How to Pick a Clan

Clans are one of the neatest parts of the Alter Aeon experience. A clan is a chance to get to know a group of (hopefully) like-minded people and have a good time. All clans are different, ranging from loosely-bound pk clans which only exist to rack up kills, to the strongly bound old clans where the players are almost like family to each other, to clans primarily for blind and visually impaired players.

When you're trying to pick a clan the best thing to do is to begin by seeing which clans the people you admire, run with, or dislike belong to. The 'finger' command can be very useful for this purpose. When you 'finger' a player, you will be able to see what clan that player is in, if any. Another way to check the clan of players is to use the player lookup on the Alter Aeon web pages, at https://alteraeon.com:8081/players.

If this doesn't turn up any winners (or even if it does) a good way of researching clans is to look at clan web sites and information inside and outside the game. The in-game 'clan list' command shows you which clans are the most active in terms of running, player killing, and number of members. However, a lot of nice clans are fairly inactive and need only a shot of new blood to get them going. You are perhaps that new blood, so don't completely disregard clans on the low end of the list.

To look at clan web sites, just check out the clan pages on the Alter Aeon web site at https://alteraeon.com:8081/clans. Even just the quality of the clan web site can often tell you a lot about the clan, and whether or not it's something you'd like to join. Note that you can also see the entire roster of clans here, including lists of elders and regular members.

Study clans you are interested in and learn their requirements from their web sites. A lot of clans won't consider members for joining who are below 70 total levels. Some clans have much more restrictive entrance requirements than this, possibly even requiring a quest to be performed to demonstrate competence. Other clans may accept even newbies, and grant them exceptions to paying dues or other high-level responsibilities.

Once you have a good idea of a clan you want to join, approach an elder of the clan. Don't be impatient. Some elders log on infrequently, and sometimes your request to join gets lost in the shuffle. Try to group and run with members of the clan you wish to join. It helps clannies to find out you're a decent person, and if you bring something of value to the table.

Finally, you should expect to try and stay current on clan dues, clan business, and clan activities. Be proactive; your clan is only as good as the people in it. If the clan doesn't run groups very often, perhaps you can help organize them. If the clan needs gold and you have $10 lying around, donate it for clan gold. This helps to promote healthy, smooth-running clans that get things done, as well as supporting the game.