Draft document on the rules and regulations of the Glade Council (Path of the Glade)

Editor's Note: Based on the insightful discussions and comments on this draft, I've made direct modifications to the text. When commenting, please specify if your comments are related to the original or amended text. I've added commentary text in dark red to answer some questions raised by some of you concerning some articles in the text.

Dear friends and Kin,

Here is a draft of what I was speaking about during the Grand Assembly yesterday (Sunday) night. I have taken into consideration the new modifications made by the assembled members, which were really good and made my work on this draft much easier. Thank you Your feedback is of course of great importance.

So here it goes (Warning: large block of text)



I. Purpose:
The Glade Council (TGC) is a mixed-race Kinship lead by either Elves or Men, and is based in the Laurelin Server. Its purpose is to offer the members who join an exceptional RP-experience and a place to call home within the lands of Middle-Earth, as well as to foster its members to become better, stronger, more positive and friendlier.

II. Structure:
1.The Kinship shall be lead by members belonging to either the race of Elves or the race of Men.
2.The leader of the Kinship shall bear the title of “High Seat”.
3.The High Seat is selected by free and open elections on the Kinship’s Scrolls (forum) by all TGC members (recruits are excluded).
4.The High Seat is then appointed when he obtains a majority of the votes of TGC members.
5.The High Seat shall be the main enforcer of the Kinship’s rules, shall represent TGC in RP-events and Server-events, will head negotiations with other Kinships as well as leading Kinship assemblies and other meetings.
6.TGC shall elect five (at the moment five are allowed. Look further down to find the exception) officers to help the High Seat in his tasks. They shall bear the title of “Elders”.
7.Elders are, like the High Seat, voted upon by a majority of the Kinship’s members. Any race can fill the position of Elder.
8.Elders regulate the day-to-day activities of TGC, including recruitment, maintenance of the Scrolls, training of inexperienced members, organizing RP-events, raids, Kinship auctions…etc.
9.Elders function as general supervisors over Members in all gaming aspects. (Based on our discussions [see below] the article was modified to become more general and less specific, to give a more "open" atmosphere to the players) Members are urged to refer to them when they have questions, seek guidance or require any kind of help. Elders also advise the High Seat on matters of alliances, raid organisation and RP-event planning. They also supervise the Scrolls and organise them in a way fitting to both the image of TGC and the Members viewing them.
10.The third tier of Kin shall bear the title of "Members".
11.Members are promoted from recruits by either one of the Elders or the High Seat. (This might also sound as forgranted, but just to solidify it in text )
12.Members act as the force of TGC: they participate in raids, assemblies, RP-events, Scroll discussions, help others in questing and sponsor new recruits.
13.The final tier of Kin shall bear the title of "Recruit".
14.Recruits are not (yet) official members of TGC. They are the responsibility of everyone in TGC and have priority in help/training/RP-ing. (Attraction-factor for Recruits... you'll receive help from everyone! ATTENTION: the priority-clause does not include raids. Members have priority on that, unless there aren't enough Members or if the raid is just to train Recruits in teamwork)
15. Until they're promoted to Members, Recruits are not allowed to vote on TGC-matters. Other than that they are treated like the full Memmbers. (Based on popular demand I loosened this article... I'll not make further concessions with regards to Recruits being allowed to vote. This is out of the question for me)

III.Membership:
1.Only The High Seat and Elders can promote Recruits to Members. This is not subject to voting. (Also forgranted, but it doesn't hurt to write it )
2.A Recruit shall be allowed to join the Kinship upon fulfilling the following conditions:
a.Declaring his intention to join the Kin and dedicate himself/herself to it
b.Approved by an Elder or the High Seat.
c.To not have a bad reputation among other Kinships or on the Server.
(I really find the conditions self-fulfilling and do not make it hard to recruit players. The first two conditions are fulfilled when you "meet the guy/girl", the third requires some research to maintain the quality of our Kinship and avoid future conflicts with other Kinships that might be our allies)
3.Promotion of a Recruit into a Member of TGC should be preceded by one or more of the following procedures:
a.Announcement of the promotion in TGC-Scrolls along with the reason for it (to keep our roster up-to-date);
b.Announcement of the promotion during one of the Grand Assemblies (Wouldn't be bad to know who's who!);
c.Promoted directly by an Elder or the High Seat itself after raids/instances/RP-events (Incentive for Recruits to perform exceptionally in Kinship-events).
d.Successful fulfillment of the final test during the test-period to become a Member. (If a Recruit doesn't get promoted due to any of the aforementioned 3 reasons, then he's really inactive and should be put to the test to find out if he's good for TGC or not... I find this quite logical)
4.Recruits or Members of TGC will be kicked out of the Kinship when they commit one of the following infringements:
a.Disrespecting another Kinship without prior hostilities between the Kinship and TGC.
b.Not abiding by the rules and code of conduct followed by TGC. (I'll try, with your help, to write a code of conduct (CoC) for us as a binding document of honour... it would also serve as a good PR-stunt to influence other Kinships and players to join an honourable Kinship )
c.Absence from active playing without giving reasons for more than 30 continuous days.
d.Speaking out against or criticizing TGC in open RP-events or during gatherings with other Kinships (this is also valid for badmouthing, criticizing or speaking against the High Seat, Elders and other Members). (Although this goes also without saying, but saying it makes it alive in our minds when we think about doing such a thing )

IV.Miscellaneous rules:
1.Members can nominate themselves for the position of Elder upon fulfilling the following conditions:
a.Being a Member for more than three months. (I don't really like one-week-old Members to propose for Elders... this makes the whole elections more of a farce than real elections with solid candidates!)
b.Having actively contributed to the Scrolls.
c.Being sponsored by an Elder or the High Seat.(I find the conditions to fulfill a challenging position such as that of an Elder or even be considered for it quite in-order, since nobody likes Elders who act like children/inactive most of the time/not posting at all at the Scrolls... in short, these conditions are helping aspiring Elders become known to the Kinship!)
2.Members are chosen as Elders either by a majority vote or by unanimous recommendation from all Elders and the High Seat (in this case, a vote is not necessary). (quite obvious, when ALL Elders PLUS the High Seat choose one to join them, it most probably means that the candidate is up to the task, and as such he does not need to be voted upon... this article can at least justify my position as an Elder chosen by a majority of the Elders and the High Seat)
3.New players can be named Members without going through the Recruit-phase, based on the following conditions: (Note that these conditions are NOT a must... they're general exceptions to make recruiting special cases easier)
a.The newly-recruited is of a high level already (30). (high-level players are almost guaranteed to have some RP-experience. Besides, a high-level player would find it quite boring to be on the lower side of the ladder in a Kinship with not many high-levels, and might consider leaving even though he has good intentions to serve the Kinship)
b.Newly-recruited is a well-known friend and ally of the recruiting Elder (known him/her for a long time, quested together many times, fought often in raids…etc). (goes without saying, I guess!)
c.Newly-recruited is of a class that is in demand by TGC (i.e. Minstrels). (Attraction factor for new players, and it strengthens TGC where weaknesses might show... this might be at the expense of sacrificing RP-experience, but as Felogar said, this comes with time )
4.These rules are open for discussion, modification, deletion, addition and comment. (As always!)




I admit that for a laid-back Kinship such as TGC these rules might sound a bit army-like, but based on previous experiences, being too much of a laid-back Kinship that "drifts" aimlessly, it might help to have a set of well-defined goals, even if we just RP on the server or play casually. These rules are not made to make your life in TGC harder, but they create a sense of responsibility that other players and myself always called for. On the other hand, having a Kinship with rules and regulations is a way of showing LotRO players and other Kinships that we are here to stay, and will not drift away with the Western Wind or vanish into the forests. I hope that you bear that in mind when you read this.

On another point... I think that all of our Members/Elders fulfill each and every clause in this text. Read it carefully and see for yourself

Thank you for reading and hope to hear from you soon.

Golradir Whitetower

Looks great Good job!
Here are a few comments from my part:

"Recruits or Members of TGC will be kicked out of the Kinship when they commit one of the following infringements:
...
e.Not showing up for five consequent assemblies."
-Heredryn won't be able to participate in anything that Eovind is at. I hope she won't be kicked out for this


"Recruits are not official members of TGC. They are not allowed to participate in votes or raids."
-I can't really see the point with not alowing recriuts to go on raids. Please explain it to me.

"New players can be named Members without going through the Recruit-phase, based on the following conditions:
a.The newly-recruited is of a high level already (30 ).
b.Newly-recruited is a well-known friend and ally of the recruiting Elder (known him/her for a long time, quested together many times, fought often in raids…etc).
c.Newly-recruited is of a class that is in demand by TGC (i.e. Minstrels)."
-I'm waiting

Quite a sunstantial set of rules and regs, however it seems you have left very little room for exceptions, and really I cannot think of a bigger one than me, as I am a rather special (or speshul depends on your standpoint) case, as I believe I have to fill out certain tasks in the near future to make sure my character does not get skewered by allegedly freindly blades... But really I should say that before the rules and regs were a bit too loose, these seem a bit too tight in that you have to be online at least once a month... so what am I to do, cancel my exams? and the fact that these rules seem to be so suffocatingly tight may put off new-comers to the Kinship, just something to think about for your final draft ladies and Gentlemen of the Glade council.

~Falli~

Sounds good although I have one complaint;
It sounds far too strict and tight. Maybe loosen up a few rules eg:
Sidestepping an Elder? what does that mean? disobeying an order?
I think you are giving the Elders TOO much power here (not to sound rebellious ) I dont think you need an elder to lead a Raid for example, also I think the members should always have a say in votes, it's not good giving a few people absolute power when the kin has many members ;D

EDIT:One way i think it could work would be (making it so an elder has to lead a raid and such), would be to have many more elders as the kin grows, as you can't expect the 5 elders to always be around or willing to do x y or z or you could create an office tier, slightly below elder - officers could be MUCH more numerous as the kin grows and this would lead to a huge boost in recruitment (as officers would be able to recruit). Just an idea

Other than that great job!!

Oh also, I think it's a good idea to have a separate thread or forum in which members can talk about activities eg: where to raid each week and RP events and such, if it's there people are more likely to use it and that will mean a more active kin

Edit (again): I do like the quenya names very fitting.

First of all thank you all for your valuable feedback, which would indeed contribute to the discussion over the draft. My answers to your enquiries are as follow:

@Heredryn:
1. Of course of you're logging on with an alt, this will be taken into consideration. I was referring to the absence of a player rather than a character. I should have made that obvious.
2. As in the nature of recruits, they would not be allowed to vote or take part in raids (not group quests or similar). Votes are made to determine vital matters to TGC's future, while raids are important to support the Members of the Glade Council, and thus the Members would be given a priority in raids more than recruits. With regards to votes, I have foreseen an influx of recruits who need to prove themselves first before being promoted, and involving them into vital votes over sensitive matters to TGC would be unfair to us as members and to them as being "beginners" in matters of TGC to decide upon them. I've included two exceptions where Recruits can take part in raids, the first is the high-level Recruits, but they'll be promoted to Members fast because of their experience. The second case is an absence of Elders and enough members.
3. Alts are automatically promoted to Members, since they "know" everything there's to know about TGC, so don't worry

@Falli:
1. Rules and regulations are made for a reason, dear Kinsman. If they're too loose then there's no need for them anyway, and if they're too strict they'll kill out the joy fast. I've tried to make a disciplined set of rules that are tight enough to "hold the ranks" while at the same time "decorated" with exceptions to make them loosen when they need to be loosened.
2. Being offline for a month WITHOUT GIVING A REASON for your absence will cause your kicking-out. Doing exams or learning for them is reason enough to be offline for long periods of time. Please read the rules carefully.
3. As I pointed out in point (1), in my opinion these rules are not suffocating the life and joy out of the Kinship and at the same time keep it disciplined and organized with minimum effort. If you want to see really tight rules I advise you to visit the forums of other Kinships and take a look at what they have for rules and regulations. It feels in some places as if a real army general wrote the rules there

I hope this answers the questions raised here. I'll be happy to answer any more should you have any left.

Golradir Whitetower

@Faewulf:
1. Indeed the rules are a bit "disciplined", and before moving some power to the Elders I conceptualized a position for "Officers" being under Elders and above members.
2. Members are allowed to take part in votes. They're the "voters" of TGC
3. Of course as the Kinship grows either more Elders will be appointed to supervise the groups (as each Elder is assigned five Members to supervise and guide) OR a new position of the abovementioned Officers will be introduced.
4. I will try to loosen the thing with "disobeying an Elder's order" as a condition for kicking out, as it kind of leads to Elders having the urge to abuse this clause. It's a bit late tonight so I'll make the adjustment tomorrow.
5. One more thing: with power comes responsibility! I mentioned in the rules that Elders bear the negative and positive consequences of their subordinate Members. So if they do many negative things, do not engage in active playing or are somehow behaving inaproppriately the TGC might consider revoking that Elder's status, so Elder-status is a double-edged weapon

Keep those feedback coming. It makes me really happy to see some constructive criticism here.

Golradir Whitetower

In that case everything sounds great; Nice work Golradir

Very well written Golradir, as always. A very strong initiative and inspiring piece of work indeed.

I must say I find it in fact ''too'' strict and disciplined for a group of freelancers such as TGC, we are not the Knights of Gondor. Let me say that, but I like most of it, yet I have objections to some parts and I strongly object against some other parts. So, let us discuss Golradir's post here, also feel free to add your ideas. Here goes:


II. Structure

2. 6. 10. 14. I strongly object against all parts suggesting titles in Quenya.

I will also explain why here: First of all Quenya by lore is the language from Valinor and is spoken by Noldor. Yet the elves who live in the forests (wood elves) are Sindar elves and they speak Sindarin. You can see the logic flaw here, from Tolkien-lore, this is inappropriate. Secondly, We are a band of 'Freelancers' who have gathered for a cause. We are not a kinship of Noldor elves like our allies Vanimar. Even the Vanimar do not name their officers in Quenya. Wouldnt that be strange if a band of mixed races name their leaders in the ancient tongue of elves? Then the dwarves would like to name it in Khuzdul, Eo would like a name in Rohhirric etc.. Conclusion: It is unfair, inappropriate by lore, inappropriate by structure in my opinion.



4. The High Seat is then appointed when he obtains the votes of at least two Elders and more than 50% of the voting members.

I just dont see the need to it. I think we should keep this as basic as possible. After all we are not writing government law



7. Elders are either chosen directly by the High Seat or voted upon by a majority of the Kinship’s members. Any race can fill the position of Elder.

I think elders should be voted. Although I favor a much more authoritarian policy (after acquiring a better insight on how kinships work) according to TGC's basis I think is more appropriate. Votes and democracy seem to attract attention of new recruits, which not many kinships do so as far as I know.




15. Recruits are not official members of TGC. They are not allowed to participate in votes or raids.

I strongly object against this also. I see recruits as full members OOC and thats how it should be. We must be friendly to new people, back them up at every turn. But I do think recruits should have a lesser influence on Council matters, which is an IC precaution in my opinion.




III. Membership((for this part, I wrote my comments in Bold after each line if I had one))
2. A Recruit shall be allowed to join the Kinship upon fulfilling the following conditions...

I think this part is making the recruitment process ''slower'' and ''harder'' I believe it is enough if someone states that he/she would like to join TGC to an Elder (High Seat counts as an Elder). The Elder must determine if that person is qualified to join. What determines qualification? Person must be over 16 or 17 imo. MUST be interested in RPing. They dont have to be professional RPers, becouse I wasnt when I first joined. You learn it as you go. So I object to this part.




5. Recruits or Members of TGC will be kicked out of the Kinship when they commit one of the following infringements:

a.Fight another Kinship without TGC’s permission (in-game or in forums). For this one, I suggest it to be changed to disrespect of other players.
b.Not abiding by the rules and code of conduct followed by TGC.
c.Sidestepping their commanding Elder.
d.Absence from active playing without giving reasons for more than 30 continuous days.
e.Not showing up for five consequent assemblies. I suggest this is removed.
f.Speaking out against or criticizing TGC in open RP-events or during gatherings with other Kinships (this is also valid for badmouthing, criticizing or speaking against the High Seat, Elders and other Members). This is just common sense, so I also suggest this to be removed. No need write it down to rules. People might think we are TOO disciplined like the military.


IV.Miscellaneous rules: ((for this part, I wrote my comments in Bold after each line if I had one))
1.Members can nominate themselves for the position of Elder upon fulfilling the following conditions:
a.Being a Member for more than three months. Might not be a good idea..
b.Having taken part in at least five assemblies. Must be removed in my opinion, assemblies have a loooong time in between.
c.Having actively contributed to the Scrolls.
d.Being sponsored by an Elder or the High Seat.
2.Members are chosen as Elders either by a majority vote or by unanimous recommendation from all Elders and the High Seat (in this case, a vote is not necessary).
3.In exceptional cases, Members are allowed to lead TGC groups into raids/RP-events or during quests. This depends on veterancy, experience in the respected field, higher experience level than other members or in cases of absence of an Elder.
4.Members shall not recruit players into the Kinship. They are required to forward the names of recruits to their respective Elders and/or ask the potential recruit to directly contact their Elder. This can also be removed to make is simpler, Members cannot invite recruits by themselves anyway, an officer needs to invite any case.
5.New players can be named Members without going through the Recruit-phase, based on the following conditions:
a.The newly-recruited is of a high level already (30 ). Should be removed in my opinion.. (scroll down for explanation)
b.Newly-recruited is a well-known friend and ally of the recruiting Elder (known him/her for a long time, quested together many times, fought often in raids…etc).
c.Newly-recruited is of a class that is in demand by TGC (i.e. Minstrels). Hmmmm...


My Explanation for this comes with a simple example: Launa. Launa was elected as Elder, she was only level 15 and she had just started lotro. She did not fulfill any of these requirements, yet she wasnt a bad elder at all. Also I find these rules, very much strict for TGC.


EDIT: Also I am not really sure about the part about an Elder responsible for every 5 members. Inraids and stuff. IC, it might be a good RP opportunity. I think we need these RP opportunities. But OOC and when raiding, so not necessary, might be offending to people.


This is all I have for now..

I am awaiting your thoughts on this.

Regards,

2. I have no problem with the voting-part. It's the part of not allowing them to participate in raids... The rules you've written says they aren't allowed to participate.. at all. That should then be changed to that members have higher priority than recruits or something like that to match the rest of the wery strict rules. (strict rules demands writing that exceptions can be made, else they're not allowed) I actually don't really see the reason for the rule being there at all. It sounds bad to new recruits to say that they're not allowed to participate in things and if they're as active that they want to go raiding they should already be promoted in my point of view.

I disagree with the part of promoting recruits of higher lvl directly as well. TGC is a RP-kin and not a raiding-based kin. Your lvl doesn't matter to how well you can rp. Being an active member should be enough to get promoted.

3. Well, Heredryn isn't an alt of anyone in TGC

I agree with Felogar that the titles shouldn't be in quenya (also since there are so many different translations out there that doesn't match. found 3 translations of each title, but none was the same as those which you had found )

Meh. Rather then come with another massive block of text, I'll just say I agree with almost everything Felogar takes up in his post. Except for a few things:

Quote :

Felogar said:
What determines qualification? Person must be over 16 or 17 imo.

I guess you mean age by this, and not level... This I DONT agree with. I've met young people who are far greater RP:ers then most of the Pony regulars. The guy who I first RP-ed with in this game was 14 years old at the time, and he's still one of the best I've seen so far, although he doesnt play the game anymore. So age has really nothing to do with it....dont ask for their age, meet them and judge them by their actions instead.

And aye, the quenya part should be left out. Sindarin would probably be the language of choice in that case (what Felogar said about it is correct, quenya is a ancient tounge and rarely used by any elves), but I rather not have any elvish titles

Hello everyone and thank you very much...

Based on your comment and the general consensus among you, I've edited my original post and added comments to some articles to better explain them. The amendments will hopefully conform with the spirit of TGC and your tastes.

Fare thee well,

Golradir Whitetower

Here are my comments on your edited version of the draft:

II Structure:
16. I agree on the matter that recruits should NOT be allowed to vote. I think that if recruit is given full access to all privileges of a member there is no point in trying to make yourself one.

III Membership:
4. I think a warning should be issued before kicking anyone out. At least on the case of a,b and d. Absent member obviously can't be warned. In case of disrespecting other kin/characters, the warning is also a good change for RP event. A sort of hearing where all parties are present and the punishment shall be decided. (Witnessed one such event with Vanimar)

IV Miscellaneous rules
4.a. I disagree. I think that level of character should not be considered and especially that higher leveled players should not have any special rights on this matter. This will easily create atmosphere of inequality.

III.Membership:
c.To not have a bad reputation among other Kinships or on the Server.
-I think it's this part that would make recruitment more difficult. Checking this might take a while... This might be changed into that a newly recruited might be kicked out ig TGC finds out that the recruit have a bad reputation among other rp-kins..?

IV.Miscellaneous rules:
4.a.The newly-recruited is of a high level already (30). (high-level players are almost guaranteed to have some RP-experience. Besides, a high-level player would find it quite boring to be on the lower side of the ladder in a Kinship with not many high-levels, and might consider leaving even though he has good intentions to serve the Kinship)
-As a recruit you're still allowed to take part in everything except voting (which is good) as I've understood the editation? Recruits doen't have to be low lvls, even though many are. Members still help recruits and rp with them as well. Plus the lvl of the particular charater doesn't mean the person hasn't got 3 lvl 50:s Besides, I got my LM so lvl 50 without more than perhaps 10 minutes of rp even though I tried and wanted to rp.
This also adds up with the part of automaticly making minstrels members. You still rp, you still quest. It doesn't make sense IC that all minstrels would be allowed to vote from day one.

I hope we still have the vow-part? Just making a member out of a recruit without the rp-part would be a terrible waste of good rp!

Everyone has made great comments so far, lets keep them coming please.

Quote :

I guess you mean age by this, and not level... This I DONT agree with. I've met young people who are far greater RP:ers then most of the Pony regulars. The guy who I first RP-ed with in this game was 14 years old at the time, and he's still one of the best I've seen so far, although he doesnt play the game anymore. So age has really nothing to do with it....dont ask for their age, meet them and judge them by their actions instead.

Yes I did mean age with that, not level. And I guess you are right. But we do want mature people in our kinship all like yourselves. After having quite some experience recruiting, I can easily understand by the way someone talks if they are a mature person or not. Those who will be recruiting, should at least pay attention to that. Still, no need to be strict about it. Even persons who dont seem mature at first, might shape into one quickly.


By the way: RECRUITMENT RECRUITMENT RECRUITMENT!!! ALL OF YOU!!! KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN!!

Heredryn wrote:

III.Membership:
c.To not have a bad reputation among other Kinships or on the Server.
-I think it's this part that would make recruitment more difficult. Checking this might take a while... This might be changed into that a newly recruited might be kicked out ig TGC finds out that the recruit have a bad reputation among other rp-kins..?

I think what is meant is that we don't have to check everyone from every or any other kin but more like if someone has a bad reputation that is known to some of us, he/she is out of the question to join us.

Humphert wrote:

Here are my comments on your edited version of the draft:

II Structure:
16. I agree on the matter that recruits should NOT be allowed to vote. I think that if recruit is given full access to all privileges of a member there is no point in trying to make yourself one.

III Membership:
4. I think a warning should be issued before kicking anyone out. At least on the case of a,b and d. Absent member obviously can't be warned. In case of disrespecting other kin/characters, the warning is also a good change for RP event. A sort of hearing where all parties are present and the punishment shall be decided. (Witnessed one such event with Vanimar)

IV Miscellaneous rules
4.a. I disagree. I think that level of character should not be considered and especially that higher leveled players should not have any special rights on this matter. This will easily create atmosphere of inequality.

I agree with pretty much everything here Humph, also I DO, think that members should be given priority over recruits in raids etc, after all whats the point if members can't participate because of recruits?
EDIT:Perhaps one space could be reserved incase there is a recruit that needs it?

Again I agree with all the things Golradir says (with the above amendments) and I think once we Implement the new rules, what we REALLY need is scheduled Raids, events RP, etc.

But yeah again great work Golradir

All I can say is WOW... I'm really impressed how engaged many of the members here are and this proves just how concerned they are regarding the quality of TGC, the definition of its purpose and the determination to forge a new "phoenix" out of the ashes.

I salute each and every one of you

My comments on the recent additions, especially those from Humphert:

- Indeed, a warning and/or some sort of "Hearing" would be scheduled to hear the defence of the "accused" and the stories of the witnesses. This will be done as an RP-event to make participation more interesting. The "accused" can have others representing their defence if they wish to (like a real court).
- The vow will be held, upon promotion to Member.
- One more note about the whole issue with high-level players: if you read the first sentence of the respective article you'll notice that the conditions for recruiting those players directly as Members are there as optional alternatives. I especially highlighted this by making the word "can" bold. So, it was a suggestion on my side to make it easier for those players who are good in what they do, RP-well, helpful and active.
- I didn't include anything concerning the age of the player since it would be wasting some "RP-talent" out there. The decision to recruit someone into TGC is up to the Elder and his/her discretion.
- Finally, the thing with checking someone's reputation can be done after the player is recruited. If he turns out to have a bad reputation then he is informed that his profile does not match that of TGC and that he will be kicked out, UNLESS he proves his worth and correct his ways. In this case I hope TGC will go around and try to improve his reputation or settle any conflicts he might have caused.

Thank you everyone and keep the feedback coming. I would like to have The Path of the Glade finished as soon as possible.

Golradir Whitetower

wow, what great responses.

My only comment that i have is that assigning an eldar a group of 5 members is not practical. This would mean that the eldar that is assigned to a group will need to be logged on when the members are logged on to check on their progress.
Also if a member in the eldar's group is disciplined and "bear the consequences of their behavior (be it positive or negative)." How can this be fair? A member must be responsible for their own actions.

not sure if there will be a post somewhere else on the scrolls, but how did the meeting go on Sunday? I was not able to attend due to OOC business.

Long live the Glade Council

Quote :

My only comment that i have is that assigning an eldar a group of 5 members is not practical. This would mean that the eldar that is assigned to a group will need to be logged on when the members are logged on to check on their progress.
Also if a member in the eldar's group is disciplined and "bear the consequences of their behavior (be it positive or negative)." How can this be fair? A member must be responsible for their own actions.

Very well pointed out. It is not practical, but is a good RP opportunity imo.. Hmmm what to do?

Ah yes the "Revised copy", or whatever you want to call it, I think that the recruitment process cannot be as clear cut as you have put it, there are just too many variables to consider, one the age... I have met some great mature RPers that are younger than me, and I am the baseline for TGC's entry level... my next problem is that by restricting the recruits options in this kinship so much, it feels like we are not part of the process of the entity that is The Glade Council of Laurelin, so if you isolate the recruits, you wont get anymore... Next of course is a recruits experience of the world in which we play in, again I am an indicator, yes my character in which I use for RP is relatively new, however I have been around for some time now, so be aware that apearances can be decieving (and please no note about my characters intentions).

~Falli~

Falli wrote:

Ah yes the "Revised copy", or whatever you want to call it, I think that the recruitment process cannot be as clear cut as you have put it, there are just too many variables to consider, one the age... I have met some great mature RPers that are younger than me, and I am the baseline for TGC's entry level... my next problem is that by restricting the recruits options in this kinship so much, it feels like we are not part of the process of the entity that is The Glade Council of Laurelin, so if you isolate the recruits, you wont get anymore... Next of course is a recruits experience of the world in which we play in, again I am an indicator, yes my character in which I use for RP is relatively new, however I have been around for some time now, so be aware that apearances can be decieving (and please no note about my characters intentions).

~Falli~

A few things Falli

- He removed the age limit thing.
- I don't think you're right about the recruits for a few reasons. 1: Recruits don't normally stay recruits for more than a week. 2:If you give the recruits the vote (which is all they are restricted atm afaik) then they have nothing really to aspire to, so there is no reason for them to want to be promoted.
- Yes I think you're right about the experience thing but that can easily be found out when the elder is talking to the potential recruit and so they can have an exceptional promotion to member or something.

@Gandrill and Felogar:

Elders must not always be logged online whenever their group is on, but at least WHEN the Elders do log on, that they reply to any mails left by their group with questions or enquiries (The mailbox system in-game is not just for the auctions, you know ). For being responsible for a group you're:
1. Learning what it means to lead a group of people, organise them and porbably guide them.
2. Make a positive (or negative... you choose) impact on those five, which (might) help in the future for High-Seat elections!
3. For the negative actions of your group not ONLY Elders are accounted for, but naturally the ones who caused them.
4. Being responsible for the consequences is just like in any company, where CEOs resign if the mistakes of their employees stack on each other without noticing them or trying to repair them!

@Falli:
Faewulf has (thankfully) saved me the reply

Golradir Whitetower

I'm trying to get it, but at the moment it just feels like it would split the council up. It would somewhat limit things if "your" elder isn't online and only the others and you have to post a mail to that person instead. Besides, it would cut you off from the connections to the high seat if you're only supposed to speak to the elders about things. Maybe it's a ggod idea and I've just not been able to get it yet, but it just appears like a limit at the moment.

Bear in mind that assigning a group to a leader does not in any way make playing lotro the way we are used to impossible. It is just to make sure that in some point there is a possibility to get something done as a small group. Of course a group leader has to be active in organizing these training sessions to his/her group.

I, for one, would love to lead a small group to various exercises. For instance going to the barrows, the Great Barrow itself, or GA or just do some hunt & kill quests in Lone lands. Things like such. A good chance to both practice working as a group and getting some of the boring quests done.

This is also a good opportunity to monitor the progress of the members of group.

But I say again, this is not the only content the game provides. It is just a small thing among many others and does not rule out ordinary questing, participating other events and such.

Online hours of people can vary a lot. Not for those of us who are working maybe but for others.

Lets consider this:
For some lucky miracle, imagine that the online hours of many of the Elders and their respective groups match, one Elders doesnt(which has a greater chance of happening). While all the groups go ''do'' things together, one group is passive and can only communicate in the forums and mails. Which is not that Elders fault at any point.

This would reflect terribly over that particular Elder and his group also. Now, with the ''current numbers'' of the Glade Council, I can guarantee that this will happen sooner or later if this system is introduced.

I admit this is a brilliant idea, but unless we expand and grow into a much bigger kinship, I strongly doubt this can work, at least not for the good of all and wouldnt be 'fair' imo.

Dont say I didnt warn ya