Signum Incognitus: Code of Conduct

Cliff Notes Code of Conduct
(or, “did you read the whole Illiad, or just the little yellow book?”)

Respect. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Sock it to me!
Seriously, that's it. Respect others. Respect the guild. Respect yourself (note: different from “respec;” you don’t apply 5 talent points to Self-Actualization and to Improved Self-Worth). Now if you are thinking, “hmmm that sounds lax” or “sounds like a lotta loopholes I can exploit” then read on.

Respect (Golden Rule)
As above, all our policies have one basic, underlying feature: respect your fellow players, guild members, and the guild as a whole. This includes treating others as you’d like to be treated, and being a responsible, accountable member of both our little community and the WoW community as a whole.

Human Basics
We firmly believe the rules of human behavior still apply in this game. You wouldn’t stand outside a Walmart with a megaphone and following people around demanding money: don’t do it in game. Harrassment, slurs, fraud, language, hacks… all the prohibited things spelled out in the Blizzard Terms of Service and End User License Agreement are not allowed, and will result in disciplinary action or a kick.

Language
We don't mind a bit of swearing, but sexual, racial, religious, or other slurs that can be construed as offensive will result in a warning.

Guild Representation
When you run around Azeroth, you’ve got our nametag above your head. That means what you do publicly reflects on everyone else in the guild. This becomes extremely important as we all gain levels, because the higher you get the more people you need to play with in groups and raids. If you give us a bad name, disciplinary action will result (see above Walmart example).

Looting Policy
Very basic looting principle: need before greed. In groups, the person who can use the item as an upgrade, and whose class the item suits, should get the item over someone who is intending to sell it. The new 1.7 patch has made this extremely easy with the "need" or "greed" buttons. See the Loot Guide for more details. Multiple warnings about this policy will eventually lead to a kick.

“Ninja Looting” Policy
We feel the damning phrase “ninja looter” is a very vague term. It started in reference to someone stealing a chest while others are fighting, and has developed to mean anyone who rolls on an item someone else wanted. As a result, the phrase can potentially be very damaging to a player’s reputation for nebulous reasons. For better or for ill, it also damages the player’s guild reputation. That said, if a player develops a pattern of personal greed over community (see looting policy above), then warnings, followed by harsher disciplinary action, will result.

Begging
You can ask for things in guild chat within reason, but please don’t ask repeatedly. It puts unfair pressure on the guild to give/help you with things they may not have the means or time to do. In general, everyone will be willing to give you a hand if you ask ahead of time, but pulling them away from what they were doing isn’t fair. Public begging, of course, constitutes giving us a bad name (see above).

Mithril Rule
Do not spill your drink while playing. It will damage your keyboard, and potentially cause your character to do erractic movements and spells. Hysteric laughter is not an excuse! We will punish severely those who break this rule.

Griefing
No griefing, corpse camping, or otherwise interfering in others’ gameplay… we consider these to fall under harassment, as stated above. Since we are on a PvE server, there are those (including Horde) who are here simply to do questing—respect them as a fellow player, even if you can’t talk to them.

Also please be aware that /spitting on Horde corpses is considered extremely rude. Yet dancing on them is okay. Go figure!

Fun
You are required to have fun. If you think the above rules make it impossible for you to have fun, you should probably rethink guilds. The fun rule also applies to real life — having your actual life fall to pieces over a game isn’t fun either (playing with some moderation is healthier!) Unfortunately, this rule isn’t enforceable by anyone but you… Blizzard hasn’t put in the fun meters we’ve been requesting, so you need to police yourself carefully.

Guild Legal SystemBreaking a rule will result in a warning, demotion or being kicked out. The exact action will vary according to the situation. Being kicked out only happens with gross misconduct or multiple warnings. At minimum of two officers must agree and no single officer may disagree to remove a member from the guild (i.e. if any officer doesn’t think you should be kicked, you won’t be; and no single officer can make the decision alone).

Disciplinary Action
Our guild gives 2 warnings, and the third will result in a vote by the officers for removal from the guild. If a vote needs to be called more than once, it's an automatic kick. It is very rare for any of our officers to say, "Do not do this," so please take heed if they do.

MIA Policy
You don’t need to log in all the time, but we do feel it is a common courtesy to show up once a in a while, so we know you haven’t abandoned us. If you’re MIA for 4 months, we’re going to assume you’ve found other pastures and will remove you from the guild. Message one of the officers or veterans if you’d like to rejoin us.

Personal Disputes
If you are having a dispute with someone in the guild, please keep it in /tells and not in public chat, guild chat, or the forums. If you would like a mediator, ask an officer and a separate channel will be created to discuss the issue. If you have a complaint against someone, please see “Complaints Against Guild Members” below.

Public Forums
Please refrain from posting in a public forum (e.g. the WoW Aggramar forum) to complain about others. Standard procedure is to find out who a player’s Guild Master is, and make a complaint directly to them, or to a Game Master if the complaint is serious (i.e, they are in violation of the Blizzard TOS).

If you’d like to defend the guild itself in the forums, please run your post by the Guild Master first. In our experience these kinds of posts usually create greater animosity, never solve anything, and are usually instigated by those who are trying to troll. We can’t exactly enforce this, but please be aware that you are publicly speaking for the entire guild when posting.

Complaints Against Guild Members
We’d love to not need this section at all, however we’ve found in the past it is necessary. If anyone has a complaint about a member of this guild, please send e-mail to sorcerra@gmail.com. If you have screenshots, please enclose them as evidence of said complaint, along with a detailed description of what the person was doing, and we will investigate further.