This great Monday I am taking a look at the PMS Clan. This tough group of females is known for having their cake and eating it too. Not only is their community a large and strong group of many clans, but each clan does its own share of kick-ass-ery. PMS and H2O are no strangers to tournaments. They light keyboards aflame in PC tourneys and melt controllers in console games. They have been featured in magazines, as well as interviewed on plenty of sites. For more information, and answers to the usual questions, I had a chat with Athena Twin, a co-founder of the clan. Have a read.

How and when did your clan start up?
PMS Clan formed in 2002 at the launch of Live when my sister (Athena) and I met another girl, PMS Blues, on Xbox LIVE in Unreal Championship. We has such a blast playing with another girl, and were doing very well, so we wanted to make a female clan. Soon after we hooked up PMS Fraggity Ann and Wildthing, and the rest is history. PMS Clan FTW, baby!

What meaning does your clan’s name hold?
The original PMS letters came first. We were trying to figure out what it could mean, and the members came up with Psychotic Man Slayerz. We thought it was a cool name for a gamer girl group (since we were slaying everyone in our matches, hehe). However, we later toned down our name to Pandora’s Mighty Soldiers to be more politically correct. Yeah, I said PC, people. We are probably the only gaming group in the world that actually did something to be politically correct in the trash-talking cyber world of gaming. ROFL.

How many people call your clan home?
We are somewhere over 500 females right now, and god only knows how many men in our brother group H20 Clan. It is getting harder to keep track as more members come and go. Active members playing in their practices and matches would probably be around 300.

How do you go about luring and screening recruits?
We have an open recruitment policy where we only screen for positive attitude and dedication. To be an active member, most divisions require their members to attend at least four practices a week. However, we recently created a casual division to house members that could not commit any longer to rigorous practices, play non-competitive titles or systems, or play games that we did not have enough members active on to compete.

What are some unique bylaws that your clan enforces?
I don’t know about unique, but we have a pretty strict code of conduct. Offenses to our code of conducts could be reprimanded with warnings, suspension, and/or termination of PMS Clan membership. Some types of offenses would be cheating, over-the-top smack talk, racist or sexist comments, explicit behavior, joining other clans, etc.

What do you do to build camaraderie in your ranks?
Most of the time, the girls are playing with their own divisions (so they build bonds first with the girls they will be playing with everyday). However, I hope that all of our members take pride in other divisions, platforms and members. To establish bonds, many of us are active in our forums. We are also constantly meeting up at tournaments and gaming events, which is a great way to seal friendships. We also do event nights where we do open sign up for games to just “go in and play” with people (like our Pot Luck Saturdays on Halo2 and our Casual Game Night).

What is the best way to get booted from your clan?
Proclaim yourself a Ninja when you really are a Pirate. Errrr…wait, I do that! Really, the way to people get kicked out is simply break our Code of Conduct. Explicit behavior and cheating would be two or the sure-fire ways to get kicked out quickly. I am glad to say, this is not a common thing. We have probably had over 100 girls come and go, but most are simply just moving on, and it is not a bad break.

What gametypes does your clan prefer?
Most of our players prefer PRO settings, like MLG or CAL rules, so they can train for any possible events. Since most of us play as a team, we tend to love objective games where true teamwork can shine through. However, that does not mean to say we don’t like to get down-and-dirty in some FFA action.

What is your poison/passion: Matchmaking? Customs? Challenges? MLG?
Matchmaking in Halo? Haha…oh sorry, I thought that was a joke? I would not touch matchmaking with a 10-foot pole unless it is late and all the kids are in bed. That went out 3 months after the launch of H2 when all the modders, hackers, and smack-talkers came in and ruined our beloved game. Most PMS members spend their time in customs with PRO settings (and with people they know are not going to trash talk since we DO have those urges, and you can only take so much).

What is the closest game your clan has had in a Clan Challenge?
I would have to say one of the most memorable and closest for me was when my PMS team was placed against another PMS team for CPL Summer 2005. My team was the projected favorite, but the other PMS team was also made up with some fierce players. They ended up beating us and knocking us into the losers bracket. My team ended up placing 8th, and the other team placed 6th. It is really hard to go against your sisters, you want to win and you competitiveness really comes out, but at the same time you want them to win also.

Thanks so much for the info Athena Twin, always a pleasure. Readers, if you would like to try your hand at a challenge with the PMS Clan or H20 Clan (their male counterparts), then drop by their forums and send them a challenge. Just make sure to bring plenty of ice packs and ibuprofen.

If you know a clan, or are in a clan that would like to be spotlighted in the Clan Profile then send me an email at tiedtheleaderblog@gmail.com and tell me about it. Hope everyone enjoyed this week’s profile. Stop back next week for another great clan.

Posted by Dweezle