** Recruitment Policy ** - not recruiting.

[Foster]

This looks so cool, all the pros kicking @$$

[NotoriousRic]

Hi there, I have heard from players on GH1 that you are actually not recruiting (not that I am interested, USAB is great!), but I am curious so as to why you have made the decision not to actually recruit. It just seems strange to denie anyone a chance of entry, rather than simply raise your standards to allow only the elite within your ranks. Just some thoughts, please reply if you would choose to share some of your reasoning with me, thanks! :D

[DUHsoALEX]

They are the elite...

[USABxBOOYO]

They don't recruit because they're just a very close group of friends that met on IRC or elsewhere in-game. Contrary to what about 90% of this community believes, being in <@> was never about being skilled. For instance, bcoolface (Ben Aksoy) is total trash at this game, yet he's still in <@>. There are also others. The reason why <@> is usually so skilled is because they've been playing for such a long time that there skill was just a natural resultant.

[Defaulter]

They don't recruit because they're just a very close group of friends that met on IRC or elsewhere in-game. Contrary to what about 90% of this community believes, being in <@> was never about being skilled. For instance, bcoolface (Ben Aksoy) is total trash at this game, yet he's still in <@>. There are also others. The reason why <@> is usually so skilled is because they've been playing for such a long time that there skill was just a natural resultant.

Iv heard different things directly from <@> and administration members, so allow me to try and remember...

- <@> deliberately DID look for skilled players, but this did not mean they wouldn't accept sumone due to lack of skill, they people they looked for needed to generally kind/mature people (yeh they kinda fucked up with lex, old news and all[yes i KNOW lex wasn't in <@>])

- They also usually brought sumone in when there was NEED to do so, a position to be filled as you could day. whether that be game development related/forums/IRC etc

[mikuli]

They don't recruit because they're just a very close group of friends that met on IRC or elsewhere in-game. Contrary to what about 90% of this community believes, being in <@> was never about being skilled. For instance, bcoolface (Ben Aksoy) is total trash at this game, yet he's still in <@>. There are also others. The reason why <@> is usually so skilled is because they've been playing for such a long time that there skill was just a natural resultant.

I bet my ass ben can take you out like a bag of trash on a good day with his nades. :P

[PXYC]

They don't recruit because they're just a very close group of friends that met on IRC or elsewhere in-game. Contrary to what about 90% of this community believes, being in <@> was never about being skilled. For instance, bcoolface (Ben Aksoy) is total trash at this game, yet he's still in <@>. There are also others. The reason why <@> is usually so skilled is because they've been playing for such a long time that there skill was just a natural resultant.

Iv heard different things directly from <@> and administration members, so allow me to try and remember...

- <@> deliberately DID look for skilled players, but this did not mean they wouldn't accept sumone due to lack of skill, they people they looked for needed to generally kind/mature people (yeh they kinda fucked up with lex, old news and all[yes i KNOW lex wasn't in <@>])

- They also usually brought sumone in when there was NEED to do so, a position to be filled as you could day. whether that be game development related/forums/IRC etc

I have nothing to do with <@>, so I don't know if what I am saying is accurate.
<@> started up without a name. They were just called the "IRC team", and it consisted of the active IRC members at the time they were formed. They never intended on being good, they just wanted to stick together as a group. Eventually, because of the long time they were playing together, they became very good and they got that type of reputation. Yes, <@> does look for decent players, but it isn't about being the best and killing everyone, it's also about how they contributed to the community and made it (and continue to do so) a better place. They don't recruit because they are so prestige and they don't want 100 applications daily. I think that they observe players and how they act and how they take part in the community, and they make their selections from there.

[mikuli]

We've pretty much been invite-only from the get-go, but we really didn't think we'd become what we have when we decided on that. At one point, we were talking about separating <@> into two groups, the forum staff team and the regular, competitive team. Most of us were heavily opposed (I think I threatened to make tGM swallow his monocle and top hat) so it never happened. In the case of forming the competitive team, we would've had a public application-recruitment process.

With our invite-only system, I think we hoped to achieve a bit less elitist circle-jerk imago, when we don't have to expressly deny applicants and create bad blood doing so, but that worked just dandy, didn't it?

[NotoriousRic]

Now I see, thanks!

[TheSifodias]

Makes sense. Who's the last member you have invited to join?

[TheGrandmaster]

@DeathEnhanced:

(yeh they kinda fucked up with lex, old news and all[yes i KNOW lex wasn't in <@>])

Glad you amended that. If the early people of IRC recall, I gave lexsym voice in #AoS rather than op, unlike danhezee/stack who did. There was something about lex I couldn't shake off, so I just went with the middle ground.
And yeah, to be clear: lex was never in <@>.
For everyone: make sure to remember that <@> != Staff.

@TheSifodias:
Our last few intakes were all from GH staff - Talent, King and Salina.

As mikuli mentioned, we did ponder splitting into staff/team sections which may have led to a normal recruitment, but then again, it may not have.

When the team was founded it was just a few of us going 'heck, we play together fairly regularly, lets make a team'. Shortly after that was when I was given moderator on the old forums and I poked the forum staff to all be in an IRC channel for better communication. After a while of playing with the small team we looked around and got a few more people we knew in, and invited the staff to play with us now and again, and it kind of went on from there - hence the dual staff/players team.

Now that we've gotten a slight reputation, we've had a some people ask to join (and we've declined all applicants to date). Inviting helps to ensure that we only get people in that a) we like, and b) we trust.

We are a mini-community, with mutual trust. We have had an IRC channel from the beginning that a good proportion of us are always inside (idling or not), and I think we generally like it being a team. We wouldn't want to get someone in that might change the atmosphere too much, hence the invites and the rigorous debate over who is allowed in.

We also find it easier to practically deny all applicants and choose people. Most people in <@> have been voted in unanimously - if someone disagrees with inviting them, the process is stopped and we debate further. It's just the way its always been.

[Aakash]

umm im not applying (cos u can't and i don't wanna kill my chance like f1avour no offense) but when can anyone from this clan be on and which server cos i wanna show u my skills

[Aakash]

umm im not applying (cos u can't and i don't wanna kill my chance like f1avour no offense) but when can anyone from this clan be on and which server cos i wanna show u my skills

oh wait u have to be someone from AOS staff to be in this clan!?

[DUHsoALEX]

no. and its more than just skills thy are looking for

[TheGrandmaster]

Read http://goo.gl/qscUg to see what we're like and what we're all about.