Rules

• Basic Guild Rules
• Code of Conduct
• Guild Meetings
• Basic Gaming Rules

Meeting times:

We meet as a whole every Sunday 5pm Eastern time/ 22:00 GMT on Discord for business followed by Tolkien chat.

Basic Guild Rules

• 1. All of our members should demonstrate a working knowledge of the books of JRR Tolkien. Although these are in general The Hobbit, The Lord Of The Rings and if possible The Silmarillion, only The Lord of the Rings trilogy is mandatory. To become a Full Member of the Valar Guild you will need to take an entry test. The test is performed by one Vala and, at least, one other Maia member. The test will consist of five questions from The Lord of the Rings (The book, not the movie).
• 2. New members take a Tolkien character name for the Valar Guild after testing. The name cannot be a Vala or Maia name.
• 3. For new recruits, only the rank of Member is achievable. Valar and Maiar honor and names are reserved for the upper ranks and are gained through commitment to the guild and demonstration of Tolkien lore.
• 4. Valar is a very unique guild on the net. Unlike most of any other, we are a sanctuary from the spam, vulgarity, rudeness, cheating and other forms of discourteous behavior. In fact, we are more than just a guild, we are a club that serves as a place to: chat Tolkien and other intellectual topics, play co-op games or just escape for a while in an atmosphere of mutual respect.
• Eru founded Valar on these principals, and The Council of Mahanaxar in The Valar Guild has spent much time to preserve it as such.
• Membership in Valar is a privilege one earns every day. It is not a right. Every member, whether in channel, in a guild game, in a public game, or in a public channel / chat, as long as you are recognizable as a member of The Valar Guild you are expected to exemplify all that we stand for. The loss of one's privilege to be a member does not require blatant disregard for these rules, it requires only to not continually earn the privilege by maintaining a high standard in meeting these guidelines. If this seems unfair or harsh to expect these high standards of you then maybe you need to find another guild.
• We are one of the oldest guilds in the game and on the net because we hold to these standards, and we will not lower them.
• The following rules of conduct are intended as a guideline to what is expected of each member.

Code of Conduct.

Members who do not abide by the code may be removed from the guild.

• All are expected to be polite and respect each other; there will be no judging of others, no malicious remarks allowed, no discrimination whatsoever.
• All guests you invite to channel / Guildchat etc. etc. are your responsibility, they should be informed of our channel and playing etiquette and will be expected to honor these rules. Any misconduct by them will reflect on you, and the Council will hold you accountable.
• Coarse language is not acceptable, nor is screaming (all capital letters); it is disruptive and rude.
• No spamming or flooding (hogging of the channel with irrelevant or repetitive posts).
• When coming into the channel, (Meetings) you are expected to be in your guild character, a mistake is understandable but it only confuses people as to your identity. If you have other public characters, please keep them outside. (Update: "Guild character" in Discord refers to making your Discord name show as your guild character name for help in knowing who is speaking. The rule above is worded for the Diablo 1 channel that no longer exists, but the intent is the same.)
• If you encounter a non-member in Valar ask him/her to state his/her business. If they are seeking membership refer them to a Maia or Vala. If they are rude or in any way discourteous ask them to leave. If necessary ban them from channel. Only if all of us do this can we maintain Valar as the sanctuary it is intended to be. (Update: while this refers to the tough times we had in Diablo 1's Valar group channel, the intent is still the same in Discord, but a regular member may now need help to ban from an officer.)
• If you are in possession of the gavel / leadership / presiding, you are not allowed to kick or ban any members for "fun". There is no need to pass the gavel to a higher member unless during an official meeting, if a stranger comes into the channel, or if you can feel your self-control slipping. (Update: the gavel was an actual ability held by whomever was first in the channel in Diablo 1, but held by rank in Discord. Original intent still applies.)

Guild Meetings

During guild meetings:

• During meetings please just listen so that we can get through business quickly. Ideas and suggestions are always welcome, and will be addressed after the formal business is completed. Please whisper the meeting chair (usually Varda) for a chance to address the guild. Please keep all these ideas to relevant topics.
• Varda usually presides over the meetings. It is requested that she be handed the position. If Varda is unable to attend the meeting, Eonwë should be given the gavel. If none of those areable to attend then give the preciding to the highest ranking member present. (Update: In Discord, the gavel is automatic by rank, unlike Diablo 1.)

Basic Gaming Rules

• 1. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO CHEATING IN ANY GAME ALLOWED !!!!!!
• No duping of equipment, spell books, elixirs. or ANYTHING.
• No importing of equipment by any program not specifically ratified by the developers of the game.
• Any members caught cheating will be given a warning and placed on probation. If you are caught cheating again, it will result in immediate expulsion from the guild.
• 2. No taking of itmes from public games unless you find it yourself, and it is unidentified when you find it.
• 3. No Killing of other Players. (PKing, or PKKing)
• Can not stress it enough, NO CHEATING AT ALL. no exploits of bugs of any kind, no use of third party programs unless :
• 1. the Council approves it.
• 2. the Game Developers approve it.
• Battlegrounds in WoW and free people vs monsters in LotRO are approved. But be polite; no gloating for winners or whining for losers.
• (Explanation: To understand why this was infuriating: the "pk" meaning player-killer was common in Diablo 1, and is a player who kills others even if invited into a game as a co-operative player for working together in quests. Without a lot of these rules, a sizable number of players who joined us were about to quit the game entirely. Character death meant your gear was on the ground and part of the game was in going back to pick it up, but a thief-pk was quite likely to have taken it. People with limited game time, such as having to go to a job, were especially hurt.)

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