A VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

[s3xy_j0nny]

What it seems to boil down to (my interpretation, so please correct me) is that sponsorship should not change clan behaviour at all. We shouldn't have to modify our existing behaviour, commit to any standards in terms of participation/ practice schedules, or adhere to any kind of code of conduct. And if we did, then the sponsorship offer is questionable.

Maybe I was too emphatic in my post about changing clan behaviour. Obviously we need to commit to practice etc, but I'd expect this of the competitive teams anyway. My point was more centred around our clan 'spirit' and interaction being limited and/or censored. Basically, I still want our newsbox to contain the phrase "Paul is half a d00s" and to be able to tell him the same or worse in the shoutbox. There is also plenty of banter about drugs, sex, politics and other 'sensitive' subjects that we certainly don't tiptoe around. In short I don't want some sponsor telling members they can't be themselves anymore or that their opinions aren't aligned with their brand(s) and so must be changed. Obviously there are concessions that people can make in this regard, but it should be a matter of their choice rather than anything enforced.

EDIT: Subscribed to DL magazine, J.

[Stu]

WOW

Thank you Jarrod and Mike for this grrreat and exciting news.

I believe that there is a shift in the general thinking of clans in ZA and there is huge potential for the extension of the BRAND Grrr ! The possibilities of using the sponsor as a spring board are virtually limitless.


I am happy to attend the occasional OC (Organised Chaos) in CT to represent the clan in the relevant comp game. Not every OC but ones that my require attendance.

I suppose my concerns are the same as the other members with regards to restrictions etc on who we are and are not. There is fantastic feedback from the guy's and gal's thus far and I am willing to commit should I be chosen for a sponsored team. But I also feel there should be benefits to all members i.e. Subscription to the magazine, supplier discounts etc all should reap the rewards and benefits of being aligned with the sponsor as we are all [grrr]

My main hope for these discussions is to really cement grrr as not only a clan but a brand, away of life or ethos! I think this vision can be achieved as we have been living it for the past 5 years or so!

I think this has huge possibilities and I am behind the leadership to the end with this!

[Paul]

s3xy_j0nny ]
Maybe I was too emphatic in my post about changing clan behaviour. Obviously we need to commit to practice etc, but I'd expect this of the competitive teams anyway. My point was more centred around our clan 'spirit' and interaction being limited and/or censored. Basically, I still want our newsbox to contain the phrase "Paul is half a d00s" and to be able to tell him the same or worse in the shoutbox. There is also plenty of banter about drugs, sex, politics and other 'sensitive' subjects that we certainly don't tiptoe around. In short I don't want some sponsor telling members they can't be themselves anymore or that their opinions aren't aligned with their brand(s) and so must be changed. Obviously there are concessions that people can make in this regard, but it should be a matter of their choice rather than anything enforced.

EDIT: Subscribed to DL magazine, J.

I fully understand what j0nny is saying and agree with him, hell even I still want to be able to call me a "Doos", no wait, what.......

But like Jarrod said, DL didn't look at us and think hey here is a bunch of people that we can mould into something that represents our brand. They looked at us and said these are the type of people we want to associate with our brand.

The only question is do they really know us? Have they visited our website site and seen everything that goes on here? That would be my only concern, that they have only seen the best of us a.k.a Polite Mike and articulate Jarrod.

So as much as we must know who we are getting into bed with they must do the same and I would assume they have.

Will we need to put in more effort and work for our pay? For sure, it is only fair!

Will we have to change who we are? No, not unless they have totally misread us and then we would have to end the association.

[gr@v1ty]

Just some more thoughts on this...

I have a slight concern about pressure being placed on us by a PC Magazine. Not too concerned that we can't handle it as long as we watch out for it. Dealing with a news vendor is difficult. They can put loads of pressure on people by slipping in some comments, like, "If you do this, we'll have a good write-up about it!". It might be something that we would never have considered doing before.

If we do get into some sort of agreement, I'd like to know what they will expect from us and what we expect from them, and that we're properly represented. I'm not suggesting that Mike and Jarrod can't handle it, its just that any legal contract should be looked at by a Lawyer for any loopholes that we might slap ourselves for later. An escape clause can be hidden in the small print for both parties. It's nice to have an eject button handy when things go sour.

Some SLA notes that I'd like to be clear about... (maybe we could compile a list by highlighting all the posts above too?)
payment methods
audits?
if there's a minimum no of events to attend
or a minimum finishing position in a competition
bonuses for good performance? Bonuses for extra promotion work?
if anyone needs to do presentations or talks, how often, when, subject matter
let's say we perform well for 18 months, then get knocked out first round in our next competition... do we get sacked?
will anyone have a say in who can or can't be in our team? (What if they put pressure on us 'cause Mephesto is his son-in-law and they want him in our team? - no new member, no nice write-up)
do we maybe get an article in each issue? could we write it? Do we have a say in it if someone else writes it for or about us?

[grrr] structure? There might be new, or more formal positions that we need to appoint people in.
eg: Web administrator.
We've got Lee handling this in an informal position, in his spare time. (And doing a fantastic job too!)

Our website/forum will be pointed to in their paper, obviously, as we are their sponsored team.
Can we expect Lee to have the time and patience to cope with the extra traffic? Might they want to run the site?

If they do manage the site (I think we'll end up heading towards some sort of contract for that too).
If we split duties on the website, who gets to manage what part?
Do we need both parties to agree on everything they put up on their site that relates to us? And vice-versa?
Time frames involved? What if we can't get hold of them or they can't get hold of us in time, does the article not show?
Do we keep some part of the website to ourselves... eg: they have no say about what goes on in our forums.
If so, do they get full access to the private forums too?
What happens if we run our website and it goes down for some reason... we need to know that someone can have it up and running within a specific time frame. Who pays the technician for extra time servicing the site?

Other formal positions that we might need to look into?
Accountant (dealing with grrr funds), someone to deal with auditors if/when they pop around.

Player Manager (representing players views for them).
Do we need to sign player contracts to be in the team? Does each player need to be bound to the SLA before being allowed to participate? Or does just being a member of [grrr] legally bind us to the contract? Does [grrr] provide a manager for their players who can negotiate deals on their behalf? Can the players do their own deals with the sponsor?
What is [grrr]'s structure wrt players - team - management - contracts - sponsors.

Director/CEO? Would a draft SLA be shown in the private section before someone signs? Who signs on our (grrr's) behalf?
Someone needs to represent our legal side, even if we make our decisions on a vote. Signing authority.

Maybe an Attorney?

[gr@v1ty]

And on another idea, once Martin gets back to us and we go deeper into this discussion, maybe we should have a sub-forum with different topics in it.
There are already a number of different topics happening in this one thread and it'll be easier to work with each topic separately.


Double post ftw

[Onyx]

My main concern was also that this new and exciting venture does not change or 'cage' the personalities of this clan. That's one of the quickest ways people become unhappy - when they cannot be themselves.

I guess we will only know most of the answers to our thoughts when Martin has come back and put all his cards on the table too. It is a tad bit frustrating as we can't all sit around a table and discuss it with Martin as things pop up - like those boring board room meetings some of you have mentioned. That would be logistically impossible. So thanks to Fly and Jarrod (again) for being able to convey all this to Digital Life.

I am, by nature, careful or rather cautiously pessimistic but am nevertheless excited about the possibilities that lie ahead for the clan and where the relationship with Digital Life can take us.

[flycatchr]

i recon we should have a "private" section for DL and for us to discuss stuff, which would be almost live.

[Paul]

I think we all raise our concerns and we should (without stifling debate) take a second and wait to see what they come back with. I think we are kind of looking at worst case scenario here i.e. being bossed by the man.

Who knows, maybe the extent of our responsibility will be to just attend a few lans (fun) , do a few write ups and keep them up to date with the happenings of the community.

So lets wait and see what they bring to the table and what they expect before we make any judgments.

P.S. I am still stoked about this.

[NiteShade]

I apologize for the lack of enthusiasm in my previous reply. Have been keeping tabs on the subject and will post my thoughts later today!

[NiteShade]

I've re-read through the posts and cannot think of anything else to add that hasn't already been send.
I agree with the concerns that have been brought up. However, I still have a very positive outlook on this venture.

At this time, it is rather hard to comment until we know exactly what would be expected of us from Digital Life.
Lets wait and see what Martin puts on the table and go from there!