OOC Community

> This page tracks the bulk of the community charter, staff responsibilities and structure including that of the community's code of conduct. If you are looking for the community discord, staff and contributors page, or meeting notes, use one of the embedded links.
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> ### Community Vision Statement
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> Without explaining our vision, it can be difficult for members of the community to see what our intent is, and it’ll certainly never come to fruition without spreading awareness. Generation Lambda’s vision is to focus on the quality of roleplay while taking an approach to facilitate a civil and welcoming community. We know how fairly enforced rules, balanced gameplay, a neighborly community, and quality roleplaying matter to our players. Therefore, our game mechanics, rules, discord, wiki, and the very structure of our community are geared towards these four key components. Acceptance into our community, and especially those who are a part of our team must express these values. For those who are new to roleplaying, or Half-Life’s universe, we value accepting them in and giving them an adequate opportunity, aid, and mentorship if they are willing to learn.
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> Generation Lambda was founded out of the love for roleplay, and a new generation of Half-Life Roleplaying that calls back to simpler times, while being innovative and bringing a fresh perspective. It is the people, the friends we’ll make, and ultimately the stories we will tell that matter more than anything. So, for those who have the intent to contribute to our little world, we welcome them with open arms. In what we hope our members find as a mindful approach towards founding a premier Half-Life roleplaying community, we value quality far more than quantity. Selective as we may be, our priority is to never dilute our community with numbers of people that would cause us to lose our small tight-knit community ways or be people who don’t value a good story before everything else. In all of this, it is our responsibility to keep Generation Lambda free without ever implementing in-character benefits to donations or pay walling whitelists.
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> ### Management Style
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> Generation Lambda’s management style takes a simple common-sense approach, a professional attitude while remaining flexible enough to deal with each issue individually. Being a part of many communities that don’t get it right, and a few that have over the years, our style is simply what works. No two situations are alike, and because of this our volunteer team’s procedures and training reflect this. We believe staff action should always have the community and players’ best interest at hand. Administrative action should never be handed out without first looking into the situation, observing, investigating, and collecting context for what has occurred. Secondly, the history of the individuals involved is determined by their past proven actions before a fair penalty is given.
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> Our recruiting model for staff is done through an invitational and internship process. Joining our team means you’ll be shadowing someone in a position you have interest in and is gained through the result, effort and time invested into the community. In addition to our staff team, we also have community representatives which act as elected positions within our team as advisement roles. These electorates belong to the Community Council and are regular community members which act as accountability between administration and community.
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> If a staff member is found to be violating rules, enforcing unfairly, holding a bias, or abusing their position the Representatives are who determine what action should be taken. Representatives also an official route to voice suggestions, comments, and concerns of the community in an anonymous fashion. Although we have a chain of command in the team, our community can be assured that they will have a representative and someone in their corner whenever affairs are affecting them.
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> When you are a part of the team, we always promote a healthy balance of the time spent online and in the real world. Real-life always comes first, team members are entitled to take leave of absences, and additional breaks or time off whenever it means the well-being of our volunteers. Our founders have been a part of communities without those values, and our goal is to ensure our team is taken care of. We’ll always be grateful for the time they spend caring for and helping the community forward in our vision.
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> ### Intended Community Culture
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> Our community culture is what binds our members together more than membership in a server or interest in a game. What makes our community is the people within it and the stories they tell, not the size of it or something superficial. Rather, what we value and what makes our community is a hope for a tight-knit group in which any newcomer or long-standing member can feel they had a fair chance to be a part of our beloved community. We favor those who are mentoring new people in character, giving them someone to play with, and generally are willing to take a loss if it means the development of the roleplay. Teamwork is not just for the staff team, cooperation is needed among everyone to create an environment in which amazing stories and experiences can flourish. At our core, we are a group of writers looking to build a digital world where anyone can step into the shoes of a citizen and walk the ruinous streets of city seventeen with us.
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> For those of you who stay for the long run, thank you. Everyone from a new person trying us out, to the head figures within the staff team share a slice of the vision for Generation Lambda. Thank you for your contribution, and we hope to write amazing stories with you and expect you to hold us accountable for this massive undertaking.
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### Code of Conduct

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> #### General Membership
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> 1. Under no circumstances should you violate, or allude to violating the law or Discord’s terms of services. Any discussion about violations of laws, or violations of terms and services will be met with a community-wide ban.
> 2. Any form of script, hack, exploitation, or modifications that give an advantage over a user not using such is prohibited. Any attempt to tamper with, reveal information about, or unlawfully access the host server, will be met with an immediate community-wide ban.
> 	1. Threats of, or “Jokes” of doing such will not be tolerated under any circumstances.
> 3. The use of alternative accounts to avoid, circumvent, or evade staff decisions is prohibited. Additional bans, an extension of bans, or a permanent community-wide ban may be applicable at management’s discretion.
> 4. No other form of out-of-game applications or discords is being utilized by Generation Lambda. Any individuals attempting to advertise another server or direct members to unofficial servers/platforms should be immediately reported to management. Community-wide bans will be handed out to those involved.
> 	1. If your faction/group requires a private discord category or a secondary server, please contact management on how to do so properly. We wish for all of our community’s discord activity to be in one centralized and moderated location.
> 5. Generation Lambda’s management wishes for our community to remain apolitical. We forbid the discussion or entertainment of any controversial topics which are potential accelerants for arguments, drama, and tensions within the community.
> 	1. In fairness to all, we do not cater to any individual or group demands of special privileges or attention. All members of Generation Lambda receive the same basic privileges and are held to the same standard.
> 	2. If you have questions on anything please reach out to management for answers or clarification.
> 6. Discord support tickets are only permitted for responses which have a evident serious or productive intent.
> 	1. Spamming, Joke tickets, or any form of report system misuse will be ignored and result in administrative action.
> 7. The posting, streaming, or sharing of not-safe-for-work or NSFW content is prohibited across our community.
> 	1. NSFW content refers to anything related to the nature of pornography, gore, or politically oriented content.
> 8. All content or posts made by users should be channel appropriate and on-topic. Spam, crowding a channel with gifs, and mass or unneeded pings of roles are always prohibited.
> 	1. If you are confused about where something should be posted, check the channel descriptions for their purpose.
> 9. Cooperation with our staff team is mandatory and highly appreciated. Any form of uncooperative conduct while a staff member acts within their positional duties will result in either an extension of a pending ban / punishment or an immediate twenty-four-hour ‘time-out’ / mute.
> 10. Community members should always be semi-professional, and respectful to one another. Harassment and general toxicity ( drama stirring ) will not be tolerated.
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> #### Staff, Representatives & Management
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> 1. When serving on our team, in any capacity, it is asked of you that you uphold a sense of confidentiality. Under no circumstances should you take copies of, or share the information which was discussed in staff channels, direct messages, or reveal the identity of those who report issues to staff.
> 	1. The only time you are entitled to share such information is if all parties involved consent to reveal such.
> 2. Members of management, the staff team, and community representatives are to be held to the same standard as community members in all things.
> 	1. As a staff member, you are tasked with not only your job description but also setting an example for others.
> 3. Staff members found to be acting upon a fault interpretation of the community rules or to be acting outside of their job description will be placed immediately under investigation by management.
> 	1. When under investigation, the individual is to be stripped of their permissions and put on temporary leave.
> 4. Community representative elections will be held every six months. There may be a maximum of five representatives at any time. In the event of two elected members being in a tie, the two elected members will schedule individual meetings with community ownership for interviews to decide who serves the next term.
> 5. No representative, community member, or member of management should at any time be under the influence when playing or staffing within the community.
> 	1. As a member of our team, you are being asked to set a good example for others in the community when it comes to life decisions. There is a zero-tolerance policy for individuals in the team who promote the use of drugs and alcohol.
> 6. The use of excessively foul language, slurs, or lewd language within an out-of-character context is prohibited.
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> #### Roleplay Rules
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> 1. Players must submit a realistic, original, and setting-appropriate character to the discord's "Character Whitelisting" ticket in order to gain a character slot for their submitted character. Game masters and management may request a player to make changes to their characters if they deem them unfit for the setting, lore, or degree of "believability" during the character whitelisting process.
> 	1. It is the responsibility of the player to portray the characteristics of the character agreed upon within the character whitelisting process. Character development is permitted as it makes sense, and should be updated on the character's wiki page with context to what causes any development.
> 	2. Character names should not be that of famous people, personalities, or characters. They should not parody, reference pop culture, or be gag names such as “Ben Dover”, “Seemore Butts”, etc.
> 	3. Names may not contain any special characters, and they must not include nicknames or middle names.
> 2. Players are permitted to play characters with a minimum age of thirteen.
> 	1. Characters should always be realistically depicted. Thirteen year-old characters shouldn’t act unreasonably immature in a world where they’ve been robbed of a childhood. Older characters such as fifty and sixty-year-olds shouldn't be depicted as young men and women in their peak condition either.
> 3. When in-game, you are expected to always be roleplaying and in-character. Failure to roleplay is strictly forbidden. If you are being disturbed OOC from playing, let others know in local OOC or private message those involved. Explain your situation briefly and disconnect from the server or let staff know you need to AFK and they will move you off map.
> 	1. Quitting or disconnecting from the server intentionally to avoid roleplay or interactions.
> 	2. Spamming commands, flooding people’s private messages,  out of character chat, or local out of character chat with either insults or unproductive comments.
> 	3. Continually going “Away From Keyboard” or AFK during a roleplay situation.
> 4. Not safe for work role play or erotic-role play "ERP" is forbidden and will result in a community-wide ban.
> 	1. There is a degree of "public displays of affection" permitted; however, should never be excessive or crossing into erotic territory.
> 	2. When playing or playing with a character under the age of eighteen, there is a zero tolerance policy for anything erotic or lewd being portrayed.
> 5. Providing in character information to another player using out-of-character means, or providing out-of-character information to another player/character using in character means is forbidden. This is referred to as metagaming. Violations of this rule include:
> 	1. Gathering information on one character or from another person out-of-character and using it on another character.
> 	2. Messaging another player through the use of the out-of-character chat or private messages to relay information.
> 	3. Utilizing voice calls or a group chat on a third-party platform such as discord to skip roleplay or coordinate actions.
> 6. It is forbidden to role-play actions that are unrealistic or would force action or outcome upon another player. This is referred to as power gaming. Violations of this rule include:
> 	1. Role-playing lifting unrealistically or unliftable objects such as a truck or large boulder.
> 	2. Role-playing the result of combat such as hitting someone without engaging in combat against your opponent.
> 	3. Role-playing is a way to force an outcome against another player without the ability to resist.  Ex: role-playing removing an item or money from someone’s inventory through role play means without a fair chance such as rolling skill checks against one another.
> 7. It is forbidden to not properly fear for your life and well-being within any situation. You should always value your character’s life and well-being over in-game items or money.
> 	1. Violations of this rule will result in game masters perma-killing your character if the situation results in death.
> 8. Engaging another character in combat for no reason or for poor reasoning to do so is forbidden. You may not provoke violence from others with none or poor reasoning. This is referred to as deathmatching and is prohibited. Violations of this rule include:
> 	1. Unrealistic escalations of conflict or confrontations such as murdering someone over minor offenses.
> 	2. Vandalizing or attempting to burn down a property without realistic reasoning to do such.
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### Community Hierarchy

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> #### Community Directors
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> The Community Directors are the ownership of the community. They are advised by community representatives and pass instructions to Game Masters, Administrators, and Faction Leaders. The possess executive power, allowing for immediate denial or approval of any and all changes or decisions in community. However, their first responsibility is not to be involved in staff team and should only be making these decisions where necessary. Their priority is the funding server upkeep from their own pockets, development, and operating as support to staff members.
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> #### Game Master
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> Game Masters are the narrative, lore writing and setting planners for the community's in-character affairs. Their role is less administrative focused and more leaning towards ensuring that the in-character environment doesn't become slow and uneventful. Game Masters are advised and report directly to Community Directors. Community Representatives are able to forward suggestions from the community about events, however, are not entitled to authorize events or actions to be taken by Game Masters. The responsibilities of Game Masters are as follows:
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> * Proactively planning and executing events authorized by Community Directors and in-line with the established Narrative Agenda.
> * Communicate with faction leadership as necessary when attempting to start events in-character.
> * Enforce the community rules on the discord, and server.
> * Work alongside Community Representatives, receiving their suggestions as required.
> * Maintain a good standing with the community, and set an example for community members.
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> Requirements for Game Masters are below:
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> * Be in good standing with the community.
> 	+ Good standing is defined as having no violations of discord or server rules in the past 3 months.
> * Intern with a Game Master for a minimum of 3 months.
> 	+ Interns will be required to assist Game Mastering ten events, receiving positive feedback on seven out of the ten.
> 	+ Upon the three months coming to a close, Interns will be required to plan and execute a mini-campaign successfully.
> 		- Mini-campaign should contain at least one introductory event, three involved events, and a finale event.
> 		- Player feedback should be at least fifty-one percent positive, and Game Masters or Community Directors assisting the mini-campaign should have a unanimous vote in favor of the promotion
> 		- After which receiving an invitation from the Community Directors to take the position as an Game Master.
> * Possesses a minimum of three months experience serving in the role of Administrator.
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> #### Administrator
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> Serving as an Administrator, volunteers have further opportunities than that of moderators due to their investment of time, earned trust, and proven dedication to the community. With the opportunity for Administrators to mentor moderators, Administrators directly influence the future of the staff team. Administrators have the choice if they wish to intern and try out for a promotion to Game Master after serving at least three months in the role of Administrator without incident. The responsibility of Administrators are the following:
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> * Enforce the community rules on the discord, and server.
> * Investigate and collect contextual information for ongoing problems in the community.
> * Work alongside Community Representatives as required.
> * Maintain a good standing with the community, and set an example for community members.
> * Mentor newly appointed moderators.
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> The requirements to be an Administrator are below:
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> * Be in good standing with the community.
> 	+ Good standing is defined as having no violations of discord or server rules in the past 3 months.
> * Receive an invitation from the Community Representatives to take the position as an Administrator.
> * Possesses a minimum of three months experience serving in the role of Moderator.
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> #### Moderator
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> Moderators have multiple opportunities within the community and among the staff team. Firstly, they will be working alongside Administrators and be apart of their decision making process. By shadowing an Administrator and assisting them with their responsibilities, Moderators in time will improve their own staffing ability and build a reputation among the community as a staff member. Moderators are advised by Community Representatives and will be under the mentorship of the Administrators. Below is a list of their responsibilities:
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> * Enforce community rules on the discord and server.
> * Maintain a good standing with the community, and set an example for community members to follow.
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> The requirements to become a moderator are the following:
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> * Be in good standing within the community.
> 	+ Good standing is defined as having no violations of discord or server rules in the past 3 months.
> * Receive an invitation to become a moderator from the Community Representative Council.
> 	+ Moderators will be considered "temporary" for their first three months as a moderator. Promotions are given by a Community Director, and are based on feedback from Administration and Community Representative consensus.
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> #### Faction Leader
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> Faction Leaders have the opportunity to lead and guide a faction, guiding the portrayal and quality of role play for the faction. While serving as a Faction Leader the individual will be reporting to Community Directors and be continually advised by Community Representatives. The below is a overview of the responsibilities or "Role Description" of the Faction Leader position.
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> * Maintains and updates (as appropriate) faction related wiki pages to their faction.
> 	+ Maintenance and updates of faction related pages do not include changing how the faction's rules or procedures operate. Faction Leaders are required to communicate with Community Directors to receive approval in faction changes.
> * Communicates with Game Masters to plan events and content to support the narrative of the faction.
> 	+ Faction Leaders do not possess the authority to interfere with Game Master events. All events are approved by Community Directors and any concerns or questions should be brought to a Director, and not the Game Masters.
> * Communicates with Community Directors to suggest features that aid and improve the faction's gameplay quality.
> 	+ Faction Leaders are not entitled to definitive answers about the development of the server. Upon suggesting an idea for the faction, Community Directors will express the likelihood of the feature being added.
> * Leads quality of roleplay actions within the faction they direct to give players learning opportunities to meet (and excel above) community standards.
> * Blacklists players which prove themselves to be incapable of properly role-playing as a member of the faction.
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> Requirements to become a Faction Leader:
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> * Be in good standing with the community.
> 	+ Good standing is defined as having no violations of discord or server rules in the past 3 months.
> * Be a currently active member of the faction you wish to assist in leading.
> * Be invited by the former Faction Leader or a Community Director.
> 	+ Faction Co-Leader positions may be authorized by a Community Director.
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> #### Community Representative
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> Community Representatives have the opportunity to be agents of change within the community. While serving, they will report directly to the Community Directors and be advising all staff as they deem necessary as a collective. The experience gained while serving as a representative will be that the individual gains insight into how t he community functions behind the scenes. You will gain an understanding of standard operating procedures in regards to forwarding suggesting, feedback, appeals, and other interactions from the community. Below is the role description for representatives.
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> * Assist members of the community in organizing and presenting their ideas, suggestions, character concepts, and constructive criticism to be presented to Community Directors.
> * Continually communicates with members of the community to gain a understanding of their consensus to be brought up while in meetings with Community Directors.
> * Decides upon the severity and form of administrative action taken by staff when investigations result in requiring penalties.
> 	+ Furthermore, they also possess the collective authority to determine how staff should be held accountable.
> * Confirm the appointment of staff through a council vote in which the majority approves of the invitation of a community member to the staff team.
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> The requirements to become a Community Representative are the following:
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> * Be elected by the community.
> 	+ Elected candidates are among the five most positively voted candidates when subtracting votes for and against.
> 	+ Representative elections are held every six months and can be only delayed by Community Directors.
> * Be currently not serving your second consecutive term as a representative.
> 	+ Individuals serving their second term may not run for re-election until they have spent six months unelected.
> * Be in good standing with the community.
> 	+ Good standing is defined as having no violations of discord or server rules in the past three months.
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