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In order to form a more perfect union....DOH...the following was penned by our very own Quix. All should take a moment and reflect on who we are (we know we are lost - Fukawi), and how we represent ourselves to others in game. - Niunn Bearstorm (Guild Leader and wayward Druid)

Secret Order of the Phoenix Guidelines
8/11/2002 (as penned by Quix Unmitahzredit)

We are all ambassadors

  • Be nice to people. The guild has its own reputation to keep and you are our ambassador. You can be ejected from the guild if you are caught being antisocial by killstealing, campstealing, intentionally training people etc. Also, 'Roleplaying' an evil character does not give you carte blanche to engage in such behavior just because you're 'evil'. Keep in mind that it is almost impossible to retract something said or done in the game that you may regret later.

  • Profanity is frowned upon. Again we have to represent our guild in the best possible way and there are people of all types of backgrounds traveling the world of Norrath, Luclin, and any other exotic places Verant cares to throw at us.

All members should strive for the following qualities (MISPTT for short):

  • Maturity - friendship is a bond that grows strongest with maturity and impulsive or rash behavior only leads to rifts.

  • Intelligence - we do NOT expect that a new member will know everything there is to know about Norrath; we DO expect that such a person will be hungry to learn as much as they can, about as many aspects of Norrath as they can.

  • Sense of humor - in the end we are here for fun, and sometimes when things aren’t going ideally, it’s a sense of humor that keeps us together.

  • Patience – with each other and those outside of the guild.

  • Tolerance - of others and those inside the guild.

  • Trust - of your fellow guild members.
     

  • Your guild tag should be visible whenever possible. Going /anon hides your tag, and there are both good (and heaven forbid nefarious) reasons to hide your guild. You can use /roleplay to hide your class/level (and role playing is strongly encouraged!). Just remember just because you are anonymous people can still find out your affiliation by targeting you and doing a /guildstatus. For example, I sometimes go anonymous when I set myself up as a bazaar vendor; otherwise people in the guild may think I am at the computer when I am actually away.

  • Don't beg for stuff. Requests for people to give you money, items, powerlevelling or other twinking are frowned upon. It's ok to offer people money, equipment, etc, but it is up to the giver, not the potential receiver.

  • Power Leveling: We are not a power-leveling guild. We recognize the advantages of learning how to play your character and how to play the game. In addition to the consequences to the players' growth, power-leveling imposes a burden on the one helping. We do not wish to foster this type of expectation within our guild. As such, begging a higher-level guild member to be power-leveled will be frowned upon. Additionally, we cannot have members of our guild hiring strangers to power-level them. This reflects poorly on the guild in the same way begging does: hardly the actions of a Phoenixer. We encourage grouping with your guildmates. Additionally, we may occasionally have guild hunts; where a higher level guild member will buff, heal and pull for a group of guild members. These forms of grouping promote the sense of family we endeavor to impart, and pose little danger to the growth of the player. We expect any guild member with the means to power-level their own characters, or the characters of others, to maintain a healthy understanding of the risks involved in power-levelling a character. These same expectations apply to twinking - defined as outfitting characters beyond their means.

  • Don't treat rezzers/porters/buffers like a hospitality service. Requests for things like ports and binds and such in guildchat are ok, but if no one responds, please take that to mean no one is available and <gasp> maybe try to buy one from a passerby in your zone. Don't spam guildchat about it. Asking for these services too much is pretty much the same as begging. In particular, if you need a port to a raid or other guild event, all accommodations will be reasonably provided.

  • Grouping:
    Group with and help your Guildmates whenever possible: The camaraderie and safety found in your own family is innumerable even in death. I would seek out a Guildmate or Guild hunt before grouping with non-Guildmates. We have some of the best people in Norrath, what better way to get to know them than to group with them.

  • Help your guildmates. If someone asks for help in guildchat, for a messy corpse retrieval or for quest help for example, try to come to their aid if at all possible. It is also better to plan any quests or events ahead of time to give people notice. What goes around comes around - when you need your corpse pulled out of a lava flow people will remember if you helped them before. Conversely, if people can't come that minute, don't take it personally and try to respect their time - they are here to play too.

  • Learn to be a powerful asset: Learn Norrath, look at maps, do quests, research things, group with Guildmates, ask questions. The best way to learn is to ask, if someone does not know we could probably point you to somewhere to find the information. After awhile you will be able to share this knowledge. There are some things that we will not be able to teach you, and that is playing/learning your character with its limitations and weaknesses. You do not know how important this is until you get in your 20s and someone in the group does not know how to auto-split, pull, park, or even use groupsay.

  • Do not use Guild Chat to air any disagreements you may have with other members - keep these issues strictly to Tells.

  • Involve Officers when appropriate: I think if people are courteous and respectful, disputes with other people inside guild, with other guilds, and other people should be a rare occurrence. As such, I won’t go into this in any more detail.

  • If you get something you don't need, consider giving it to the guild (or at least selling it to a guildmate at a reduced rate). If you get a nice item that your class can't use, what is better - making a small pile of plat, or helping a guildmate who could use the item?

 

 Recruitment

Our guild is based on camaraderie of family and friends and in a nutshell, to have fun. There are other guilds out there who wish to invite everybody and anybody into their fold. We are simply not one of those guilds. As such, membership can only be granted to a potential member after being sponsored by a member in good standing and with the support of at least 3 guild officers. People should realize that people have friends and family that simply won’t work out with the guild and not take it as a personal affront that they do not work out for our guild. Personally, I have a RL friend on the Rathe that I hang out with, but would never consider having him join the guild; I just know that he wouldn’t work out.

All new members have a probationary period of at minimum of one month. This time is dependant on how frequent the person is online as a guild member. At this time, the only limitations that a probationary member suffers at this time is that they cannot sponsor a potential candidate or may be required to leave the guild if 3 or more guild officers consider a member’s conduct to not be a proper fit for the guild without the need for prior warnings or by first placing the member on suspension. Since recruitment is based on family/friend relationships that occur in real life and in-game, dismissing such a person from the guild can be straining. We all have to realize that people behave differently and although you are a welcome addition to the guild, your friend or family member may not work out. One possible and non-drastic solution for you to keep in touch with a friend that is not a Phoenixer would be to set up a personal chat channel that you use the /autojoin command to always be  part of.

 

 FINAL WORD

In closing, just as we support each other in game play and fun, we also strongly support people to fulfill their real life obligations. I just thought it important that we are all abundantly clear of the big picture.


 Scott Marcellus
sjmarcellus@9thdimension.net

Copyright © 2003 The Secret Order of the Phoenix Guild on the Rathe Server
Last modified: 11/17/03