Draft Announcement

[TeaLeaf]

Draft for comment and hopefully posting to the SOG section imminently.

Fellow SOG members:

Despite heroic efforts from a number of officers and members, people have left SOG for other pastures in recent months leaving, in the main, dMw members who remain on a social basis but with a wish to raid further.  With the WotLK expansion due in a month the Officers have decided that a fresh start is the best for all concerned.  With this in mind a new guild has been formed, Dead Men Raiding, to inject some fresh life into the guild and to cement the dMw background of the now majority of membership.

The Officers have decided to donate Guild Bank to the new guild for the benefit of the membership.  We expect that this will mean a lot of ex-SOGers should see the benefit of the work they put into the SOG guild bank via the new DMR guild bank.

If you would like to join DMR for WotLK then please speak with an officer of the guild.

[TeaLeaf]

I found this text on another guild's website (an Emerald Dream guild) and liked it a lot so I copy pasted it and edited it slightly to remove their Guild name.  It would be nice if we could extract the elements we like and post something like this in the public DMR section for others to see when considering DMR.  Need some feedback though and suggested alterations as the guild it came from was a top end raid guild and as such it may not be something DMR wishes to include.   It might also be nice to add a comment maybe about late start raids to suit a UK audience?  Suggestions please.

TL.

This guild
 
Our guild was founded on the principle of striving for quality over quantity, both in terms of time spent raiding, and in the way we deal with our members. We do not have a huge roster with a large pool of disposable raidfodder. Everyone in DMR is there for the long run because they believe in our founding principles and because they enjoy a nice, drama-free environment where everyone cares about making the guild the best it can be. This might sound like the usual pipe dream every other guild has, but so far we've actually managed to make this a reality. This doesn't mean we don't have the typical nights of suck, or never spend more time on an encounter than necessary, but it does mean you will never have to feel frustrated about being guilded with people that just don't seem to be making the same effort as you are.

Make no mistake though, we are a raiding guild, devoted to beating everything the game has to offer, but in our own time and in our own way. We enforce such things as high attendance, consumable use and PvE specs within the guild and you will stand out negatively if you don't always try to be the best you can. By keeping a tightly knit force of dedicated people we have so far always been able to progress at a steady pace that saw us finishing the raid content well in time for the next expansion without breaking our necks over it. For a more elaborate version of this paragraph, refer to our philosophy document.
 
You

We are looking for mature players that can handle a raid environment where every player is responsible for the raid's success. We have people with the traditional raidleader jobs, but a large part of what we do is based on focused discussion of encounter issues in raidchat or role channels. As a part of our raids you are expected to take part in this process, wether it is about the immediate effects of your own role, or the encounter as a whole. You need to be able to look at things in a solution-oriented manner. This means that when we wipe and it's clear that we are suffering from the lack of a certain class or ability somewhere, you don't obsess over how much better off we'd be if we did have it, but instead focus on finding a way to make a victory happen in spite of this. This also means that if you perform sub-par for some reason, you shouldn't need someone else to tell you to shape up or have to be explained what you're doing wrong and how to fix it. Of course this doesn't mean you can never ask for advice, but a proactive attitude towards everything is important.
 
All the above seems really lofty and we do realize that this might not always be what happens in practice. As with all things in life, there can be a lot of factors that interfere with your goals: if just wanting something to happen was enough to make it reality then we would all be sitting in the Playboy mansion playing Duke Nukem Forever. However, not striving for an ideal and just accepting the status quo is not a healthy way to go about things.
 
In the end we play this game for fun and if we can't shoot the breeze more often than not, what's there to play for right? This also means that we don't require you to be a heartless robot that can take all the flak and abuse in the world without breaking a sweat, but being able to take criticism at face value and not fretting too much about a sharp comment is important in our raids. It's about knowing when to get down to business and when to ease up, and taking an active part in both. In addition, we play this game on the internet and the internet is a place that is usually rife with miscommunication and misunderstandings, WoW is no exception to this. The key to all of this is always asking yourself 'Why' something is happening. Don't accept superficial observations, always look for an answer.
 
After all that there is some more easy to quantify stuff:

- Gear requirements change over time, but there are a few things that always apply.
First is that we are perfectly willing to accept undergeared recruits if they are really good players and can give us a good reason for being undergeared. Second, no matter what, we expect undergeared applicants to always have at least all the gear they can acquire on their own power. Badge gear, reputation gear, some pvp gear, whatever is available for solo artists is something you should have as an undergeared applicant.

 - Although we won't exclude people based on age, people under the age of 20 will have to prove they can fit in, and no, we don't provide a template for that one.
 
 - Perhaps related to this is that you need to leave the leetspeak at home. If somewhere along the line you got used to using words containing numbers as part of your day-to-day speech, then that's ok and we will pretend it never happened as long as you shake the habit right away. This definately includes such things as 'm8' and consistently using 'lol' as a way to end a sentence.
 
- We don't require you to be so fluent in English you could visit the Queen without breaking a sweat, but if you simply don't have the capacity to take an active part in all guild communications, don't apply to an English speaking guild like us.
 
- Lastly, it really helps if your application to this guild is neatly filled in and without typo's. We understand that English is not everyone's first language, but if we aren't interesting enough for you to pull your application through MS Word's spellchecker at least once, you can't expect us to be interested in return.

If after all of this you still think you can put up with us and have some energy left to write a kickass application, then feel free to apply here.

[TeaLeaf]

Again, copied from that 'other' guild.  Suggestions please on editing and using as a public statement in the public side of DMR.

TL.

Well-oiled machines run on common sense

The primary purpose of the guild is to have a relaxed and focused raiding atmosphere, a mature, brotherly social atmosphere and an orderly way of conducting business.

The guild will be run in an orderly fashion with defined leadership positions. Members should feel empowered to give their input on situations pertaining to the guild, but once a decision has been made by the leadership, it should be considered final. Because we strive to conduct ourselves in a professional manner, it would be counter-productive to argue a point to the detriment of guild's activities. If a member feels there is more room for discussion on a subject, he or she should wait until a more opportune time to raise the point with an officer. After a raid is completed or off-hours are good times for this.

Hand-in-hand with this philosophy of organization is the expectation that every guild member will be on the same page. Because of this we want to move away from the need and use of explicit rules defining every possible situation. We want guild members to rely on common sense, not a slew of rules.

It is very important that members keep themselves informed and up to date on game mechanics, especially those of their own class. If you are one of those people who thinks that your years of experience mean you know all there is to know, and you do not feel the need to involve yourself in peer discussion of the game, you will not fit in. We expect people to be actively reading community forums, discuss things in the guild chat channels and have an interest in the more global community events.

Many people in this guild have lives that preclude them from spending as much time on WoW as they would like; nevertheless, they maintain a very competitive spirit and a desire to kick ass in the end game. To sustain a guild that is based on these people, we have fewer and shorter raids than your average raiding guild, but strive to make them more focused and effective. Quality of raiding will always be the main thing we strive for.

Last but not least, we value a good social atmosphere above all things. We are all here to have fun and while we enjoy kicking ass and taking names, camaraderie is ultimately why we stick around in games like WoW. For this reason, it is of utmost importance that the guild members' attitudes mirror the guild's core values. Since the advent of TBC and smaller guild sizes, this has been more attainable than ever and as such we will strive to accomplish this.

Altogether we feel that this guild philosophy is something many seek, but few find. In this guild we will always strive to give people with this mindset a stable and enjoyable place to call home.

[JonnyAppleSeed]

I prefer the second one of the 2 ... The first seemed too harcore

[TeaLeaf]

They were actually 2 separate posts meant to compliment each other rather than alternatives.  The post titles might not stand out enough though :sad:  They were posted under:

What We look For
Philosophy

...respectively.

I thought there were elements in both that were good, but the first one is the 'What We Look For' which is aimed at potential new members wanting to apply to a guild that is working on Kil'jaeden at the moment, so not all of it will apply, but aspects might.  Basically I was looking for some highlights from everyone on which bits they liked, which they did not and suggesations as ot how to change, rather than me just editing it up and presenting a finished document - cos I am feeling lazy today!

TL.

[sheepy]

I think that we do need to post something along these lines very soon.

Ive got tomorrow morning off so ill put some more thought in to it then.

[JonnyAppleSeed]

Ahhh .. i see what ya did there

[TeaLeaf]

Third post edited & posted.  First post edited & posted.

The primary purpose of Dead Men Raiding is to have a mature, social environment and an orderly way of conducting business that allows for a relaxed and focused raiding atmosphere.

The guild has defined leadership positions. Members should feel empowered to give their input on situations pertaining to the guild, but once a decision has been made by the leadership, it should be considered final.  As we strive to conduct ourselves in a professional manner, it would be counter-productive to argue a point to the detriment of guild's activities.  If a member feels there is more room for discussion on a subject, he or she should wait until a more opportune time to raise the point with a Council Member. After a raid is completed or off-hours are good times for this.

Hand-in-hand with this philosophy of organization is the expectation that every guild member will be on the same page. Because of this we want to move away from the need and use of explicit rules defining every possible situation. Well-oiled machines run on common-sense.  We want guild members to rely on common sense, not a slew of rules.  

It is very important that members keep themselves informed and up to date on game mechanics, especially those of their own class. If you are one of those people who thinks that your years of experience mean you know all there is to know and you do not feel the need to involve yourself in peer discussion of the game, you will not fit in. We expect people to be actively reading community forums, to discuss things in the guild chat channels and to have an interest in the more global community events.

Many people in this guild have lives that preclude them from spending as much time on WoW as they would like; nevertheless they maintain a very competitive spirit and a desire to kick ass in the end game. To sustain a guild that is based on these people, we have fewer and shorter raids than your average raiding guild, but strive to make them more focused and effective. Quality of raiding will always be the main thing we strive for.  We also start our raids a little later than continental guilds to allow out members to get home, eat and prepare properly for the raid.

Last but not least, we value a good social atmosphere above all things. We are all here to have fun and while we enjoy kicking ass, camaraderie is ultimately why we stick around in games like WoW.  For this reason, it is of utmost importance that the guild members' attitudes mirror the guild's core values which are closely aligned with those of the Dead Men Walking community.  Since the advent of Wrath of the Lich King and smaller raid sizes, this has been more attainable than ever and as such we will strive to accomplish this.

Altogether we feel that this guild philosophy is something many seek, but few find. In this guild we will always strive to give people with this mindset a stable and enjoyable place to call home.

[TeaLeaf]

Should Dead Men Raiding's public side be at the Wow forum section level or buried one lower?  I am inclined to think it should be at the Wow forum section level to align with other forum structures.  What say you peeps?

TL.

[JonnyAppleSeed]

Well I'm along the lines of keeping it as public as possible. Maybe a safe area to discuss members issues only. This is just down to the fact of getting people interested in raiding tho they may be in a different guild they are part of the dMw community. If it causes problems with too much pixie talk on the forums then we can re evaluate

[smite]

All looks and sounds good to me.