The Circle's Memorandum
Put simply, this is the “terms and conditions” that you agree to upon being accepted as a member of our gaming community. All new members are expected to have read, understood and agreed to the content below – if something crops up and forces us to take action, not knowing it was in here is no excuse!
About you - what we are looking for!
An ideal applicant to our group is not the one with the essay about his character, or the one with all the top end gear, or the one with over 9000 arena rating – it's the one that does an application with more than just “Yes I have read the memorandum”, a person that already lives in tune with it, and sees it not as a wall of text, to be read and head nodded curtly, but more of a “moral code” of the more well intended members of society.
- We're not really interested in raiders that push higher numbers than everyone else every time, but refuse to acknowledge the fact that mistakes happen.
- We're not interested in RP-ers that actively create big story-lines for everyone on the server, but rages endlessly in /g when someone says their when it should have been they're.
- We're not interested in PvP-ers with gladiator-titles from three seasons and social antennas rivalling only a pile of dirty laundry.
However we ARE interested in;
- Raiders that perform perhaps less than average, but makes every mistake once, and only once, and takes advice to improve.
- RP-ers that instead of raging at mistakes, helps the person that makes them avoid it in the future, and gives advice instead of insults.
- PvP'ers that wouldn't mind bringing a mostly incompetent numpty like me in a 3v3 setup, and laughs at my inevitable mistakes instead
of blaming me for losing points.
What does this mean? that we're looking for the people that are just GOOD PEOPLE, regardless of their skills in any given other area. The ones who are that special kind of enjoyable company, with helpful, patient and tolerant demeanors, good humor and a loyalty to their friends and guildies. If a person has all of these qualities but bad RP-skills, then that is the least of our problems - RP can be worked on if the individual desires, the rest is already gold quality material!
General:
- Treat all guild, and non guild members with the respect and attitude that you yourself would wish to be treated with. This includes all matters of gameplay, from social interactions to looting, buffing and fair play. Things like corpse camping (don't), ninjaing items (this is bad too, don't do it) all fall under this rule. This is not an exhaustive list - think before doing something, and if you wouldn't want it done to yourself - don't do it!
- In guild chat and all other channels, think before speaking – rudeness, excessive swearing and bad manners do not belong here – keep in mind that some of our members may be younger than yourself.
- Check in on the forums from time to time – we won't enforce browsing them but many raids and social events are posted on them, for all to see, so you'll be missing out if you don't! Also fun items and the chance to get to know your fellow guildies are all valid reasons for looking, too.
- Be willing to help when other members have questions, or problems. This includes advice on playing the game, playing their class or any technical question. Help your friends and they'll help you back.
- Be generous. If you find something that you know a guild member will enjoy, share. If not, consider donating it to the guild bank, it may be good for levelling trade skills and professions.
- Holidays & periods of inaction: If you expect to be inactive or on holidays for a period of time greater than a few weeks, please make a post on the Vacations section of the forum so that people know you will be absent and will not remove you from the guild or demote you from the raiding status. Otherwise you may be assumed to have stopped playing WoW. If over a month passes without word or notice at all, you will highly likely find yourself guildless when you return.
Participation in events (Raid/Rp/other):
- We aim to allow all types of players to have fun as a community. Therefore we do not enforce raid attendance to be in the Circle. We do expect those that raid to adhere to the raiding rules set out in the appropriate subforums! They boil down to: be prepared, don't get cranky if we run into setbacks, and respect the raid leaders.
- The success of a raid team depends on everyone having a calm, collected attitude when raiding – wipes will happen, don't get disheartened! Never be afraid to voice your opinion constructively if you think you can see something that's been missed, we're all only human after all!
- Do not fill the raid chat with inane chat that will obscure important orders from the raid leader. Work as part of the team and you will be more likely to survive the raid and have a great new item in your inventory. Remember that you are capable of making another player's session fun or frustrating and play accordingly.
- We strongly encourage members to create their own RP events, and the guild will create events if interest permits. We do not force members to RP, but we do expect you to follow the server ruleset installed by Blizzard, namely full In Character (IC) chat in public channels (/say and /yell). If you're not sure about what this means, ask an officer before your interview. Our guild chat is not in character, so you can be your own, wonderful self there!
- Raids are posted on Discord for all to see. Signups happen through Discord!
- We ask that all members have a suitable name for a roleplay environment, even if they don't actively roleplay themselves. The name should at least be confirm with Blizzard's policies and generally make sense. As we are on an RP server, our policy is to support and comply with Blizzard's naming policy for such servers although we acknowledge that Blizzard is sometimes lax in upholding this policy themselves. If names are deemed offensive, out-of-character or don't adhere to the spirit of the rules we will bring up the issue. If you've chosen such a name, we will probably ask you to get a name change before entering the guild. Our current stance on this is that if you put in a ticket and Blizzard doesn't agree with a free name change due to your non-compliant name, you're probably allowed to keep it as it is. Exceptions might be made for offensive names.
General rules
- Using the forums: You have a membership to our guild forums, so make good use of it. The officers expect you to check them for news and events – don't rely on being told in game, that is what the forums are for.
- Guild bank: Feel free to ask any officer if you would like an item from the guild bank. Everything is free, but we ask that you exercise restraint in requesting a lot of one item, or expensive materials. Do not ask for things to sell, they are for use only. Also do not put mundane or uninteresting items in the bank, only useful items please, else they will be removed and deleted.
- Removing people from the guild: As this guild is set up for professional & good mannered players we do not expect to have much need for removing members. New recruits are under testing and may be removed if they fail to meet the guild requirements. In the rare case where a member blatantly violates what is stated in this memorandum, they are given a warning by the officers. They can then remove them if the behaviour does not improve.
- Guild hierarchy: The GM will be running the guild and making the major administrative decisions. The officers are there for support & suggestions. Minor, or medium changes will always be agreed upon by at least two or more officers before put into action. No change in the guild will be made on the initiative of one single officer. The officers and GM are there to help & organize the activities. They are not getting any money for it and it is a very frustrating position at times so annoy them at your own risk. Officers do not enjoy any special privileges, and are equal to normal members, don't be afraid to talk to them!
- Membership: To be accepted as a member of the guild (squire) you must follow the procedures as outlined in the application guidelines.(see our application section). An interview will take place before final approval. Then there is a two week period of probation where new recruits have to prove that they belong with us and that we can all get along fine. After the probation period is over, and if you're still with us, you will be promoted to member status.
- Mains and alts: Guild members are expected to keep their active characters in the circle. When a member has an alt on the horde side he/she is expected to keep from their horde friends any world activity the circle plans. If a member is suspect of not adhering to this he will removed until proven innocent. If a member removes a very active character without notice he/she will be assumed leaving and consequently all other characters will be removed. An important point to make is that your "main" is classed as a toon that spend the most time on or your highest rated raiding toon. We expect you to keep your "main" active in the Circle at all times. Active progression raiding with another guild or group is considered to be against the spirit of the Circle's values and will result in removal from the Guild.
The circle's ranking system
Squire - Newly invited players on Probation.
Citizen - The alts rank.
Spartan - Main characters.
Elder Council - Guild members who offer a good part of their soul in supporting the guild. The ones the officers turn to for support, advice and to scrutinise their mad ideas.
Officer - The main officer ranks, the people who deal with all the poo.
Archon - Our leader. Collects all the poo flung at the officers and turn it into fertilizer.
The Spirit of Sparta - Our mythical leaders, the moon and the sun