The Joy of Clan Stacking
We’ve all heard of it; most of us will have played on a server where we’ve been on a team of stackers and when we’ve been playing against them. What’s more, we’ve all most likely been enraged by them. The way they dominate the other team without remorse. The way they take the fun out of Team Fortress 2 and replace it with frustration.
But you can’t spell frustration without an F, a U, and an N. And, to be honest, that is what clan stacking is. To some, clan stacking might seem like bullying. No, it isn’t! Think about it – TEAM fortress 2. It’s SUPPOSED to be played with friends, as a team. Clan stacking isn’t even that bad, in my opinion. Stacking isn’t about rolling, or even showing off leet skills. It’s about playing with your friends, the same way as you’d do normally. You could tell us to bugger off and go play matches, but Team Fortress 2 wasn’t designed for matches. It was designed for public play, with your friends, and to be frank – gibbing any sod who is in your way.
I often think one of the problems people have with clan stacking in particular is the tag itself. I see people complaining about stackers who are wearing a clan tag far more often than I see them complaining about friends wearing no tag on the same team who are doing the exact same thing. The more elitist among the clans would claim it’s jealousy - however I think differently. The main reason is simply because it’s easier to direct your e-hate towards a generic body of people than individuals. You can say” *clan name* sucks!”, but you’d look a fool if you said “Cross, Xeno, Random – you all suck!”. You really would.
Stacking itself can appear to suck the fun out of a server, but this only happens when said server isn’t functioning properly. A clan will join a server, stack the same team and instantly shouts will go up of “stacking losers!” and the like – made even worse if they start to roll. The thing is though, all that is really happening is a team is co-ordinating their attacks and defenses using an odd concept – teamwork. Yeah, it may be easier if they all know each other but with voice in-game it’s not really that hard to counter a heavy/medic combo running through the vents on turbine, for example. I should know, it happened to me only a few days ago. Bloody annoying, too. Don’t forget as well, that by using a bit of simple teamwork you can crush the clan stackers. That’s what you’re trying to achieve when you play against clan stackers – you’re filled with an infuriating rage to strike back at the stackers. It makes gameplay faster, and more enjoyable.
Part of the attraction is about playing with your friends - but sometimes, it’s more than that. It’s more than the endless gibbing of helpless BLU’s. It’s about striving to be the nastiest. The meanest. The most unforgiving bastard on the server. When a heavy-medic combo wipe out a whole team, they don’t hi-five each other and think “awesome, we’ve won the round!”. They turn to each other, and laugh – wondering who will be the first to complain about the “unfairness of teamwork”. The goal of clan stacking isn’t to win – it’s to enjoy the game. The game for which teamwork was intended to play a vital role.
So next time you play against a clan, grit your teeth and beat them. It’ll ruin their fun and make them play harder, and you’ll have a far more enjoyable game; doing what Team Fortress 2 is all about. Teamwork.
Stumble it!
Anonymous responded on 17 Nov 2008 at 9:33 am #
nothing more satisfying than crushing a clan with a bunch of friends. Then again, nothing less annoying than getting crushed, on a team of MORONS, with nothing you can do about it.
Himmelstoss responded on 17 Nov 2008 at 9:49 am #
At the same time, it’s fun to play against friends, too.
Sarda responded on 17 Nov 2008 at 9:56 am #
It’s always fun to play against friends, but not when all of your friends are on the other team and you’re with all people you don’t know. However, all of the rules about stacking go right out the door when Zombie Fortress comes up, because you’ll likely end up on the other team anyways (or, in the case of the first zombie, they’ll come to you). That’s why I’ve been playing on 24/7 ZF servers mostly.
Neuromante responded on 17 Nov 2008 at 10:19 am #
The problem about clan stacking it’s that, while a team it’s well coordinated, well comunicated and so on, the other isn’t, and it’s because normal people in normal servers don’t “team play” in the same way a clan do.
It’s not “teamplay”, it’s “fairness”, I don’t care about the tag, if a match its 10/1 for one team, I use to ask for a team scramble, because it’s not fun. And the fact that when these situations come along, the 90% the times a tag appear in the winning team it’s something to care about.
Just one question: Do you find fun win a public game staking a server without effort? Because I use to enter the team with less points just to have a challenge in my hands. There’s nothing more satifying than defend the last cp in dustbowl against a team wich had been winning over the last 5 rounds.
m72_ar responded on 17 Nov 2008 at 10:37 am #
True, nothing’s more satisfying than defeating a team of stackers. We smashed a team with 7 stackers once (but i have to say it doesn’t happen very often lol)
xeno responded on 17 Nov 2008 at 11:25 am #
“Just one question: Do you find fun win a public game staking a server without effort?”
As I said; “The goal of clan stacking isn’t to win – it’s to enjoy the game. The game for which teamwork was intended to play a vital role.”
The fun isn’t derived from endlessly crushing the opposition – it’s the gibbs that emerge as a result of that. Asking your medic over voice to “gimme kritz!” and then watching some helpless BLU’s get blown to pieces infront of you. That is what TF2 is all about. Not quite mindless chaos, but pretty damn close.
I also think it depends on the server how much of a difference clan stacking makes. On good, public (usually vanilla) servers teamwork happens naturally just through the flow of the game. Clan stacking hardly upsets the balance, but yes – on some servers, and with some teams it can be terrible.. I wouldn’t say usually though. Usually, it just makes me want to kill them all the more.
Gus Chiggins responded on 17 Nov 2008 at 12:47 pm #
I’ve had fun on both sides of the team stack, but your idea of rallying a team to swing the tide against a clan stacked team is somewhat flawed.
One problem is that most people will leave the losing team as soon as it becomes apparent they are being stacked against. This creates a high turnover within the losing team, which makes teamwork harder.
Another problem is that people on the losing team is rarely populated by more than a few players that are interested in anything more than their own point totals. I don’t know if these players are listening, or if they just mute everyone else in the server and ignore the chat box, but either way anything you say goes unnoticed. Two or three people on a team working together doesn’t usually swing the tide against a clan-stacked team.
That being said, you are spot on with the WHY of people team stacking. It is FUN! Even if I am playing with clan mates and losing, it is still more fun than playing alone, simply because there are people to react to things with.
Lovable everybody responded on 17 Nov 2008 at 2:43 pm #
Don’t support clan stacking. Nothing worse than a clan that all joins one side against foes who are outmatched and outgunned. When a clan full of people of equal skill as those that are already playing clan stack that’s fine by me, but when they join a server full of newbs and poor player than a little of me dies inside. A steamroll isn’t fun for any of the involved parties.
-1 respect points.
Sypheros responded on 17 Nov 2008 at 2:45 pm #
I dont care who I play really, and when people from a clan stack on either team, just means more players.
General Balls responded on 17 Nov 2008 at 3:32 pm #
I’ve never supported clan stacking simply because of the skill gap involved. Winning a game because of teamwork should only feel good if the other team did the same. When you’re dominating a team of random pubbers who’ve only joined the server to have a bit of fun and aren’t as skilled as you/your clanmates (either because they can’t play as much or they’re just not naturals) that not only *isn’t* satisfying, it ruins their game as well.
Personally, I view clan stacking as a lower form of griefing, no good games come out of it unless the clan is rubbish. Sure, we can grin and bear it, and I do, but does that make it any better? Of course not.
If you want to play with your mates, that’s all well and good. If you’re going to do it on a pub, and those friends happen to be experienced clanners, put some of them on the other team. Make it interesting, and fair.
Notger responded on 17 Nov 2008 at 9:20 pm #
I don’t play pub anymore because it lacks coordination and team-play.
But then again, our public server is populated with 10+ clan mates in the evening, so we are always clan-stacking on BOTH sides.
Nessmk2 responded on 18 Nov 2008 at 1:47 am #
Your theory is sound, but the end result isn’t, sadly. The fact is, a lot of clans play together to the point that no amount of ‘normal’ TF2 teamwork can overcome them. Part of what makes TF2 blanced is the fact that both teams are, for the most part, making it up on the fly. Sure, as a medic, I learn quickly who is good to uber and who isn’t, and I already know, if one of my friends is on my team, if they’re reliable or not. But that is the limit of my pre-game knowledge and planning other than a quick “rush left” or ‘Go for B first” or something along those lines.
A lot of clans tend to practice, something that normal players can’t do with their impromtu teams, and it puts clans in a league above regular matches. Think of it this way. Would you consiter it fair if a team of basketball players walked up to a group of guys that barely knew each other just shooting hoops and played a game with them? No, because the team is exactly that. A team. They know each other, they work together already, and likely have tactics in place. While the group of people can organize and counter, they can’t even hope to do it to the same degree.
And, about the point of ‘people don’t yell at a group of friends’? It’s because it’s very common, and the impact is far, far smaller. Just look at the numbers. On teams of 12, if you and 2 friends are playing, you’re 1/4 of the team. If you and 9 clan members are playing, you’re a MUCH larger percentage, and the impact is greater. You’re also far less likely to have formal tactics in place, and likely don’t play, or play together, as much as a clan.
Zorgulon responded on 18 Nov 2008 at 3:05 am #
I do agree- you want to play with friends, not complete strangers. But If you have enough friends online to completely stack the server, surely you have enough players to find a new server and split your clan in two to play each other?
As someone who only plays on public servers, I understand that pub games suck more often than not, due to a refusal to communicate and a gung-ho lone wolf attitude that people bring from other FPSs. If I had a clan, I’d be tempted to stack, but surely the clan can start their own private dedicated server? It’s the “let’s go pwn sum nubs” attitude of certain gamers that annoy me- those who enter a public game, clan stack, and wipe the floor with their disunited enemies. I can’t see how steamrolling your opponents is fun if they’re not putting up a cohesive defence.
SAC responded on 18 Nov 2008 at 5:10 am #
Haha! My main group is of people who come to the server regularly, not a clan!
Stacking to me is just a colloquialism for “I play too much Counter Strike and thus have no experience in teamwork.” It’s one thing to complain about the same 3 or 4 players dominating you in separate events each. It’s another thing to complain about how that spy started sapping your sentry and that soldier came rushing in, leaving your sentry hapless and unrepairable until the damn sapper is off.
And clearly, none of your teammates are interested in helping you distract the soldier for the mere one second you need to remove the sapper and repair teh sentry, like that pyro who just ran by you to get back to his little backburner hole-up for a couple more kills he won’t get because the enemy realized what he was doing 60 seconds into the match.
Also, it’s not true that they won’t only attack clans verbally! I’m usually on with mah lombax buddy, and they’ll go “You invisible head shot scripted cheaters! GAH!”, because they probably realized that we ARE friends. Because of our screen names. :O
SpaceTank responded on 18 Nov 2008 at 5:59 am #
Oh, hello Xeno, l din’t know that you were an ubercharged author
:D:D:D:D:D:D
Angmarian Warrior responded on 18 Nov 2008 at 6:59 am #
The problem is imo that if everyone would have a bunch of friends whom he plays with on a regular basis, there wouldn’t be such a “clan stacking problem” at all. A bunch of random players who don’t know each other is no match vs a team of synchronized players. I don’t care if I’m playing against the whole epx^ clan or not, as long as the match has some balance it’s good for me. Think Star Wars and you’re on the right track. ;D
CommonSense responded on 18 Nov 2008 at 7:28 am #
No one cares who is on either team if they are fair and there’s some back and forth and on dustbowl/goldrush type maps – blue eventually gets to at least the final stage.
If not, then the other team is over-powered and 12 people on the other side aren’t having “F, a U, and an N” because of the selfishness of people who press TAB at the start of a game and wait for some good players to join a team before they follow them. Or perhaps worse, don’t bother to switch teams when they are obviously unfair.
-1
Lolz responded on 18 Nov 2008 at 8:32 am #
Loved it! Although i only half read it. Lol, the only team you can piss off is team rhomba!
Lolz responded on 18 Nov 2008 at 9:00 am #
please add me on steam madlep, general balls and clubtheseals.(my steam is tanki54, under the name of darc shadow…)
LOVED THE ARTICLE!
n00bie51 responded on 18 Nov 2008 at 10:35 am #
Clan stacking fails because you’re essentially tearing apart pubbers who probably play more casually than you. If you play competitively because you enjoy it, there’s no feeling of satisfaction in owning a bunch of players in a pub like there is winning against a team of skilled, organized players like yours. It’s stupid.
sigma83 responded on 18 Nov 2008 at 8:47 pm #
I can point to clan stacking as the #1 reason I no longer play Team Fortress as often as I used to. It’s not fun for either side. It almost never evens out where I play. It sucks, has always sucked, and will continue to suck.
I’m not a big fan of generalizations. I like to stay intellectually objective. I read your entire post xeno, and I disagree for you on one fundamental point: You claim that clan stacking is fun. For who? The stackers, obviously. The ones who aren’t in the circle of friends, even if you’re on the side they stacked on, don’t have fun. I don’t have fun when we win dustbowl in 3 minutes. I don’t have fun when the BLUs throw themselves at us in unorganized ragged hordes who get blown up before they get anywhere.
Vice versa. Clan stacking took the fun out of this game for me and will probably continue to taint any teamVteam game of this nature for long to come. I support playing with your friends; just scramble the damn teams.
BathrobeAssassin responded on 19 Nov 2008 at 7:18 am #
I’ve never belonged to a clan yet, and probably won’t. I’ve also never seen a clan stack in tf2, probably cause I play on only a few servers.
Still, it sounds like fun. I can hear the piteous whining now…
n00bie51 responded on 19 Nov 2008 at 2:05 pm #
Imagine professional players who enter public servers on the same team; it’s just plain wrong.
Xeno responded on 25 Nov 2008 at 10:27 am #
the point is Sigma, that it IS fun for the opposing team. Surely you gain more satisfaction from crocketing a clan stacked heavy/medic duo than you do from just random publics?
I accept, when a clan stack is a PURE roll it can be frustrating – even for the stackers. I’d like to say that if my clan were stacking and this happened, at least 1 of us would switch sides to even up (or attempt to even up) the game. But you can’t say it only happens when clans stack.