LOTRO:Charter

Alea Iacta Est: Lord of the Rings Online

Charter, Policies, and Responsibilities

Overview

Alea Iacta Est (AIE) is a casual gaming community that was started by the creators/fans/friends of The Instance/ELR/Buzz out Loud/Jawbone Radio/Mahalo Daily on the Earthen Ring (RP)-US Realm of World of Warcraft. We have since expanded into other games, including SW:TOR, Rift, EVE, GW2, TSW, and now LotRO.

The AIE:LOTRO kinship is a fully participatory member of the AIE gaming community. In LOTRO terminology, a kinship is the equivalent of a guild. When reading the policies and guidelines below, consider the AIE:LOTRO kinship the equivalent of a guild in any other MMO, including WoW, GW2, or SW:TOR. “Community” refers to all participants in the AIE gaming community across all games, while “kinship/kinsman/kinnie” are used to refer directly to the AIE:LOTRO kinship and its members.

AIE is a very casual kinship. We are not a strict raiding kinship nor a strict PvP kinship nor a strict role-playing kinship (although we may have groups of people in the kinship who pursue such interests). We are a kinship that believes that all players should be given the opportunity to experience multiple aspects of game play and that a lack of experience does not imply a lack of aptitude.

Every voice in AIE is equal, and we enjoy open conversation as long as you do not belittle your fellow members. If you have any ideas/suggestions/comments/etc, please submit them to the officers at any time, via the proper channels - eg. the AIE/ELR forums, the general email address officers@lotro.aie-guild.org.

As a member of AIE with the tag over your character’s head, you represent AIE as a whole and are expected to act accordingly. You may not get along with everybody in the kinship, but you are expected to be polite and civil to your fellow guildmates.

Ignorantia legis neminem excusat, ignorance of the law excuses no one. Every member is expected to be familiar with the kinship policies and abide by them.

Member Applications

Membership is available to all listeners of the above mentioned podcasts, members of the existing community, and other like-minded individuals. All prospective players must have completed the introduction instance, intro zone, and outro instance prior to joining and are required to submit an application for membership. You may submit your application here at https://umami.aie-universal.net/ Once you complete the instance at the beginning of the game, look for the Officers listed in the forum thread for the Kinship (http://forum.myextralife.com/topic/46700-lord-of-the-rings-kinship/). If you are unable to locate one online, add them to your in-game friends list and post your character’s name in the introduction thread so that officers can locate you as well. The URL for the introduction thread can be found here. http://forum.myextralife.com/topic/46699-lord-of-the-rings-online-charactersalts/ .

Kinship

AIE:LOTRO is a mixed kinship. The kinship-specific web site can be visited at http://my.lotro.com/guild-867505891828312092/

Ranks

Membership ranks are comprised of officer and members. Details of the ranks are below:

Recruit

After having a membership application approved a member is invited and joins as a recruit. This is a probationary rank with limited privileges. During this time, the Recruit is expected to become familiar with the guild policies and to register in the official guild forums.

Within four weeks of joining, the Recruit’s membership status will be reviewed and the member will be either promoted to Kinsman/Kinswoman rank or removed from the kinship. If your character remains at Recruit rank after 12 weeks, contact an Officer and the situation will be resolved asap.

Kinsman/Kinswoman

Kinsman/Kinswoman is the highest non-officer rank in AIE. A Kinsman/Kinswoman is considered a member in good standing and carries with it the full privilege and responsibility of AIE membership. Applicants who have characters in good standing in other guilds/subguilds in the AIE community are automatically promoted to Kinsman/Kinswoman. Kinsmen/kinswomen can contribute to the kinship blog at http://my.lotro.com/guild-867505891828312092/ where entries are reviewed by the officer corps.

Officers

There is only one rank of officer in a LOTRO kinship. Officers have the ability to discipline members via removal or to promote to Kinsman/Kinswoman. Officers help maintain the kinship house and assist in maintaining kinship cohesiveness by promoting a cooperative atmosphere. See Officer Corps for more information. Officers can review entries submitted by Recruits & Kinsmen to the kinship blog at http://my.lotro.com/guild-867505891828312092/

Kinship Leader

The Kinship Leader is the individual responsible for maintaining the kinship presence on the server. The Leader can add events to the kinship calendar, edit and contribute to the kinship blog, and promote members to officer rank. The Leader can appoint a Successor in the event the Leader seeks to step down from the position. At that point, the Successor will become the new Leader.

Officer Corps

Officers in AIE:LOTRO are facilitators as well as arbiters. The focus is on providing a strong, consistent framework for enjoyment of our diverse community within the game. This includes the day-to-day administrivia, such as: processing member applications, enforcement of kinship policies, and helping to ensure an atmosphere conducive to what we have come to expect from the AIE gaming community.

This deviates from the convention of officers exclusively assuming mantles of leadership regarding kinship raiding, crafting, role-play, and MvP activities. You may find officers filling these roles, but any member of the kinship is more than capable of assuming a leadership role in any of these capacities. Our only requirements are that the entire kinship policies are adhered to, and any plans involving significant kinship-wide participation or representation to the larger server or LOTRO community be discussed with the officers.

The officers of AIE:LOTRO may be contacted by e-mailing: officers@lotro.aie-guild.org.

Kinship House

Unlike other games where there is a central bank and vault for the entire kinship, LOTRO makes use of a kinship house - in addition to a character’s personal house the player has access to his/her kinship house based on permissions established by the kinship.The Kinship house is situated at 4 Brookbank Street, Troutbottom, Shire Homesteads

These permissions include the following:

Visitation: Our door is open to everyone, members and non-members alike. Use Decorations: Some housing decorations can have beneficial, negative, or indifferent effects. These items are usable by any visitor to the kinship house. Add/Remove Decorations: Officers only. Members can donate non-bound decorations to officers or deposit them in the kinship chests for use on the house. Access Kinship Chests: The kinship house has three chests. These are accessible by all kinsmen/kinswomen. Please act responsibly with these chests as storage is limited and some upkeep will be required as a result. Maintenance: As with all housing in LOTRO, there is a required maintenance cost. Members who are willing to donate to the maintenance of the kinship house can do so by depositing items in a kinship chest and notifying the kinship via kinship in-game mail.

Naming Policies

Because of the unique size of the community and the audience we cater to, there will be a naming policy in effect. This is in order to ensure Officers have no issues inviting toons or debating whether a name is acceptable or not. Any names that go against the posted rules will be rejected.

Landroval is a Roleplaying-Encouraged (RP-EN) server. Names for characters created on the server should fit within the Turbine Naming Policy that has been established for these servers. Information can be located at http://support.turbine.com/link/portal/24001/24011/Article/1965/LOTRO-Official-Roleplaying-Rules-and-Policy

The following rules will apply to names:

• Hyphens and apostrophes are permitted, as well as accented characters as the game as well as server encourages role play and appropriate naming conventions.
• No illegal drugs or references
• No profanity
• No names scatological, profane, or offensive in nature, or other names deemed inappropriate by the Officers.
• Names should fit within the world of the Lord of the Rings, but cannot be a direct play on characters already present in the Legendarium. For example, Eomer, Galadriel, etc. are not allowed.
• LOTRO supports surnames as well. Although we do not see surnames in chat, it is floating around on your head as you run about the world, with your kinship name. We should mention that inappropriate surnames are also not allowed. Surnames can be added at level 15, and cost 10 silver to create, change, or remove the surname.

Kinship Chat Policy

Due to the size of the kinship, kinship chat must be treated as a public address system, not as a private chat channel.

Members may not beg for gold/credits or items in kinship chat (or via any other means). Members may not "spam" kinship chat or "shout" (messages in all caps) in kinship chat. Members may ask for help from members at an equivalent level, but may not ask for power leveling or run-throughs. Members are free to offer run-throughs for other members, but they may not solicit or accept gold or any other real or virtual commodity in return. Members engaging in topics or styles of discussion that are disruptive, immature, or better suited for alternate venues will be asked to take their discussions to private channels. There are no role-playing requirements within the kinship or in kinship chat.

Member Conduct

Alea Iacta Est is an all-ages, family-friendly community. As a participant in the AIE:LOTRO kinship, every member is expected to keep their conversations in the forums, kinship chat, and in public Ventrilo channels suitable for children.

We will not tolerate any discrimination based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, age, veteran status, ancestry, or national or ethnic origin. While a healthy rivalry between in-game factions and races is acceptable, we require civil and courteous behavior towards the real people behind the keyboards.

Members should refrain from using profanity, discussing politics, religion, illegal activities, sexual orientation, or explicit sexual acts in the community forums, kinship chat, or on the Ventrilo server. These topics tend to be inflammatory due to the large and diverse makeup of the community. If you decide to participate in such discussions in which people may become insulted or feel threatened, be prepared to face the possibility of immediate expulsion from the kinship. You are more than welcomed to take such topics to a private channel, the debate board section of the Extralife forums or a private voice communications system of your choice.

Members may not harass other kinship members or players outside of the kinship. If a player asks you to cease contacting or interacting with them, please respect their wishes.

Role-playing is entirely optional. However, we ask that you respect the wishes of members in the role-playing channel on the Ventrilo server,in private chat, or at events planned specifically for role-playing. Playing or claiming RP does not grant leeway in being intentionally rude or malicious to other playing characters, kinsmen or otherwise. Should you encounter a kinsman engaging in these acts, please take screenshots and forward them to the Officers.

All members must abide by Turbine’s EULA for The Lords of the Rings Online. These can be located online at http://www.turbine.com/content/lord-rings-online%E2%84%A2-united-states-terms-service.

These standards of behavior apply to member’s interactions with other kinship members, community members, other players outside the kinship/community, and Turbine personnel.

All members shall be held responsible for their respective accounts and characters action within the kinship. If your friend or family member logs onto your account and stirs up trouble you will be held responsible as though you did it yourself.

Members are expected to discuss requests, concerns, or disputes directly with the officers by sending e-mail to officers@lotro.aie-guild.org.