celeb news and gossip: Clan of the Month: Project Echelon ? Decades in a Digital World

Welcome back one and all to the return of ??Clan of the Month.? This time around we?re honoured to have the opportunity to get a peek into the inner workings of ?Project Echelon.? P.E. are a clan and community based on the sort of ethics that make online gaming a pleasure for all involved, and run with a clockwork like precision and professionalism.

Time for Clan founder and leader ?LaChook? to step in here to fill out the clan background a little. Over to you Chook.

P.E. Head Honcho, the one & only LaChook.

LaChook: Project Echelon was formed around 2006, birthed from the demise of ?The Astro Kowz? clan which many of our founding members were a part of.? TAK were a recognised name in the Xbox clan match scene having many friends and contacts amongst the other top clans and independent players.? Sadly the owners of TAK decided it was time to call it a day, and as an assistant leader I was faced with the choice of letting it all fall away and lose contact with everyone, or create a new home and keep our members together.? Project Echelon?s first site and forums were active within 2 days of TAK closing, and I?m happy to say we?ve grown and developed considerably since then.? We have an amazing and diverse group of members who all have a varied taste in gaming which we try to accommodate, but essentially we are all united by our online friendship; something that I have only seen in a handful of UK clans.? It?s worth noting the better clans we had the honour of being close friends with though ? Rusty Revolvers, Cursed Gaming Klan (TIS), and of course the mighty TUS ? The Usual Suspex who joined with PE last year.

What would you say is the philosophy behind P.E.?

LaChook:?When I formed Project Echelon, I didn?t want it to be just another ?clan?.? I wanted it to have more of a community feel to it. Somewhere where there were no expectations on members to be online playing or taking part in matches, etc, but somewhere people had a sense of belonging, and where they could come and go as they pleased.? The gaming scene used to be very competitive and there was a lot of arrogance and bad sportsmanship in the name of winning.? I?d like to think PE and our other friends were able to break that mould without values and that?s what helped us survive.

How many members currently reside in Project Echelon & are you actively recruiting new blood at present?

LaChook:?We currently have 87 members, most of whom are at least semi-active and contribute well to the life of our community both on and offline.? We also have around 91 non-members from other gaming groups that visit occasionally too.?We haven?t had a proper recruitment drive in a while but we do actively look to meet people online and refer them back to the website for membership.

Which games are you currently playing & is there a particular title the clan pride themselves on?

LaChook:?Over the years it?s become apparent that our top interest and performance games are the Call of Duty and Gears of War series.? We are most active in these games than any others and play them in matches as well.? We also have a strong Forza following too.

Have you ever ventured into the more competitive realms of clan leagues & ladders?

LaChook:?Yes we have, more so in our earlier days though.? We briefly dabbled with X-Leagues and won a Ghost Recon:Advanced Warfighter ladder, and we have periodically both competed and won Gears of War and Call of Duty leagues hosted by other gaming communities.? These types of events can be quite demanding on peoples time/lives though and as our member base is a typically a more mature gamer with commitments, we haven?t looked into this area seriously.

Do you run any inter-clan leagues, competitions & challenges?

LaChook: Yes, in fact we have just completed a month long Call of Duty Black Ops league that was a great success, and the top two players went away with cash and tee-shirt prizes.

Sounds Good! Also have you ever attempted the old clan meet?

LaChook: We?ve had two official clan meets now, plus a few organised by the members themselves around concerts, Gadget Show, Top Gear, and gaming events.

Some of the P.E. gang at the 2008 meet.

One last one for you, before you return to the full time post of running P.E.

What sort of challenges have you faced in, not only keeping the clan alive but also building it into what is is today?

LaChook:?The biggest challenge in running a gaming community is keeping things fresh and current, and of interest to the members.? So that means we need to be up-to-date with industry news and what the latest trends are in gaming.? As long as there?s something regular happening we can keep people interested.? We also have gaming nights for CoD on a Thursday and a varying game night on Fridays, and have quite a good blog feature as well.

One of my philosophies in life is if you want something done properly you have to have the right people in the right places, so careful thought has been put into all the leadership roles, the moderators, and the site staff as well.? Every post, thread and contribution that is made by the members is recognised and appreciated, and we have a membership recognition award that we give out every quarter.

And with that LaChook took off to continue the top notch job he?s being doing these last few years running one of the U.K.?s most well respected and well liked Clans.

But we aren?t finished with The Echelon just yet. It?s now time to quiz a few of the ranks of P.E. and get their take on what makes the brainchild of LaChook such a wonderful place to belong.

So without further ado we welcome GingerNinja UK, i am woko & Lithium007 into the spotlight.

P.E. Members L to R: GingerNinja UK, i am woko & Lithium007

Cheers for your time fellas and first things first, how did you come to be a member of P.E.

GingerNinja UK:?During a past life I was the leader of a gaming group called The Usual SuspeX. P.E. had always been good friends with us and when TUS unfortunatly shut down, P.E. took us in as a group and it seemed just a natural progression. I made new friends whilst still keeping my old TUS buddies.

i am woko:?Via long time best friend, The Likely Lad. I was pretty lucky to get the inside track as I never used to play online that much as I was rubbish. Smig seconded me if I remember right.

Lithium007:?Before we became friends proper, I met clan boss-man LaChook via a friend and he told me about the clan. I didn?t do anything about it at first, but one day popped on to the forums and I?ve been here daily since. That was in Sept 2008.

Has being a member of P.E. changed your gaming life

GingerNinja UK:?It has not so much changed it as prolonged it. I find single player games as a general rule ok, but they are usually infinitley better co-op or multi-player.

i am woko:?Yes, definitely. I never had the courage to play online as I hated all the smack talk from randoms and I was crap anyway. Playing with P.E. raised my confidence.

Lithium007:?Oh absolutely. I was never a massive multiplayer fan. Too many squeaky American kids with a chip on their shoulder and a mouth to match. PE opened my eyes to how MP could be a friendly sociable and most of all fun experience. There are a raft of games I?d probably never have played at all if it wasn?t for a the clan.

What have been the high points of your time with the clan?

GingerNinja UK:?Meeting up with the guys at there clan meeting (ironically I was still with TUS at the time!) and winning Member of the Quarter.

i am woko:?I?ve really enjoyed Chook?s challenges and I liked the Forza league. I like the forums a lot ? it?s a great place to get balanced opinions on stuff without fanboys, swearing and [more] smack talk.

Lithium007:?Apart from making new chums, I?ve progressed a little internally over the years. I?m Captain on Red Dead Redemption and Vice Captain on Brink which I?m very proud of, plus I was well chuffed to receive the prestigious ?member of the quarter? award (joint with GingerNinja). It?s voted for by the members so it?s gratifying and humbling at the same time. The PE Blogs page is also a great outlet for me to get writing. I blog in a few places and it?s great to have somewhere to output my gaming related stuff.

CoD, Battlefield & Gears have always been popular clan titles and with all three set to release their next installment, is any one in particular exciting you?

GingerNinja UK:?I am one of those weird breed that doesn?t actually like CoD, I can take or leave Battlefield so I would say the only one I and excited about and will probably pick up on release will be Gears.

i am woko:?CoD for the multiplayer, but I think this is because I?ve being playing Black Ops most lately. The campaign is always fun and exciting but it will be more of the same, so it would have to be Battlefield for that. I used to like Gears a lot. I don?t know why I?m not feeling it for the 3rd. Maybe because I haven?t picked it up for a while.?

Lithium007:?Oh Gears 3 definitely. I?m not a CoD fan at all and I?ve never played Battlefield for any length of time, but I?m a huge Gears fan, even beyond the games into novel and comics territory. I think it?s a very rich universe ripe with potential. The story and characters are great especially when you?re reading the expanded stuff. And with novel writer Karen Traviss on board writing the game it ensures that it?s just going to be even more exciting than before.

Game wise, it?s fast paced and exciting and bloody and messy and generally just awesome. I played the beta earlier in the year and I?m looking forward to getting into the multiplayer more than I did with 2. The new expanded Horde mode looks pretty awesome.

Aside from those three are any other titles catching your eye this year, maybe you feel you?ve already played one of 2011?s best?

GingerNinja UK:?Batman: Arkham City ? Loved the first game (possibly the first ?superhero? game to do justice to the character) and this will only be better?.

i am woko:?Forza 4?although I?ve sort of said to myself that I can?t have it until I?ve done most of the stuff in 3.

Lithium007:?I?m really looking forward to Batman: Arkham City as Asylum was one of the best games of the last few years. And of course the finale of my beloved Assassins Creed series. Oh, and Forza 4, Darksiders 2 and Mass Effect 3. Gaaaaah! Too many!

Now in my own time within the clan scene I bumped into some very colourful characters. Is there anyone in Project Echelon we should look out for?

GingerNinja UK:?Mo1ey UK. Always hangs out in the toilets where possible in FPS?s.

i am woko:?Not that I?m aware of.

Lithium007:?All of ?em, suspicious bastards that they are . Really though, the great thing about PE is that everyone is a unique personality that brings something to the community making it stronger. In my early days The Likely Lad and The Red Saint were particularly welcoming, and since we adopted a few members of now folded clan The Usual Suspex, I?ve enjoyed the similarly minded silly banter with GingerNinja. I think he?s on the same stupidity wavelength as me ^_^

What?s your take on motion control? Fad or potential future?

GingerNinja UK:?I think FPS games will always require controller interaction, but I think adding hand gestures for Rainbow six style team ordered would add to the games

i am woko:?Compliment to the future. Defo a fad for the current mainstream. Most of them just wanted to play tennis and stand on the Fit board. They?ve already moved on to other distractions. The 3DS (although not motion control) is a good example of a passing phase with the mainstream.

Lithium007:?I like motion control, but I don?t believe it should be shoehorned into games. Kinect is a great piece of tech and I?ve used it often for a tight fitness regimen with EA Sports Active 2 and Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, but those are designed from the ground up to maximise the hardware and work brilliantly as a result. Child of Eden is also a brilliant example of good use of motion technology.

The car viewer in Forza 4 and gunsmith feature in the next Ghost Recon look like decent implementations that don?t interfere with core gameplay and I think that?s the best way to do it. It?s kinda sad though that when there?s announcements that the new Halo for example will use Kinect, it?s met with trepidation from the hardcore fans. They had to make another ?don?t worry, it won?t change the game? announcement later just to alleviate the unhappy feedback. There?s plenty more that people can do with the tech and I think we?ll see it bloom, but it needs to be given a chance and not instantly poo-poo?d just because your favourite game might have some Kinect features.

And finally, are there any features you?d like to see added to Xbox LIVE & PSN that would benefit clans?

GingerNinja UK:?I would like to be able to group my friends and send messages to groups rather than individuals. Like the new Google+ ?Circles.?

Lithium007:?It might sound simple, but I?d like to see a clan tag option for your gamertag. I?d happily be known as ?[PE] Lithium007?, but I?m not paying 800msp (?4.25) just to change my name. I know some games do it as a feature, but I?d like to see it incorporated into the main dashboard. If you could see a players clan affiliation at any time then I think it would increase clan memberships across the board as you went to investigate the community of a friendly player you met online. My gaming life has changed dramatically as a member of PE and I wouldn?t be anywhere else. I?ve made a lot of friends here, not just names on a list, but actual real life people I?d happily hang out with if it wasn?t for the fact we?re spread across the country.

And that, as they say, is that. The Project Echelon crew head off into the sunset on a mission to extract Mo1ey UK from the FPS toilet & continue to build on an already sparkling reputation across Xbox LIVE.

All that remains for me to say is, as ever, a massive thankyou to Project Echelon & it?s members for their time and efforts, obviously the feature is only possible because of the good folk and their contributions and it?s always very much appreciated by all at Wired Controller.

Anyone interested in checking out a little more of the P.E. experience should visit?http://www.projectechelon.com/community/?and check them out, warm welcome guaranteed.

Also the P.E.?s own writers can be found at?http://projectechelon.com/blogs/?always a good read.