Hire on Demand

Origins

Hire on Demand (HoD) was conceptualized as "Scoundrels", a guild-in-waiting for Star Wars Galaxies, pre-release. Noting that Galaxies would not fulfill its high expectations, founder Van Lingo closed Scoundrels' doors after more than a year of speculating and role-playing on its forum boards.

When Star Wars: Battlefront was announced, Lingo established a presence on SWBattlefront.net (a LucasForums subsite) by volunteering for the news blog. Naturally, a small, new following turned into the development of a new clan. "Hire on Demand" was the named elected by the recruits.

History

Hire on Demand experienced a fast swell in membership, thanks mostly to early posts on the official LucasArts forum and on the LucasForums.net Star Wars Battlefront boards. Below is an excerpt from the recruiting thread on the latter forum: ''What kind of tactical order can we expect? For the fun of tactical combat, players will be separated into groups of four and given general objectives. Squads are as follows: --Rancor Squad will be composed of footsoldiers and designated mainly toward defending captured outposts. --Mynock Squad will be mainly pilots and will be in charge of air support and transport. --Bantha Squad will be more soldier classes, but in offense instead of defense. Includes two specialist spots. --Wampa Squad will be the snipers and their support. Players will recieve a designation according to their squad. How does your clan compare to others? Hire on Demand will be very nOOb-friendly, as we were all once nOObs ourselves. That said, we will not have a complicated ranking system other than whatever the game provides (if any). We focus on fun rather competition amongst ourselves. There will be some inside competition (there always is), but rather than let one person decide who's better and post it on a webpage, we'll let our players prove it on the battlefield. We do not plan to have over 16 players -- this gets sticky, especially when you start appointing lieutenants, trainers, squad leaders, etc. There will be myself (Van Lingo, leader), my confidant (Max Weatherford, co-leader), and 14 other fun-seeking players. Once Battlefront was released, the clan engaged in irregular matches against other clans, usually hosting their own dedicated server. The clan faltered, but was restructured under the leadership of DarkSideFish and Wildcard Zen. Van Lingo's attempt to undo the changes forced the members to mutiny.

The clan remnant was branded Electric Mayhem.

One final attempt to breathe new life into Hire on Demand was made for the release of Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron. Unfortunately, the game performed far below expectations. Lingo made amends with DarkSideFish and Kardinal Zen, and joined Electric Mayhem as a casual member.

Legacy

To participants in the player communities surround Star Wars Battlefront and Battlefront II, "Lingo" will long be a name associated with dispute. His feuds with the leadership of The Pirate Brethren, the Sonic Army, the Outer Rim Garrison, Team JOG, the Imperial Expeditionary Force, RABiD, and more have been documented and archived on several occasions.

In the long wait for a new Star Wars Battlefront game, Electric Mayhem found new life by embracing PC based MMORPGs. Star Wars: The Old Republic filled the void for many of the core SWBF players. With a new website, DarkSideFish reinvented the clan, boosted membership to over 200, and made EM clan into an impressive SWTOR Guild. Other founding members Kardinal Zen (now WildCardZen) and Lingo (TxsHurricane) stay active as clan officers, but remain on the sidelines, preferring consoles to PC gaming.