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Hello dear PMC community,
I see a trend right now that is, pushing new buildteams out, hopeing for the big breakthrough. But most of the time we see that such teams come forth and dissapear rather quick again. Why is that?
To get to the point, most of the time its mismanagement, fighting, etc. But how can I avoid that, or deal with it?
In the following i will try to get to these points and outline the steps of forming a team, makeing it succesfull and fun .
I hope this can or could help you to get a team out there, or fix yours ;)
Keep in mind, you as the owner or founder need to be able to handle all this. Be sure you are able to do that. Go into yourself, do you really want that? Do you have a too romantic view on it?
This is my view on things, maybe not yours, so please consider that. Maybe you want to choose another way.
If you want me to go into more detail on some things or add something please tell me so and i will see what i can do. :)
Questions? Let them come!! :D
Please give a Dia, Sub and Favorite !! And sure, give feedback in a comment!
I see a trend right now that is, pushing new buildteams out, hopeing for the big breakthrough. But most of the time we see that such teams come forth and dissapear rather quick again. Why is that?
To get to the point, most of the time its mismanagement, fighting, etc. But how can I avoid that, or deal with it?
In the following i will try to get to these points and outline the steps of forming a team, makeing it succesfull and fun .
About the author
Well, as you can see i am Loridus. I am someone who plays MC mainly for the building part. I started on Creative-Node, went to Mithrintia and became part of the Mithrintia team there. That was my first touch with buildteams. I decided to establish my own team together with a friend, to make it just like we wanted it.
This lead to the team Fire-Flare (now Infinity-Box). Out of Fire-Flare came the team Alerion-Creations. Both did comissions, teamprojects, etc. Now i am working in Creative-Node again as an Admin and maybe some more later on. I am also adviceing smaller teams on how to act and make decisions. That should be enough for you to get an overview about me, so you know that i know what i im talking about at least a bit :P.
This lead to the team Fire-Flare (now Infinity-Box). Out of Fire-Flare came the team Alerion-Creations. Both did comissions, teamprojects, etc. Now i am working in Creative-Node again as an Admin and maybe some more later on. I am also adviceing smaller teams on how to act and make decisions. That should be enough for you to get an overview about me, so you know that i know what i im talking about at least a bit :P.
Why should i establish a team? - What questions should i ask myself?
Most of the people out there establish a team, because they were part of a team before and then want to change some things, therefor they establish a team. But most of the time people forget what it means to establish a team, what they need to be capable of. Here some questions you should ask yourself
-Do I have the time? - A crucial thing, dont underestimate the time you will need!! Its alot.
-Do i have the contacts? - Are you even able to get members? Get a server, cinematics, etc. You can also establish these contacts from zero, but that will be harder ;)
-Am i able to resist stress? - There will be points where you will be stressed out, be prepared for that!
-What do i want from this team? - An important question, leading us to step one ;)
-Do I have the time? - A crucial thing, dont underestimate the time you will need!! Its alot.
-Do i have the contacts? - Are you even able to get members? Get a server, cinematics, etc. You can also establish these contacts from zero, but that will be harder ;)
-Am i able to resist stress? - There will be points where you will be stressed out, be prepared for that!
-What do i want from this team? - An important question, leading us to step one ;)
Step 1 - Outline what the team is about - getting started
Be sure what you want from a team. Do you want to have fun in a team, build alot of comissions for money? Something else? Really be specific about that, and communicate it clearly, as the members you will get need to want the same, else it will not work out.
Now to the start. Best you have someone with you allready, open up a skype convo and brainstorm. There are things like a fitting name, a logo, special features, ranks, etc. Do not go on a recruiting spree before you have most of this. Most people rush through it. Make a logo, a nice name, maybe a slogan. then you can get to the next steps.
Better think about it too much than too less ;)
Now to the start. Best you have someone with you allready, open up a skype convo and brainstorm. There are things like a fitting name, a logo, special features, ranks, etc. Do not go on a recruiting spree before you have most of this. Most people rush through it. Make a logo, a nice name, maybe a slogan. then you can get to the next steps.
Better think about it too much than too less ;)
Step 2 - Getting a server - start building
Very important: without a server no teambuilding. Now starts the point of responsibility. You need to pay for servers, monthly, some will let you pay upfront for a whole year, etc. I will not get to hosting companies here, as that would be a seperate blog alone :P Fact is, dont overdo it with the server, you will not need 32gb of ram with a crazy engine to run a small team ;)
Maybe you can get a server for free, big teams are able to do that and get a free server. But dont expect that from the start, only if you have a contact who would host you.
If you have a server, you can start to set it up. Make sure of ranks beeing set up right, make a trial world if you need one, check perms install plugins, etc. Be sure everything works before doing much more. Now you can start to build something with your Coreteam, i would recommend a recruiting/advertising build, which leads us to the next step.
Maybe you can get a server for free, big teams are able to do that and get a free server. But dont expect that from the start, only if you have a contact who would host you.
If you have a server, you can start to set it up. Make sure of ranks beeing set up right, make a trial world if you need one, check perms install plugins, etc. Be sure everything works before doing much more. Now you can start to build something with your Coreteam, i would recommend a recruiting/advertising build, which leads us to the next step.
Step 3 - Recruiting - No team without members
- As the title implies, without members you wont get too far. Be sure to start recruiting AFTER the other steps, else there is nowhere recruited people can go to. You can use different methods of recruiting, i will outline the most common ones, or the ones i actually used.
- Make a recruiting build - Make something awesome, the best your small group or you is able to do. Post it on pmc make sure it gets on the popreel and write a recruiting text into the build description. The title also needs to imply, that this is the upcome of a new team! Be carefull with presentation, use renders, cinematics, let it look professional. Later more to that.
- Make a forumpost - Mostly done i would say is the forumpost. Go to the pmc forum and make a nice thread about your team, how people can apply, let it look good! In my opinion this has some disadvantages. First not too many people go through the forums, second there are loads of threads, yours will be lost in the mass.
- Youtube - Create a YT channel and do stuff like timelapses, etc. For a new team this is not too easy, you need a certain player base to get a timelapse working. Also the YT channel needs to be quite well known, else it will be lost in the mass aswell. I see it as a good way for bigger teams though.
- A homepage - If you are able to make a homepage, let it look good and get people on it, you can go for one! Keep in mind, it needs to be appealing, dont make a shitty homepage. I see this for bigger teams as mandatory and way more important than for newcomers, they can get out there at the start without a homepage.
Step 4 - The first project - presentation
Hopefully you now have a player base. Now you can go and organize the first teamproject. Go as big as you think the team can handle it. Make sure to plan it well:
-style
-layout
-use (adv. map, sg map, megabuild, etc.)
As you are just a human, who most likely is no full time minecrafter it is time to get someone to help you out managing, you can do it alone, but that will be hard. Maybe get a leadbuilder, admin who you trust and who can be there when you cant.
Once the build is done get to presentation. This is REALLY important. I see quite some builds who could do better with a better presentation.
-Make renders for sure, its not hard to make basic renders with chunky. If you know someone who can use C4d or blender thats even better.
-Get a cinematic. Not much to say to this, get someone to make a cinematic, but only if the project has a certain size. this is not mandatory imo, but will help to let the project look good.
-Make a professional description, no typos, right grammar, use the spoiler function, etc.
For the three presentation steps above there are allready blogs out there, so you can look all in detail up there.
Keep the projects running! dont let it get boring for your members, give them freedom to build on there own, but get projects up!
-style
-layout
-use (adv. map, sg map, megabuild, etc.)
As you are just a human, who most likely is no full time minecrafter it is time to get someone to help you out managing, you can do it alone, but that will be hard. Maybe get a leadbuilder, admin who you trust and who can be there when you cant.
Once the build is done get to presentation. This is REALLY important. I see quite some builds who could do better with a better presentation.
-Make renders for sure, its not hard to make basic renders with chunky. If you know someone who can use C4d or blender thats even better.
-Get a cinematic. Not much to say to this, get someone to make a cinematic, but only if the project has a certain size. this is not mandatory imo, but will help to let the project look good.
-Make a professional description, no typos, right grammar, use the spoiler function, etc.
For the three presentation steps above there are allready blogs out there, so you can look all in detail up there.
Keep the projects running! dont let it get boring for your members, give them freedom to build on there own, but get projects up!
Step 5 - Comissions - if you want them
Getting money for building aka comissions. If your projects are good it will not take long and people will ask you to build for them. First think if you really want this, as comissions are stressfull and are one of the risks i will get to later. If you decide to go for comissions there are again a few things to keep in mind:
-Know you limit - only take a size and style you can handle and a timeframe you are sure you can do!
-Get the right price - You need to be sure what your work is worth. This depends on you, but also on size, quality, etc. Dont let people rip you off, but also dont be an expensive jerk.
-Dont be naive! - Alot of builders get ripped off. They build on another server, finish the comission, get banned and never see the money. There are some safety measures. Take 50-100% upfront. Only build it on your server and give the worl to the comissioner after payment. Just do everyone a favor and be fair!
-Be a good contact to talk to - understand the comissioner, be nice, keep contacts up and be reliable.
Do these things and you should be able to get comissions done and get an inflow of them.
-Know you limit - only take a size and style you can handle and a timeframe you are sure you can do!
-Get the right price - You need to be sure what your work is worth. This depends on you, but also on size, quality, etc. Dont let people rip you off, but also dont be an expensive jerk.
-Dont be naive! - Alot of builders get ripped off. They build on another server, finish the comission, get banned and never see the money. There are some safety measures. Take 50-100% upfront. Only build it on your server and give the worl to the comissioner after payment. Just do everyone a favor and be fair!
-Be a good contact to talk to - understand the comissioner, be nice, keep contacts up and be reliable.
Do these things and you should be able to get comissions done and get an inflow of them.
Risks - what teams die from
Like I stated above, most teams go down, but why?
Imo there are a few major problems:
-Comissions - teams can not handle them, they cant get the time right, they are stressed and crumble from that. The community gets worse as peace is going down -> team dies.
-Money - connected to comissions, this is a problem aswell. Common sense is: Where money starts friendship ends. If money is not split fair, etc it will lead to huge fights -> team dies
-Inactivity - A problem most teamowners know. Noone is on and builds, projects are nearly forgotten, nothing gets done. There are several reasons for that, but that would be another topic again. To keep it short: Inactivity can come from stress, boredom, having a better community (meaning its no fun here)
-Bad leadership - Nothing gets organized, people are unhappy, maybe the owner gets a dictator, who noone likes anymore.
Imo there are a few major problems:
-Comissions - teams can not handle them, they cant get the time right, they are stressed and crumble from that. The community gets worse as peace is going down -> team dies.
-Money - connected to comissions, this is a problem aswell. Common sense is: Where money starts friendship ends. If money is not split fair, etc it will lead to huge fights -> team dies
-Inactivity - A problem most teamowners know. Noone is on and builds, projects are nearly forgotten, nothing gets done. There are several reasons for that, but that would be another topic again. To keep it short: Inactivity can come from stress, boredom, having a better community (meaning its no fun here)
-Bad leadership - Nothing gets organized, people are unhappy, maybe the owner gets a dictator, who noone likes anymore.
I hope this can or could help you to get a team out there, or fix yours ;)
Keep in mind, you as the owner or founder need to be able to handle all this. Be sure you are able to do that. Go into yourself, do you really want that? Do you have a too romantic view on it?
This is my view on things, maybe not yours, so please consider that. Maybe you want to choose another way.
If you want me to go into more detail on some things or add something please tell me so and i will see what i can do. :)
Questions? Let them come!! :D
Please give a Dia, Sub and Favorite !! And sure, give feedback in a comment!
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I tried my best ;)
nice to see you in ABS !! :D
Someone needs to see it and can then give advice to other people
I think you also know all these problems, and its nice to see, that im not writing nonsense ;)
Hope people start to understand its not easy to lead a team
also, diamond, and fav :3