Clan Spotlight: LIGS

We interviewed these players to learn more about the history and future of LIGS:

Woofman34 - Commander of Warplanes Division, oversees anything related to the LIGS Warplanes Division.
JayIrish - Floating Commander, started up the WoWP branch after getting into Closed Beta. Floats around and helps all game branches out.
_Oz - Commander of Tanks Division, oversees anything related to the LIGS Tank Division.

When was LIGS formed and what was it formed around?

_Oz - I’ve been around with LIGS for…almost 10 years now? We have a unified community that takes on new games. Lately there has been a lot of activity, especially with Wargaming, which has been good and our community has been growing. It’s been nice to see guys coming together and sticking around! The best part of it all is to get the lower-tiered members to participate. There in-game stats do not really matter. In the end, getting together, playing together, and having a good time is what it’s all about!

JayIrish - Oz is totally right. One of our favorite things to do is to grab a new pilot who only has Tiers 1, 2, or 3 and help them grind through the different tiers opening up a new branch that they haven’t started. Maybe we run some premiums if they have that tier. It’s always been our strong-suit to have fun helping others get better. Even if they do move on to other teams/Clans, it makes for good competition!

Is that what you focus on primarily in LIGS? Helping new players?

JayIrish - Pretty much, yeah. LIGS has a Clan in the Wargaming games (and different games) and essentially it’s a community that is open to everybody. Newcomer, veteran, it doesn’t matter as long as you’re here to hangout and have fun. If you need tips, we’ll give ‘em to you. It’ll be our pleasure. It’s just the way that LIGS has always been.

Woofman34 - For a while our Planes Division had fallen off the face of the earth with the introduction of 1.5. Since 1.6 came out, everyone has been really excited to come back and we have enough to field a team for the December tournament! I believe we will be a contending team when it comes to going up against [ACES_], [DRACS], [SF], or any of those other top Clans right now.

For a pilot who is not a part of a Clan, how do you actually find that first Clan that is going to bring you up to a level where you can work effectively in a unit?

Woofman34 - To find a Clan, all I did was post in the WoWP forums one day. Looking for a Clan, there was a section in the Clans area where members can post something like that and I still believe they can do that today. Pappa and Alex both sent me personal messages and I was in the Clan within a week after I posted that. I know a lot of Clan websites where you go through and you read their rules. Most of the people can’t advance into other positions unless they have stellar achievements in the game. I have none of that. All I have is the desire to play the game, a love for the game, and the desire to play with other people with voice comms. I think the people in LIGS recognized that and allowed me to move up!

A lot of times when you post something like that in the forums, there are something like 20 Clans that say, “Hey! We’re the one for you!” How do you decide which one IS right for you?

Woofman34 - When I posted I had responses from LIGS, Team Special Forces, and a few other ones. I chose LIGS because they were willing to train me. They put me right into the action and put me into flights with Pappa and Alex over and over and over. They “taught me the ropes” where some of the other Clans put you in their Mumble and they want you to get to know them, but they weren’t really good about having their best players show their worst players the ropes. Pappabear and Alex were willing to take me on, and lose with me, game after game until I got things right. That’s how I chose LIGS.

JayIrish - …and that’s how LIGS rolls! (laughter) I actually found LIGS and chose LIGS the same way that I recruit people. The simple message: “Just come hang out!”

Come hang out. See what we’re all about. If you like it, you stay. If you don’t, you leave. No hard feelings. It’s a community. There is nobody cracking the whip for you to get better stats. Just come. Chill out. Roll some tanks, fly some planes. Doesn’t matter if it’s another game. A lot of our members play multiple different games. If we recruit you through World of Warplanes and you want to spend a week playing Diablo 3, nobody is going to give you **** for it. On the contrary, someone is probably going to join you in that game for a week and then switch back to World of Warplanes or whatever. That’s probably why I’ve been here for thirteen years because it’s laid back. It is competitive to a certain point. We have some very skilled players who teach other players how to develop those skills. That’s pretty much what I enjoy. I’m all about helping people.

Speaking of tournaments, we noticed that there is a team from LIGS in the process of joining the Legends of the Sky tournament. What kind of impact do you think officially-sanctioned competition will have on LIGS in World of Warplanes?

Woofman34 - It’s going to have a big impact because we are definitely contenders. Right now, DRACS are the number one team and if I can field a full team, I’ll give them a run for their money for sure. No question about it. We’ve been doing a lot of random battles with some of our top guys and we come across DRACS members all the time. We beat each other down and we kind of both know what to expect from each other. We can give it to them as much as they can give it to us. We’re definitely contenders in the future. I see it happening.

JayIrish - Even in Beta when there were different events. LIGS would come out in the Top 3.

It sounds like you have veteran players and you train new players from the get-go to bring everyone together as a community. What is it like to be a part of LIGS? Could you describe the environment within your community?

Woofman34 - It’s a very friendly, easy-going environment. There is nobody pushing you to be better. Well, they DO push you to be better when you’re playing, but it’s not a standard written in stone where if you want to be part of us that you “have to be this good”. The only thing we ask of you is to come into Mumble, be respectful, be enjoyable to play with, and play with people, and that’s about it. Be a community. Be a family. Be friends. That’s the number one thing, the family and friends aspect of it to me.

JayIrish - Yup!

_Oz - I think it’s a bit more of a stress-free environment, right? It’s pretty relaxed. I guess when we get things going and we want to get some competition going. Things can get heated, which is awesome because it brings out the emotions in people, which is fun to see. The most appealing part is that there are guys who have been here for a while. You get to see new faces and meet new people. We’re not here to say, “Oh, you need to meet a certain kind of statistic to stick around”. We’ve never been the type of community that would say that you have to reach a certain statistic before you can join us. You can be like Woofman or any other guys that were starting from Tier I with less than 1,000 battles even. It doesn’t matter. We just kind of bring you on, say “How’s it going? Let’s learn the game together. We’ll teach you the ways. Don’t do the same mistakes that I did when I started.”

Woofman34 - I would say as far as the rankings go. It’s generally an open thing. If a person is willing to take on the responsibility of a recruitment officer, a training officer, a flight leader, or battle caller then those people are welcome to step-up and do that. LIGS has been very good about allowing that.

JayIrish - We’ve always allowed newer members to try out different positions as long as they don’t sully the LIGS image. If they take it seriously, they usually end up keeping the position.

If I were interested in joining LIGS, what is the recruitment process like?

JayIrish - Like I said before, come on in and hang out!

LIGS has a Mumble server and a website. If I were to hang out on the Mumble server, what would happen after that?

JayIrish - We would ask that you sign up in the forums so that you can keep up to date with news and nonsense. Then we just hang out and see if you fit in!

Woofman34 - The biggest thing is that it is a family environment. A lot of guys sit at home with their microphone on their desks and their speakers open. They’ll be out and about doing things around the house while listening. So, we would like our conversations to stay at an age level where parents aren’t offended by what their kids hear. It used to be that we had a requirement where you had to be 18 or older and that had a lot to do with maturity, but a 25 year old can be just as mature as a 13 year old.

_Oz - We do put a high onus on being respectful. There have been plenty of guys that I have had to work things through with them, but most of the guys that we hang out with are pretty classy and respectful and know what to expect from us when they’re out of line.

JayIrish - The people who come and hang out in LIGS seem to realize how much it is based on respect and everything.

It sounds like you highly value community and respect. With that in mind, what would you consider to be LIGS’ greatest achievement as a Clan?

Woofman34 - My opinion on the greatest achievement of LIGS is the longevity and keeping the same people around. I think _Oz and Jay would be better to answer that question because they have the years behind them.

_Oz - I think that is pretty much what I would say about the fact that there are still people who are together gaming. Over the years, you kind of decide that this is a place where you want to be. These are the guys I want to hang out with. As I said, I haven’t been counting how many years, but at least probably 10 years or so and I’m 29 myself. Through my late teens to my twenties, I have been able to pop in and out, whether I’ve been actively gaming or not I’ve been able to come back to the community and be respected and welcomed with open arms. That is the best part and it’s kind of kept me around.

Woofman34 - I’d like to give you a link to our recruitment thread in Planes. There is a promotional video there that was created for LIGS back in 2011.

Any last words or shout-outs before we wrap up?

_Oz - I just wanted to say that we’re not just limited to the United States. We have a global community from all countries across the world. It’s fun to have everyone with different accents and it’s a good time!