Are you interested in joining a clan with a relaxed atmosphere, and a friendly group of people? Then why not join us?

The clan has been around since the beginning of CSS. We are all aged 21 or over and are 100% cheat free.

We may not play every day (as we all have lives outside of CSS), but don't let that fool you! We can still give even the best of them a run for their money!

The BATS clan (British Anti Terrorist Squad) has been around since not long after Counter Strike: Source came out at the end of 2004. In that time the clan has gone through ups and downs with a core group of gamers. Unfortunately that thing called real life came along and the clan had a while of inactivity.

In May 2008 we decided to bring the clan back into action and to start playing again at a competitive level. This task is not as easy as it was back in 2005 as most people have found their homes by now, but we have learnt a lot of lessions over the years and will not try and rush the process. They say that you learn by your mistakes, and we have made a few, but we sure have learned from them!

As clan leader I know that personally I will not be playing "lots" of Counter Strike: Source, and don't expect any of my members to be any different, given that we all work and have various other commitments. The aim is to have fun and if possible start to get into some matches as our numbers grow.

Although we are a Counter Strike: Source clan at heart, we still like to get together and play other games (either as a group, or just individually).

Our History

The {BATS} clan had a rather strange beginning, but its end is hopefully a long way off.

The clan was started back in June 2005 after Diablo sought out a web designer on the steam forums. It was flash who stepped in and offered to help out after some of the rather poor attempts at websites by Diablo. After designing the website, flash accepted the invitation to help run the clan. Knowing that the best way to advertise the clan was to purchase a CSS server, flash purchased a 16 man clan server, and on 5/7/2005 our first server was born. Through the server and the website the clan started to attract members, and the clan started to grow.

Since the beginning flash had taken more of the active role in the clan wanting very much to see the clan succeed. After many months of not playing CSS, and not really playing an active role in the clan, Diablo left. Since that time the clan has had a number of clan members, some that have left (or been kicked), and others that have stayed. Throughout this the clan has adapted to learn from any past mistakes that have been made recruiting members.

After a long time with our original host, going from 16 man, to 24 man and a 16 man server, the decision was made to find a better server host and to go dedicated in order to get more for our money. We tried out our new host on 7/5/2006 and went with a dedicated server 1 month later. The new IP and server produced more activity in 2 months than the other server had in its whole lifetime.

The clan continued to draw interest from players, and despite the large amount of Germans the server seemed to attract, it gained a fair number of regular players, peeking at over 3000 unique players.

Unfortunately our first dedicated server did not last too long as the host was closing down. It was due to end on 7/7/2006, but continued for a while after that date. We ordered a new dual core dedicated server for the clan, which we hoped would meet our future needs. Unfortunately as nice as the server was, and as popular as the CSS servers were, with the members we had at the time it put a financial strain on the clan which was not a good thing. During this time I made the mistake of trying to rush the recruitment of new members in order to keep the funds coming in for the server, and these actions lead to tensions running high in the clan and a number of members leaving.

We realised after our time away from the game and the clan the reasons for our initial failure, we lost sight of the fun aspect of the clan and started to takes things far too seriously. Like all things, you make mistakes, and you learn from them, making sure not to repeat them.

Our Goals

The main goals of the clan are:

1. To become the best team that we can
2. To keep a friendly and relaxed atmosphere
3. To make ourselves known within the CSS community

Rules

The following makes up our clan rules:

1. Clan members must be at least 21 years of age
   We have nothing against people under this age, but we have found that once people have reached the age of 21 they may not have the same amount of free time as a teenager, but they are generally more reliable and well behaved. It also means that by this age that they will be able to help with the clans running costs, as unfortunately servers aren't free.
    
2. Members must abide by all server rules (both ours and others)
   We respect the rules and do not get involved in slanging matches with other clans, their members, or their community.
    
3. Members will not make use of any game exploits, no matter what!
   Our clan has always been 100% cheat free, and that is the way it is going to stay. Yes, we won't always win, but we will have fun trying.
    
4. Members must check the website regularly for announcements / matches
   We are all grown ups and can run our own lives now. Plus it stops me having to chase everyone up!
    
5. Members must live in: England, Ireland, Wales or Scotland
   Nothing against our fellow foreign CSS players, but for reasons of timezones, language and culture we have found it best to keep it this way having learnt the hard way in the past.

We take these rules seriously, and by sticking to them, it allows us to keep a fun, welcoming and relaxed atmosphere within the clan.

Behaviour

The way that members behave shows the kind of clan that you are dealing with. A clan that is full of members that insult other players and cause trouble are ones that we do not want to know, even though they never last very long. A clan that is full of polite and professional players is one that any clan is happy to play and know.

We expect all members to be courteous and polite, even when other people are rash towards them. Any members that fail to do this will not last long in this clan.

Structure

The clan structure is fairly simple.

There is are the leaders who take care of most of the day to day running of the clan, as well as being reasonable for the final decisions within the clan. The final decision always rests in the hands of the clan leader, although these are made using feedback from the clan as a whole, they are never just the whims of the leader.

Other than this there are currently no other official positions, although members are encouraged to put themselves forward for positions such as match arranging and leading matches.