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Official Charter of the Order
of Pi
The Order of Pi is a Guild in the
game of Everquest.
This charter was drafted and adopted
by the Order of Pi as its official charter and tenets.
Preamble
1. Equality of Members
2. Code of Conduct
3. Recruiting
4. Voting
5. Law and Order in Pi
6. Officer Responsibilities
7. Amendments
We the members of the Order of Pi, in order to form
a guild of members, establish a network of friends and
colleagues, assist one another in great quests and undertakings,
provide a structure and environment for challenge and
entertainment, have fun and secure the blessings of
friendship for ourselves and our posterity, do hereby
ordain and establish this charter of the Order of Pi.
All full members in good standing of the Order of Pi
are equal in the eyes of the guild. We consciously do
not choose to create a structure of command or subordination.
We firmly believe that our members are mature, fun-loving
people that can thrive in an environment that does not
demand that one member be in a higher or lower station
than another. Each member has the right to have a say
in the working of the guild, and the right to participate
as they see fit.
The only time the Order of Pi forgoes
the above and assumes a temporary command structure
is on raids. See our official raid and looting policies
for more information.
The Order of Pi Guild upholds the highest standard of
Norathian citizenship. The Order of Pi takes pride in
its growing reputation as a guild of the highest honor.
Each member of Order of Pi is expected to uphold this
standard to the best of his or her ability, as it reflects
on the guild as a whole.
Members of the Order of Pi are expected
to be polite in their dealings with other citizens of
Norrath. We should never incite or encourage hostile
words or actions, rude behavior, or making the game
experience unpleasant for others. In fact, we have a
reputation for being trustworthy and helpful, and that
is one of the cornerstones of the guild.
Under no circumstances is kill stealing
condoned. Not only is this against Verant rules, its
does grievous damage to the reputation of the guild.
We exist on Norrath to have fun and help others have
fun. Kill stealing is a low, inexcusable action. Sometimes
kill stealing happens by accident. In these cases, apologize
to the other party and offer them the loot from the
mob. In gray areas, use common sense and be generous.
If a member of the Order of Pi is
the victim of kill stealing, try to make sure that its
not a misunderstanding before taking more drastic actions.
We should strive to work things out amiably with the
other party.
In the unfortunate case where a member
of the Order of Pi find his or herself in a situation
where diplomacy and politeness are not possible, i.e.
the other party is openly hostile and intent on causing
trouble, /report relevant text messages and /petition
a GM for assistance. We should not play a "tit
for tat" game and try to lower ourselves to the
other's level.
If a member of the Order of Pi wishes
to camp a specific mob, but find that it is already
camped, they should politely ask to be notified when
the camp is free, and move on to another spot. It is
not in the spirit of this charter to invoke the Verant
"play nice" policies and try to share the
camp.
Members of the Order of Pi are very
giving. We all have worked on various trade skills and
obtain many rare and wonderful treasures. Very often
members will perform services or grant items to other
members for free, or for cost in the case of trade skills.
However, members should not repeatedly beg others for
items or services or power leveling. Asking once in
guild chat or over a /tell is okay if you need something
from another member such as a buff, teleport or other
services, but do not make repeated demands if they say
they are busy or otherwise disposed. Everything should
be given freely out of a sense of generosity, not a
sense of responsibility.
The order of Pi is a tight knit group of friends and
colleagues. While the guild is small, we do welcome
new members who will fit in and carry on the Pi tradition.
We welcome quality people of all levels. We are not
an uber guild, and new members can be of any level and
experience. Membership in the Order of Pi requires very
few things, but they are important.
The basic steps in becoming a new member of the Order
of Pi are as follows:
a) sponsorship by two members
b) introduction to the guild
c) vote
d) ceremony
Only after steps 'a' through 'd' are completed, will
the new member will be given a /guildinvite from an
officer. Officers will not give out /guildinvites to
people that have not completed all the above steps.
The only exception to this rule is to invite alternate
characters of current guild members.
a) Sponsorship - Every new member must have two sponsors.
A sponsor is a member in good standing that will vouch
for the new member and their conduct within the guild.
The primary sponsor is responsible for knowing the steps
required for membership, explains the process to the
prospective member, and facilitating the steps of the
membership process. The secondary sponsor will act as
a back up to the primary and also vouches for the new
member and their conduct in the guild. Both the primary
and secondary sponsor should know the applicant and
have grouped with them. Real life friends that the sponsors
think would make a good addition to the guild are also
welcome and encouraged.
The sponsors will also direct the prospective member
to the Guild Charter so they can read and understand
the basis of the Order of Pi.
b) Introduction to the Guild - The primary sponsor
will be responsible for getting the prospective member
signed up with the Order of Pi website. Then introductions
will be made and a general introduction message posted
by the prospective member so we can all get to know
them better.
A separate thread for discussing the new member should
also be initiated in the Guild Business Forum by the
primary sponsor. The prospective member’s strengths,
experience, and other factors should be discussed. Any
concerns or fears should also be discussed here.
c) Vote - After a short period (a few days) of introductions
and discussion, the primary sponsor should open up a
vote in the Guild Business forum. There should be three
choices for the vote:
1) Yes, I want them in the guild
2) No, I do not want them in the guild
3) Undecided, I would like to get to know them better
The voting should be open for at least 5 days, as not
all members are able to check the website daily.
"Yes" votes must carry a clear majority (51%)
of the votes for the applicant to become a member. If
"undecided" votes prevent a majority, then
the vote is considered postponed till such a time that
those who voted "undecided" can change their
vote. The sponsors should facilitate further discussions
and meetings with the prospective member.
At the close of the voting period, the voting and discussion
threads will be deleted from the message board if the
prospective member is voted into the guild. This is
to allow current members the peace of mind to speak
freely and discuss any concerns they may have.
d) Ceremony - An initiation ceremony should be planned
and organized by the sponsors after a successful vote.
This is a time to celebrate the growth and renewal of
the guild, and to welcome and greet the new member.
The only formal initiation requirement will be for
the the sponsors to ask the new member if they "understand,
and will uphold and defend, the charter of the Order
of Pi". Then upon their confirmation of this duty,
the /guildinvite can be offered for their acceptance.
Sponsors are encouraged to be creative in planning
the ceremony, its location, and content.
If there are any issues, they should
be resolved in accordance with guild crisis resolution
policy. See Articles 4 and 5 for details on this.
There will be occasional situations where a decision
needs to be made that will effect the Guild as a whole.
In these cases, the issues should be posted to the message
board, and voted upon. There should be a definite time
when voting is open and when it closes.
As not all members are daily participants
of the guild message forums, a /guildmotd shall be posted
informing the guild membership that a discussion and
vote on a guild matter (ie. new member, charter ammendment)
is underway. This message should contain a brief topic
overview and the date the voting will close.
Those members that are interested
in the issue should cast their vote, and the decision
should be made with a clear majority of those who vote,
voting for one side or the other. Voting is a privilege,
not a responsibility, so we do not expect full participation.
Its up to each member to decide for themselves if they
wish to participate in the decision or not.
In cases where there is a 50/50 split
of votes cast, or close to that, the matter should be
discussed in more depth to gain some kind of consensus
as to how to proceed. It is envisioned that most matters
of importance will have a clear majority favoring a
certain course of action.
Occasionally there will be situations that arise that
require some form of action from the guild. If the matter
is not urgent, the normal procedure would be to take
it to the message board for discussion and resolution.
However, sometimes there will need to be a decision
made immediately by those members that are online.
When such a need occurs, there should
be a general /guild announcement of the convening of
a council. There should be a channel created for the
discussion of the matter and all members who wish to
participate should join, and all officers currently
online are expected to join - see Article 6 for officer
responsibilities. In this channel, the issue should
be discussed, then a course of action agreed to or voted
on.
The need for disciplinary action should
be almost nonexistent, but there may be times when a
member is accused of behavior that is not in accord
with this charter. In these cases, all efforts should
be made to obtain as much information as possible, from
both sides before any action is taken.
The guiding principles should be "severe"
and "frequent". "Severe" cases involve
things such as blatant kill stealing, theft (ex, ninja
looting) of items or money, or other extreme violations
of both Verant's policies and this charter. Frequent
includes minor offenses, but occurring often, such as
frequent and unwanted spamming of others, begging, rude
remarks, etc.
Only in the case of a severe violation
should a council can be created online, it is preferred
to take matters to the mailing list/forums if time if
not a critical issue.
The Order of Pi has guild positions known as "officer"
and "guild leader". The guild leader and officers
of the Order of Pi have no special privilege, rather
they are functional responsibilities mainly for recruitment
and urgent decision making purposes. The guild leader
is an officer of the guild with the additional ability
to offer the burden of being an officer to other members.
The primary duty of an officer is
to invite new members to the guild. If another member
wishes to sponsor a new member, they will contact the
nearest officer to have that person invited. The officer
must confirm that the proper rules and forms of recruitment
have been observed as outlined in Article 3.
After inviting a new member, the officer
must forward the name of the new member, and his sponsors
to the guild leader for inclusion in the guild roster.
The preferred method is by sending an email to guildleader@orderofpi.com.
The guild leader will then add the new members to the
guild roster and update (or delegate the update of)
the website accordingly.
In cases where Article 5 is invoked
and a council is formed, all officers currently online
are expected to join the council along with any other
members who wish to participate. This is to insure that
there is adequate representation in the council and
council participation is part of the responsibility
of the office.
From time to time, this charter will need to be amended.
Such amendments will be discussed on the mailing list
and a vote taken -- see Article 4 for voting. If the
vote is successful, the new amendment will be added
to this charter and be as binding as the original 7
Articles.
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