Guild Rules

The following **guild rules** are the basic expectations we hold for members of the guild. These rules are subject to change. By joining <The Stormwind Army>, you agree to all of the following documents and the rules herein.

## Section I: Characters, Activity, Role-Play, and Communication

### 1. Participate in role-play with the guild.

* We encourage all members to participate in both casual role-play with other members and in our RP events. Most events are announced in our guild Discord server and posted on the in-game calendar!

* Missing events is acceptable if you’re having a bad day or have other plans. However, if you skip the majority of guild RP and events, it will take longer for you to get promoted. Please read the Service Record page for a general guide on how the guild gauges member performance.

* Sometimes the guild goes on "campaigns" for a week to a month at a time. During a campaign, guild members will be expected to keep their role-play to wherever the guild is deployed for the duration of the campaign. Members of the guild can get permission to leave and role-play outside a campaign's "deployment area" by asking an officer in-character.

### 2. Know and practice the common courtesies and basic terminology of role-play.

* You should know the differences between out-of-character (OOC) and in-character (IC), emoting, metagaming, and godmoding.

* Things said or done **Out of Character (OOC)** are what you, the player, says or does.

* Things said or done **In-Character (IC)** are what your character says or does.

* **Emoting** is using "**/e**" to describe via text what your character is doing.

* **Metagaming** is using information that you, the player, know, but your character does not know. For example, if another player posts a private letter in a forum or chat channel, your character would not necessarily have access to it.

* **Godmoding** is acting out or harming another player's character without their OOC consent. Examples are killing or wounding them with an emote without asking for their OOC permission. If you plan to emote something that would significantly affects another's character, obtain consent out-of-character.

* You should not let in-character issues bleed into out-of-character situations, and vice versa. Be a good sport!

* The staff and officers are more than happy to help clarify any of these concepts. We put together a Role-Playing Terminology document to help! For a list of role-playing resources and addons, please view the Roleplaying Resources page!

### 3. Use proper capitalization, spelling and grammar both in-character and out-of-character.

* Your character’s speech should be comprehensible with proper capitalization and punctuation even if they have a stutter or accent.

* You are encouraged to correct mistakes in out-of-character chat. Everyone makes typos!

* This rule doesn't really apply in our out-of-character channels, but can still be enforced at the discretion of the guild’s staff and officers.

* The Misspelled Addon is very useful. It highlights misspelled words and offers corrections in-game. To brush up on your grammar, we suggest reading this article: Common Grammatical Errors.

### 4. Have some knowledge of lore and apply it accordingly.

* While not everyone is expected to be a walking WoWpedia, you are expected to have a basic grasp of game lore.

* We require that you exercise an appropriate amount of realism to your character in the flavor and premise of the guild. For example, a half-angel half-demon warlock dragon would probably not enlist in an army of human footsoldiers.

* We use our own fan-fiction to supplement canon lore, such as additional locations and assumptions about the organization of the Kingdom of Stormwind. Members will be expected to acknowledge this fan-fiction in some events and activities.

### 5. In-character infractions have consequences.

* Your character will be expected to follow the rules and regulations in the Stormwind Army Field Manual.

* Due to the role-playing premise of our guild, in-character law or rule breaking may result in the demotion or removal of the offending character from the guild.

* Uniforms are mandatory for most guild role-playing events; not wearing the proper uniform or equipment at the right time may result in in-character punishment.

* If you role-play a rebellious or insubordinate character, the character won’t likely last long as a member unless they change their attitude.

### 6. Use the proper in-character and out-of-character guild chat channels.

* Within the guild, guild chat (**/g**) is out-of-character.

* During large events, raid chat (**/r**) will be considered in-character.

* Excessive and repeated use of the wrong channels after being reminded may be considered a violation.

### 7. Do not post out-of-character in "say" chat (**/s**) or "yell" chat (/y).

* Excessively posting OOC in the "say" or "yell" channels disrupts immersion. Keep it IC!

* If something must be made clear out-of-character during role-play, send a private whisper (**/w**) to the individuals involved or invite them into a party or raid to speak in party (**/p**) or raid (**/r**) chat.

* There are times, such as in multi-guild events, where making out-of-character announcements in "say" (**/s**) or "yell" (**/y**) chat is necessary. Do so sparingly.

* You can use emote chat (**/e**) to make announcements out-of-character. Do so sparingly.

### 8. You may have more than one character in the guild.

* Additional characters may be invited without needing to complete recruitment applications for them, so long as the premise for each additional character is one that can fit in with the guild.

* You may apply earned ranks on one character to your alternate characters within reason. It would need to make sense for the alternate characters to earn said ranks.

## Section II: Respect and Courtesy

### 1. Be respectful and report abuse.

* A certain amount of cursing and playful banter is allowed in the guild, but when it begins to cross lines and make people feel uncomfortable, it needs to stop without remark or question. If conversations get too heated or aggressive, staff and officers may ask members to cease discussing a certain topic.

* This should be a given, but do not go out of your way to antagonize or harass others. Do not joke or use derogatory slurs based on sensitive subjects like race, rape, suicide, sexual abuse, sexual orientation, race, or mental illness. Members found to do so may be removed from the guild depending on the severity of the offense at officer discretion.

* If another player outside the guild is abusive towards you, the proper route is to cease interaction with them and inform their guild officers and/or our officers, so that action may be taken against them. If someone is harassing you in-game or on Discord, screenshots are the best form of evidence to present to the guild's officers.

* Try to keep debates involving politics or religion to a minimum - Some discussion can be fun and interesting, but sometimes there's just no common ground to be found.

* Members who are found to regularly create a hostile environment which makes members uncomfortable may be removed at officer discretion.

* Harassment found in third-party venues (e.g., YouTube, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Skype, Discord, etc.) also falls under this rule.

### 2. Don't lie, cheat, or steal.

* Do not lie to the staff or officers. Members who are found to deliberately mislead or falsify content will be reviewed for removal from the guild. This includes doctoring chat logs.

* Do not exploit, cheat, or break the rules of competitions or tournaments held in our community. Members who do so maliciously will be reviewed for demotion or removal from the guild.

* Do not plagiarize or copy content word-for-word without giving credit to the original author. This is especially important when creating resources for role-play. Members who do so chronically will be reviewed for demotion or removal from the guild.

* Do not claim artwork without the approval from or credit to the original artist. People often spend a lot of money on character artwork, and to claim it as your own without credit is considered art theft. Members who do so chronically will be reviewed for demotion or removal from the guild.

* Do not take gold or items out of the guild bank without officer permission, or otherwise steal from the guild. While most of our guild bank items are easily replaceable, some are not easily replaced. Members who do so chronically or to a severe extent will be reviewed for demotion or removal from the guild.

### 3. Don't be a troll.

* This should also be a given, but do not go out of your way to disrupt others’ role-play. Using growth or transformation items, dropping placeable items, or riding on large mounts to obnoxiously irritate role-players is all considered trolling. Members found to troll other role-players will be removed from the guild and reported to Blizzard.

* This includes in-character trolling of guild and player events. "Joking around" equates to trolling if you've been told to stop and ignore the request.

* “Teabagging” corpses or corpse-camping during RP-PvP events is not acceptable. Don’t be a sore winner or loser in any public competition.

* If you want to use a specific transformation item or placeable item in role-play, you should have a solid, justifiable reason to use it.

### 4. We do not tolerate sexual harassment. Keep sexual content private.

* If you feel that another member is making unwanted relationship or sexual advances towards you, please report such to the guild leader immediately. Unwanted sexual advances made on a player or character will be treated as sexual harassment and dealt with harshly. Members found guilty of any sexual harassment will at minimum be demoted or removed from the guild.

* We expressly forbid sexual violence in guild role-play. Members found to partake in such will be removed from the guild.

* Sexual content or role-play should never be posted in public channels. When in doubt, just keep it to yourself or take it to a private conversation.

* While most members of the guild are adults, some members are below the legal threshold to be considered such. Sexual content should never be shared or discussed with minors. Any member found to knowingly solicit a minor in the guild for sexual role-play or other sexual content will be immediately removed from the guild and reported to appropriate authorities.

### 5. Respectful forum and Discord conduct is expected.

* As the guild tries to maintain a professional image of itself to the community, members are expected to reflect that when posting on the Warcraft forums or in public Discord servers. Members are not permitted to be abrasive towards others or partake in inflammatory drama. Failure to maintain good behavior on the public stage can result in removal.

## Section III: Regarding Other Guilds

### 1. Do not disrespect other community projects, guilds, or their players.

* It is rude and unsightly to publicly bash other community projects or guilds. While every person is entitled to their own private opinion, publicly bashing other organizations to an unprofessional extent will not be tolerated.

### 2. The Stormwind Army does not "poach" recruits from other guilds.

* When recruiting for our guild, it is extremely unprofessional and looked down upon to try to recruit players that are already in guilds. Do not try to get someone to quit their guild to join our guild. Members found to do so will be reviewed for demotion.

* If someone already in a guild wants to join our guild, we expect them to make it clear to their current guild that they are leaving on their own terms before joining our guild.

### 3. Do not involve the guild in complex or "official" storylines without getting officer approval.

* In order for the guild to run smoothly in our interactions, the officers must review any long-term, intricate, or in-depth story-lines before the guild is involved. It is at the collective officer corps's discretion to decide whether or not a storyline or plot is appropriate for the guild.

* Failure to abide by this rule will result in the role-play being retconned and treated as if it never happened.

### 4. Making alliances with other guilds is handled by the guild's officers.

* If you hear of an interest in an alliance with the guild, let an officer know and they will take care of the logistics with the other guild leader.

### 5. Blacklisting players and guilds is handled by the guild's officers.

* On rare occassion, if the guild leader and officers determine that another guild or player is incompatible or overly abusive towards our members, we may invoke a soft "blacklist" which precludes that person or guild from being involved with our guild events, and vice versa.

* We ask that you not participate or engage with blacklisted players or guilds with your character that is in <The Stormwind Army>. "Sneaking" or knowingly bringing blacklisted players to our events will result in review for demotion or removal.

* You are welcome to participate in events and role-play with blacklisted guilds and individuals on your characters not in our guild, but "sneaking" or bringing blacklisted players to our events while on your alt will still be considered a punishable offense.

## Section IV: Rule Enforcement

### 1. Document infractions where possible.

* Generally speaking, the officers of the guild will not act on most accusations without proof in the form of screenshots or chat logs. If someone is harassing you in-game or on Discord, screenshots are the best form of evidence to present to the guild's officers.

### 2. Unless otherwise stated, we follow a “Three Strike” policy regarding these rules.

* For general infractions whose punishments are not clearly defined, we follow a three strike policy. This means that the first time you break such a rule, you will be warned. The second time you break that rule, you may be demoted. The third time you break that rule, you may be reviewed for removal from the guild.

* These “strikes” may be forgiven at different intervals. A warning will be forgiven after one month; a demotion may be reversed after three months, and removal from the guild may be reversed after six months at officer discretion.

### 3. Our rules are subject to change.

* They may change based on the change of lore, the server, the game mechanics, the desires and needs of our allies and of course, the change and growth that comes with guilds. If a change is made, the amendment will be posted and the original rule will be stricken.

* Ignorance is not an excuse. Even if you do not read the rules, you will still be expected to abide by them in every form if you are a member of the guild.

### 4. Officer Discretion Clause

* The guild leader and officers reserve the right to adjust the enforcement of any current rule or consequence of violation at their discretion.