What is the Guild Alliance?

The Guild Alliance (GA) is an international union of MMORPG gamers, guilds and social organizations.

The GA is committed to bringing together people from multiple online experiences while still maintaining a common, root organization to facilitate friendship, teamwork and respect across borders and it’s members.

Origin

The Guild Alliance was the brainchild of Jim Manavis (-Plasma), a Multimedia Designer and long-time FPS gamer. Soon after creating the first guild in the MMORPG Star Trek Online, -I.D.I.C- United Federation of Planets, the idea of adding a new guild for Star Wars, the Old Republic was touted by Jeffrey Jonas (Londi Revan). During this period the idea of an expanded alliance of guilds, gamers and game titles was born and the result was the formation of the Guild Alliance.

Manavis’s original concept was to establish a union of Guilds of different games and in-game factions, in effect a super-guild, managed as separate entities but under the broader banner of the G.A. The members of each individual guild or faction would have cross-game and cross-guild rights, in effect members of all organizations if they so wished.

Historical Time-Line

Establishment 2011/2012

1) In 2011 the GA was established after the creation of our 4 maiden guilds, the three Leaders of these guilds became the first Guild Alliance Committee (GAC).

Maiden Guilds

• -I.D.I.C- United Federation of Planets (IDIC-UFP) / Star Trek Online

• -I.D.I.C- Klingon Imperial Empire (IDIC-KDF) / Star Trek Online

• Infinite Sith Empire (ISE) / Star Wars, The Old Republic

• League of the Dawn Star Order (DSO) / DC Universe Online

Original Committee Members

• Jim Manavis (-Plasma) / -I.D.I.C- United Federation of Planets
  

• Jeffrey Jonas (Londi Revan) / Infinite Sith Empire

• (Iskara) / -I.D.I.C- Klingon Imperial Empire & League of the Dawn Star Order

2) In the months that followed a fifth guild was included,

• Infinite Jedi Order (IJO) / Star Wars, The Old Republic

This guild was founded by (Alanna Boraz), who became our fourth committee member.

2013

1) With the GA undertaking the management of 5 guilds, it was decided to bring in a long-time member to take over the management of the -I.D.I.C- KIE (CatStar) took command of the fleet in March 2013 and became the fifth member of the GA Committee.

2) At the same time as the -I.D.I.C- KIE handover the -I.D.I.C- fleet as a whole had established a sub-organization called the =INTER-FLEET= Alliance (=I-F=). The =I-F= was a cross-faction and cross-guild (non GA) teaming enterprise designed to bring players from multiple guilds into one larger pool of players.

Because this required a fair deal of management on its own, (Alanna Boraz) took on the role of =I-F= Chief and resigned the leadership of the Infinite Jedi Order. (Iskara) took over the leadership of the IJO.

3) 2013 was an especially hard year for the G.A. as the membership activity on all guilds was dwindling and many of our long-time members were becoming inactive. During this time the GAC voted to downgrade the League of the Dawn Star Order / DC Universe Online from an official guild to a casual teaming group.

4) In November, (CatStar) decided to resign as leader of the -I.D.I.C- KIE, also vacating his position on the GAC, bringing the sitting committee members back to four.

2014

1) In early 2014 the decision was made that the two -I.D.I.C- fleets as well as the =INTER-FLEET= Alliance should be placed into stasis until a greater player activity was achieved. At this time a greater emphasis was placed on our Star Wars, The Old Republic guilds and developing our player-base.

2) Also in 2014 a resolution regarding GAC membership was passed, allowing general members of the GA to become GAC members. In August 2014 (Scotty aka Tiberius) was made a GAC member, bringing the sitting members back to five.

3) In late 2014 (Alanna Boraz) resigned as a GAC member, bringing the committee back to four sitting members.

4) In late 2014 a new guild was added to the GA, the Mord Sith Legacy, A Second Life clan lead by (Iskara).

2015

1) In mid 2015 (Alanna Boraz) was reinstated as a full permanent committee member by a unanimous vote of the committee.

2) In late 2015 (Londi Revan) resigned from the committee after tensions regarding the  leadership of the Star Wars, The Old Republic, Infinite Sith Empire guild as well as a failed attempt at a resurgence of the Star Trek Online, -I.D.I.C- United Federation of Planets fleet.

After the exit of Londi the Star Wars, The Old Republic, INFINITE guilds were re-named in tribute to our former DC Universe Online, DAWN STAR league.

(Iskara) continued as the Republic-side leader of the Dawn Star Order (formerly Infinite Jedi Order) and passed the leadership of the Dawn Star Empire (formerly Infinite Sith Empire) to (Alanna Boraz) who accepted the leadership role.

2016

1) On February 10th (Archanius Chiron aka Fylos) was voted in as the fifth GAC member.

2) In early 2016 due to a long leave of absence by the Committee Chairperson (-Plasma), (Iskara) was appointed as caretaker GAC Chairperson.

At the meeting of the GAC on October 30th, Iskara was voted in unopposed as the new Guild Alliance Committee Chairperson.

3) On May 6th (Alanna Boraz) promoted (Archanius) to co-leader of the Dawn Star Empire guild (Star Wars The Old Republic). Officially the position was named Attache.

4) On July 28th (LawMarshall), former first officer of the -IDIC- UFP fleet (Star Trek Online), was promoted to co-leader. 

5) On November 8th (Alanna Boraz) decided to resign as a member of the Guild Alliance Committee.

This created a problem regarding GA guild membership as this was directly in contradiction of the GA charter. The situation was exasperated by the recent discussions regarding the Code of Conduct section 3.0 Committee Member PAN-ALLIANCE rules.

6) On November 14th the Guild Alliance was dissolved due to disagreements arising from the Code of Conduct section 3.0 Committee Member PAN-ALLIANCE rules.

The decision to dissolve the GA was brought to a vote by -Plasma on the Facebook Guild Alliance Committee page and was unanimously agreed to. In addition the following stipulations were also agreed upon:

1) Guild Ownership

I propose all current leaders, regardless of who was the founder receive ownership of their current guild.

Iskara: DSO/MSL
Alanna Boraz: DSE
-Plasma: -I.D.I.C-

These guilds are no longer bound by any GA rules. Members of the GA can still join and move around our guilds even though we are no longer in an alliance.

2) Guild Alliance Properties

I (-Plasma) propose to retain all the GA web properties. I have payed for or have created/managed 99% of them over 6 years or so. This includes the website, twitter account, flickr and facebook main page.

2017

1) In February of 2017 (-Plasma) as the retainer of the Guild Alliance trademarks began the work of restructuring the Guild Alliance Charter and Code of Conduct to better facilitate the original goal of the guild Alliance. This restructuring was to involve a re-thing of how the Guild Alliance interacts with its members and the various organizations under its umbrella.

The major change in the Guild Alliance operation was the move from Guild-Management to Guild-Affiliation which is described in more detail in the Code of Conduct dosument.

2) On March 25th all the leaders of the former Guild Alliance guilds were invited to re-join the GA and take part in the re-structuring process.

The following organizations agreed to join the reformed Guild Alliance:

• Bathory Elite Clan (formerly Mord Sith Legacy) clan / Second life

• -I.D.I.C- United Federation of Planets fleet/ Star Trek Online

• -I.D.I.C- Klingon Imperial Empire fleet / Star Trek Online

• Dawn Star Order (formerly Infinite Jedi Order) guild / Star Wars The Old Republic

The Dawn Star Empire / Star Wars The Old Republic guild declined membership into the GA, however the GA has decided to grant the members of Dawn Star Empire with all the privileges of GA members.

3) Travelers Guard: Coming Soon.

4) The Guild Alliance Committee: Coming Soon.

5) Breathe Guilds / Star Wars The Old Republic : Coming Soon.

Guild Alliance Code of Conduct: August 2011-November 2016

In this document Guild also represents Fleet, Super-group, Clan and League
Guild Alliance may be, at times replaced with the initials GA or G.A.
Guild Alliance Committee may be, at times replaced with the initials GAC or G.A.C.
The term forum may be used in the place of Facebook post or other text discussion the GA may be using for discussions.

PAN-ALLIANCE refers to a rule that SUPERCEDES the rules of ALL individual Guild Alliance guild rules.
A guild leader must take these into account when creating or modifying their guild rules.

1.0 Committee Membership

The Guild Alliance Committee is made up of Founders (including those not currently serving as a leader), Leaders, and Members (Elected) of guilds that are part of the Guild Alliance.

Whilst serving on the committee all members have equal rights and powers and only differ in their permanent/non-permanent status

1.1 Committee Membership Status

1.1a Founders

A guild founder is considered to be a Permanent Member of the committee.

A founder will have founded a guild, allied with the GA in a game that is sanctioned by the GAC.

1.1b Leaders

A guild leader is considered to be a Non-Permanent Member of the committee.

A leader will have lead a guild, allied with the GA.

1.1c Elected Members

An elected member is considered to be a Non-Permanent Member of the committee.

An elected member will have been a member of an allied GA guild, and elected by the GAC to join the committee as a sitting member.

1.2 Elected Memberships

In the event of a vacant position on the GAC, any Officer ranked member of a GA guild may be nominated as a candidate to join.
The procedure will follow these steps:

1.2a) The candidate must be nominated in the GAC forums in a new thread. The nominee must write a small summary as to why they are nominating that person for membership.

1.2b) The committee will discuss the nomination on the forum. If the results are favorable then the business will scheduled for the next committee meeting.

1.3c) The committee will vote at the next scheduled meeting and if there is a unanimous vote then the offer of membership will be made to the nominated member.

1.3d) If the member is in favor then they will be granted a seat on the GAC and all of the rights thereto.

2.0 Committee Chairperson

The Committee Chairperson is the head of the Guild Alliance and is elected annually on Guild Alliance Day, the 16th of August.

The Chairperson is responsible for the day-to-day running of the GA. Duties include:

• Coordinating pan-alliance activities
• Scheduling and running GAC meetings
• Officiating at GA events
• Calling meetings to order
• Determining if a quorum is present for majority-based votes
• Announcing the items on the order of business or agenda as they come up
• Recognition of members to have the floor
• Enforcing the rules of the GA
• Putting all questions (motions) to a vote
• Adjourning meetings

3.0 Committee Member PAN-ALLIANCE

Members of the GAC hold the following undisputed rights across all Guild Alliance Guilds of which they are a member.

A committee member can choose to waive these rights.

3.1) That a GAC member may hold a position in the second tier rank (i.e. after the Leader/Guild Master position) in any GA Guild as a GAC Representative OR an Officer if they see fit to fill a role and IF the Guild Leader is in agreement.

Unless the GAC member is an active Officer in a given Guild, they do not hold any rights of policy or leadership and must at all times adhere to the individual rules and conduct indicated by the Guild Leader.

The GAC Representative must be aware of the rules and will be in a position to help other members if needed as well as schedule events if necessary.

3.2) A guild leader has the right to appoint any member of their guild to any position within their guild structure. Where a guild member(s) is appointed as second-in-charge of a guild, the appointed member and GAC members may occupy the second-tier ranking simultaneously.

In this occurrence the GAC members and the Guild member(s) must indicate their position within the guild in the “Member Comments” section of the guild roster.

Rule 3.2 is invalid where an “in-game automated succession system” favor’s a successful leadership challenge from a non-Guild Alliance Committee Member. In this instance a separate ranking for second-in-charge must be created and must be positioned in the third-tier rank position.

3.3) That a GAC member may have access to the GA online resources for purposes of scheduling events, advertising and general communications.

4.0 Committee Member Rules of Conduct & Responsibilities

• In the event that a Non-Permanent GAC member is no longer a leader/member of a guild (i.e. resignation), the member has a period of 2 months in which they must resign their position within the committee.
• In the event that a GAC member is a Permanent Member (i.e. Founder) and no longer a Leader, the founder will remain in the committee until they resign or are removed by vote (see Committee Member Rules of Removal & Guild Leadership Succession Rules).
• Only 1 (one) GAC member can be a Leader in any Guild at any one time unless there are exceptional circumstances. The exception being that there is no other *suitable person willing, qualified, able or acceptable to the committee to undertake the leadership of a guild.
  Leader defined as fleet Leader/Guildmaster. Each guild is free to govern as they see fit, i.e. using multiple leaders as in a council, however powers of fleet ownership must be in the possession of 1 GAC member.
• A committee member may be a member of a non-GA guild as long as it is not in the capacity of an Officer with the condition that ALL characters owned by a given GAC member have been disclosed by account, name and guild.

These details must be posted in this thread, GAC: Committee Members Character Guild Disclosures http://www.guildalliance.org/forums/topic/gac-committee-members-character-guild-disclosures/

5.0 Committee Chairperson, Election and Rules of Conduct

Added: November 2015

The Chairperson of the Guild Alliance Committee is elected via a vote of the GAC on the 16th of August of each year using the following procedure:

1) August 1st:
– A discussion will be opened up in a new forum for all GAC members to nominate a member of the Committee or themselves for the position of Chairperson.

2) August 1st to August 7th:
– The entire GA membership has 7 days to comment on the candidates.

3) August 8th to 15th:
– The entire GA membership has 7 days to cast their votes for their preferred candidate.
– The nominee with the most votes will be the preferred candidate and will receive 1 vote towards the final GAC vote.

4) August 16th:
– A vote is then held by the GAC on the 16th of August to choose the new Guild Alliance Chairperson.
– The candidate with the highest majority will be considered the winner.

If at any point the Chairperson resigns their position prior to the traditional election period an emergency election will be called following the same time-frame as listed above. A Chairperson elected in this manner will serve a shorter term as the next scheduled election must return to the August 1st-16th period. 

6.0 Rules of Removal/Expulsion

6.1 Chairperson Removal by Vote

The Chairperson can face a vote for removal from the chair by a majority vote. A vote can be called only at a committee meeting where all the sitting GAC members are present. If the vote is decided in the affirmative then the Chairperson must vacate his seat and a new Chairperson must be elected immediately (see 5.0). The Chairperson cannot be removed from the chair and also face a vote for removal from the committee at the same meeting.

6.2 Permanent Member Removal by Vote

Founders can only be removed from the committee by a unanimous vote including a quorum of Founders. A vote can only be called only at a committee meeting where all the sitting founders are present.

6.3 Non-Permanent Members Removal by Vote

Leaders and Elected members can be removed from the committee by a majority vote. A vote can be called by ANY GAC member at a committee meeting where a quorum of sitting GAC members are present. If a leader is removed from the committee this does not necessarily mean that they will be also removed from their guild position, however this is likely.

Any leader removed in this manner must honor any agreements they have stipulated to regarding guild hand-overs etc.

7.0 Guild Leadership Succession

In the event that a guild leader resigns from their position as leader and does not have a guild succession rule the following rules will come into effect.

7.1 Resignation

Added: November 2013

In the event of a leadership resignation, the highest ranking officer will be offered the position of leader and membership to the GAC. In the event the highest ranking officer is not willing to occupy the leadership a GAC committee member will be placed in the position of caretaker until a replacement can be found.

7.2 Guild Leader Succession via In-Game Auto-Demotion Systems

Added: November 2013

In the event that a leader loses their leadership via in-game auto-demotion (see 7.3) the GA policy is to allow the second officer in succession to become Leader and join the GAC. In the event the second officer is not willing to occupy the leadership a GAC committee member will be placed in the position of caretaker until a replacement can be found.

7.3 In-Game Auto Demotion Systems

a) Star Trek Online

As per the official Release notes 20130815 which can be found on the official Star Trek Online wiki http://sto.gamepedia.com/Release_notes/20130815

Fleet Leader Adjustments

• If there is a Single Leader of a Fleet, and that Leader has not logged in for 180 days, that Leader is considered Inactive.
• If a Single Leader is inactive, a new Leader is automatically promoted:
  • The Member being promoted must be online to become new Leader.
  • The new Leader gets a pop up telling them they just became the new Leader.
  • The new Leader is not Provisional – they are full Leaders with full Kick/Rescue privileges. They can initiate a Kick if they wish following Ruleset 2 below.
• Any “non-flagged” or “non-provisional” Leader can initiate a “Kick” on another active Leader.
  • A ‘Kick’ lasts 2 weeks.
  • If you are flagged as “Kicked”, you cannot use any Fleet Powers.
  • Any “non-flagged” or “non-provisional” Leader can remove a Kick. We call this a “Rescue”.
  • Only one Kick can be in progress at a time.
  • No members can be promoted during a Kick.
• Provisional Leaders:
  • New Leaders are considered Provisional for 2 weeks after they are promoted to Leader.
  • Provisional Leaders have all Leader Powers except Kick or Rescue.
  • Provisional Leaders can be kicked instantly by any “non-flagged” or “non-provisional” Leader.
  • The Fleet Creator is not considered Provisional when the Fleet is first formed. He or she is a full Leader with full Kick/Rescue privileges.

b) Star Wars, The Old Republic

As per the official support notes 7191 which can be found on the official Star Wars, The Old Republic website http://www.swtor.com/support/helpcenter/7191

Our Guild Leader has not been online for a long time, can we have him/her replaced?

8.0 Guild Alliance Naming Clauses

All committee, guild founders, of Guilds within the Guild Alliance agree that the names of guilds will remain a property of the Guild Alliance organization.

Amendment: October 2015

9.0 Decorum and Standards Of Behavior PAN-ALLIANCE

9.1) A GAC member must at all times, when in public spaces or whilst in the role of a Leader or Founder conduct themselves with a high standard of decorum and personal restraint. This includes profane language, bullying, shaming or abuse of both members and non-members of the Guild Alliance.

9.2) A violation of code 9.0 will be registered if it is witnessed by another GAC member or is reported by ANY member of the Guild Alliance in writing i.e private message, email, forum etc.

9.3) If a GAC member has had a complaint of a violation of code 9.0, the committee will be obliged to discuss the complaint at the next meeting which must be held within 2 weeks of any registered complaint.

In the event the member is found to be guilty either by evidence or personal admission, the GAC will issue a warning. If the offence is repeated in the future, then the committee will be within its rights to consider code 6.0 Rules of Removal/Expulsion

9.4) All internal guild chat between Officers in an official capacity MUST be undertaken in a Private Officers channel, via Private Messaging or other private communication i.e Skype, Officers Forums on the GA Website. Under no circumstances should any official guild matters be discussed in an open guild text or voice chat channel.

9.5) Guild leaders will need adhere to the Universal Guild Rules when creating or modifying their guild rules http://www.guildalliance.org/ga_universal_rules/

10.0 Committee Meetings, Online Decisions and Voting

Amendment: October 2016

10.1)  Meeting Rules, Responsibilities and Requirements

A GAC meeting must have a quorum of sitting members in order to take place.

The Chairperson or agreed representative as the head of the Guild Alliance is in charge of managing the meeting.

The Chairperson is responsible for:

• Calling the meeting to order
• Determining if a quorum is present
• Announcing the items on the order of business or agenda as they come up
• Recognition of members to have the floor
• Enforcing the rules of the group
• Putting all questions (motions) to a vote or deferring decision to an online debate (see 10.2)
• Adjourning the meeting

While presiding, the chairman should remain impartial and not interrupt a speaker if the speaker has the floor and is following the rules of the group.

Any decisions requiring a quorum, i.e. a majority vote will be considered invalid if the Chairperson, an agreed representative or a quorum is not present.

Any business voted upon by a quorum of the committee will be considered valid only if the item is resolved in the majority of ALL members, present or not.

In the event there are equal votes cast and the motion is at a stalemate the Chairperson will make the final determination.

10.2) Voting and Online decisions.

If the Chairperson believes an order of business requires more time for discussion beyond a particular meeting then they can move the matter to an online discussion on either the GA Committee forums or the GA Committee Facebook group page.

In this occurrence the procedure at point 10.3-10.3d will be used. The resulting vote may be unanimous or quorum based, depending on what rule is being discussed and voted on.

10.3) Amendment Proposals and changes to the Code of Conduct.

In order for a new rule or an amended rule to be included in the Guild Alliance Code Of Conduct a proposition must be made by a sitting member of the committee.

The proposition must be made by the following procedure:

10.3a) The proposition must be posted as a new topic in the GAC Facebook group. The proposed additions or changes must be clear and well explained.
If the proposition has multiple points to discuss, then the member making the proposition must make additional posts directly after their main post.

10.3b) The proposal must then be Seconded by another Committee Member. If this does not occur within 7 days then the motion will lapse and not move further.

The member making the proposition cannot bring this proposition up again for a period of 1 month.

10.3c) Comment replies should then be made directly to each point separately NOT to the main post.

Each member is allowed to post 1 (one) comment regarding the proposal or one comment for each point of a proposal, if there are multiple points.

10.3d) Committee Members then have 7 days to respond to the proposal, at the end of that time a vote will be taken via a Facebook poll.

10.3e) The motion will be passed IF the vote is resolved unanimously in the positive.

Voting regarding proposed amendments to this Code of Conduct must be unanimous.

Original Rulings

These rulings have been stricken from the code or superseded by amendments.

Amended: October 2015

8.0 Guild Alliance Naming Clauses

8.1) If for whatever reason the Star Trek Online, -I.D.I.C- Klingon Empire, Klingon Defense Force (K.D.F.) OR Star Trek Online, -I.D.I.C- United Federation of Planets, Starfleet (U.F.P.) fleet(s) are disbanded, the naming rights of -I.D.I.C- will revert to Jim Manavis (-Plasma), being the Founder of the -I.D.I.C- Fleet Properties. Any future Star Trek Online -I.D.I.C- Fleet property such as a new faction will also be subject to this clause.

8.2) If for whatever reason the Star Wars: The Old Republic (TOR): Infinite Sith Empire, Empire guild is disbanded, the naming rights of Infinite Sith Empire will revert to Jeffrey Jonas (Londi Revan), being the Founder of the Infinite Sith Empire guild property.

8.3) If for whatever reason the DC universe Online (DCUO): Dawn Star Order, Heroic league is disbanded, the naming rights of Dawn Star Order will revert to (Iskara), being the Founder of the Dawn Star Order league property.

8.4) If for whatever reason the Second Life (SL): Mord Sith Legacy, Vampire Clan is disbanded, the naming rights of Mord Sith Legacy will revert to (Iskara), being the Founder of the Mord Sith Legacy clan property.

Removed: September 2015 / Vote to remove at GAC Meeting / 3 AYE - 1 NAY / https://www.facebook.com/groups/gacommittee/permalink/1478760799095188
Added: 27th October 2013 / Vote to ADD at GAC Meeting  / 4 AYE - 0 NAY /  http://www.guildalliance.org/forums/topic/gac-meeting-27th-oct-2013

GAC member character disclosure rules

A GAC member may not have an alternate (alt) character in ‘ANY’ Non-Guild Alliance Guild in the rank of an Officer i.e. a Command Position. This is consistent with the sub-rules for most of our GA affiliated Guilds. Any committee member who is found to have done this will be asked to rectify the situation immediately and if they refuse will face a no confidence vote for removal from the GAC (see 5.0, 6.0, 7.0).This may also result in your Guild being removed from the GA so consider your actions wisely.

Exemption: A GAC Member may own an alternate Guild for the purposes of Bank Storage for example this is a common practice in Star Trek Online. However at the point where a Leader allows a second person to join their guild you will be considered to be in violation of this exception.