Guidelines Creating IHS

From Tactical Wiki

[edit] Forming an In House Squad Guidelines

Thanks to Wimpinator for putting this together and the rest of the IHS leaders for providing their feedback.

You've been a supporting member for Tactical Gamer for a while now. You know all of the rules for your games inside and out. You join the servers to play with the same group of people regularly. You quote the Primer in your sleep but now you want more.

You see all of the great benefits the in house squad members get. You wonder what goes on in their private forums. You envy the camaraderie they feel when they play together. You watch them dominate the games because they practice together. You admire the super sweet wiki pages that they use for announcements. Ok maybe not but you get the idea.

You have often thought of joining a squad but you don't see one that catches your eye. The ones that you might consider aren't recruiting. There is a really simple solution. A solution that many think would be terribly complicated. Form your own squad. There has to be tons of paperwork and a long waiting period right? Nope. After a few simple messages you can be done.

There is only one requirement to be a member of a squad. You must be a supporting member. You're getting a ton of benefits so a couple of dollars is well worth it.

A successful squad is formed around a set of core beliefs or concepts. After you have established those concepts it is really easy to form a squad. Simply decide what niche you want to fill. Give your squad a personality. Talk to the people that you think will be your first recruits and flesh out the concept. After you have the concept there are just a few easy steps to be done.

Steps

1. Pick a name and squad number. Make it something cool and unique. If you already have a concept then this part will be very easy. Try to avoid replicating numbers that are already in use.
2. Contact the Site Administrators to let them know that you want to form a squad. Include which game will be your main game and provide the concept. They will set up your forum and wiki space.

That is all that really has to be done to start a new squad. That wasn't hard at all. You now have your own squad, congratulations!

Things to consider

The next few steps are completely optional. Consider them more advice to make things go smoother when you are first starting out.

1. Write a formal recruiting process and put it on your wiki so that anyone who wants to be a part of this hot new squad can see what they need to do to get in.
2. Decide how big you want your squad to be and plan to have enough officers to manage it. The standard is around 15 members but it can be smaller. 15 is about right to be able to field a decent sized unit at any given time.
3. Recruit a couple of officers first. They are the people that will help organize your unit into a force to be reckoned with. Take a couple of days and discuss who you want to recruit. Grab a few good guys and get them in the squad and oriented. Use them to help with anything you need to get started.
4. Decide on the methods and circumstances that you will use to remove someone from the squad. It's not fun but it will be a lot easier if it is hammered out ahead of time.
5. Decide on any other policies you may need and make sure your members understand them.
6. Start recruiting! In house squads fill quickly so this part is very easy. There are many quality players in every game so you have a lot to choose from.
7. Keep your roster on the wiki and keep it updated. Everyone needs to know who those guys are in that awesome new squad. It doesn't do any good if the roster isn't correct so update it when needed.
8. Use that wiki. Post news and events. You guys are awesome and we want to know what you are doing.

That's it! You are done and can sit back and enjoy your new unit. Forming your own squad can be an incredibly rewarding experience. You will make great friends and have some great games together. Good Luck!