Community Spotlight: FILO Clan
8 min readJune is here and it’s time for a new Streamer of the Month. This time, while we will only have one featured, he is the founding member of a very know World of Tanks community: Nikita from FILO.
If you never heard of FILO, or even if you did and want to know a bit more about them, we have prepared a small interview with them. I hope you guys enjoy, and let me know this would be something you would like me to do with every Streamer of the Month.
What’s the story of FILO, how did the Community come about?
I’ve been running gaming clans for the best part of 17 years and throughout that time I’ve made some great friends. When one of the games a group of us was playing began to lose its focus I was afraid that as we all lived in different countries, we’d lose touch.
World of Tanks was in its infancy but appealed to quite a number of us and FILO was born. On the 18th April 2011 I set up the original clan and around 35 people joined that day or the day after. Most of that group of friends are still in touch and gaming together five years on – so thanks WarGaming and World of Tanks for keeping us together!
What are your Community goals?
To be honest, apart from having the best darn Community in the game, I’ve never really given much thought to it? Most people come to the FILO Community because they’ve heard of us in game, have been recommended or know someone who’s already in. I can be pretty open when I say this about FILO – ‘Once bitten, forever smitten’ – people have come and gone, but more often than not, they always come back!
Most of the folks in the FILO Community would say that we might not be the best or most competitive of Communities but what we may lack in skill we make up for in loyalty, fun and determination!
What separates FILO from other Communities?
I asked the folks in the Community for a quote and here are just a few of the replies I received!
I try really hard to get these messages across to new members – FILO is like a gaming family – I might be the Founder of the Community, but I would never put myself out of reach of any of the members. You might actually say I’m perhaps the most open and easy to talk to Community Founder there is – but you’d have to ask the Community to answer that!
What’s been you’re most memorable Community moment to date?
If I’m perfectly honest it was being asked by WarGaming to become a Community Contributor. It came a little out of the blue really – but I won’t pretend that I haven’t been working hard over the past 7 years to get this Community to where it is today and to finally be recognised as a ‘Community Creator’ by WarGaming was pretty awesome!
However, we’ve also launched some fantastic careers and seeing people like QuickBaby and RitaGamer turn into the super WoT celebrities that they are today really makes me proud to say that they started in FILO. We have one of the largest streaming Communities in the EU and a growing presence on the NA servers and all of our streamers make me so proud every time they turn on their webcams.
It’s also very special to be when I get to meet folks from the Community. Where ever I travel in the world, it’s easy to pick up the phone and arrange to meet some of the wonderful people this Community has. We’re also now growing quickly in the USA and I’m really excited about what the future holds there for us!
Do you have any special traditions or regular events?
Tankfest has become a high point in the FILO calendar with upwards of 30 members meeting up at the yearly gathering in Bovington. It’s a wonderful time to have a few beers with other FILOnians and meet up with friends from other Communities such as Havoc, WoT-Uni, WoT Arty Noobs and of course, those awesome guys, Lee & Simon from Gaming Awards – more commonly known as the WotBoys!
Your Community is one of, if not ‘the’ oldest on the EU servers, what do you feel has kept the clan going for so long?
If I’m honest, I have no idea – my magnetic personality perhaps?
To be fair, I think it’s the members of the community. Like Eagleflyt said previously, we’re like a big, gaming family and quite honestly, I get the impression from what people tell me, that they enjoy being a part of it. Sure, people don’t always get on, sometimes there are ‘heated discussions’ and occasionally, folks leave – but more often than not, they stay and they want to be around for a long time.
There is a definite pride that I feel in the people in FILO and I think they feel it too. Occasionally I get reports from players in game that one of our members might have behaved ‘inappropriately’ – I always respond quickly, personally and politely. We all know how tempers flare in game, people are just stupid sometimes – but at the end of the day it’s a game and I can’t be the ‘FILO Police’ 24hrs a day. I think people in game respect me for both my honesty and candour when dealing with game related issues.
GnomeRanger [FILO] said this of FILO, ‘It’s the biggest bunch of weird, crazy and heart-warming people I’ve met in a long time!’ – maybe that’s why we’re still together Seven years on?
What is your favourite feature/aspect in World of Tanks?
Firstly, I’ve always like the multiplayer aspect of it – I’d love to see 5-man platoons but with 3-man platoons, Skirmishes, strongholds and clan wars, there is always something to do as a team. However, if you’re not in the mood – just go out alone – no one will judge you for it!
In terms of features – I love how the game has developed since it first started and the recent update Ver 1.0 has transformed the game into something fresh and exciting again – just what the doctor ordered!
Have you ever had any Community gatherings? If so, how did it go?
Yes – as I said previously, Tankfest has become a regular ‘highlight’ of the Community’s calendar. It’s great when we get together in ‘real life’ – spending the amount of time together that we all do online, meeting up for real seems no different. It’s not hard to talk, share a ‘few’ beers or dinner – we don’t even always talk about gaming! When FILO members get together it’s like you’re just going out with friends – actually, hang on, that’s exactly what you are doing!!
With other clans I’ve been in or run, I’ve had some epic ‘gatherings’ – I’ve spent time in Sweden, Prague and even Washington DC meeting up with clan mates, getting too drunk to stand up and other things that we can’t really talk about here!!
What advice would you give to players looking to join a Community?
The single most important thing when creating or joining a Community is to know what you want to get out of it. Are you a seriously competitive gamer who wants to win everything they can, play every night and get to the top of the leaderboards or are you more of a social gamer who’s just letting off some steam, relaxing and chilling out or maybe even streaming?
Decide what you want out of both the game and then find a Community. Don’t be afraid to ask questions – good communities will always invite you to their TeamSpeak (or other) comms server for a chat. If a Community promises the earth, check out their stats and those of their players – don’t be sucked into something you just won’t enjoy.
Also, if you join and Community and don’t like it, never worry about leaving. I’ve always said to everyone that joins the FILO Community – you’ll never find me begging anyone to stay. If they come to us and don’t like it – they leave. I always wish people the best of luck with their new ventures and I never close the door – if they want to come back because things don’t work out elsewhere, that’s fine.
Above all, remember, don’t work too hard – this is a computer game and when you switch off your PC at night, it goes away. Unless you’re part of a ‘league’ team who plays competitively as a career, you’ll burn yourself out for a load of people who really could care less about how stressful you might think it is to run a Community!
What does the future hold for FILO?
Continued growth both in numbers and reputation. All members of the FILO Community both EU & NA seem to have a knack for enjoying the game and that tends to shine through – especially when you look at our streamers or if you happen to meet any of us in real life.
FILO is one of those Communities that just works – people come and go but nothing much changes. Most of the core membership actually doesn’t change either – they come for the games and stay for the Community.
Yes. we’d love to be a bit more competitive and have a few more active players for events and clan wars – but hey – we have people who are trying to drive that forward.
Are you currently recruiting new members? If so, how would someone apply?
Yes, we’re always recruiting!
If you’d like to become a part of the FILO Community, please check out the website – www.firstinlastout.eu – where you can fill in our online application form. You can also read a little more about us, check out some of our members, watch our ‘streamers of the month’, buy FILO merchandise in the shop or catch up on the latest events and Community gossip in the News section.
Remember, FILO isn’t just World of Tanks – we’re in WoT Blitz both EU & NA and World of Warships (EU) – again, check the website for details.
People can also come say hi to me directly when I’m streaming.
Finally, sum up your clan in one word?
Enduring.
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Great article and great idea mate! Keep up the good work and big shout out to FILO!!
Great article, maybe missed a chance to shout out the GTA Online clan and stuff. We should look at expanding outside of Wargaming games too.
I can’t say that my game play has improved, since being accepted (that’s a daunting challenged even for FILO) but the FUN has returned to the game; and that’s what is most important.
Man hope I joined this kind of clan and not the rushy ones. And I’m in SEA.
As much as I hate to say it after me and quite a few others have been in this community (and now left) its sad to see some of the things in FILO. For the most part the community in FILO is great but there are quite a few bad apples as well within the community. Also the general at***ude of a few of the “leadership” was the main cause of me and the other people (names I won’t mention…) to leave what was once, for me, a really nice community – hopefully FILO will fix these issues (there are other “internal” issues) and maybe regain a bit of respect that it’s lost.