A Positive Guild Environment
Our definition of a positive guild environment is where our members strive to maintain a friendly and enjoyable online playing experience not only for themselves but the guild as a whole. For most, the following guidelines will represent common sense values and courteous behavior that you already apply to your daily lives which easily transfers over into your WoW character lives. For anyone wishing to apply for membership into our guild or guild members wishing to remain in good standing, these guidelines should be taken as golden rules to live by if you wish to remain a member of Sagacious Sovereingnty for any length of time.
Common Courtesy
It can be easy to forget that there is a real person behind the characters that we play, but we expect our members to keep this foremost in their minds. This means we will not tolerate callous remarks, open insults or veiled slights about a player or their playing skill. Also, while we encourage good natured bantering it is important to know when to joke, who you know well enough to joke with or about, and to not let a joke end up hurting someone's feelings or become offensive. Inappropriate remarks or slurs about race, religion, etc. that would obviously be found offensive to fellow guild members is also not tolerated. However, calling our raid leader Masse "the driver of the short bus" may be considered acceptable as long as you are a willing passenger on that same bus. The general rule of thumb here is respect your fellow guild members in an effort for everyone to get along and have a good time playing the game.
Maturity
You must be 18 years of age to join Sagacious Sovereignty. One reason for this restriction can be viewed similar to a motion picture rating where the movie may include adult themes, language, intense or persistent violence (we are killing mobs doh), sexually-oriented nudity (we can't help it when the game bugs), drug abuse...or at least the occassional comment that may be made containing some of these mature subject matters. Another reason for this age restricition is in hopes that our member base will be of a level of maturity to conduct themselves appropriately amongst their peers, i.e. not become too rude or crude within the realm of these adult themes, be able to control any sudden urges to throw temper tantrums, the ability to not have to go AFK in the middle of a raid because mom said it was bath time, and in general be mature adults that exercise good common sense a majority of the time.
Attitude
We would like our guild members to strive to maintain positive gaming attitudes. This means that greedy, unfriendly and/or hostile attitudes will not be tolerated. Everyone wants to get the phat lewts, but continually whining about not getting the gear you want, begging to get something, or having a bad attitude when someone else gets an item is considered inappropriate behavior from our guild members. We expect our guild members to work as a team so that the guild as a whole benefits from the gear we get during raids. We have a loot distribution system in place in an effort to make getting gear as fair as possible, however there may be times when someone lower on the totem pole might better benefit from receiving an item so that they can contribute more during future raids. We expect our guild members to have a generous attitude and awareness for when those situations might occur and take it upon themselves to pass when they see more benefit for someone else than themselves.
Additionally, we expect our guild members to help one another during non-raid times as well when possible. Since we are a casual raiding guild, some of our members may be unable to put in the hours of playing time that their fellow guild members are capable of being online or they simply joined the guild without having had the opportunity to experience some earlier raid content. During non-raid times, we hope that our members will get together on their own to do things like heroics or quests in order to help these players obtain gear that could be useful prior to obtaining gear from the higher level raid content.
In general, we expect our guild members to maintain friendly, helpful attitudes and keep bad behavior/bad attitudes that would generate unwanted drama out of the game and out of our guild.
Raid Etiquette
There is a certain amount of raid ettiquette that should be observed from our guild members. What this means is that there is typically a raid leader appointed for our scheduled guild raids and there is generally at least one officer, and in most cases the guild master as well, included in the raid party. The raid leader is the player who will be directing the raid. This means that the raid leader will organize the groups and direct the players as to what he/she feels their roles should be at any given time during the raid. The raid leader may elect to be the loot master for the raid or another officer may be asked to perform the task. Drops that are not wanted or cannot be used by anyone in the raid party will be disenchanted to fund the guild bank, and typically there is an officer appointed to handle that task as well.
The raid leader will be the one to decide what to pull, when to pull and how to pull it. What this means is that how we handle a particular boss mob is at the discretion of the raid leader. We realize that there are often times when there are several ways a certain raid boss can be handled. However, for some of the older raid content or content that we have become adept at doing, we tend to stick with handling that content in a tried and true manner that has worked for us. Which means we don't see the need to fix something that isn't broke and deviate from what we have found works just because a new member comes along and has done it differently. That doesn't mean we aren't open to suggestions or new ideas, especially on newer untried content, but we do expect our members to offer those ideas and suggestions in an appropriate manner. Typically this means when the raid leader asks for suggestions, feel free to give them. If you have a suggestion that hasn't been asked for then feel free to bring it up before the fight. However, it is up to the raid leader if he/she decides to try things as has been suggested. It is never appropriate, under any circumstances, to bring the raid down by making disparaging remarks about how things are being done, about how any or all party members are failing, or continually oppose the decisions made by the raid leader. If you feel strongly enough about something then the appropriate means by which to get it heard would be in a private tell to the raid leader or perhaps even arrange a time after the raid to talk about it with the raid leader and/or guild officers.
All guild raids are conducted on Ventrilo and members must use it to at least hear the directions given during the raid. We strongly encourage and expect our members to become comfortable talking on Ventrilo as it is the most convenient and effective means by which to conduct raids, and there may be times when vocal responses are necessary during the boss fights. We realize that the banter and joking done on Ventrilo and Raid Chat during a raid also makes for a more enjoyable experience. However, we expect our guild members to use discretion and limit the general banter during boss fights. If at any time the raid leader or any member of the raid calls for closed comms, this means that all unnecessary, unfight related chatter on both Ventril and the Raid Channel should cease until the end of the fight. If you cannot abide by this rule, do not be surprised if the guild master decides to mute your speaking privileges on Ventrilo and/or the raid leader decides to boot you from the raid.
In general, we expect our guild members to respect the decisions made by the raid leader and/or officers during raids. We expect the same courtesy and maturity from our members during raids as we do all other times. We expect our members to strive to make and keep guild raids positive and enjoyable. Above all, we expect our guild members to understand that guild raids aren't always successful, are usually gold/time sinks, and that these efforts may only be rewarded at various times by the continued respect and appreciation of their fellow guild members and officers. If those rewards aren't enough for you, then Sagacious Sovereignty is not the guild for you.
Guild Officers
The heirarchy of Sagacious Sovereignty is pretty simple. We have our GM or Empress, also known as Kimtoes. Her second in command, or Raid King, is Tyav. We then have various members whose rank of officer is denoted by the title of Raid Prince. Guild Members with the rank of Raiding Duke are members in good standing who are level 80, are actively participating in guild raids, and have been granted access to make withdrawels from the guild bank. The other ranks below those mentioned are at the whim of the GM and at the time of this writing we are uncertain as to what they mean exactly or if any additional restrictions apply to them. Personally, we think that she just thought they looked pretty.
It is important to note that Sagacious Sovereignty is not a democracy. The policies and rules of the guild are decided by the GM and her second, who may or may not elect to listen to the counsel of their officers and/or poll the opinions of their guild members. However, the policies and rules that are implemented have always been in keeping with the best interest of the guild and its members at heart. We believe our members will find the guild leadership strives for fairness and has a very open door policy with regards to listening to any opinions, suggestions and/or complaints from its members.
Grievances
There isn't any formal method by which to report a grievance regarding guild policy, player conflicts, or when the pudding of the day isn't the right flavor. However, there are several appropriate methods by which to do so and we expect our members to observe them. First, we would rather see a matter directed to our attention privately, whenever possible, so as to not disrupt the guild as a whole unless it becomes or is deemed necessary. This means if a member has a problem they should speak privately with an officer or the GM/Second, rather than blurt it out on Ventrilo or post an open message on the forum. Bringing up issues at a guild meeting is also acceptable, if it is regarding a general issue that will be unlikely to create unnecessary guild drama or hurt feelings. If the problem is with another player, we would prefer some attempt be made to privately work the problem out between yourselves as mature adults whenever possible. However, when it becomes impossible, then the next step should be to speak privately with an officer or the GM/Second. This does not mean to come to us with complaints of general dislike of another player based on benign differing personalities or because a player's skill isn't up to your standards, etc., but rather if that player is exhibiting behavior that goes against guild policy or that is detrimental to the guild image and its unity as a whole.
In general, when in doubt as to how to appropriately be heard or resolve an issue, speak privately with an officer for their advice or speak directly with the GM/Second.
Guild Bank
There are certain policies regarding the use of our guild bank that should be pointed out and observed by our members. It should be noted that the bank tabs have specific names and deposited items should be placed under the appropriate tab whenever possible. In addition, please do not deposit items that won't ultimately be useful for raids, enhancing gear, gearing up alts, or as materials to make those types of items. If you have unwanted gear or items that are unlikely to be used by other guild members or you see haven't been used after a considerable amount of time, we would ask that you remove it, disenchant it and deposit the components, or sell it on the AH and deposit the gold if you wish to make a contribution. Please don't simply leave it in the bank as clutter for the officers to sort through and deal with on your behalf. However, if you plan to withdraw a considerable number of items from the guild bank for the purpose of cleaning up or any other purpose that might be considered suspect, please let the officers know so that they don't summon in the guild police.
It is important to note that the items under the Raid Prep tabs are expensive and time consuming to make, and therefore should be taken and used specifically for scheduled guild raids. This means they are not there for personal use while running quests or lower level instances, etc. Similarly, there is a set amount of gold made available to guild members from the guild bank for repairs. This gold is meant to help offset the burden of repairs during scheduled raids and should not be used for repairs from personal questing. Please take note of our guild bank balance whenever you make repairs and whenever possible cover some of these costs yourself, especially if the guild is struggling financially. In addition, if you wish to withdraw additional gold to purchase materials to make items for Raid Prep you must be given permission by the GM/Second before doing so. Additionally, high end level items such as purples, abyss crystals, etc., that have been placed in the guild bank from raids should not be considered common property. If you have an interest in using these items or would like to offer to AH them for guild funds then you should contact the GM/Second for permission prior to making a withdrawel.
In general, use of the guild bank should be viewed with a "put in what you take out" attitude. This means that if you choose to accept the generosity of your fellow guild members efforts and items they have deposited for gearing up your alts, enhancing your gear with gems or enchantments, or leveling up your professions that you also generously deposit items that could be useful to other guild members in return. It is not mandatory that you deposit items or gold in the guild bank, however all contributions are appreciated and will be used to benefit the guild and its members.
We have tried to cover the basics with regards to those areas we feel the cooperation of our members is essential for providing a positive guild environment. We also hope these guidelines will provide our members and prospective members with a better understanding of what is expected of them and what they can expect in return from being a member of Sagacious Sovereignty. We, of course, invite any and all comments and suggestions on these guidelines if we missed an important topic area or any of these policies still remain unclear.
