People frequently seem come to THN in the belief they're joining a clan or guild and that's what THN is. I think we try to tell them, both before and when they join, that THN is a community more than any of those things but I think it takes a while for people to realise what that really means. I think people see "community" and assume that means that we're just not a hardcore clan/guild.
The only problem with that, really, is that people join THN for one game alone and never really experience the wider benefit of being part of our community.
"Benefit?", you say.
One of THN's greatest strengths is the ability to just pick up a game and run with it for a bit. We're forever starting new games and, fortunately for us, there's almost always something new for us to be doing. Even when the games industry is in a bit of a lull we end up playing silly forum games to bide the time 'til the next interesting release, be it a full-priced game or a mod or just a daft flash widget.
I've sometimes wondered why we don't advertise ourselves as a multi-gaming clan/guild but I think that would fail to describe what THN actually is. We have always had people here who don't play games with us at all but just hang out on the forums reading and occasionally dipping their oar in to mix things up. Sure, we're primarily a gaming community but we do anything that'd be fun (and legal).
So a particular game isn't working out for you? That's a shame but I think we all get there eventually. On THN that really doesn't matter. There is continually so much other stuff to get involved with that you can just pick up something else for a couple of weeks 'til you find your feet again.
Right now, you could get involved in World of Warcraft, Call of Duty 4, Zombie Panic: Source, EVE Online, Alien Swarm, Guild Wars, Company of Heroes or Unreal Tournament 3. That's just the stuff I've noticed going on in the past four or so weeks and completely ignores the daft videos and flash games that get posted up in the Link Hive, the chatter about upcoming games in Games Chat, the occasional bout of Battlefield 2, and even a graphics competition or two that we've had going.
Don't see what you want running? Propose it! Get it posted up and we'll do our best to get resources and players sent your way. That's just the way THN is. We love to play and if it's new we love it even more.
Doesn't matter if you'd consider yourself casual, serious or hardcore on any given game. THN still welcomes you.
The games themselves run themselves autonomously. Really, the Admin Team for THN is focused on THN's core infrastructure of THN Games, TeamSpeak, the game servers we actually host, etc. We leave the running of specific games to other people; really, if we're not playing then they're out of our scope of influence and therefore out of our remit. To date no one's been so cheeky as to turn up once and then start running stuff in a game under the THN flag without so much as mentioning it, or if they have we haven't noticed... The point there is that whether that game works out for you or not you're still welcome with THN as long as you keep to those rules that everyone agreed to on registration. They're a really simple set so it's not hard to stay within their bounds and still have loads and loads of fun.
See, we're a welcoming and friendly bunch of people when it gets down to it and we've been that way since we started all those years ago. Stick around, get involved, kick back, do what you want to do, and most of all have mind-bogglingly huge quantities of fun!
'Nuff said.
The only problem with that, really, is that people join THN for one game alone and never really experience the wider benefit of being part of our community.
"Benefit?", you say.
One of THN's greatest strengths is the ability to just pick up a game and run with it for a bit. We're forever starting new games and, fortunately for us, there's almost always something new for us to be doing. Even when the games industry is in a bit of a lull we end up playing silly forum games to bide the time 'til the next interesting release, be it a full-priced game or a mod or just a daft flash widget.
I've sometimes wondered why we don't advertise ourselves as a multi-gaming clan/guild but I think that would fail to describe what THN actually is. We have always had people here who don't play games with us at all but just hang out on the forums reading and occasionally dipping their oar in to mix things up. Sure, we're primarily a gaming community but we do anything that'd be fun (and legal).
So a particular game isn't working out for you? That's a shame but I think we all get there eventually. On THN that really doesn't matter. There is continually so much other stuff to get involved with that you can just pick up something else for a couple of weeks 'til you find your feet again.
Right now, you could get involved in World of Warcraft, Call of Duty 4, Zombie Panic: Source, EVE Online, Alien Swarm, Guild Wars, Company of Heroes or Unreal Tournament 3. That's just the stuff I've noticed going on in the past four or so weeks and completely ignores the daft videos and flash games that get posted up in the Link Hive, the chatter about upcoming games in Games Chat, the occasional bout of Battlefield 2, and even a graphics competition or two that we've had going.
Don't see what you want running? Propose it! Get it posted up and we'll do our best to get resources and players sent your way. That's just the way THN is. We love to play and if it's new we love it even more.
Doesn't matter if you'd consider yourself casual, serious or hardcore on any given game. THN still welcomes you.
The games themselves run themselves autonomously. Really, the Admin Team for THN is focused on THN's core infrastructure of THN Games, TeamSpeak, the game servers we actually host, etc. We leave the running of specific games to other people; really, if we're not playing then they're out of our scope of influence and therefore out of our remit. To date no one's been so cheeky as to turn up once and then start running stuff in a game under the THN flag without so much as mentioning it, or if they have we haven't noticed...
The point there is that whether that game works out for you or not you're still welcome with THN as long as you keep to those rules that everyone agreed to on registration. They're a really simple set so it's not hard to stay within their bounds and still have loads and loads of fun. See, we're a welcoming and friendly bunch of people when it gets down to it and we've been that way since we started all those years ago. Stick around, get involved, kick back, do what you want to do, and most of all have mind-bogglingly huge quantities of fun!
'Nuff said.
