Lil Josh's tantrum

Right before we reached the finish line for our race, our race leader, Lil Josh, somehow thought we are changing the race rules and that he was no longer winning the race. I told him that

1. we are not changing the race rules
2. he was still winning the race
3. go to the clan blog to read the official race rules

Despite that, lil Josh still believed we are changing the rules and he wasted weeks of effort. He rage-dropped trophies and left for our feeder clan Root of Zero, only to come back a while later. 

Again, we tried to explain that we are not changing the rule and that he was the race leader until he dropped trophies, but he was still completely fixated on the idea that we are changing the rules and he lost. 

At that point, my patience for tantrum has reached its limit and I had to let lil Josh go. 

I am not sure if there is a deep lesson to be learned here. Perhaps one is to read things when people ask you to, especially those things are the official rules of a race you care about. 

Below are some screenshots.

Here I told Josh he was winning and rocking this race:

Here I told Josh we are not changing the rules:

Here I told Josh to read the official rules:

And I came back to see Josh rage-dropped trophies to silver:

Then Josh quit the clan:

He came back later and we tried to explain things again:

... to no avail:

Then I had to kick him:

Trophy Race update!

First of all, race rules:

1. See race formula below for calculating the winner *UPDATED*
2. The race will end on October 13, 2013 at 9pm PST. Screenshots will be taken and winner will be calculated from the race formula.
3. Only members with more than 200 donations by the race end time will be eligible to win this race.
4. New recruits who donated more than 200 troops will be eligible. 
5. Top prize increased to $30, courtesy of harvmister and deb2qt2bstr8!

Now, I did a trophy distribution graph today and compared it to the old graph on September 15, and found this:

A few things to learn from this graph:

1. Our clan overall has gained trophies on all player levels above level 25 (that means everyone). 
2. Higher level players have gained more trophies than lower level players over the last 3 weeks, as evident by the increase in slope. 
3. To make the race even more fair, we will change the race formula to reflect these new findings.

New formula:

• Expected Trophy = Player Level * 20 + 400
• Trophy Surplus = Player Trophy - Expected Trophy

Top 5 players using the old formula were (player level, surplus):

1. harvmister (87, 690)
2. deb (71, 689)
3. zeroratio (84, 681)
4. damien (63, 586)
5. lil josh (52, 585)

Top 5 players using the new formula are (player level, surplus):

1. lil josh (52, 365)
2. mac (51, 323)
3. deb (71, 279)
4. damien (63, 256)
5. selmankara (63, 210)

So, calculate your own trophy surpluses using the new formula, and see how far you need to go to claim the top prize! 

Divide by Zero gives birth!

UPDATE: There have sometimes been too many elder transfers between clans (mostly by DJ who gets constantly bored and always seems to think the other clan is more active), to the point where it was becoming disruptive. Therefore we are only granting eldership transfers on weekends now.

==========================

As the trophy race is under way, there are many new recruits joining the clan. (By the way, we have updated the race rules to address the issue of eligibility.)

As the clan grows, there are friends and family who are lower than our requirement that we have taken on because, well, they are friends and family. However, the clan has been close to capacity (consistently above 45/50 members) for many days now, and the imbalance in player levels is starting to hinder our growth.

Therefore, after some brainstorming and discussion, we have decided to create a feeder clan called "Root of Zero"!!!

Some rules will govern the relationship between Divide and Root:

1. NEW: Elders in either clan can freely transfer eldership between clans ON WEEKENDS.
2. Leaders in either clan has autonomy about specific clan rules, such as troop requirement and donation requirements.
3. The spirit of Zero Land as a friendly, chatty, generous family will be upheld. 

We will welcome elders to visit each clan, to maintain our relationship as a family. 

This marks a big milestone in Divide By Zero history. I am excited to see how this will turn out! :)

Visitor and Returning Elder Policy

As Divide By Zero grows, there are increasing number of players who come through the clan. Some of them stay loyal and active, and become indispensable elders that are very much part of the clan's culture. Some others become inactive and stop playing this game, and we have to part ways. Some others do not meet the standard of our clan and are promptly kicked.

A special group of active players break off from our clan to join or start new ones. A subset of them periodically return to DBZ as visitors, especially if they are well-liked by the clan when they departed. A prime example is brian, whom I wrote about in one of the first posts on the History of Divide By Zero.

We are generally happy to have old friends visiting us. They often bring us new perspectives, new troops, and fresh voices in the chat. However, we haven't had written rules regarding visitors before. Here is a simple policy:

If an elder leaves the clan for more than 48 hours, s/he will not be granted automatic eldership when s/he returns. S/he will need to go through the same elder promotion process for new members.

A mathematically fair TROPHY RACE in Clash of Clans

UPDATE: RACE RULES

1. See race formula below for calculating the winner
2. The race will end on October 13, 2013 at 9pm PST. Screenshots will be taken and winner will be calculated from the race formula.
3. Only members with more than 200 donations by the race end time will be eligible to win this race.
4. New recruits who donated more than 200 troops will be eligible. 

=============================================

A trophy race in Clash of Clans is a tricky business. In a clan with vastly different player levels, a race of trophy count will inevitably favor the top players. In Divide By Zero, our players range from level 28 to 84 at the time of writing. Such a trophy race will only be interesting to the top few players.
Instead, I devised a mathematically fair trophy race using this formula:

• Expected Trophy = Player Level * 10 + 700


• Trophy Surplus = Player Trophy - Expected Trophy

The winner is the player with the highest Trophy Surplus.
The Expected Trophy formula is derived from a linear best fit line for our current clan trophy distribution:

This formula will be adjusted with each iteration of trophy race using an updated trophy distribution.
We will launch our first-ever trophy race in the next season (Sept 29 - Oct 13).
UPDATE: Harvmister and deb are offering a $10 iTunes gift card each as the prize for the winner of our trophy race.
CLASH ON!

Level 4 archer is the new minimum requirement

After some discussion, it has been agreed by elders that our clan should advance to a minimum of level 4 archers. This change will be rolled out sequentially:

1. New recruits will be screened for level 4 archers effective today
2. All existing members will be screened for level 4 archers next Sunday (Sept 15, 2013)
3. All active elders will be exempt from this level 4 requirement.
4. After next Sunday, people should only donate level 4 archers, or any levels of wizards, minions, or dragons. 

This means, existing members who want to stay should upgrade to level 4 archers in a week, or donate enough to become elders. 

Players with special affiliation with current elders may be exempt on a case-by-case basis.

Clan rule change: ELDER PROMOTION

Recently the topic of elder promotion was brought up. What we have been following so far is a simple 500 donations/week threshold for automatic eldership. Soon we realized we don't want to demote elders who fall short of 500 but was still active participants. And also we reflected upon the spirit behind eldership. 

To prevent another sabotage like the one described previously, there are two solutions. One is to make everyone an elder, so that no one can kick anyone else except for the leader. We can still enforce a minimum donation rule to kick low donators, but eldership will cease to be a reward. 

Another way is to make eldership more selective. It will not be only based on number of donations per week; rather, it will be dependent on whether the clan thinks he or she is worthy of the promotion. Of course, if someone consistently donates a high number of good quality troops, it will be hard to argue against a promotion. But if someone reaches the old threshold of 500 but is immature or rude, we will reserve the right to deny eldership. On the other hand, if someone falls short of the donation number, but is helpful in other ways such as sharing tips or socializing with members, then eldership may be appropriate. 

So the clan rule will be amended as follows: 

• Eldership granted at elder meetings Sunday 9pm PST.