Guild:The Forgiven (Terenas US)

Current News
Burning Crusade is coming out on 16 January 2007. Reserve your copy today!

About 
The Forgiven is a Terenas World of Warcraft guild focused on providing a friendly, Christian environment for members. The Forgiven is a founding member of the Terenas Alliance-side Small Guild Alliance and actively participates in aSGA instance runs, leadership, and fellowship.

History
The Forgiven is one of the oldest guilds on Terenas, forming January of 2005. We currently sit with 165+ accounts and well over 400 characters. We are listed in the top 25 largest guilds (by number of 70s) on our server and yet none of that defines who we are, what we are and why are we here.

In order to answer the question “who are we?”, I would like to explain how I got started and my motivation for getting into online gaming. I have been online gaming since 93, when ipx was the primary protocol and many of us who started gaming online used tunneling tools like Kali to play LAN-based games over the Internet. Even in the earliest days, what I liked most about on-line gaming was the sense of community that was formed over time and the relationships that formed.

Eventually, a group of my closest friends and I started up TRiBForCe which started as Rainbox Six group which quickly formed into Counter Strike clan. Why the urge to create our own community? I found the online gaming world to be hostile and unfriendly. I wanted to change all that and the only way I knew how to do that was to build an environment where those in charge, through their own actions and words, would mold the behaviour of its visitors or at the very least, set a bar of acceptable behaviour with the goal to create relationships and that through these relationships, our belief and faith in Christ would be evident in what we said and did.

As Counter Strike was ending it's very long reign as the most popular online game, I began to look for a new game with would reinforce all the positives I liked about Counter Strike. I began testing WoW during its public beta and knew instantly this game could be used to create a healthy and positive virtual community which could be influenced by our collective faith in Christ. Who we are is best answered by saying we are a fellowship of believers. Emphasis is on fellowship and believers. While we have allowed others who do not necessarily have a belief in Jesus Christ into the guild, it should only be in cases where there is a strong relationship which one of our believers wishes to extend to their friend or family member.

What are we can best be defined as a mixed group of people - single, married, professional and/or retired, with a strong sense of building a family atmosphere. We have attempted to provide a mentorship program to many unsupervised / unparented youth with mixed results. At the end of the day, it is felt best that our guild can not serve as surrogate parents. We are a poor substitute for a child who's parents are not actively involved in what their child is doing online, especially in a highly social environment such as WoW. There are exceptions but they should only exist in cases where there is a strong relationship and active presence by an adult who will act as a mentor in the guild. Many of us are parents and we wish to have our children interacting with other guildies who have kids as well. Outside children with no direct connection to a parent in the guild are only included after careful consideration of all parties involved.

Why are we here? I believe largely we are here for other believers. We are a fellowship first. Evangelism comes from our various outreaches in PuGs and more organized groups such as Small Guild Alliance, but even in those cases, we demonstrate our faith by our actions through relationships we have formed. Our conduct in both speech and action is expected to reflect a Christ-like demeanor and we should be able to demonstrate the love of Christ by how we conduct ourselves in a game ridden with greed and strife. We are a lighthouse, the question each of us should ask ourselves is, but is our light on?

Signed, Allanon, Esua, Zenoir and Rueage, the Guild Master of The Forgiven

Be Nice™
Deedlyt's Be Nice™ Loot Policy:

I will officially dub my loot policy the Be Nice™ policy. The name should say it all, but I'll outline it here anyway.

Given that we are dealing with roughly the same group of people each run, loot shouldn't be that big of a deal. We will be running the instance many many times, and we will all get what we need out of it as we go. No need for drama. Still, it's always annoying if one person ends up winning items each week and other people don't. Here is the Be Nice part. General guidelines on how to Be Nice...


 * What you think is "right" or "fair" might not be the Nice Thing. I think fairness is very important, but you have to remember that we are playing a game with other humans. We are all imperfect and we don't all view things the same way. Even though something may be technically fair, I think we get a lot further by doing the Nice Thing and bending over backwards to make sure others are happy. Remember, what goes around comes around. If we foster a climate of sharing and caring in the SGA, everyone wins.
 * If you win something uber, pass on other uber stuff until others get a chance at uberness. Example, Deedlyt wins Shadow Bolt X. It would be Not Nice to roll on the next Warlock Grimoire that drops in AQ. Another example, Deedlyt wins uber trinket in MC. Pass on other Uber item that drops in AQ that week. Yes, it's true that my runs aren't connected to MC or Onyxia, but the people I run with there are generally my companions in ZG and AQ. Your class-mates know what items you have been winning and it does often foster Bad Blood if you seem to win epics all the time everywhere you go.
 * Before rolling on an item, take into account other people's needs. Sure, that item might might be an upgrade for you, but how often do you use an offhand sword? Yeah, that healing mace is super nice, but you're feral, right? This isn't saying that you shouldn't ever get that item, but it would be nice if the people who will best use it get it first. Remember, you will be running with these people lots. It's in your best interest that they get geared. And don't worry, you will get your shot at that item next time around.
 * Deedlyt reserves the right to force Niceness. I've never before had to give anything other than a gentle hint to anyone as to what the Nice Thing is, but I still reserve the right to say, "No Pally, you can't roll on that über cloth healer gear when it is such a big upgrade for our priests." I hope that if I ever step on toes in the pursuit of Niceness that you would kindly whisper me and point out the error of my ways. I'm not perfect and I'm always keen on fresh insight. This isn't to say I will always agree with you, but I can promise I will take it into consideration.

As you can see, not many hard and fast rules. I don't think 20 man instances require the strict rule set that MC does. I hope that we can all trust that we can do the Nice Thing as the situations arise. I think historically we have had no problems and I don't foresee any in the future. After all, it's mostly Nice People in the SGA.

Please feel free to chime in and offer support, flames, feedback, or whatever. Until modified though, you can assume that all raids <= 20 man that I lead will be conducted using the policies outlined here.