Thomas Jarvis on Clash of Clans and the Rise of Dunan

Clash of Clans

Clash of Clans and the rise of Dunan

There have been few video games that my Dad has played with me over the years. When I was younger, I remember playing Crystal Castle (classic Atari game) and Galaga (classic joystick game) with him. When I was a bit older however I convinced my Dad to play Clash of Clans, a base building game that I was getting into at the time.

My dad started out like all players do. He picked a name (Dunan), passed the tutorial, and began to play with a very limited base, no troops, no experience, and no clan (which is what Clash of CLANS is all about).

I eventually convinced him to join a clan based in Montreal called MTLFusion that I had recently found. This began a journey for Dunan. One which would not only lead him to far surpassing the strength of my base but also lead him to becoming the leader of MTLFusion. How did he do it you might ask? Well, here are some of the qualities I learned from my Dad through playing Clash of Clans.

Consistency:

For me, playing Clash of Clans was the opposite of consistent. Some weeks I would play for hours, raiding villages, pillaging loot, and destroying other bases in clan wars. Other weeks I would barely play at all. I would sometimes give up the game for months at a time, then come back only to give it up again a couple months later.

I learned from my Dad that consistency is powerful. My dad would play very little, or so it seemed to me. For 30 minutes every day I would see him online raiding bases and organizing clan war attacks. This was very little to the hours I would play some nights, but slowly and surely the consistency of my Dad’s playstyle made his base grow and grow until suddenly it had surpassed mine.

Reliability:

Everyone knows group projects are the worst. Teammates forget deadlines, don’t answer calls, leave all the work to the very last minute, or sometimes don’t do any work at all. This is of course no different for teammates of an online clan.

Clan wars was one of my favourite parts of Clash of Clans. Each member of the clan had 2 attacks to destroy enemy bases and at the very end whichever clan had dealt the most damage would be deemed victorious.

These wars were often very close, requiring every attack from every clan member to squeeze out the victory. Many, many teammates would attack with the wrong troops, or with a poorly thought out strategy or even worse would forget to do their attacks entirely.

My dad never forgot his attacks. I knew in every clan war I could rely on him as a teammate to do his part.

Loyalty:

In the years that I played Clash of Clans I often thought about leaving MTLFusion. Frustration from clan members and hope of better teammates drove me to ask my dad often to find a better clan, one which had better teammates and better strategies.

However, I quickly learned my Dad was not one to abandon his clan. Instead he continued to improve his own quality of play and hoped that others would do the same. He is still in MTLFusion to this day.

Leadership:

When my dad was first made into a co-leader of the clan, I was in fact quite surprised! There were dozens of members in the clan and yet they had chosen my dad as the man. After some thought however I realized it was because he knew how to lead. He was selfless, donating troops to others constantly and helping others improve their gameplay. He was kind, never getting angry at others for bad or missed attacks. In short, he was an example to all the other members of the clan.

The qualities that my Dad demonstrated through playing Clash of Clans are apparent in the actions he takes outside of Clash of Clans as well. I see his consistency in reading the scriptures every morning, his reliability at his work and with his callings at church, his loyalty to his family, and his leadership as he is an example to me.

Thanks, Dad, for all the qualities you have taught me.

Your favourite son,

Thomas