CLAN INTERVIEW - THE HAMMERFIST CLAN

JoBildo: Let’s get the courtesies out of the way first. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this interview with us. It’s always great to get to know one of clans a bit more.

HAMMERFIST CLAN: No, no. Thank you. We’re excited to participate.

JoBildo: Tell us (that is the entire world) a little bit about THE HAMMERFIST CLAN.

HAMMERFIST CLAN: Spanning two MMO’s Lord of the Rings, and Age of Conan. We mainly cater to the mature player. Players who have time restraints, family, spouses, full time jobs. Players who know what it's like to have bills and mortgages to pay. Players who know what "waggro" is *wink* (I just described myself!). We know real life commitments are a priority with older more mature gamers, and thus we'll never overload anyone with requirements, and expect them to jump through a bunch of silly hoops just to get a few hours of gaming in with their friends.

JoBildo: How would you guys classify yourselves? Are you a tight-knit role-play clan, a PvP clan…?

HAMMERFIST CLAN: THC (these initials are purely coincidental... no really, honest) is a casual/social/mature kinship making its home on a PVE server within the lands of Hyboria. While many of our members are no strangers to PVP, and can mix it up with the best of them, a PVE server was the right fit for many of our members. Most of our group prefers to pick the time and place of their battles, avoiding the usual “gankage and griefing” munchkin-fest found in FFA PVP server.

JoBildo: Feel like sharing how the Clan’s run? What’s the leadership like, and how do you guys delegate authority? Basically, are you more Hitler or more Gandhi?

HAMMERFIST CLAN: It’s a complete democracy as long as it’s done my way. Ok, all kidding aside, we have a great group of guys, willing to lend a hand at all times. From the recruit level to our administration, everyone is actively involved in our growth and direction. I’ll touch more on this when we get to our recruitment methods section later in this interview.

JoBildo: How many members are there currently in your Clan?

HAMMERFIST CLAN: THC – AoC has 144 members as of May 8, 2008.

JoBildo: That’s a lot of illegal drugs! Yes, that was a horrid attempt at a joke. Anyway, moving on… it’s a pretty popular thing in terms of guilds and clans to host events on their respective servers. Is that something HAMMERFIST CLAN ever does?

HAMMERFIST CLAN: We most certainly do, this was a huge part of our existence in Lord of the Rings Online. It’s good for publicity, reputation, and gives everyone in the guild that warm fuzzy feeling of being part of something larger, not just a guild, but a community. This is something we’ll definitely bring with us to AoC upon its release.

JoBildo: I’m glad to hear it. I hope you’ll *wink-wink* remember to let the people who run Clan Soup know of this beforehand. Now if you guys are recruiting for new members, can you tell us what exactly it takes to become one of the Clan? What’s required of a future member?

HAMMERFIST CLAN: We have an application form for prospective members. Once submitted, our entire clan population has a chance to review it, comment on it, and ask any questions of that applicant. All current members are encouraged to participate in this process, as it just makes for a better bonding process. Applicants and members alike are introduced to each other in this way, right from the get go. No strangers here, nope no sir. We’re building a community of new friends and family here; we’re interested in personality above and beyond how many toons they had maxed out in Hello Kitty Online.

JoBildo: Alright, that concludes the interview. Thanks so much guys for taking the time to answer these questions and letting the community know everything they could want to know about The Hammerfist Clan. It’s been a pleasure, as always, to get to know one of Age of Conan’s many clans.

HAMMERFIST CLAN: Thank you once again for the opportunity to present ourselves as a place for other like-minded individuals to find safe haven from the asshats that we so frequently encounter in our beloved MMO’s.