You know, outside of steam messages with a very small group of people, I've never really talked about the origins or the 'mission statement' of The Ducks. The entirety of it I don't think I've ever told to anyone except possibly Morblitz and Moriarty. If you're curious or want to know, keep reading, otherwise you better skip to the end, this might be long.
Originally, the intention of The Ducks was the same as the way nearly every group started, and the way most groups still are. A small group of the best players we can collect, and like to play with. It started with me, morblitz and moriarty. Whenever we played we played together, and we decided to only invite people we really liked. Charon was the first, he was just about the best gunner we'd seen and was good to play with, so I invited him.
Well, the next day he started a conversation with me, it went something like:
"Guess what? I talked to my wife, and she's a Duck now, and so are two other guys!"
Uhh, excuse me? What happened to small elite, I don't know these people. But what can I do? I guess just let it go? Besides, how often do gaming wives play anyway? If anyone's curious that would be Shukketsushi, a name everyone probably knows. I let it go, but then literally the next day, less than 24 hours later, he starts another conversation: "Guess what?! I just got four more people, all of them military buddies!"
Damnit. I thought long and hard about letting a fourth person in, and suddenly we're up to 11, and I've never even spoken to 7 of them. What should I do? Say "no way, sorry, no room in the Inn, try King's Gambit down the block"? I'd like to say it was a moment of clarity but really I just kinda said "Fuck it, strangers want in? Let them in, Ducks are open source now." In hindsight I'm really thankful to Charon for that, we avoided ending up on the same road most groups go down. As an aside, that was early January, I still to this day haven't spoken to 5 of those people Charon brought in, they're not in the Steam group, and I'm pretty sure they're just puppets he keeps in his closet or something.
So, Duck are open, anyone can join. People know they're playing with Ducks because we're loud and annoying. Our ships have ridiculous names and we tell fowl jokes. People started joining up. I think people just want an excuse to be weird, and we're still the weirdest group out there. Our numbers grew, and Smollett and Arrow joined up.
They deserve a special mention because it was the beginning of our competitive play. They came just in time for the tournament, and geared us to it. To this day I can't write a single forum post without Smollett bugging me about repair equipment while I'm trying to type this very sentence. Anyone who knows them knows Arrow is the brains of the operation. I want to call Smollett the muscle, but really he's the chauffeur. Obviously we did very well in the tournament, and we were the only ones expecting it. I'm pretty sure the commentators bet against us every single time we played. So as a result we got a reputation as a competitive group, which attracted another group of players that both want to be weird and competitive.
The point of this story is to explain the direction we're heading in now. We have more players that want to play in the Cogs then we can field in one team, even with reserves. We're not the first group to be in this situation, but we're going to set ourselves apart in what we do. Rather than pit Ducks against each other for 8 slots, we're opening a second team. My aspiration is to get the second team functional by week 2 of the Cogs, but we'll see how that works out. I think if someone wants to make friends in a game there should be a place they can do that, and if people want to play competitively there should be a place they can do that too, so that's what we're trying to make. The two things the Ducks will never, ever be is exclusionary, or 'well adjusted'.
As for why "Ducks", I have no idea. I think deep down inside everyone likes Ducks? I have no clue where that came from, but it's not the worst thing to identify a group with. Ducks are as much social as they are lunatics. Ducks are the paste eaters of the pond world. Ducks have the weirdest priorities in the animal kingdom (mostly breadcrumbs). Ducks can be kind of noble, even while making stupid noises. I think it's okay to be proud to be a Duck.
TL;DR: A girl duck is a Hen. A boy duck is a Drake. Baby Ducks are Ducklings. A group of Ducks is a Darling. A bunch of Ducks walking is a Badling, if they're running it's a Brace. A group of Ducklings is a Brood, and a group of Ducklings running around are a Flush. When they fly Ducks are a Flock, but they can also be a Team or a Pack. Ducks hanging out in the water are a Dover, or sometimes a Raft. But when Ducks are swimming together against the current, keeping together to fight the rising waters, they're a Paddling.
N-Sunderland: Just tell them we like breadcrumbs or something.
