There is currently a faction war going on!
View Stats
- Yards-sama
- Posts: 2130
- Game name: Darius_Rookwood
From Unofficial to Official
Written by Yards™ AKA Chocolate Bear
Updated: 10-08-2013
For a while now, I've had players asking me for help with their unofficial faction, and more specifically, how to achieve official status. Since it's a lot tougher and more time consuming to help people on a one-on-one basis, I've decided to write a guide for everyone to read.
This guide may be long, but it will be based on comprehensive information I have garned from years of experience on IM, during which I have created three factions that have reached official status, these being:
- The 74th Street Kilo Tray Saints (African-American gang - which was a group project)
- The McGuigan Mob (Irish Mob)
- The Rizzuto Crime Family (Sicilian Mob)
At risk of sounding like an arrogant douchebag, I obviously know what I am talking about. Still, if you have your own way of going about it, then do so. This is just a guide made by another player, it's not like admins will be keeping track of factions that use my steps.
Note that these steps will assume you are creating a strictly RP faction.
Step 1: Originality
Whatever it is you are trying to do, you have to at least try to be original. Take the concept and make it yours through tweaking it to fit your style of roleplay. A generally always good idea is taking an (almost) never done before concept and then putting it out there as much as you can. Broadcast the difference whenever and however you can to make a long lasting impression on the community.
For example, instead of going for the bog standard Italian or Sicilian mafia, why not go for a Cuban cartel, or an Irish Mob? Instead of going for stereotypical and standard black gangs and Mexican gangs, go for something specific, e.g. a Haitian or Peruvian crime organisation - and etcetera.
Don't follow the norm. Do not look to the general consensus of what is good and what isn't.
Some examples of factions I would recommend creating:
- An African-American gang somewhere close to another gang. This will create some tension, open up doors to RP and a (hopefully) lasting rivalry between gangs that aim to do outdo one another in the drug dealing game.
- A rival MC to Sly's current Pirates MC. Outlaws are always looking for trouble with one another - if you have a few friends and access to Freeways, get into this game. Biker RP is a lot of fun.
The best of original faction leaders will obsess about the concept before bringing it to life on IM.
Step 2: The Story & the Thread
Believe it or not, this is actually very important. A good faction story does not have to be long, but it sure as hell cannot be short. You need to entice the community into giving you a chance by presenting your origins in a story that can give them a good look at what it is you are trying to do.
When writing a story, you have to look out for clichés. If you don't know what those are, clichés are overdone plot points that everyone's already heard of or seen. A few examples would be:
- "My father was a mafia boss but he died"
- "We made millions but then we lost it all"
- "We are out for revenge because [reasons]"
Whatever you do AVOID posting entire screenplays. Write the story like you would write a book or a news article.
You have to make absolutely sure you do not subscribe to these tropes. Stay original, stay realistic and stay focused with your story.
If you're not sure on how to write it, then I would advise you to come up with the origins first. Then develop the origins to the best of your ability and continuously update the story in accordance to what has happened in-game, e.g. if one of your leading figures gets faction killed write about it or mention it in your faction story to give the audience (and by this I mean the readers) insight on your faction's inner workings.
As a general tip, in-game screenshots and nice graphics are always a nice addition to your faction thread, however, they should never be the main focus.
More importantly, unless it's a legal faction and/or business front, never list the names of your faction members. A) admins, and more importantly woot and Ozzy, do not care how many members you have, and B) you simply invite others to metagame and non-RP around you.
Step 3: Organisation & Structure
If you cannot organise your faction, you're not going to get anywhere. Without organisation, you're just a bunch of random players with an obsolete goal.
Luckily, woot's made it easy for you to organise through the means of groups. The groups feature is a highly under appreciated feature. It basically allows you to create a faction in-game without having to bother with fcars, turfs, fguns runs and so on. The group leader should always be active and responsible for those he invites and uninvites.
The group feature, as awesome as it is, can only do so much for your faction. It still comes down to the leaders to make sure the faction members are active, do not break rules and can communicate properly with each other and others.
The best way to stay organised as a faction is to create either a private forum and/or a xfire (or skype) group through which you can maintain regular contact.
As for structure, it is very important to have a good, understandable structure. As tempting as it is, or as easier as it may look, it is never a good idea to take everything on by yourself. You must have some leading figures inside your faction beside you to take charge when you're not around. Having these kind of people you can depend on will increase your chances of becoming official because it shows the right people are there in the case you go inactive or lose interest, to carry on the legacy, meaning that your faction is here to stay.
Also, it is a huge, huge bonus to have good, dependable leaders in your faction to make things easier. E.g. in Rizzuto, the only thing I really attended to were meetings because my captains knew what they are doing. This allowed me to take it easy and not get as stressed as other leaders are because I don't have to do everything on my own.
The most basic structure I would advise for leading figures goes as follows:
Leader [x1]
Second in Command [x1]
Advisor [x1]
Lieutenant [x2-3]
Step 4: Activity
Now that you are an organised force, you have to maintain activity. A particularly good idea to stay active is to split your members up into crews based on their timezones. That way there will always be someone from their crew online when they log in and they are less likely to log out of sheer boredom and more likely to stay online and RP.
Other good ways of keeping your members are RP events, responsibilities, meetings and conflict. By conflict, I do not mean you should purposefully go out and seek reasons to kill. No, by conflict I mean that you act appropriately to a situation. For example, instead of racing down the road with several cars and attracting attention from the cops as you go to kill someone, send out a few guys you can trust instead, to do the killing or whatever else it is for you.
Contrary what many people believe, you do not have to be online all day, every day to be considered active. What you do need to be doing is making the time you're online worthwhile. Don't aimlessly drive around - do something productive with your time, e.g. collecting payments or planning hits on your enemies.
Step 5: Goals & Ambitions
There is no point in even trying if you don't have certain goals or ambitions. The goal of achieving official status in itself is not enough. There has to be something you can work towards for a long time. These kind of goals are important because they will keep your faction around longer and by being around longer your actions will be noticed by admins and the sever owners.
For the leaders of a faction, it's easy, the goal's to make money and build a reputation. For your lower ranked members, it has to be the same, but they need to work much harder for it. Don't be giving out rank ups like its candy. Don't invite anyone if they're lazy arses to begin with.
Being made, earning your mark, or whatever you call it, has to be one of the main focuses for your members. They need to work for it, and they can work for it by being good earners or having your back. It is always a good idea to encourage ambitious players others might refer to as "rankhorny" because they will always strive to achieve something. Ambitious members are almost always the best members you can ask for.
General Tips & Notes
» woot & Ozzy
woot can be a bit of an obnoxious troll and Ozzy can be an asshole from time to time, but neither are stupid. They do, in fact, know what is going on on the server and if you've put in any effort whatsoever, they will know about your faction. Do not pester either of them, and don't get frustrated with them either - that's just an pointless exercise. If there comes a time you deserve to become official, they will let you know. That being said, don't be shy to stand your ground either. If there's an issue they raise, address is promptly.
» the other factions and unofficials
Being able to RP within your own faction is great. It can be a lot of fun, but it's not the best way to prove you can RP. Broadcasting your presence on the server is the best possible way to increase your chances of becoming official. That means you'll have to RP with other factions, both criminal and law enforcement factions.
» taking screenshots
This has been said before, but it is always a good idea to show of your faction's RP and operations through regularly posting SS, be it in the Roleplay Scenario section or in your own faction thread.
» events
Organise something for your faction to do in advance, such robbing the bank, kidnapping a (high ranked) member of your rival gangs/mafia and so on.
» meetings
Regularly get your family together and catch everyone up on what's new and what's going to change. Award good earners and punish those mess up. Stay communicated and connected as much as you can.
» conflict
Conflict can mean anything from a shoot out to mere exchanges of insults. Whenever something like this happens, don't make rushed decisions. Plan out your approach carefully. Hold meetings within your faction and call sitdowns with others to sort it out!
» planned hits
Planed hits, if you do it correctly, are always much more fun. There's nothing better than catching your enemies completely off guard, so if you're going to reach for your guns, then do it right and plan it!
» tributes
Regardless of the fact whether you are rich or not, tributes are always a good component in any faction. Through managing a tribute system, you gain additional income as well as keep yourself busy and active by collecting these kickups and because of this you will be online more to monitor your members and your activity will keep your members active. Managing tributes is also a good way to keep tabs on which members are active and are doing a good job and which aren't. Tributes do not have to be high, a low courtesy amount will do, however it is a good idea to have higher tributes for higher ranked members to distinguish them from the others; or the other way around.
-
OK, that is all I have for now. I will be updating this thread periodically when I have something to add. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask them here or PM them to me.
Updated: 10-08-2013
For a while now, I've had players asking me for help with their unofficial faction, and more specifically, how to achieve official status. Since it's a lot tougher and more time consuming to help people on a one-on-one basis, I've decided to write a guide for everyone to read.
This guide may be long, but it will be based on comprehensive information I have garned from years of experience on IM, during which I have created three factions that have reached official status, these being:
- The 74th Street Kilo Tray Saints (African-American gang - which was a group project)
- The McGuigan Mob (Irish Mob)
- The Rizzuto Crime Family (Sicilian Mob)
At risk of sounding like an arrogant douchebag, I obviously know what I am talking about. Still, if you have your own way of going about it, then do so. This is just a guide made by another player, it's not like admins will be keeping track of factions that use my steps.
Note that these steps will assume you are creating a strictly RP faction.
Step 1: Originality
Whatever it is you are trying to do, you have to at least try to be original. Take the concept and make it yours through tweaking it to fit your style of roleplay. A generally always good idea is taking an (almost) never done before concept and then putting it out there as much as you can. Broadcast the difference whenever and however you can to make a long lasting impression on the community.
For example, instead of going for the bog standard Italian or Sicilian mafia, why not go for a Cuban cartel, or an Irish Mob? Instead of going for stereotypical and standard black gangs and Mexican gangs, go for something specific, e.g. a Haitian or Peruvian crime organisation - and etcetera.
Don't follow the norm. Do not look to the general consensus of what is good and what isn't.
Some examples of factions I would recommend creating:
- An African-American gang somewhere close to another gang. This will create some tension, open up doors to RP and a (hopefully) lasting rivalry between gangs that aim to do outdo one another in the drug dealing game.
- A rival MC to Sly's current Pirates MC. Outlaws are always looking for trouble with one another - if you have a few friends and access to Freeways, get into this game. Biker RP is a lot of fun.
The best of original faction leaders will obsess about the concept before bringing it to life on IM.
Step 2: The Story & the Thread
Believe it or not, this is actually very important. A good faction story does not have to be long, but it sure as hell cannot be short. You need to entice the community into giving you a chance by presenting your origins in a story that can give them a good look at what it is you are trying to do.
When writing a story, you have to look out for clichés. If you don't know what those are, clichés are overdone plot points that everyone's already heard of or seen. A few examples would be:
- "My father was a mafia boss but he died"
- "We made millions but then we lost it all"
- "We are out for revenge because [reasons]"
Whatever you do AVOID posting entire screenplays. Write the story like you would write a book or a news article.
You have to make absolutely sure you do not subscribe to these tropes. Stay original, stay realistic and stay focused with your story.
If you're not sure on how to write it, then I would advise you to come up with the origins first. Then develop the origins to the best of your ability and continuously update the story in accordance to what has happened in-game, e.g. if one of your leading figures gets faction killed write about it or mention it in your faction story to give the audience (and by this I mean the readers) insight on your faction's inner workings.
As a general tip, in-game screenshots and nice graphics are always a nice addition to your faction thread, however, they should never be the main focus.
More importantly, unless it's a legal faction and/or business front, never list the names of your faction members. A) admins, and more importantly woot and Ozzy, do not care how many members you have, and B) you simply invite others to metagame and non-RP around you.
Step 3: Organisation & Structure
If you cannot organise your faction, you're not going to get anywhere. Without organisation, you're just a bunch of random players with an obsolete goal.
Luckily, woot's made it easy for you to organise through the means of groups. The groups feature is a highly under appreciated feature. It basically allows you to create a faction in-game without having to bother with fcars, turfs, fguns runs and so on. The group leader should always be active and responsible for those he invites and uninvites.
The group feature, as awesome as it is, can only do so much for your faction. It still comes down to the leaders to make sure the faction members are active, do not break rules and can communicate properly with each other and others.
The best way to stay organised as a faction is to create either a private forum and/or a xfire (or skype) group through which you can maintain regular contact.
As for structure, it is very important to have a good, understandable structure. As tempting as it is, or as easier as it may look, it is never a good idea to take everything on by yourself. You must have some leading figures inside your faction beside you to take charge when you're not around. Having these kind of people you can depend on will increase your chances of becoming official because it shows the right people are there in the case you go inactive or lose interest, to carry on the legacy, meaning that your faction is here to stay.
Also, it is a huge, huge bonus to have good, dependable leaders in your faction to make things easier. E.g. in Rizzuto, the only thing I really attended to were meetings because my captains knew what they are doing. This allowed me to take it easy and not get as stressed as other leaders are because I don't have to do everything on my own.
The most basic structure I would advise for leading figures goes as follows:
Leader [x1]
Second in Command [x1]
Advisor [x1]
Lieutenant [x2-3]
Step 4: Activity
Now that you are an organised force, you have to maintain activity. A particularly good idea to stay active is to split your members up into crews based on their timezones. That way there will always be someone from their crew online when they log in and they are less likely to log out of sheer boredom and more likely to stay online and RP.
Other good ways of keeping your members are RP events, responsibilities, meetings and conflict. By conflict, I do not mean you should purposefully go out and seek reasons to kill. No, by conflict I mean that you act appropriately to a situation. For example, instead of racing down the road with several cars and attracting attention from the cops as you go to kill someone, send out a few guys you can trust instead, to do the killing or whatever else it is for you.
Contrary what many people believe, you do not have to be online all day, every day to be considered active. What you do need to be doing is making the time you're online worthwhile. Don't aimlessly drive around - do something productive with your time, e.g. collecting payments or planning hits on your enemies.
Step 5: Goals & Ambitions
There is no point in even trying if you don't have certain goals or ambitions. The goal of achieving official status in itself is not enough. There has to be something you can work towards for a long time. These kind of goals are important because they will keep your faction around longer and by being around longer your actions will be noticed by admins and the sever owners.
For the leaders of a faction, it's easy, the goal's to make money and build a reputation. For your lower ranked members, it has to be the same, but they need to work much harder for it. Don't be giving out rank ups like its candy. Don't invite anyone if they're lazy arses to begin with.
Being made, earning your mark, or whatever you call it, has to be one of the main focuses for your members. They need to work for it, and they can work for it by being good earners or having your back. It is always a good idea to encourage ambitious players others might refer to as "rankhorny" because they will always strive to achieve something. Ambitious members are almost always the best members you can ask for.
General Tips & Notes
» woot & Ozzy
woot can be a bit of an obnoxious troll and Ozzy can be an asshole from time to time, but neither are stupid. They do, in fact, know what is going on on the server and if you've put in any effort whatsoever, they will know about your faction. Do not pester either of them, and don't get frustrated with them either - that's just an pointless exercise. If there comes a time you deserve to become official, they will let you know. That being said, don't be shy to stand your ground either. If there's an issue they raise, address is promptly.
» the other factions and unofficials
Being able to RP within your own faction is great. It can be a lot of fun, but it's not the best way to prove you can RP. Broadcasting your presence on the server is the best possible way to increase your chances of becoming official. That means you'll have to RP with other factions, both criminal and law enforcement factions.
» taking screenshots
This has been said before, but it is always a good idea to show of your faction's RP and operations through regularly posting SS, be it in the Roleplay Scenario section or in your own faction thread.
» events
Organise something for your faction to do in advance, such robbing the bank, kidnapping a (high ranked) member of your rival gangs/mafia and so on.
» meetings
Regularly get your family together and catch everyone up on what's new and what's going to change. Award good earners and punish those mess up. Stay communicated and connected as much as you can.
» conflict
Conflict can mean anything from a shoot out to mere exchanges of insults. Whenever something like this happens, don't make rushed decisions. Plan out your approach carefully. Hold meetings within your faction and call sitdowns with others to sort it out!
» planned hits
Planed hits, if you do it correctly, are always much more fun. There's nothing better than catching your enemies completely off guard, so if you're going to reach for your guns, then do it right and plan it!
» tributes
Regardless of the fact whether you are rich or not, tributes are always a good component in any faction. Through managing a tribute system, you gain additional income as well as keep yourself busy and active by collecting these kickups and because of this you will be online more to monitor your members and your activity will keep your members active. Managing tributes is also a good way to keep tabs on which members are active and are doing a good job and which aren't. Tributes do not have to be high, a low courtesy amount will do, however it is a good idea to have higher tributes for higher ranked members to distinguish them from the others; or the other way around.
-
OK, that is all I have for now. I will be updating this thread periodically when I have something to add. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask them here or PM them to me.
Last edited by Yards-sama on August 27th, 2014, 8:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Paz
- Posts: 347
- Game name: Alex_Pazz, Mimi_Paz, Carmine_Russo
- Aleya BANNED
- Sly
- Posts: 9839
- Game name: Sly_Carrone, Sam_Hunt, Dexter_Whittaker
- Kjetil
- Vincentino
Re: From Unofficial to Official
Tribe yeah sure.. The people join only for fucking money. They are money horney so if they sees tribute they will leave soon. But the other GUide is pretty good
- ★ rOsCaT ★
- Posts: 576
- Game name: Luigi_Rossi
- Aleya BANNED
Re: From Unofficial to Official
I recommand every unofficial to follow what this guide says, it really helped me, and other people a lot. Good luck for everyone 
- Yards-sama
- Posts: 2130
- Game name: Darius_Rookwood
- Bastard™
Re: From Unofficial to Official
It's the first time I read this guide and I've got to say it's very thorough and helpful for not only the unofficial factions but also the official ones. I suggest everyone who's running a faction, no matter is it unofficial or official, to read this guide. If the factions would use this as some kind of handbook and check it from time to time, I'm sure the faction-life would be much more entertaining for all of us.
Nice guide indeed, Yards!
Nice guide indeed, Yards!
- Yards-sama
- Posts: 2130
- Game name: Darius_Rookwood
- T-Rock
- Posts: 7478
- Game name: Tom_Rockefeller
- Yards-sama
- Posts: 2130
- Game name: Darius_Rookwood
Re: From Unofficial to Official
I won't presume people voted negatively to spite me, but even if that was the case, I honestly couldn't care less if I tried.
- Yards-sama
- Posts: 2130
- Game name: Darius_Rookwood
- Rick
- Posts: 3988
- Game name: Rosario_Soprazzo, Matheo_Trapani, Matteo_Corozzo, Rose_Soprazzo
Re: From Unofficial to Official
Please do.Yards-sama wrote:If anyone still wants to use this, I'll be updating it soon.
ray diesel wrote:I Mean if you can Unabn me i stay 4 Month To This Please Unban me i do DOnat and i think i lose my cars and my House For what you give me Bani only wanna play in this server please unban me.
- Santia
- Posts: 1970
- Game name: John_Provenzano, Roy_Vargazzo, John_Wagner
Re: From Unofficial to Official
Soprazzo wrote:Please do.Yards-sama wrote:If anyone still wants to use this, I'll be updating it soon.
P R O V E N Z A N O
2013
- Sofbi
- Posts: 878
- Game name: Paul_Osborn, Scott_Digory, Joseph_Schiavelli, Billy_Dalton
Re: From Unofficial to Official
Really I love this guide, I've read it around 5 / 6 times, really helpful, btw I saw it in some IM copy lol, and guess what, Credits were not "Yards" xD
- Yards-sama
- Posts: 2130
- Game name: Darius_Rookwood
Re: From Unofficial to Official
I've seen this copied some places too. I'll get to work on this in a bit. I've still got some of the ruleset stuff to do.
- jek
- Posts: 15699
- Game name: Mike_Alphonso
Re: From Unofficial to Official
Will be really helpful for unofficials to improve their standards and roleplaying skills.
i cant wait to catch fat kids cheeks like you .
- Yards-sama
- Posts: 2130
- Game name: Darius_Rookwood
- Mizqek
- Posts: 28
- Game name: N. Fisher
- Noxious
- Posts: 2151
- Game name: Shui_Jiang
Re: From Unofficial to Official
This is awesome..loving it already..let me read the rest of the part.Thanks a lot.
Sun Yee On
Chairman - Shan Chu
Jiang
"I believe in Harmony. Balance. Peace. And I don't mind spilling a little blood to achieve it." - Jiang
- CooleyJustin
- Yards-sama
- Posts: 2130
- Game name: Darius_Rookwood
Re: From Unofficial to Official
Thanks.
I could also add requested bits if anyone would like advice on anything particular.
I could also add requested bits if anyone would like advice on anything particular.
- Flstene
- Posts: 964
- Game name: Michael_Santiago
- Bennyy
- Posts: 6320
- Game name: William_Bradford, Ben_Anderson, Benny_Vagabondo
- Eagle
- Posts: 1989
- Game name: Fabio_DeCampo, Frank_DeCampo
Re: From Unofficial to Official
*salutes*
Well done,I'll follow this
Well done,I'll follow this
Image exceeds limits - image removed by administration, signature permissions suspended
- Rick
- Posts: 3988
- Game name: Rosario_Soprazzo, Matheo_Trapani, Matteo_Corozzo, Rose_Soprazzo
Re: From Unofficial to Official
Nothx
ray diesel wrote:I Mean if you can Unabn me i stay 4 Month To This Please Unban me i do DOnat and i think i lose my cars and my House For what you give me Bani only wanna play in this server please unban me.
- Freya
- Posts: 2554
- Game name: Accola_Cunningham
- Alsarty
- Posts: 4804
- Game name: Frank_Reagan