DnA Exploding

The clan DNA is exploding. In January Telkom Do Gaming ran a story on the Underwoods, who run DnA. At that time the clan had 42 people. The clan is now boasting five Call of Duty 4 (CoD4) teams, one which is an all-girl team, in addition to its Battlefield: Bad Company 2 team and Starcraft 2 players.

Clive 'Legend' Underwood, co-owner of the clan along with his wife Jin, says the last few weeks has seen tremendous growth for the clan.

“We have had quite a few new members join and we are slowly getting to know each other. Jin and I try to get to know each member of DnA. This has been a bit difficult lately but we are on TeamSpeak every night chatting to the guys.

“We also either get onto a public server and play or we arrange inter clan clannies. There definitely is a range of different personalities and it makes for a good laugh at times.

“DnA has a sound management team, but due to the growth in the clan we have had to appoint division managers, to assist with the admin work etc.,” Clive says.

The CoD4 side is quite interesting. Although called a social clan (strictly speaking) Clive says DnA overall has a mix of social and competitive gamers, which makes for a great dynamic.

“Historically the two options have been 'competitive' or 'social' - referring to the attitude of the clan as a whole regarding competitive gaming. DnA has many players from both sides, which fits better with social as an overall label,” he says.

But he adds that it's up to each team within DnA to decide how competitive they want to go.

“Teams inside DnA function on a semi autonomous level in their own competitive schedules and so forth; however they are only authorised to enter a league if they are committed to seeing it through.

“It remains to be seen how competitive the teams will get. It is early days yet with the leagues only just about to begin. I have a feeling though that DnA might be causing a few upsets.”

Clive also believes that CoD4 will remain a popular game for a while.

“I don't think we will see the end of Cod4 for a while yet. Yes, there are new games coming out and our numbers are slowly decreasing, but i definitely believe they have not yet brought out a game that can quite measure up,” he says.

A lot of gamers in South Africa don't want to get too serious about gaming competitively, but also don't want to end up gaming with people who don't know what they're doing, don't have much skill, etc. Sometimes the 'middle-ground' as it were can be missing, and it looks like DnA is another clan that can fit the bill nicely here. Clive believes that social clans fit the scene quite well.

“Especially as many of the younger guys are either starting their matric year or heading off to University etc. and are not able to put in the time that a competitive team requires. Social teams are also great for the older players who are more family orientated and just want to get on and play with a couple of friends,” he says.

One of the things that are helping DnA in its growth could be that the Underwoods also run a regular LAN, Legend's LAN. Clive thanks Computer World for the prize sponsorships. Read more about Legend's LAN in our story.

Do Gaming will be publishing an interview later today with Jin, the captain of DnA's all-girl team, DnA:FaTal aTTraction.

DnA's Management

Owners
Clive "Legend" Underwood
Jolene "JIN" Underwood

Leaders
Stanley "Loki" Pretorius
Flipi "Alcardu" Portman

Division Managers
COD4 - Francois 'QuanChi' van Tonder
Starcraft 2 - flipi 'Alcardu' portman
Bad Company 2 - Reinhardt 'PeStil3nc3' van Rooyen

Check out DnA's Do Gaming League page

Do Gaming League registrations close by Friday!

Teams and gamers are reminded that DGL 2011 registrations close tomorrow, 4 February by 22:00.

Register at our Do Gaming League website or follow these links:

Register for Call of Duty 4 here
Register for CS 1.6 here
Register for FIFA 11 (PS3) here
Register for FIFA 11 (Xbox 360) here
Register for Starcraft 2 here

Read this story for more details.