Dormitories & Dragons
My own experience in this is the foundation for my advice. I've been gaming for about 16 years, and my college gaming experiences form about 10 of those 16 years; five years as an undergraduate gaming with a circle of friends, and five more in the Bowling Green Gaming Society in Bowling Green, Ohio. I never held any official positions with the BGGS, since I was a graduate student and felt I should focus on my studies, but I came to serve as the informal advisor for the group, guiding the officers through challenges they ran into and helping them prepare for the year.
The structure of this column is meant to be a monthly look at some of the challenges a new or growing club is facing that month. This first column talks about the planning of a new group and what hoops generally have to be jumped through. May and June discuss initial planning for the next year--what are your goals? What do you hope to achieve? Over the summer, we'll study some relevant points of interest for running your group--basics of leadership, how to plan a meeting, and so on. Once the new school year starts, we'll discuss the initial recruitment phase and how to attract new members. As the year progresses, I'll talk about how to hold on to members, problems that might occur, continued recruitment, and other topics. I expect that the column will eventually run out of topics, but I figure that there should be enough material to carry it through at least an entire year.
Getting Started
On a campus without a gaming club, starting one seems like a great idea. After all, wouldn't it be great to get all the gamers in an area together and do something? You could have a lot of fun that way. However, you should take a look at your motives for doing so and make sure you're willing to put in the effort that a successful college club requires. The primary motivation of your club needs to be supporting and growing the gaming community in its myriad forms. Lots of people say they want to do this, but a close examination of their motives often proves otherwise. Here are some reasons why you shouldn't start a club:
--You want to be King Gamer. Hey, let's face it; some people want to be seen as big shots, and starting an official group can be attractive for such types. However, such groups tend to fold fast when the egos involved clash and drive possible members away. No campus needs an official gaming group, and people will continue to play games without one. Further, if you're starting a club in hopes of feeding your ego and it folds, you're probably hurting the chances of the next group that tries to start up, since it has to overcome the bitter feelings left behind by your attempt. If you're creating a group in hopes of feeling important or creating a small cult of personality, you're going to be disappointed.
--You want meeting space. Often, a campus group can get free meeting space, as well as some other perks. For example, BGSU allowed student organizations to request free pop through a contract they had with Pepsi, so we offered free pop at our meetings. The perks are nice, but unless you really can't find a place to play in a student dorm somewhere, it's generally not worth the bureaucratic hassle to obtain them.
--You want to pad your resume. When you graduate from college, your extracurriculars mean a lot more than they will even a year out of college; since you don't have any direct job experience with the positions you're for, extracurriculars help show you have some of the qualities an employer might be looking for. While being president or treasurer of a student organization might seem like a great piece of padding on a resume, the organization itself is often just as important to an employer, and gaming clubs don't often relate to the job at hand. It's often better to put your energy into a student organization geared towards your field of study than start a gaming club just so you can put "President" on your resume.
It's possible to start a club with any number of the above motivations, but you don't need my help to make a group in order to scam space and free pop from The Man. I'm assuming that you're starting a club based on the desire to grow and support the gaming community at your school.
The Bare Bones of a Group
Before you start, go to the office that governs student organizations and get the paperwork. It will likely explain what is required to start a student organization and what is expected of them. Generally, most colleges will require you to have the following items before you can be approved as an official student organization:
--A minimum number of student members. This is usually set around 10 students, but can be much higher. Check with your organization office for the specifics on your campus.
--At least three official elected positions. Sometimes these positions will be named and given specific duites; other times, you can define these positions yourself. Usually, the three positions are President, Treasurer, and Secretary.
--A group constitution, usually at least covering the interests of the group, the expectations of the elected positions, and the election process itself.
--An advisor, usually from the full-time faculty.
Of those, the advisor is normally the most difficult item to obtain. You can usually get at least a dozen students willing to sign a student org roster just for the hell of it, and chances are you know a couple of friends willing to help fill any necessary positions, but the advisor is the official overseer of the group, and if anything goes wrong, the university wants to make sure there was some guidance available for the members. Most professors don't have much interest in gaming, and even if they're willing to sign the form to become an advisor, they often have little to no interest in the activities of the group itself. Try your best to avoid signing an advisor who is willing to be one in name only and get an advisor who actually wants to take part in the group, even if they can't make it to every meeting. An advisor who is willing to help you grow and avoid the typical student organization problems is invaluable.
The constitution is something that you will likely need to look over if your group succeeds and attracts new members, but for right now, the student organization office should have a sample constitution you can use as the framework for yours. Follow the format and make sure you have all of the points they include on their framework, then get the requisite signatures on all of the forms. It may be tempting to add a bunch of rules and officer positions right now, but I would actually recommend keeping it simple and sticking to the basic positions. Make sure the people who will hold those positions are aware of the requirements and are willing to follow through on them throughout the year--this is very important, because if your treasurer decides in October that he or she doesn't want to do the job anymore, you could find yourself in a large amount of trouble with the university. In addition, you may need to define how much your yearly dues are. Make this pretty low at first--you're not looking to buy lots of cool stuff; you need to establish your member base first, and then adjust the dues based on future plans and what people can afford.
Once you've turned the paperwork into the office, congratulations! You're a student organization! You'll have access to the resources of the university, and you'll be able to take advantage of the opportunities it provides. Savor your status for a moment, then get ready for the work ahead of you. There will be plenty of it.
While I don't want to discuss specific plans right now, one item you should check on immediately is when the sign up date for the Fall Organization Fair is. Most campuses will have a big org fair a week or two after school starts so people can look around and see what extra activities are available on campus. Sign up for as soon as you can--most campuses assign the tables on a first come, first served basis, and the earlier you can get on the list, the better chance you have at getting a choice table at the org fair. Don't worry about what you'll be doing for the org fair just yet--just make sure you're on the list.
Rebuilding The Fellowship
You might be reading this column because you're going to be in charge of a group next year and you want to get it going again. Oftentimes, gaming clubs at colleges experience a period where there are only a few members remaining from a previously successful club. The BGGS actually has a history dating back to the early '80s, and even had its own convention. When I joined it, however, there were perhaps eight to ten active members and little prospects of growth. If you're in such a group, take heart in the fact that it's very possible to rebuild and see an active club once more.
Chances are a lot of this information is something you've already established. In that case, your job is to first figure out what you've got. Look at the constitution on file with the student org office and talk to the advisor. If either of these resources isn't helpful or doesn't exist, you need to get one that fulfills the requirements you need. If your constitution isn't up to snuff, update it, but don't spend a lot of time right now covering all of the bases--just make sure you have enough to get you through the next year. If your advisor isn't interested in the club, try to find a professor who is and switch advisors--professors are busy enough that if one isn't actively interested in your group, they won't take a switch personally. However, if you can't find a new advisor, at least you can limp along with the one you have now. By no means should you drop your advisor if you don't have one lined up already--they're a lot harder to find than you might realize.
Once you've made sure that you can remain listed as an active student organization, you need to get the officers together to plan for next year. This year is almost over, and most people leave town for the summer for home or jobs, so don't worry too much about recruitment right now--you want to focus on next fall and make sure you hit the ground running when all those new freshman come on campus. The organizational fair is just as important for you, so make sure you get on the list as soon as you can. Take an inventory of your resources and figure out if you have any funds saved away in a campus account somewhere. The remainder of this year should be spent figuring out what you have at your disposal and planning for next year.
Next month, we'll discuss some of the planning you should do over the summer and talk about the positions of the group. We'll also discuss what exactly you plan on doing with your group and how that can affect your growth. Until then, I welcome any additional advice or comments. If there's a topic you would like to see covered, PM me (my handle is Kid Twist) or email me at uberfunk at hotmail dot com.
April Checklist:
--Get paperwork from the student organization office.
--Find students to sign the initial group roster.
--Create the group constitution and fill the necessary positions.
--Find a willing advisor and get his or her signature.
--Turn all information into the student organization office.
See you next month! --Alec "Kid Twist" Fleschner
