GW2 Chapter and the ToJ Tag.

[Daniel434]

Hi,

I was accepted as a new member and I have a some questions.

#1) Will there be a GW2 "Chapter"? If so, who is playing and how do I get in touch with them?

Even though this has been discussed and presented here:

The ToJ Tag
To help other members find you in-game, put the Tribe of Judah tag - [toj.cc] - in front of your handle. Ex. [toj.cc] Tek

#2) Is it truly a must to put the ToJ tag in front of my characters name or can I put it after it?

#3) Must I put "toj.cc" for my tag or can it just be "ToJ"? While I most definitely agree with spreading the Gospel, I feel as if I'm advertising a website with the toj.cc tag. Furthermore, if people go to the site and see it is a Christian site, admittedly I do not feel comfortable with being harassed while playing a game if someone goes to the site and happens to be a rabid atheist. (I know there are ways to block people, etc)

There is a time for spreading the Gospel and understanding you are blessed when persecuted but there is a time for gathering together with like minded people without the distractions of harassment. If I found out that this type of stuff rarely happens or never happens -- I still have some reservations about putting a link/url for your guild tag instead of just "ToJ". I'm sorry if I come off as cowardly, but, in all my years of playing games and MMO's -- I've never seen a link to be a guild or clan tag (even for said guild/clan) and I think it is exremely tacky. Is there any leniency here with that?

 

[Stc95]

Hey Daniel! Welcome!

I am the Guild Wars Chapter Leader which includes both GW1 and GW2. Here is the link to all of the Guild Wars forums. We would love for you to hang out with us and get to know you!

As far as the handle goes, I do believe that is only for certain, unspecified games. Obviously I am not going to put ToJ.cc in front of my GW2 character names. That would just be out of place. However, in shooter games like TF2, L4D, CoD, most players put their clan tag because there is no in-game clan system like in an MMO. Tek has asked to keep everything as universal as possible to illustrate community and avoid confusion. I can't speak for Tek, but I would guess that having the ToJ.cc tag is precisely to advertise the website so interested members know where to go. Unfortunately, being a Christian isn't guaranteed to be a cake-walk and none of us here like to be persecuted, especially in-game, but fear of that is exactly what the Enemy wants. If we are too afraid to say who we are and what we stand for, what good is it to stand up? But I understand you already know that. As far as I know, we don't actually have too much of a problem with players harassing us when we're all together. Players that come on our TF2 server and cause problems are rarely there for longer than a few minutes before an admin kicks them off. The same is true for the rest of CGA/ToJ.

 

[Daniel434]

Hey Daniel! Welcome!

I am the Guild Wars Chapter Leader which includes both GW1 and GW2. Here is the link to all of the Guild Wars forums. We would love for you to hang out with us and get to know you!

As far as the handle goes, I do believe that is only for certain, unspecified games. Obviously I am not going to put ToJ.cc in front of my GW2 character names. That would just be out of place. However, in shooter games like TF2, L4D, CoD, most players put their clan tag because there is no in-game clan system like in an MMO.

I have played Bad Company 2, and recently bought Battlefield 3 and I have not seen a clan tag in front of the someone's name. In fact, the last time I have seen it was during Quake 2 with the "dot" clan where they put a "." in front of their name. I'm not saying it's wrong, but, it seems out of place to me I have not been playing a lot of shooters these past years, but, like most of you I have started with online Shooters since the time period Quake 1.

Tek has asked to keep everything as universal as possible to illustrate community and avoid confusion. I can't speak for Tek, but I would guess that having the ToJ.cc tag is precisely to advertise the website so interested members know where to go.
Unfortunately, being a Christian isn't guaranteed to be a cake-walk and none of us here like to be persecuted, especially in-game, but fear of that is exactly what the Enemy wants. If we are too afraid to say who we are and what we stand for, what good is it to stand up?

Yea, for me and for many others, video games can be a place to escape and not a place to evangelize or talk politics. My philosophy is that you simply don't evangelize in game even though your not exactly doing that, it's just a guild tag. Now, if Christianity is brought up, I definitely jump in the fray even if I'm somewhat nervous to do so and have been ridiculed in chat and kicked out of a guild for it and told to basically "shutup" in other guilds even though I didn't start it! (lol). Also in regards to the tag, some may not even realize it's a link/url. I also will send you a PM to follow up on some things.

But I understand you already know that. As far as I know, we don't actually have too much of a problem with players harassing us when we're all together. Players that come on our TF2 server and cause problems are rarely there for longer than a few minutes before an admin kicks them off. The same is true for the rest of CGA/ToJ.

That is reassuring. Thank you for all your answers.

Blessings,
Daniel

 

[Keero]

I can't speak for the Guild Wars 2 chapter, but generally we use the [toj.cc] tag when we play games on Steam. MMO players are allowed to have their own unique names since they're under a TOJ/CGA chapter/guild.

 

[Tek7@Work]

The [toj.cc] clan tag was first designed for our first-person shooter game chapters (e.g. Counter-Strike, Unreal Tournament, Team Fortress 2) but many of our members include it as a prefix in their Steam name.

While I agree that tacking on a [toj.cc] in front of a character name in a MMO would be tacky, clan tags are still standard practice in first-person shooters. I don't know about Battlefield 3, but, IIRC, Battlefield Bad Company 2 even had a separate field specifically for a clan tag.

One of the reasons for asking members to wear the clan tag is to help easily identify other ToJ members. It's also especially helpful when sending out game invites over Steam as all ToJ members wearing the tag are grouped together when the Steam Friends list is sorted alphabetically (which it the default sorting method).

Guild names are prominently displayed in most MMOs, serving the same purpose as clan tags in FPS games. No ToJ guild has ever required a prefix or suffix on ToJ members' character names.

Hope this clears things up!

(If nothing else, it helped remind me that I need to remove that space between the tag and player name in the example on the FAQ page!)

EDIT: As for the clan tag publicly announcing that we are professing Christians, yes, it does that as well. While I understand people want to relax when playing a game (and working a full-time job myself, I can certainly sympathize), we are called to always have an answer ready for those who ask what we believe and why we believe what we believe. We're also encouraged to expect persecution if we tell others about our faith, whether in the course of conversation or in methodically sharing the Gospel, and we're given instruction on how to respond.

We are Christians first and gamers after. While we play games to have fun, we should be prepared for interruptions to share our faith, pray with another believer, or speak a word of encouragement if the Holy Spirit so prompts us. This preparedness, developed by our daily study of Scripture, prayer, and regular hearing of the Scriptures being taught in the context of a local church by a pastor called by God to preach the Word of God, applies to all areas of our lives, not only gaming.

That being said, we also recognize that a 12v12 match on cp_dustbowl on our public TF2 server on a Tuesday night is not the ideal place to discuss theology. While we should be ready to interrupt our game if prompted, we can also point players to our forums, which are far better suited to more complex conversations. That's not to say we can't share the Gospel in-game (especially on our own servers, which our members pay to keep running), but rather that we be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and exercise wisdom at all times.

EDIT#2: A quick historical note: The ToJ clan tag has changed a few times since the days of Counter-Strike, when it was (IIRC) "ToJ | " then the player name. We changed the tag to [toj.cc] a few years back and there hasn't been much interest in changing it since, even when I started a thread on the topic in January 2011. I don't have any objection to changing the clan tag; I just haven't seen sufficient demand or cause to change it in the last few years.