lot of gray area, in some cases it's acceptable, in others it is not. In general, I do like having members who are not part of other clans/guilds. Be sure to ask and we'll discuss it. Playing for another official tag in a community Orb is prominent in without any prior discussion, will ,in most cases, result in dismissal from Orb. A lot of Orb members don't play other games/mods simply because there isn't a real interest, however if you play a particular game that Orb isn't in, simply ask, and it's more then likely there will be more then a few Orb members wanting to play that mod/game with you.

Keeping in touch is the only other requirement. If you show no activity in Orb for an extended amount of time, you will be assumed gone and likely to be removed from the roster. There isn't a "once a week" rule or anything, but there are many available ways to let people know you're around (forum, e-mail, instant messaging, playing games with other members), so it shouldn't be that hard to let us know how you're doing.

Orb Clan ranks?

Orb does not have ranks. Orb functions as a benign dictatorship. All members of Orb are equal. The only amount of 'authority' I, Lucid, have as the leader of Orb, is that I handle all acceptances into Orb, initiate and develop recognition in certain communities, and handle most of the public inquiries regarding Orb. As in all communities that have existed for a long time, seniority does have precedence, but no orb member has any 'special abilities' granted to them on that basis. The only exception to this is when I request certain orb members to handle certain things, like acceptances into the clan, when needed in games or areas I'm not often around in.

Orb : Guild / Clan / Vanguard

Clan Orb defines Orb as a whole. An 'Orb Member' represents Orb in any and every multiplayergame he or she plays.

Guild Orb defines an RPG variant of the clan. The word Guild is almost always used in reference to an RPG, and we do the same. Guild Orb is much more specific, usually describing only a single Online RPG that Orb plays. In World of Warcraft and Guild Wars, we have registered a Guild Orb in both games. Because Online RPG's are usually difficult to enjoy without have a large group to play with, I tend to be much more lenient about who may join. Oftentimes people are invited to join without much previous knowledge of their character. One of the reasons that it is much easier to accept people in RPG's is because almost all of them have very good Guild Management systems. If someone is being inappropriate, I simply have to click a few buttons to remove them from the guild. This isn't available in most other games, like tribes, or half-life.

The Orb Vanguard is a division of Orb that plays competitively in Matches and competitions. Since Orb doesn't focus on skill, we tend to enjoy playing at a more mellow pace. There are those of us who do love competition though, and for those there is Orb Vanguard, and that is all that that title denotes. Along with this title come certain responsibilities, which might include practices, or ranks, or other systems which are conductive specifically to competition type gameplay.

What is so special about Orb?

I don't see Orb as special, merely without problems. Orb has lasted for 8 years with few members voluntarily leaving. Many Orb members are in Orb with their friends and enjoy playing tribes with their friends under the same tag. It's as simple as that.

Orb Remembers.

We remember the day which we lost a very special Orb member.

James Jones, {-o-} Suicide, June 16, 2001

This page was written by Lucid, then refined by w0rm, and then re-refined by Lucid again. Thanks to w0rm for quite a lot of work he's provided to this page.