by Metalstrike UGP

Maybe for the Americans, it is purely for the sport. A Gaming Clan vs. another. It’s all about, who are the best players, what is the latest score and what are the new game plays, techniques and strategies that are learned. However, at the end of the game, it’s what it is, “the end of the game! Seeyah, goodnight, thank you!”

For the PinoyGamer however, clans, teams and communities reflect entirely something else.

For most Pinoy-video-gamers, even for those who have been lurking on the PS Network or Xbox Live for years, the concept of belonging to specially defined group of people called a CLAN (or Team or Community), is relatively a new thing for them, even though no-one would openly admit it.

Vaguely they have an idea that “a clan” is something you can belong into, because you are supposedly a very good player, and that’s about it. Anything beyond this, no one really understands what it is suppose to mean. Many are content, that as long as you belong into one, it’s not anymore necessary to know the deeper meaning behind such a once revered word – the “clan.” Many reason out anyway that it is merely playing video games and something not to be taken seriously. True.

However, as lightly as it may seem, the trend of PinoyGamers forming into clans more than ever reveals many interesting “insights” about Pinoy psyche and culture, and it is very evident that this “fad” is addressing some kind of need that needs to be filled.

Why is it such a big hit?

Like many things in life, things exist because they either satisfy a need or serve a purpose. For PinoyGamers, “clans/teams/communities” is an opportunity to replicate in the online gaming world, a familiar fellowship with Pinoys regardless of their distance and regardless of their origins.

Our version of “camaraderie” is very strong and this is because our reliance upon one another thru our long and proud history of resistance to oppression has bonded us to our fellowmen wherever we meet them. Now that there is the Internet, and that now more and more Pinoys play video games online, such an opportunity to link up defines what a “clan” can mean for us, in our own way.

The original concept of Gaming CLANS in the earlier days is very much like how MAFIAS are supposed to function. You can only get in one clan and stay in that clan for life. You can only have loyalty to one clan, no matter what, and you will do everything so that your team lives on, win or lose, victory or defeat. Being a part of a clan is an honor. Betraying your clan by switching is an embarrassment of no comparison.

However, for most Pinoy clans, it’s not like that at all. Not anymore.

Many recent upstarts have corrupted the original purpose of a clan for their convenience and now work differently for most teams out there. Nowadays, if you belong to a Pinoy clan, clan hopping is ok. Encouraged by newer more recent organizers, loyalty has now become meaningless and the clan has been relegated to mere teams, into which you can go in and out easily like underwear you get uncomfortable with in time.

Clans for the PinoyGamer (a.k.a. PinoyClanMember), reflect probably more of the “Pinoy” in us, than the “Gamer” in us. Many observers remark that amongst all peoples in the world, the Filipino is the race that needs to be “connected” all the time. We need to link with our families but equally we need our Pinoy peers too!

So with that, the Pinoy clan has found its meaning.

A “clan” for the Pinoy is a way for rediscovering “barkadas” in the online-video-gaming world, and that’s about it. That’s what it has become into. Gone are the days when extreme loyalty is a responsibility of the clan member and is also the source of his pride. The purpose of the clan is adherence to an objective, and that is why you joined into that family, to fight for your tribe.

Unfortunately, many old-time clan members have left the gaming world and so are the old ideas being forgotten, and many Pinoys probably will never know its once magnificent ideals.

But since being in a clan for the Pinoy addresses his needs to belong to something, then maybe it’s good enough a reason to have around. I guess.