Originally posted by druke:
ok here is the polocy Wolf typed up, i would like it to be known the AO is still under consideration of joining..
not the big paper thingy
_______________________________________________________________
Proposal for structuring of a Council for all guilds in PS.
In this thread a general proposal has been made for the creation of a council for Guilds in the PS Community. This idea has been discussed and amended in a discussion by various interested parties, representing several guilds, on the PS IRC channel #planeshift @ Quakenet on 01/09/03. As a result of that a summary of the proposal as it stands now is posted here for further discussion.
General:
Those supporting this proposal are asked to post here to express their support for it. Of course amendments and supplemental proposals by all guilds and interested parties are very welcome in order to continue this debate and make it fruitful. A very important comment by Vengeance earlier in this thread is quoted here and should be taken very seriously in this discussion.
Policy:
It should be clear that AO and whichever other guilds want to subscribe to this Policy (please post it if you do) will only support this initiative if the following are adhered to:
The Guilds Council (GC) will not be structured or used as a ?power-mongering? instrument for a few guilds (large and/or well established) to the detriment of other (newly established/newer/small) guilds.
The GC is an open body for ALL guilds meeting the basic requirements.
The basic requirements of membership is to ensure that those guilds that participate are serious, established and won?t disappear after 3 weeks again. However, this is by NO MEANS aimed at preventing new guilds from starting up. To the contrary it is aimed at helping new guilds to attain the qualities needed to become established and growing guilds.
The GC will act as an association that can give out a ?seal of approval? to new guilds once they have met the requirements of membership, in essence a recognition by other guilds as an established and functioning guild.
Membership of the CG is VOLUNTARY and no guilds will be forced or pressurized into joining it. Any Guild can at any time decide to terminate its membership of the CG without suffering any penalty or retribution by the CG or its members.
All decisions made by the CG will ONLY be binding on those guilds that are members of CG. In this way the Guild Council will only survive and be relevant if it in fact provides a useful service to the large majority of Guilds in the PS Community.
In this initial phase the CG will only pertain to PS Forum and not to the game of PS and the world of Yliakum. Once it has been tried out to see if it meets expectations and is not abused by some to the detriment of others a discussion could be taken up about, if it should be expanded to also function in game.
It is proposed that these policy statements (in this or an amended form) be the Founding Document of the CG and act as a guideline for the actions of the GC.
The basis for the proposal is a reference to the structure of the UN in RL, of course that is only a point of reference and the actual structure will be made to fit the PS Community. The proposal so far is as follows:
The Guilds Council will consist of two basic structures:
A Guilds Assembly (GA) with two Houses, an Upper and Lower House,
The Upper House could be know as the House of Major Guilds (HMAG).
The Lower House could be known as House of Minor Guilds (HMIG).
A) Guilds Assembly (GA):
All guilds will be allowed one representative in the GA in order to achieve as broad a representation of Guilds in the PS Community as possible. The GA is thus not an elitist organisation but a broadly representative one. However, this does not mean that any two or three PS players banding together can call themselves a Guild and get a seat in the GA.
Firstly, there will be distinguished between Major and Minor Guilds. There will be criteria that must be met in order for a Guild to be recognised and admitted to the GA in the first place. The criteria for entering the House of Minor Guilds (HMIG) will be easier to meet than those for the House of Major Guilds (HMAG). However, all guilds can become members of HMAG (graduate if you want) once they meet the criteria. HMIG members will have one vote each in the GA and when voting for the Senate Representatives. HMAG members will have 3 votes each.
The criteria for becoming HMIG and HMAG General Assembly members are as follows:
Major guild :
1) 10 members minimum.
Officially registered as guild in PS and continue to meet all those requirements.
Minor guild :
Must have existed after public announcement in PS Guilds Forum for 1 month.
Must have 7 members and all 7 members must have been members for at least 14 days.
B) Functioning of GA:
The GA will meet combined for the 2 houses and both HMIG and HMAG members are present. The most important functions of the GA are:
To vote an executive committee with a Chairman, Vice-chairman and 2-3 other members.
To debate and approve all major decisions and policies proposed by the Executive committee. If not approved it is referred back to Executive for amendment.
Members can make proposals, debate them, and vote on them.
To vote the Executive out of power by a 2/3 majority of votes on a motion of no confidence, should that be wished for.
C) The Executive Committee:
The Executive is the body that meets regularly and makes decisions and policies with regard to guilds and guild behaviour and activity in PS FORUMS. It implements the decisions ratified by the GA and acts as voice for the GA. Neither the Executive nor the GA has any power or structure inside of the PS game unless such a structure and function is negotiated with, and approved by, the Dev Team of PS.
Executive members are elected for a period of 6 months (unless thrown out by a motion of no-confidence). Any given guild can only have a member elected to the Executive for 2 consecutive 6 months periods. This refers to the GUILD and not a specific member! Thereafter the guild must wait at least one session of 6 months before it can have a representative on the Executive again.
All decisions by the Executive is submitted to the GA for approval by a simple majority of a Quorum of the GA. Only once approved by the GA does any policy or action become official policy for the Guilds Council. Measures or policies NOT approved by the GA are referred back to the GS for amendment.
END
The actual use of the ug(or gc) would probably be to get things done. Big things. Things that would require lots of money. Things that require lots of work. Things that are very popular but there isn\'t enough popularity to get organized. Things similar to the travel plazas along the interstate (USA). Things like cities. Things like public buildings. Etc...
Of course, this may not be reasonable incentive for the creation of such an organization.