1. Social Rules

[Plukette]

1. The Social Rules of Blackrock Diving School

Blackrock Diving School is defined as a " Social Raiding Guild ". There are several things that makes BDS different from other raiding guilds and communities and our social rules are one of them. Being an experienced raider will not be enough to pass our trial period, you will also have to follow and maintain the social rules of the guild. If you think that the rules presented below are just to hard for you to follow, then you should not apply to BDS. Lack of social interaction and breaking of the rules will ultimately lead to exclusion.

By following the social rules, you help create and preserve the atmosphere that is so special for BDS and that we all love. The rules are not absolutes, but largely combine to represent a guidance document. Guild removal or failed trials will happen with consideration of failure to match up to, over a course of time and in relative balance, several of these targets below. This series of rules acts as a companion to the raiding rules and requirements, and both should be read together.

1.1. Try to greet fellow Divers when you log on and wish them good night when you log off. Even though it is such a small thing to do, saying hello and goodbye shows your fellow guildies that you care and adds to the welcoming feeling.

1.2. Be conscious of the way you use text speak. A smiley can do wonders. Online environment is by nature text-based and we have no means to assess another person's body language or tone of voice. A smiley here and there makes your intentions more clear and can save another person lot of grief due to wondering it you were irritated at him/her or not. You can never use to many smileys.

1.3. Help your fellow Divers . Being helpful is a big part of being a Diver. You don't have to drop everything you have in hand to instantly help a fellow guildie, but you are expected to take part of activities that help others as well as yourself. Constantly ignoring requests for help are regarded as a major violation of the rules.

1.4. With this in mind, be responsive in guildchat. You are not expected to always keep an eye on guild chat and take part in every single activity that might be going on in there. If you see a request for help though, try to respond to it, even if it's only to say that you don't have time or you don't know the answer to the question asked. Try to respond publically, both in part to demonstrate you are contributing to the guild and also to contribute to a helpful guildchat environment. Publically responding to help requests will encourage more people to ask, which will enhance our social framework, Persistant requests for help with no response can make a person feel very isolated and damage social cohesion and atmosphere.

1.5. Avoid forming clique (selective, or exclusive) groups . Always grouping with the same people creates an atmosphere of division and damages the overall sense of unity and purpose within the guild. No one will penalise you for wanting to play with your closest friends, but making it a habit to never group with anyone outside your closest circle will eventually lead to isolation and a feeling that there is a guild within the guild. Make it a habit to ask for and respond to help from others than those you normally instance or quest with from time to time.

1.6. As part of this, we will be looking to ensure all members are involved in at least one guild run a week . The proceeds are sent to the bank (in terms of shards or gold). This will be a requirement of membership with BDS, and officers will be tasked with ensuring the guild is participating in these.

1.7. Keep guildchat alive . We won't try to control the use of voice communications but your membership of BDS requires you to contribute something to the atmosphere in the text-based guildchat, as it will remain our social hub. Taking part in discussions and playful activities in guildchat is highly recommended. If you are shy by nature, we won´t try to force you to sit and ramble. Showing that you are there however, and interacting with your fellow guildies adds to the warm environment that is a part of BDS.

1.8. Keep guildchat (relatively) clean . We have an 18+ age limit for a reason. Guildchat can be smutty at times but any adult discussion should be held in good spirits and extremes (either in terms of swearing or smut) should be avoided, along with persistance on these themes. Those being smutty needs to be conscious of others' feelings while those who are uncomfortable with smut might want to increase their tolerance level a bit and remember we are an adult and open-minded guild. There is a balance to everything and all we ask is for you to use that thing between your ears called a brain.

1.9. Avoid overly controversial or contentious topic matter in guildchat . It may not be the place to express your long standing facist sympathies, or on a more serious and possible note, your covert sexist, homophobic or racist sentiments. Likewise however, it is not a place to flaunt the opposite extreme and demand liberalism of all members. We are all different, with different experience and belief. All we are aiming to do is get along and express our commonalities, not our differences in an antagonistic fashion.

1.10. Read the forums. This goes without saying. The forums are the centrepiece of information, and prevent guild leaders having to repeat information. They are also a constructive place for discussion. It is a requirement and there will be activity checks. Missing activity checks and posts that ask for a response, especially from your direct area leaders, will be considered a violation of the rules and could lead to an exclusion from the guild. While only reading is mandatory, writing is highly recommended. Communication is vital in a guild and posting shows that you understand it.

1.11. Keep officers informed of problems or changes in a mature fashion . We cannot address something we don't know about. You don't need to make a public post if you don't want to, a simple whisper will do.

1.12. To balance this, have understanding for the lead . Be that guild lead or raid lead. In all cases, the leaders take on additional responsibility so that you don't have to do the mundane stuff. We will never be perfect but we do our best to ensure fairness and transparency in accordance with the guild rules. Complaining publically, being inconsiderate of timing and manner of approach when raising issues with guild officers or GM, will be looked badly upon, because eventually this can very negatively effect the gaming experience of the officers. Officers work hard for the guild which means they cannot always entertain your particular needs and requirements. Instead you are requested to constantly approach this maturely, considerate of the fact that the combining of many different people with many different interests requires significant compromise from all parties, officers, GM AND members included in this.

1.13. Behave in decent fashion outside the guild . Always be a good representative for BDS. In short, this means, treat others the way you wish to be treated. No corpse camping in pvp, no ninja looting, no spamming of general channels with idiotic comments etc etc. Again, use your brain.

1.14. Avoid whinging and bringing too much RL to the guild communications . We all have moments when we feel down and unhappy about things and we naturally want support in those moments. Keep in mind though that exessive whinging saps morale and easily creates irritation. Officers will work to avoid an "emo" culture as this can grow irritating and frustrating. We are often here to escape real life, and whilst as friends, we hope to offer support to each other, please keep in mind not everyone wants to hear your life's woes. This doesn't make people uncaring or unsupportive, but there is a limit with all these things. As with everything, try to keep a mature balance, recognising that the support of BDS is often in its distractive powers, and appreciate that to allow everyone to enjoy that to the maximum, you must avoid excessive drama.

Any violation of the social rules, that results in an official warning from the officers, should be taken seriously. If improvements are not made by the warned guild member, the lead will have a meeting where the members future in BDS will be determined.


These rules are signed by every member of Blackrock Diving School