Proposed Bylaws and Polices

Proposed Bylaws and Polices

These are largely a revision of the existing bylaws that were written by the old Leadership, I'd like to reword most of it, as it sounds too formal, and rip large pieces of it out., but i'd also like to know what you guys think, so /discuss.

Bylaws


I. Gaming Masters Core Values
The managers, deputies, and members of the Gaming Masters Clan and Communities are dedicated to the values of Maturity, Integrity, Fairness, Friendship and Teamwork.

• Maturity
  We are responsible stewards of our servers and forums. We approach problems with wisdom and reason. We exercise self-control and self-discipline and do not abuse server or forum admin/member privileges.

• Integrity
  We are committed to honesty and truthfulness. We are trustworthy and reliable. Our actions and words are consistent with the values and ethics we profess. We conduct ourselves on the servers and in the forums with professionalism.

• Fairness
  We treat everyone equally; everyone is held to the same standard. We resolve problems without bias or malice, looking at all sides of an issue. We respect one another's opinions and take grievances seriously. We are inclusive and denounce all forms of bigotry and prejudice on our servers and forums.

• Friendship
  We foster a spirit of kindness and cooperation on our servers and forums. We are friendly to everyone on our servers and offer help to anyone who needs it. We offer patience and understanding and are intolerant of insults and derisiveness. We support one another in our attempts to improve our playing skill.

• Teamwork
  We subordinate our own wants and desires and seek to achieve the goal at hand, be it the overarching mission of Gaming Masters, or that of capturing the point. We communicate clearly but listen readily. We participate in discussions but respect team/community/clan managers and their decisions.

These principles, upon which Gaming Masters is founded, guide our members daily and encourage each of us to do what is right and best for all. Every member of our organization must understand and live by our core values.

II. Democratic Hierarchy System

A "democratic hierarchy system" is one in which members are afforded levels of access to GM servers and given specific rights, privileges, and duties depending upon and according to rank within GM. A member's rank does not grant or afford authority over lower ranking members. Rather, all GM members are considered equal, but privileges of membership, as well as responsibilities, are determined by a member's ranking within the democratic hierarchy system.

• Manager
  The highest rank attainable. Managers' duties include overall administration of the servers and oversight of the GM website.

• Server Administrator
  Server administrators are expected to keep our servers running smoothly, regardless of what game they are running. SAs are selected by the quality of their administration as an LSA and are chosen by the managers. SAs must never abuse the powerful tools we give them the privilege of using, such as noclip, slay and timebomb. Doing so could mean suspension from GM, or worse.

• Limited Server Administrator
  Limited server administrators are, like SAs, expected to keep our servers running smoothly by warning and kicking rule-breakers. Unlike SAs, Limited admins may only kick and not ban. Any abuse of the tools we provide them will result in termination of their administrator status and possible suspension or banishment from GM.

• Private Community Member - [GM]
  Private Community members are expected to play regularly on GM servers and participate actively in GM training events or internal matches. Private Community members are also expected to regularly visit the forums and keep up with Private Community/GM-related news and forum posts. All Private Community members serve as Limited Server Administrators and may be promoted to full Server Administrators, depending on the member's experience and trustworthiness. It should be the goal of each Private Community member to improve his or her playing ability to the highest level attainable and to assist Gaming Masters to grow larger

• Private Community Recruit - [GM-R]
  All recruits are expected to proactively seek to improve their TF2 playing skill and must earn the respect and trust of Private Community members.

• Public Community Member - |GM|
  Any member of the general public is permitted to become a Public Community member with the only condition being that they abide by the rules on our servers and obey server administrators.

III. Code of Conduct
All GM Clan and Community Members are expected to conduct themselves professionally, honourably and respectfully at all times. All members are expected to maintain good and honourable behaviour while wearing any GM tag. The GM clan/community tags must be worn when playing on GM servers.
Cheating is unacceptable behaviour and is punishable by demotion, dismissal, or permanent banishment from the clan. We hate cheaters and have extensive knowledge of the cheats/hacks/exploits that are being used. We take the time to test the cheats/hacks/exploits to train our Admins.
Except on private clan/community servers being used solely by clan/community members (i.e., not being visited by members of other clans or members of the public), no exploits or scripts such as noclip/burn/explode/etc. shall be used at any time. Commands that radically alter the gameplay are for testing and training purposes only.

Inappropriate decal "sprays" or IDs in-game are punishable at an Admin's discretion.




************************************************** **************


Policies

Recruitment Policy

• Public Community
  Membership into the Public Community is automatic if the recruit reads and agrees to our bylaws and policies.

• Private Community
  Currently, GM is actively recruiting for the Private Community. There is a limit of 100 members in the Private Community; therefore, applications will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

When applying to join GM's Private Community, all of the following requirements must already have been met:

• 1. Dedication
  You must show your support of GM by being a Public Community member for at least one week and must have worn the |GM| tag on our servers during that time, you must also make friends with at least 5 GM members.
  You must show your community spirit by visiting our forums, and contributing to them by posting 25 times.
  You must have played for at least 20 hours on any GM servers, as recorded by our HLStatsX or PropHunt Stats.

• 2. Leader Acceptance
  Savage will evaluate your application, and determine your acceptability. This may take as long as one week.

After you are accepted as a Private Community recruit:
You will wear the [GM-R] tag for two weeks. During that time, you must maintain the same level of dedication and skill that was required when you applied. At the end of the one-week period, there will be a vote by the Private Community/Clan (open for 72 hours) to decide whether or not to grant you full Private Community membership.


Please note that our Clan recruitment policy has not been decided upon as of yet.


Membership Removal
Any GM Private Community/Clan member who is inactive i.e. does not log onto the forum or the servers for 30 days will be removed from the Private Community/Clan and will be moved to the Public Community, unless good reason is given for their absence.

Privacy Statement

• 1. Visitors and members consent
  All visitors of Gaming Masters are free to provide or not provide their personal information such as email address, but if they do not provide such information they will not be entitled to the services such as creating a new topic and replying to the forums, as these services require registration. However, even without registration visitors can read the forums.

• 2. The Information collected by Gaming Masters
  Gaming Masters collects information for providing a bond between the site and its users. Information regarding IP address, browser and Operating System are collected. From time to time, managers may monitor correspondence via the forum and the servers. Our forum software may also plant a (completely safe) unique session "cookie" on your computer which will allow us to keep you logged in even when you close your browser and to generally provide a better user experience. Through the necessary client software, you may block any of the aforementioned from occurring.

• 3. Security
  Gaming Masters protects the information provided by you. All personal details such as your email address are kept secure and your password is encrypted in our database. Your data will not misused, redistributed or altered.

• 4. Distribution of personal information
  GamingMasters does not knowingly distribute personal information to any third parties. Should this change, Gaming Masters will not knowingly distribute any information without your prior consent. Please be aware that it may be possible, depending on your use of various features on Gaming Masters, that some of your personal information is available on publicly accessible web pages. One example would be using the Gaming Masters forums. If you are a GM member, some personal information is displayed on the main website. Consent to expose some of your personal information in these cases is implied by the use of these features.

• 5. Alterations of personal information
  You can edit your personal information at any time in your control panel. You have complete control of your name, date of birth, location, interest and all other information in your profile which was recorded by you during your registration. Gaming Masters does not take any responsibility regarding information which is under your complete control.

• 6. COPPA
  Gaming Masters allows the children between the age of 13 to 18 to participate in the forums, post and distribute their personal information without the consent of their parents. If you are below the age of 13 then you must seek the prior consent of your parents for becoming the member on Gaming Masters and posting information on Gaming Masters forums.

• 7. Alteration of Policy
  Gaming Masters reserves the right to alter the above noted policy document at any time without any prior notice to anyone concerned or unconcerned. However, Gaming Masters will try to inform you about the major changes in this policy document as and when they take place.

• Liability Information
  Gaming Masters will not be held liable for the result of the usage of any information provided in the forums, and disclaim all liability resulting in the use of the posted information.
  We take no responsibility for the content of any of the messages posted in the forums and do not guarantee the authenticity of its authors. All opinions and views expressed in the forums are solely those of their respective authors and are not necessarily those of the staff or its representatives.

 

I'm sure you could put most of this under the following: Common Sense.

 

Well it's good to have some of the explanation there for people if they want it, but to be honest a lot of the actual numbers and such, like member number caps and specific recruitment criteria, cause more confusion than they're worth.

In my experience anyway.

 

Nah but if you do that then we have to stick to it ;D

I suggest you take out anything binding...

 

well the problem is that they(not targeting anyone) need to use it.

 

About the Gaming Skills... That may be a problem for me... i have been playing on TF2 Since Release date (PS3) and on PC in late 2008, but i am actually terrible, like if i didn't learnt anything this 3 years :S (Unless you are referring to any other kind of skills)

Anyway, as previously stated, most of them could be tagged under "Common Sense" (Which is the least common of all)