Organize a Clan Match with the

Clan Matches are a pain in the ass. If you've ever been responsible for organizing one, you already know this; if not, you're about to find out. Having said that, the Deviants are ready to take your challenge and take your challenge seriously. Because we will take your challenge seriously, we expect the same from you.

This page will outline what we want from you if you want to challenge us. Do not take every word here as gospel or as being cast in stone. One of the hallmarks of a true Deviant is the ability to display that rare characteristic called flexibility and another, equally rare trait: the ability to be reasonable. Since you are not a Deviant, we do not expect you to display either quality, but if you will make an effort to do so, we will call you "friend" and the whole process will be easier on all concerned.

All arrangements regarding the match must be made through the Deviants' Clan Match Master: unfortunately we do not have, nor do we plan on creating, the position of Clan Match Master. Nevertheless, when a challenge is issued, one of us will take up the gauntlet and be responsible for organizing our end of the match with you.

Please do not challenge us unless you have previously discussed this specific challenge within your own clan and have a tentative team line-up, including at least one alternate.

A team line-up implies that your people are available to play, which, in turn implies that you have a date and time in mind. What is it? Be sure to mention the Time Zone you are talking about. Also, where are these people phyically located and what Time Zones are they in? The Deviants have members in the GMT, ET, CT, PT zones.

Likewise, how many people are involved? Is this to be a 3 on 3, 4 on 4, or 5 on 5 match. The Deviants generally consider 4 on 4 to be a minimum for a Clan match and we do prefer 5 on 5. After all, a Clan match should involve the Clan...

You are challenging us: do you have a server available for the match? Where is it physically located? What kind of connection to the 'net does it employ? (T3, T1, aDSL, cable) When is it available? Is it available for practice before the match? What is its IP number? This is not to say that you should not challenge us if you do not have a server lined up; even though DvT does not have a Clan Server at the present time, we may be able to help track one down.

What format do you have in mind for the match? Best 2 out of 3 maps? Do you prefer a Frag Limit or a Time Limit on each map? What Limit are you proposing. The Deviants prefer 2 out of 3 maps with a Time Limit of 25 minutes per map.

How do you propose that the maps be chosen? You chose one; we chose one; we mutally agree upon a tie-breaker map? Do you want "classic" only maps? (maps that shipped with the retail Unreal package) or do you want to use custom, user-created maps? If the latter, should maps created by our own Clan members be allowed?

What maps are you considering as your choices to play? Give us a list and we just might say: "Good choices, let's play these." (or we might not...)

You should be aware that DvT will not accept challenges to play "classic" or "turbo" mode games; "hardcore" mode only. We also require that the maps be configured with weapon-stay ON or ENABLED: weapon-stay disabled turns the game into a DP duel. We consider the use of the Amp and Invisibility to be newbie no-brainers which are to be avoided. We feel that demanding these few restrictions does not detract from the game or the match.

Does the person who is arranging this match for you have an IRC client program and know how to use it? What about the other members of your Clan? We have found that IRC is a much more convenient medium of communication than ICQ when an extended conversation is necessary. The Deviants have an IRC room available for such discussions. We can help you obtain and set up an IRC client program, if you need assistance.

Members of DvT: this is a two-way street -- please do not go running off and posting spam challenges to every clan you can find unless you are prepared to answer all these questions yourself, for every clan you challenge. DvT, remember, if you issue the challenge, you are responsible for organizing the match!

I warned you that arranging a match is a pain. No, we are not being anal about this. If you have a clue about what it is that you want to do with the match before you challenge us, the whole process will go a lot more smoothly and the match will probably happen a whole lot quicker than if you just throw out a challenge and hope it works out. We are not asking for any preparation from you that we are not willing to do ourselves when we issue a challenge.

All of these issues will have to be dealt with sooner or later anyway; let's make it sooner...Most importantly, please observe that while, in most cases, we have indicated our preferred answers to many of the many questions, they are questions: we are simply asking now, rather than later on ICQ or IRC.

We do not require that you have hard and fast answers to all of these questions before you make the challenge. This is not possible in the first place and in the second, we may object to, or have reservations about, several of your proposals. This, of course, puts those items back to square one and the necessity of flexibility comes into play. We would appreciate it if you are prepared to discuss all of these questions from the beginning--even if your initial answers to some of the questions are: "we don't yet have this worked out."

Please keep in mind that the Deviants range in age from 16 to 53. This means that we have school/work/family obligations that will take priority over playing Unreal. We, likewise, assume that the members of your Clan also have Real-Life obligations that can/will interfear with the smooth organization of the match. We can make it happen. This page has told you what the Deviants generally prefer; the ball is your court...

The Deviants look forward to serving you and your Clan as the main course at our next Gib BBQ!