GFY. Say that to most people and we’re pretty sure they’ll slap you
and call you names right back. Say if to someone going through a
midlife crisis and they’re likely to think you’re suggesting they go
find themselves. Hear that from a pilot and you may think it’s your
turn to take control of the airplane. Say that to a zombie and the
reaction is likely to be quite different. “Go Feed Yourself”… why,
thank you, we don’t mind if we do.
Groovy Fresh Yams? You guys could be mistaken for a bunch of hippies…
Hey what is wrong with hippies, they are people too? :)
… but yes… we will not deny that we may have a hippy or two in the
clan. GFY stands for Go Frag Yourself, a term that originated from FPS
games as far back as DOOM and QUAKE meaning to kill.
When GFY started however the “F” was not the word “frag”, it
was naughtier, but back then I never would’ve thought that we would be
the clan we are today and because of the growth a decision was made to
change it.
When did the clan form and how many members were you at the beginning?
GFY started very soon after Battlefield Bad
Company 2 release, it was just me and a very close friend. We noticed
that the majority of random people we played with online wore clan tags.
We didn’t officially start GFY as a clan when we added the clan tags…
it was more a way for us to show other online players that we were
friends… brothers of war.
When Battlefield 3 was released it also gave birth to
Battlelog (the social network of Battlefield). This made it incredibly
easy to find other online local players, and it was with this tool that I
officially started growing GFY in the clan it is today.
Did you start on a specific platform and due to a specific game?
Back in the day Playstation was the leader in
gaming consoles with regards to the games and the graphics it delivered
to the generation of that time, and as the newer generation Playstation
consoles got released so did we carry on with the brand we knew and
loved throughout our childhood and stuck to it. It was never because of a
certain game but more of a way of life we knew well.
How many members are in the clan now? Feel like listing them? Or maybe just the important ones…?
GFY is proud to have at this point 50+ members
(one of the biggest local clans on the Battlefield 3 platform), we are
still growing but try not to over shoot it too fast as we have a policy
to get to know each member in the clan and most importantly become close
friends. Growing too fast will make this difficult to uphold.
Leaders within GFY are myself the founder Skoldzer… my
second in command JA_EK_HET_ISSUES … and the rest of my leaders are
chapterseven, Zuat, BabalasBosvark and Frankiam89.
You’ve stuck with the Battlefield franchise and moved on to
Battlefield 3. What makes Battlefield the game of choice for the clan?
The reason why we chose Battlefield is because of
the vast choices one can make to win a game. In Battlefield it is
crucial to help your fellow clan mates through team work to win a
match. Repair your buddy’s tank when its disabled, give health or
revive a fallen friend, ammo, supply suppression, the list goes on. The
beauty of Battlefield is that it allows players to excel at different
things whether you are good with vehicles or a good foot soldiers or
maybe an ace pilot. It is not merely whether you can aim and shoot,
Battlefield just gives you so many choices of how you can play the game
which is amazing. It is definitely not just a “run and gun” game,
strategy is important and team work the most.
Any other games the clan enjoys? Together or solo?
Oh yes definitely, we have a couple of guys that
are quite big into playing all sorts of games and don’t just limit
themselves to one, but we also have die hard Battlefield only members
that won’t be caught dead playing anything else. We have a couple of
Zombie lovers so Resident Evil is quite popular, we have a couple of
FIFA fans as well, also looking forward to titles like MOH & GTA
coming shortly.
… and I personally have already challenged a couple of local
clans to online matches when the new Grand Theft Auto is released so
that I can beat them to death with a purple dildo.
How often do you play together as a clan?
GFY play together pretty much every night… and we
arrange at least one clan match against locals for each of our 3 teams a
week. Our clan consists of 3 teams (Team G, Team F and Team Y).
Practice makes perfect and we strive to be one of the top clans in the
local scene, and we doing a good job at getting there too! The guys are
very dedicated, I really couldn’t have asked for a better bunch of
friends.
Do you consider yourselves a competitive clan, or one in it more for “the shits and giggles”?
We are both social and competitive, we have 2
platoons on Battlelog, the GFY Social and the GFY Competitive. The
social platoon is for the laid back gamers that doesn’t play that often
or don’t do clan matches but in the same time would like to be part of a
family. The Competitive platoon is for the hardcore competitive
players, we cater for both but remain one… different strokes for
different folks as they say.
Taken part in and won any tournaments you feel like bragging about?
In May of this year Apex Interactive sponsored a
Squad Rush League which GFY took part in, at that time I only had 3
members and had to borrow members from other local clans (Virus_Ltd) to
aid me in just getting my numbers up to 4 to partake in this League.
Squad Rush is not a game mode we played a lot but we did do netter then
expected for a new clan, and we had fun.
We also recently took part in another sponsored Conquest
League, but again with still being a new clan growing we didn’t do too
great there either as we needed to get to know each players weaknesses
and strength to better apply it to the battlefield. We have however
gotten better now and mostly win friendly clan matches against other
local clans. We are definitely becoming a force to reckon with and are
not taken lightly by others.
Is attending LANs important to the clan and its members – especially considering the lack of LANs in the console scene?
True that, there is quite a lack of LAN’s on the
console scene, but since I’ve started GFY I have seen that there is
improvement in sponsorships and events, so we are getting there
definitely.
The Majority of GFY members attended this year’s rAge expo,
Apex Interactive and Gioteck had this sweet setup there with 8 consoles
hooked up to internet allowing local clans to play together and against
each other “live” on Battlefield 3. It was an amazing experience where
we got to meet our GFY members face to face and the other local players
and clans. AMAZING PEOPLE!!! It was a huge party and every now and then
we went to the car to have a beer or 3.
Are you guys actively recruiting players? How do you decide on who is right to join you?
GFY is slowing down a little on recruiting at the
moment, we have recruited quite a lot of people recently and are in the
process of getting to know each of them as we feel that is very
important in a clan, once we have achieved this we will start looking at
recruiting again.
Who is the right candidate to join GFY? The right people are
guys that get along easily with others and we find this to be very
important. We are doing very well at maintaining the friendship in the
clan.
Clan you respect …
GFY respects all local players and all clans, we are not here to make enemies, just friends.
Who do we want to be most? GFY FOR LIFE!!!!
What are you hoping to achieve in the future as a clan?
We want to make GFY as competitive as possible in
all competitions / leagues that we play in , and make clan well known
in the local gaming community on all platforms ( we are currently busy
expanding the clan to the XBOX Community as well ) . We are also
working on securing a sponsorship/sponsorships as well as merchandizing
and running an E-store on our website .
In regards to professional – or competitive gaming – what do
you as a clan think needs to be done to raise the profile of South
African gaming?
We need more exposure so that the public can see
what we as gamers are all about, sponsored events, where clans can play
competitions in a fixed venue will be a great start.
Boring stuff over…
If you weren’t a gaming clan you’d be…
“Male strippers, Porn stars or drunken Super Heroes”
War movie that best describes the clan – Apocalypse Now or Tropic Thunder?
Tropic Thunder. No doubt.
If you guys had a music soundtrack for going to war, what would it be?
This is War by Sick Puppies
Thanks for your time. Is there anything you would like to add before going back to saving the battlefield?
I would like to thank you for taking time in getting to know GFY better. Much respect to you, buddy!
Clan Website | Battlelog | Facebook Page | YouTube Channel
Please note: Clan Q&A’s can be conducted up to eight weeks before
they are published so some information may already have changed.
If
you are keen to feature in this column in the future, please feel free
to contact us at info_at_zombiegamer.co.za and we’ll think about – after
you’ve sent us a sample of your braaaaaaiiiiinnnnsss.
Original coverage of this article is available here.