Insomniax Guild Rules
v1.1 – 12/12/09

Table of Contents
1. Charter & Behavior
a. Charter
b. Standards of Behavior

2. Membership
a. Application & Acceptance Process
b. Ranks and their meaning
c. Ginviting & Gkicking
d. Promotions & Demotions

3. Raiding
a. Raid planning / scheduling
b. Raid times
c. Raid attendance
d. Raid leading
e. Loots

4. General Guild Rules
a. Guild bank
b. Guild instances
c. Guild rules


1. CHARTER & BEHAVIOR
a. Charter
Insomniax is a late-night end-game Alliance raid guild on the Korgath (U.S. Central Time) server. To our knowledge it is the only late-night Alliance raid guild on the server, making it very important for us to recruit and keep people who prefer to or can only raid late.

b. Standards of Behavior
Although we are a raid guild, this is a game and it should be fun. So have fun, joke around, don’t take things too seriously, etc. But remember that this is a much more diverse group than your real-life friends, and we are trying to achieve some goals that put teamwork and compliance above other things during raids. As such, the following standards of behavior are expected of everybody.

i. During raids

1. Follow Instructions - The Raid Leader is the authority during raids. If you don’t like something the raid leader is doing / asking you to do, please address it with the raid leader, an officer, or a named ombudsman AFTER the raid. During the raid, just swallow your pride and do as you’re told. This applies to everybody, up to and including officers and assistant raid leaders. Don’t worry – the raid leader’s performance is being evaluated by the officers (or by his fellow officers).
2. Be on vent – everyone

3. Don’t take unannounced or too-frequent AFKs – announce yourself as afk in raid chat, put yourself on /follow behind a healer, and get back soon. Try to wait for breaks to afk. *Especially* don’t pull a Ludvayne and go 30-minute afk or go afk right before a boss pull.

4. Don’t complain about loot – Again, like raid leader issues, loot issues should be addressed privately after the raid.

Violators of the above raid behavior rules will be warned, and repeated violations will get you kicked from raid, raid team, or even guild.

ii. Within the guild

1. Treat others with respect – Treat others as you would like to be treated. Simple.

2. No racism, sexism, age-ism, religion-ism, etc – If you have these views, keep them to yourself (and try to grow up :)). This applies to vent, guild chat, and ochat. Inappropriate isms will be discussed by the leadership and dealt with harshly.

iii. Outside the guild (trade channels, pugs, etc)

You represent us – act like it - Basically the same principles apply – be a good pug raider or pug raid leader, don’t say/post stupid shit, don’t ninja, etc. It’s not uncommon for such behavior to be reported by an outsider to an officer of a person’s guild, and we will take it seriously, especially if there’s proof (e.g., screen shot).

iv. On forums (ours, blizzards, other sites)

The standards are somewhat looser here, but please consider carefully what you post if you are using our guild name in your post or in your sig, or if you are really pushing the envelope with your post.

[u]Violators of the above Standards of Behavior will be warned, and repeated violations could get you kicked from guild.[/u]


2. MEMBERSHIP

a. Application & Acceptance Process
All players interested in joining our guild should be directed to fill out an application on our web site. This gives us a more structured way to have multiple people check out their answers to some key questions, their gear, and our needs before it’s too late.

b. Ranks and their meaning

i. GM
Our last two guilds have collapsed due to GM power issues. As such the guild voted on 2/13/08 to re-form under a “committee-of-three” GM model.

These three were also chosen by vote. They have created a dummy GM account that will only be used for GM-only activities (such as rank & privilege editing).

ii. Officer Level
The Officer level is our true GM level. Three people are at this level, and they are expected to work together on any and all important guild issues and decisions. They are strongly encouraged to reach a consensus on decisions if at all possible, but if not then two-out-of-three rules. Such decisions could involve anything, including replacement of raid leader, raid council, and/or loot council members

An officer can be replaced by a vote of 5 of the 7 Officers/Raid Councilers. If this happens, the new officer will be chosen by guild vote (Reserve Raider and above).

There is also an Officer Alt level with the same powers, only created so that people checking out our guild on armory see that we only have 3 officers at Rank One.

iii. Raid Council
Raid council is also a small group of 4 people (so that it's an odd number when added to the 3 officers). They are chosen by the Officers based on their knowledge, attitude, and well-thought-out input into raid decisions. They will likely include Raid Leader(s) and Assistant Raid Leaders, as well as others. They will be included in the strategizing and decision making processes regarding raid choice, raid structure, and raid strategies, although the Raid Leader will still have final say in most of these decisions.

iv. Raider Levels

1. Raider – Raiders are solid performing, well-geared, good attitude, 90+% attending raiders. They, along with the officers and raid council, form the core of the raid team. A team with 30 such people would be unstoppable (30 to leave a few spots for attendance issues on a given night or raid makeup requirements for specific bosses). This is our goal.

2. Reserve Raider – Reserve raiders are those that aren’t quite delivering what we need in terms of performance (e.g., dps), are undergeared, have been lagging on attendance, or have been demoted due to poor behavior. They can still raid, although raid team preference will be given to Raiders.

If they are invited to a raid, they can still receive loot, although at a lower priority level (see loot section). Reserve Raiders need to have perfect attendance, good performance, and no attitude issues for one week to be eligible for promotion to Raider.

3. Trial Raider – Trial Raiders are new members of the guild. The trial period can last up to four weeks, but can be extended up to 2 weeks (at the discretion of the officers). Once the leadership team (officers / raid leader / raid council) has seen and heard enough from a new applicant to be able to effectively judge their value to the team, they will reach an agreement and either promote the Trial member to one of the other two Raider ranks, or ask them to go to Social or leave the guild.

v. Alt Each Reserve Raider and above is allowed one alt in the guild below level 60, and as many alts as they want at or above level 60. Mailbox / bank / auction house alts are discouraged but allowed given the above restriction (i.e., the only alt for that member under level 60).

vi. Social (includes Inactive & PvP) This rank covers members who raid rarely / never, inactive raiders, friends of the guild, PvPers, etc. However remember that this is an end-game PvE raid guild. We should not have a terribly large group of Social members, and those who are there should, if you are asked to come to a raid, please try to accommodate that request.

c. Ginviting & Gkicking Officers and raid council members can ginvite. They should only do so after an application has been posted, commented on by multiple officers / raid councilers, and accepted.

Only officers can gkick. “Funny” gkicks are discouraged, since the person getting kicked might not think it’s so funny and might not come back. “Serious” gkicks should only be done after an officer discussion / agreement.

d. Promotions & Demotions Only officers can promote & demote. Again “funny” demotes are discouraged for the same reason as above. Also again “serious” promotions and demotions should only be done after an officer discussion / agreement (except for initial placement as Trial, Alt, or Social).


3. RAIDING

a. Raid planning / scheduling / times / days
The raid schedule is semi-fixed. As a late night raid guild, our raid times are approx 11pm to 2am-3am server time. Invites will start between 10:30 and 10:45 (as early as we need to to be able to pull at 11pm). Target end time is 2am, but if we are close to a boss we will push on until 2:30am. No boss pulls after 2:30am.

The 25-man raids are on Sunday through Thursday (5 nights). This could theoretically change, but it’s been the schedule for a while. The late night times are not going to change – it’s the unique aspect of our guild.

The officers and raid council will do the raid planning and scheduling. The add-on Group Calendar will be used to schedule raids and to sign up for raids.

b. Raid attendance
i. Attendance expectations
90+% attendance is required of Raiders, and of Trial Raiders (although trial may not get a raid invite on a given night). Being signed up, online, and ready to raid at raid time is what counts when determining attendance). Being late is ok only if previously noted on Group Calendar, and cannot be a regular occurrence.

Signing up for a raid on Group Calendar, and then no-showing, is unacceptable and could get you moved to Reserve Raider shortly.
ii. Attendance on an Alt
Raiders are expected to attend on their mains.

[u]If you asked by the raid leader to come on an alt[/u] to benefit the raid in some way, please bring your alt – you will receive loot priority as if you had come on your main.

If you are not asked, but wish to come on your alt, please discuss it before the raid with the raid leader. You may or may not be allowed to come on your alt. If you are allowed to come, you will have the same loot priority as a Trial Raider.

Once an instance is no longer mandatory you are free to not attend or to come on your alts.

c. Raid requirements (preparation, add-ons, and consumables)
i. Preparation of your gear and yourself You are expected to have your gear fully and appropriately gemmed and enchanted for raiding.

You are expected to have done your “homework” on the bosses we’ll be attempted in each raid. Use bosskillers, watch videos, ask questions.

ii. Add-ons and the like
Ventrilo is required.

At the present time required add-ons are:
· Omen (or at least a compatible threat add-on – that will feed its data to omen)
· Deadly Boss Mods
· Void Reaver Alarm (not mandatory for melee and tanks, although they too are encouraged to get just in case -- it helps others avoid the occasional bomb at a melee / tank)
· Group Calendar
· Pally Power (paladins only)

Others may be added to the list from time-to-time. You are expected to get them and to not complain. Such requests will have been discussed by the leadership before being made – there is certain to be a good reason.

iii. Consumables and Reagents
· Health and/or Mana potions as appropriate for your class
· Buff food as appropriate for your class
· Reagents as appropriate for your class
· Flasks and oils as appropriate for your class (for non-farm bosses)
· Off-spec gear sets if they are even remotely raid-viable

And anything else I’ve forgotten. How many? Enough to not run out!

d. Raid leading
Raid leading is a critical and difficult job. Expectations for in-raid behavior and raid-readiness have been outlined previously. The raid leader is expected to perform well as far as team makeup, strategy preparations, and strategy adjustments. Additionally, he is expected to be tough without being an ass, to use his assistants and raid counsel wisely, to keep the raid moving, etc.

The raid leader will be chosen by and evaluated by the officers (and raid council?), and can be removed with good cause by them.

e. Loots
i. Loot system
At this time our loot system is a loot council, for the sake of trying to use the loots to achieve the maximum progression.

ii. Loot council members
The loot council is a group of 3-5 people. It is a mixture of officers and non-officers. Nobody with real-life friends or relatives in the guild (that also raid) should be on the loot council.

iii. Loot eligibility & priorities
All Officers, Raid Council, and Raiders are equally eligible for loot, and should generally be equally rewarded with loot on a per raid / per boss kill basis (with one exception, below)

Reserve Raiders, Trial Raiders, and Alts have lower priority. Specifically, here is the priority list for loots:

1: Upgrade for Raider and above. Tanks > Healers > Dps
2: Upgrade for Reserve Raider. Tanks > Healers > Dps
3: Sidegrade for Raider and above (all roles equal at this and all subsequent stages)
4: Upgrade for Trial Raider
5: Sidegrade for Reserve Raider
6: Offspec for Reserve Raider and above
7: Upgrade for an Alt
8: Sidegrade for Trial Raider or Alt
9: Offspec for Trial Raider or Alt

An upgrade is defined as a piece of gear that you would equip for at least a majority of 25-man raid bosses.

Remember that an Alt that comes at the request of the Raid Leader is not considered an Alt but instead their normal level (Core Raider or above, typically).

The exception referred to above is when BoP Patterns and Enchant drops. The officers and raid council receive priority for them as they are more likely to stay in the guild longer (of course we saw that sometimes that doesn’t hold O.O).

iv. Loot process
We get a lot of complaints about the length of the loot process. Therefore we have spent a lot of time putting together the above priority list and subjective considerations list.

We will [u]QUICKLY[/u] move through each level -- upgrades for raiders, upgrades for reserves, sidegrades for raiders, upgrades for trials, etc. The last five (5-9) levels will be called for together when we get that far. When we get to your level, link your the item that they would be replacing in raid chat. [u]Do not link any other items (including joke links)[/u] -- it just clogs up raid chat and slows down the process. Also please keep raid / guild chat clear during this process.

Once we have some candidates to choose between, then phase 2 kicks in – decision making. The criteria considered are (not in any order):
a) How big of an upgrade
b) How much gear person has gotten per boss / per raid over the long term, and how much they've gotten very recently / that night. Note that these ratios will automatically bring attendance into consideration.
c) Set bonuses

After following the priority rules above and then taking into consideration these subjective factors, the loot council will quickly try to reach a majority consensus. Sometimes they may move to another vent channel to speed things up. If there is no loot council consensus choice, /roll will be used among those determined by the loot council.

One final note: Loot Council members that are being considered for a loot should generally stay out of the debate. They may be asked some questions, which should be answered as factually, honestly, and fairly as possible. Lobbying for loot for yourself will likely get you removed from loot council.


4. GENERAL GUILD RULES

a. Guild bank
i. Money
Only the officers can withdraw money from the guild. They should never do so without the OK of one of the other officers. The guild will not maintain a large gold balance – if we find it too high we’ll distribute back to people who have deposited more than the average amount. The gold that we have will be used only on agreement of the officers, and except for bank slots we don’t have any obvious expenses until shadow sets for BT.

At this time the guild bank gold is not authorized for repairs.

ii. Enchanting materials
The guild will HELP pay for major enchants (typically weapon enchants). What portion we help with may depend on what the current guild bank inventory is. Expect to provide at least half the mats yourself.

iii. Resist sets
Like enchanting materials, the guild may agree to elect to HELP pay for resist sets required for upcoming raid bosses / instances (e.g., shadow set for BT). Expect to provide at least half the mats yourself.

iv. Other Items
Other items should be deposited as appropriate in either the Special or the General tab (or future tabs). You are encouraged to deposit to these tabs, and to withdraw from these tabs as needed FOR RAIDING or for improving your character for raiding. Your withdrawals should be comparable to your deposits (i.e., don’t take advantage of the generosity of your guild-mates).

In general, you no doubt have noticed that guild bank deposits and withdrawals are logged. People look at those logs. If you are taking advantage of the bank, people will notice and you will be questioned / warned / kicked as appropriate.

b. Guild Instances
If you run an instance where a majority of the people are from this guild, it is a guild instance. Do not complete that instance without trying to get the folks that you started it with, including giving them some advance warning (Group Calendar would be perfect for this).

If you ninja a 25-man instance, you will be gkicked.

25-man instances that we are unable to complete (e.g., Vashj, Kael) will be discussed by the Officers and Raid Council. They may choose to allow another guild to complete our instance before it resets. It is expected that we will try to get as much benefit out of such a situation as possible, including bringing members to experience the fights, getting gold, and/or getting gear priorities. Officers (and raid council members) are expected to make this decision as a group (i.e., no one officer can pull a Kivaan), and are expected to distribute the benefits around the raid team, not just to themselves.

c. Guild rules
These guild rules will be updated periodically as problems arise and resolutions are reached. The version number will be bumped when that happens, and a post will be made describing the changes so that everyone doesn't have to read the whole monstrous thing again :)

Thank you for reading and following them!

-- Added in V1.1 - 12/12/09

Regarding Pug Raids (& any raid in general)

If you NINJA any item or MASTER LOOT an item to a player who did NOT "win" the item - or simply auto loot an item to any player without "reserving" the item publicly to the raid before entering the instance, you will be gkicked.