Keepers of the Glade

Tenants of the Keepers

1. First and foremost, a Keeper of the Glade is an honest, honorable, and just person. There are times when it becomes tempting to take advantage of a situation. There are times when you might feel justified in lying to others. But a Keeper remembers always that being good and trustworthy is the only way to act with others. Let those who are troubled and confused be the ones to betray, lie, and cheat. We walk a different road.
   
2. Tentanda Via. The way must be tried. This is the motto we live by. Rangers have always had a difficult path, and yet many of us have walked it. This philosophy extends into our other forms as well. We must always try, and give our all to the cause. No matter if the cause is a raid, a campaign for class balance, or the defense of those who have been wronged by others. Keepers will always stay the course.
   
3. Courtesy is of utmost importance in the lands of Norrath. A Keeper remembers that they are not always alone, and that others may have feelings which conflict with those around them. Being respectful to a point, a Keeper is ever mindful of the fact that while sometimes people do overreact, there will be times when they themselves have made a mistake. Admitting this fault and moving past it is by far the best for everyone.
   1. A Keeper watches their language on public channels. Though cursing may be allowed within our guild, or in your group, the public methods of communication should be kept relatively clean.
   2. Annoyances should be minimized at all times. A conversation only of interest to two people should be taken to /tell. Auctioning more than once every 5 or 10 minutes for the same purpose is excessive. Inappropriate emotes should be curtailed when around strangers.
   3. Disputes should be settled in private. "/shout Angull is a KSer" is not mature or appropriate. If you need advice, ask your guildmates, because they'll be more than happy to assist you.
      
4. We are a community, and all are expected to pull together like one. There is no room for the recluse within our ranks, and thus we expect to hear from every member when they're around. As well, all folks are expected to be active in reading and posting on the guild message boards. Important information is often available in the forums, and it is greatly important that the guild leadership be able to hear opinions from everyone.
   1. Post in the raids forum with your opinions and availability. We need to know these things in order to have the most chance of succeeding at a raid. Plus it's a chance for you to chime in about any quest items lying around the target you might want to get!
   2. Post when something funny happens! Or when you get something you're proud of! But let your fellows know how things are going, because we're all in this together.
      
5. "Gray Areas" often exist in games. Some of these we have to address as policy for the Keepers of the Glade. Bear in mind that guild policy is broad, and if you step outside of it on these issues, there may be problems. Pay special attention to the following issues, as they are quite important to many people.
   1. Twinking is acceptable within reason. It is inappropriate to hand a <insert UBER weapon> won at a guild raid to your brother's 6th level warrior when a long time guildmate who is 40th level could better put it to use. In addition, no twink or secondary shall take precidence over the primary character of a guildmate. If you raid Mistmoore with your Secondary 28th level warrior, and a guildmate's primary 25th level ranger is there, the Ranger is getting a fang drop. Don't even ask to roll. The bottom line and rule to live by is: Twinking is acceptable as long as it does not interferre with other people enjoying the game and receiving what they have earned.
   2. Powerlevelling should not be confused with powergaming. Powerlevelling is having outside help in attaining levels, whereas powergaming is an attempt to play extremely hard in order to advance, usually for great periods of time. Neither of these things are frowned upon, except for when your powerlevelling hinders others. An example would be an area with 12 spawns, with a pair of folks killing, and another two in a powerlevelling setup. The powerlevelling group would be entitiled to only four of the spawns, not six, because only one individual would be gaining the experience, while the partnership had two. In addition, if you are taking a whole spawn to powerlevel, and somebody else would like to hunt there, it's only appropriate that you move if they persist in their request. Again, the basic rule of thumb: Powerlevelling is acceptable so long as it does not harm the enjoyment of the game for others. But note: Begging for a PL is not appropriate in the guild as it has been found to be a source of irritation. If a guildmate offers to powerlevel you, fine. But asking for a powerlevel in guild chat is to be discouraged.
   3. Ebay sale of items and accounts is illegal according to the license agreement. Guild policy prohibits the sale of items, as those should be given back to the guild itself. Violations of the rule against items sales will result in removal from the Keepers of the Glade. Accounts sold on ebay will be dropped from the guild and blacklisted in every location the leadership sees appropriate. There are no exceptions to this rule.
      
6. Roleplaying is encouraged. We'd love it if everyone roleplayed most of the time and was usually talking in character. But, we know it won't happen, thus it's perfectly acceptable if you do not roleplay, and rather just wish to enjoy the game.
   
7. Anonymous tag is not appropriate for regular use. There's typically no reason to hide yourself from guildmates or to hide your affiliation with the Keepers of the Glade. As a matter of course, it's expected that you will not use the Anon tag with any frequency. Use of the /roleplay tag is acceptable.
   
8. We live in an imaginary world, and as such, it's expected that we'll try to maintain some kind of an illusion of fantasy. Even though other people may deliberately try to disrupt the flow of the fantasy world, members of the guild should strive to keep the illusion alive.
   1. Use of say, shout, and emote for out of character purposes is discouraged. The /ooc channel, /grouptalk, /guildsay or /tell should suffice for communicating things not related to Norrath. Very private situations with friends might fall outside of this, but it's generally better to keep such out of character conversations and activities in appropriate channels. You never know when someone invisible is behind you, after all.
   2. Names you use should be relatively "fantastic", or at the very least in keeping with the spirit of the game. Any names which are "inappropriate" should be changed with the assistance of a SOE employee. This doesn't mean simple names with some tie to real life, but is rather aimed at blatantly phrased "modernisms", vulgarities, and such. (e.g. Presid Entbush, Whac Koff, etc.)
   3. When interacting with people, keep an eye out for names which violate the naming conventions, and please /petition to have them changed. Though not all names which violate SOE's conventions will be so eye-catching that you feel the need to speak up, there will be blatant breaches which policy encourages you to report. This is one way in which we can make the game a better place, and it takes very little time. The naming convention may be found in detail here.
      
9. Discipline is important, and in order to maintain it, the Keepers of the Glade have a strict warnings system. Any issue which is a serious matter (including violations of the charter, raid, and loot rules) will be dealt with by an officer in private with the member(s) involved. Most likely there will be a log of the conversation which takes place, and this information will be kept by a designated officer. In the event of an individual collecting 3 warnings within 6 months, a hearing will be held by the Officer Council in order to entertain possible dismissal. During the preceedings, an officer may accompany the member to stand as a character witness should they so choose. Please be aware that at any time during a probationary period for a new member, a single warning may be enough to dismiss a member. In addition, some issues may be so overwhelmingly unpleasant (explicit harassment, racism, etc.) that an officer may remove the offending member on the spot.

Original Written by the Former Guild Master Gladesman.