A Clan Tag is a four character (maximum) prefix attached to a player's screen name or gamertag. It appears in closed square brackets before the player's username, as "[Clan] Example".

It is a feature used in games from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on to distinguish a player as part of a clan - a group of players. Clan tags are censored on Xbox LIVE for any profanity that may seem offensive, however on PSN any clan tag can be chosen, with Call of Duty: Black Ops as an exception.

Call of Duty 4: Modern WarfareEdit

Clan tags make their debut in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The clan tag option can be accessed in the Barracks.

Click this for a tutorial

Call of Duty: World at War Edit

In Call of Duty: World at War, players unlock their customizable clan tag when they reach level 11 - if prestiging, players do not have to wait until level 11 again; the clan tag is unlocked from level 1 of Prestige.

Previously, clan tags were gold-colored if the user had purchased the Call of Duty: World at War Limited Collector's Edition, or linked their account to the Call of Duty Website.

Unique Clan TagsEdit

Treyarch put in twenty-two unique clan tags because of the wait for patching glitches on the PlayStation 3, these tags therefore only worked on the PS3. The clan tags no longer work, unless the player uses hacks.

• [....] - Created a moving ball across the clan tag.

• [RAIN] - Created rainbow colors.
• [****] - Created a moving plus sign.
• [MOVE] - Made the PSN name move.
• [CYLN] - Made a red line move across the PSN name.
• [CYCL] - Made the PSN name cycle colors.
• [ad]- Made the PSN name blood color.
• Gold - When buying a limited edition copy of Call of Duty: World at War players will get a code to make their clan tag gold when activated. The PC version does not get a code, as merely installing the game will add it.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2Edit

The clan tag returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, exactly the same as it was in Call of Duty 4. The Special clan tags from World at War did not return. The clan tag feature is not available on the PC version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Call of Duty: Black OpsEdit

Clan tags return in Call of Duty: Black Ops. While mostly similar to previous installments, the clan tag can also be carved into various areas of weapons, costing 1000 per weapon. The ability to carve your clan tag into the weapon(s) is unlocked at level 19. Once the player has bought the ability, one doesn't have to buy it again after each use for the specific gun, unless the player enters Prestige Mode.

Treyarch has added the option to color the clan tag, but the feature is only available after Prestige 13. The colors available are red, green, yellow, blue, cyan and magenta. Each color costs 250.

Formerly, a glitch existed where the player could get a colored clan tag at any prestige. However, it has been patched.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Edit

The clan tag returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, exactly the same as it was in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The Special clan tags from Call of Duty: World at War did not return. The clan tag feature is not available on the PC version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Clan tags can be coloured gold when a player is in an Elite clan that's level 10 or higher.

Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2Edit

Clan tags re-appear in Call of Duty: Black Ops II similarly how they did in Call of Duty: Black Ops, they cannot be coloured unless in an Elite clan that's past level 10, where the clan's offical tag can be coloured gold. Certain clan tags that may seem offensive, rude or racist are generally blocked when attempting to save them.

Clan tags re-appear on guns similarly in Call Of Duty: Black Ops, however since there's no currency system in Black Ops 2 they're unlocked though a different system which is by prestiging weapons. Once a weapon reaches all it's attachments, you have a decision in prestiging your weapon. Prestiging a weapon will reset all it's attachments back to nothing and you must unlock them all over again, similar to the prestiging in the ranking system. Once you've prestiged your weapon you can put your clan tag on your gun in the Personalize Weapon tab. 

Trivia Edit

• In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, clan tags go away if the player plays split-screen on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. Because of this, players have to remake it when one plays on Xbox Live or PlayStation Network.
• When playing Nazi Zombies or Co-op in Call of Duty: World at War, players cannot change clan tag while in the lobby, unlike in Multiplayer though players are still playing online.
• In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the player can come across a glitch where players can use the official Infinity Ward clan tag [IW], but when people normally use it a message will stop the player from using it and say only game developers can use the Clan Tag, but if player adds a " then the message will cancel out and user will be able to use the IW clantag, however this only works in game, and player that uses [IW] clan tag can be reported if found by IW staff for doing such an act. The other banned clan tags are [COD] in Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops, plus [3arc] in Call of Duty: Black Ops. [3arc] can only be seen in Combat Training.
• If the player puts one "{" and "}" in the each end of the clan tag respectively, it will be not registered, thus being "unbound". This can be seen in the info box in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, or the beginning of the player's username in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: World at War. However, as the marks are classified as "illegal characters", the only way to obtain them is by modding.
• Call of Duty: World at War is a lot more strict when it comes to clan tags since there is a large amount of letters and figures that cannot be used, but in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 players can use twice as many letters and numerals.
• In Call of Duty: Black Ops, there is a counter that tells players how many Clan Tags were purchased globally.
• On the Wii version of Call of Duty: Black Ops, the ability to carve the player's clan tag into a weapon is not present.
• In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, the player cannot have a clan tag in Special Ops.
• In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, there was a way that allowed the player to add controller buttons to their clan tag, such as an X button on the Xbox 360, or L3 from the PS3. This has been since patched.
• On the Wii version, Call of Duty's do not let you put clan tags, but the player could make it seem like it if they write it out while creating their name.