From EoCWiki

This is to state what has always been the case.

A word from Dielgore

By joining Edge of Chaos you are joining a virtual family (Clan EoC if you wish). Like all families, we don't always get along. However, members of the guild are expected to treat each other with respect, and I hope in long term - you'll make some true friendships with your guild mates. There are very few people that join this guild simply because we are a "getting phat lewt" - those that do, are gone.

As a leader of EoC - i feel that the PEOPLE are what's important in EoC. The PEOPLE of this guild make it worth logging into the game. In many high level guilds - the people are a statistic; dps meters; heal meters; elitist jerk statistics are all reflection of how we can turn a human into a number.

When you join EoC - we want to know the person behind the keyboard. No, we don't care if your black, white, or purple. Maybe you have odd growths on your cheeks, maybe you lost all your hair to cancer. Those are the external things that society sees every day - No, we want to know YOU - the person inside. The person most often reflected in online gaming. Some people will be Jerks or flirts online- when in day to day, they would never consider such actions. That electronic Casanova with all the right moves that you love to talk to, may be the quiet guy with tattoos and piercings on the morning bus - the one you move to the other end to avoid.

When we can connect on a human level - you can truly begin to understand why we ask you to give of yourself to the guild, perhaps more than you receive. And why you willingly give without resentment.

When I was married - my best friend of 12 years marriage told me - everyone in a marriage thinks they give 150% vs the other persons 50%. That is because a marriage requires more than an individual. When it's just you - you can sacrifice without realizing. That's not an option if you wish your marriage to succeed.

A guild is like that. It takes MORE than supporting just yourself for a guild to succeed. And we expect you to give it - and hopefully you'll also find that the guild is there for you in return.

Don't confuse my sentiments with being a casual guild; We DO expect to progress and see content; indeed this is a primary goal of the guild.

In order to progress - we need better gear. No one in greens and blues will experience the thrill of taking down Arthas (or whatever the boss of the existing dungeons might be). That adrenaline rush is like your horse winning at the track, or your favorite long-shot team winning the super bowl.

Being a member of the Edge of Chaos requires that we balance hard core raiding with knowledge that we are all human - not robots, not Computer driven AI. The guild is a accumulation of the efforts of it's members and raids are the efforts of 25 or more people coordinating schedules, time, and effort - and lets face it - no small amount of any of those.

 “Don’t ask what your country can do for you. Ask instead what you can do for your country”
  – John F. Kennedy

Change

If nothing else is true about any guild, it's that change will happen. While we do our best to establish a stable environment - we all grow, and change is part of growth. People leave, people join. In the time i've been playing gaming - people that where born then, are now driving and playing these games along with me. Life is full of change. A guild that does not change, stagnates. Like a reptile - sometimes we outgrow our skin, and we need to molt. It's an ugly process - but underneath, we have a clean healthy new guild. So guildmates should expect to grow and change along with us - adapt as we adapt to the changes in the game and in life.

Excerpt from a member

<ref>http://www.eoc-guild.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=274</ref>

We had a discussion about why people join guilds and what being in a guild should mean. Some people seem to think that by joining a guild all of a sudden a door opens and you are handed loot on a silver platter. To us, a guild is a group of like-minded individuals who come together to accomplish the same goals.

Individual goals are then superseded by the goals of the guild. Progression as a whole is the key. In a way, this is very socialist - the group before the individual. However, while every cog in the machine is important - and the machine cannot run without a missing cog - the cog is NOT the machine.

A guild is the cumulative efforts and contributions of all of it's members.

Being in a guild means

. You are NOT the center of the universe.
. You will NOT survive any raid fight by yourself.
. You will NOT get everything you want.
. You will NOT like everyone.
. Someone will NOT like you.
. Your schedule is NOT the guild’s schedule.

it also means

. You SHOULD respect others.
. You SHOULD help others
. You SHOULD be self-sufficient (repairs, pots, food, etc).
. You SHOULD put the guild’s needs before your own.
. You SHOULD have reasonable expectations.

It can often mean

Taking one for the team.
- Pass when the item is better for someone else
- Leaving the raid for raid balance
Someone put in effort so that you could participate - probably more effort than you.

You joined this guild to accomplish things you couldn't do with a pick up group.

This is a privilege and you should consider it an honor. If you have a problem putting the guild's goals before your own then maybe being in a guild is not for you. The guild does not exist for any one person.

There are some guilds that do exist simply to further a single person's goals. The guild 'as a whole' needs to progress. Equipping 1 or 2 members of each class leads to turmoil because once you equip the 'required' classes you can do even tougher things but those that aren't at the same equipped level get left behind. A steady progression where everyone is rewarded is ideal.

That is what we strive for in the Edge of Chaos.

Being a father of two, I've realized I am part of a generation that wants to give everything to their children and our children are suffering because of it. The next generation is growing up expecting everything to be handed to them instead of working for it.

This same mentality is obvious in WoW. Dedication and hard work will reap the most rewards in the long haul.

Don't EXPECT the guild to do anything for you, if everything works the way it should you will be taken care of as a natural result of progression.

EoC membership expectations

We are a team. we succeed or fail as that team

The guild will progress through the strength of it's overall members - and not the individual. While democracy works well in real life - the guild progress is measured by the whole guild. This means that sometimes the individual doesn't get all their way if it's not in the interest of the guild - and i'm sorry, we can only do our best to please folks.

The forums are important

Most of the information you need - is here or on the forums. You are expected to read them.

the guild is not an Auction house

Part of a guild succeeding is that we combine our mutual efforts and time. This means helping other guildies out - if you have an item, or tradeskill - no one expects you to give things away, it's fair to ask for the mats to be provided - (though we acknowledge that MANY of our members give the mats away for free). But we don't charge other members for assistance. We don't use the guild line to hawk our wares. It's just not cool.

Begging and Borrowing - the guild is not a loan shark

If someone in the guild has more gold then you - then they probably worked hard to obtain it. Many are willing to share their gold - but that's because they share umongst friends. However - the richer members of the guild and the guild bank are not here for your personal loans. It's no different that walking up to someone you work with and asking for a large loan. If your good friends with your co-worker - it might get you lunch - but not a new car. Be respectful of other people's efforts to earn their gold and don't constantly ask for loans. Go find a gold farmer - it's $20 a 1000 gold....

we are a mature guild.

While cutting up, sexual induindo, and "Dirty" humor are fine - there is a line. That line is different for different people, but respect that someone else's is probably lower than yours :) If someone asks - please move on to other topics of conversation or take it to a private chat channel.

Other than that - We are all adults. That means that we should be able to have respectable conversations about world events, adult relationships, Jokes and Humor, etc without offending each other. No one is asking you to agree with everything that is said on the guild chat, mearly to accept it with a mature attitude. It's likely that not everyone will agree with your comments from time to time as well.

Topics like Politics and Religion will crop up from time to time, just be respectful that other people are likely to vehemency oppose your opinion - if things get dicey, best to steer away from "charged" topics like those.

L33t speak

While no one is going to complain if you call someone a noob, or occasionally use a 'l33t speak' word;

However, if you regularly sit around talking about how you have "l33t tank skillz" and how you "PWDZRD" people - we're going to ask you to stop.

Not all abreviations are bad - for example, in game abbreviations are perfectly fine:

example of texting that you would want to avoid:

"NE1" is a car. The words are "Any one".
"Skillz" is a spelling error. The Word is skills.

examples of acceptable abreviations:

Looking for dps for HUP (Heroic Utguard Pinnacle)
Any one want to do OS10?

"Texting" style abbreviations are fine for cell phones, but have no place in guild or raid chat. We need clear and understandable communication.

Typing everything out will also help you improve your typing and spelling skills. And then you can tell people that World of Warcraft taught you to type 100 words per minute!

Political Correctness

Our goals to enforce political correctness, has limits. If you 'cry wolf' too often about the behavior of the members of the guild, the officers can AND WILL, turn a deaf ear to your complaints.

We want things to be friendly, but we're not goint to police EVERY conversation to make sure it's 100% politically correct. If your easily offended, perhaps a guild is not the right environment for you.

Things that will get you removed from the guild

Words you shouldn't use

If you wouldn't use it in front of your mother, you probably shouldn't use it here.

Such words that all people find offensive; such as 'Rape' (We raped that boss!) should not be used.

If you really need to have a conversation with these kinds of words - please keep them off General guild and raid chat.

Keep in mind, this doesn't mean you can't use the occasional expletive. We are hardly prudish in this guild. Use common sense.

Racial/Physical/General Harassment

The Edge of Chaos guild membership and leadership is committed to a policy of equal opportunity within the guild. The guild leadership accepts that it has a responsibility to create an environment free from discrimination, and to ensure that the principle of merit operates unhindered by regard to irrelevant criteria. To this end the guild leadership will act to ensure that its structures are free from direct or indirect discrimination on the grounds of sex, marital status or pregnancy, race, age, sexual preference, religious or political beliefs, impairment, family responsibility or family status.

Racial Harassment is any verbal, physical or written act which is based on a person's race, ethnic background, nationality, language or cultural background, and is unwanted, unacceptable and offensive to the person. This will not be accepted in Edge of Chaos (and in fact, could get you banned by Blizzard).

Examples of racial harassment

include:

Physical: Intimidating gestures, physical violence or assault because of a person's race or ethnicity, or threats of the above.
Verbal: Derogatory remarks about a person's skin colour or appearance; unwelcome remarks about a person's culture observances; racist jokes and 'needling'.
Non-Verbal: Racist graffitis; defacing notices or posters; negative stereotyping of particular ethnic groups; written threats of a racial nature.
Other: Unwelcome jokes or comments about religious affiliations or communities.
Other: Unwelcome jokes or comments about Sexual preferences or family status.

Everyone can contribute to eradicating racial harassment

Depending on the circumstances you can:

Speak up. Make it clear that you find such behavior unacceptable.
Offer support to people who are being harassed.
Promote mutual respect between individuals, whether members or raiders.

references

Expected Behavior