Difference between revisions of "Lancer Knightz (Guild)"

Revision as of 02:23, 13 November 2011

Lancer Knightz

A selection of Lancer Knightz members. Guild Founder: Whitelancer, Shakugan, Pula Approx. Population: 100 Guild Master(s): Shockgun (inactive), Donkeyhaute, Sooch, Norpo

This is the official wiki page for the Spiral Knights guild Lancer Knightz. Lancer Knightz is a fairly old guild, dating from sometime in April 2011. (Spiral Knights itself launched on April 4, 2011.)

Our guild members are diverse in their interests (PvE, PvP, crafting, chatting, etc.) and experience (2-star, 5-star, etc.). If you are a pleasant, active player, then we'd love to have you. Our guild is currently full, but occasionally we can accept new recruits as old members are removed for inactivity.

Rules

Our guild is casual. Rules and procedures certainly aren't our thing. But there are two common values, on which we agree. Guild members who violate these principles may be removed from the guild.

• Be pleasant. If you want crowns, then don't beg; sell something or go into the Clockworks. If you have no energy, then don't beg; wait for tomorrow. If you invite someone to join your party, and they won't come, then don't beg; get over it. If you want to be promoted, then don't beg; fulfill the stated requirements below. Don't use any racial, sexual, or other slurs. Don't scam people or steal from them. Let's develop a reputation, of which we can be proud.
• Be active. Everyone goes on trips or is otherwise busy in real life sometimes. It's okay if you don't log on every day, or even every week. But any guild member who is dormant for a month or longer may be removed from the guild. If you need an exemption (for example, you're going on a five-week trip, but you'll be active after that), then send an in-game mail message to every Guild Master, stating how long of a dormancy you plan, and you will not be removed.

Events

Contests

A lottery will be held every week, either Friday 6:00 PM or Saturday 4:00 PM (game time). Any guild member online at the time can play! There is no entry fee, although donations to the prize pool are welcome. The default prize is 500 crowns, but larger prizes such as 3000 crowns, 6000 crowns, 100 CE, or 5-star materials are sometimes awarded. Here is the procedure. Everyone who wishes to participate gathers in the guild hall at the appointed time. The participants form a line, and are assigned numbers as follows:

11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, ....

Then two dice are rolled, to give the two digits in the winning number. For example, if a 2 and a 3 are rolled, then person 23 (the ninth person in line) wins. If a number is rolled that has no person attached to it, then we re-roll both dice. This procedure is fair and should not require more than five thrilling minutes.

Events may take place after the lottery, if funding allows. Examples include:

• Racing: The event holder constructs a race track and everyone races in it. The first to reach the goal is victorious.
• Trivia: The event holder asks trivia questions. Contestants whisper (/tell) the answers to the event holder.
• Riddles: The event holder gives a sequence of increasingly difficult riddles. Contestants must answer them in order. The first contestant to solve them all wins.
• Mimicking: The event holder performs an action and eliminates the last person to mimic him/her. This process repeats until only one contestant remains.

Player versus Player

Guild player-versus-player contests are being organized by Nightscreem. They take place on Sundays at 3:00 PM (game time). A prize (500, 1000, or 3000 crowns) will be awarded, depending on the kind of contest. Please join in!

Projects

Recipe Sharing

To the extent that it's practical, let's share recipes. How? Well, most 3-star items (and 2-star items, and 1-star items) can be crafted without equipping them. This means that someone can craft a 3-star item for you, without paying an unbinding cost. You supply all materials, crowns, and crystal energy, but you essentially get the recipe for free. Depending on Auction House prices, energy prices, and how much mist energy you have, this may or may not save you money over crafting yourself. Check out our list of recipes.

Data Collection

We have a new project, started by Donkeyhaute and administered by Splinteye, to collect data on various equipment, as a service to the community. Our first focus is on measuring the damage per second of all 5-star swords. Check it out.

Rank

Many of our guild members do not care about rank. For those who do, let's lay out the guidelines. Rank is not based on skill or experience as a player, but rather on service to the guild. In short, you are promoted for performing Helpful Deeds. The two most common Helpful Deeds are:

• Recruiting a new member. The member must accept the invitation (becoming a Recruit) and then play actively (becoming a Member) before your Helpful Deed is recognized. If you are not an officer, then you cannot invite the new member, but you can ask an officer to invite on your behalf.
• Starting a new program. For example, one guild member made this wiki page and started our recipe-sharing system. Another guild member started a series of lotteries and other contests. Be creative.

If you wish to be promoted, then contact an Officer or Guild Master to explain how you have met the criteria. Remember that the officers of Lancer Knightz are players just like you. They are not employees of Three Rings, and they do not come online just to keep track of each guild member's achievements. So, even if your promotion is long overdue, please explain clearly and courteously why you deserve it.

Recruit

When you first join our guild, you are a Recruit. Your guildmates may welcome you into the guild, and offer to go into the Clockworks with you or join you on a PvP team.

Member

You get promoted to Member as soon as it's clear that you are going to be an active player. If we invite you one day, and on the next day we see that you're back, then that may be good enough. Most people in Lancer Knightz are Members.

Veteran

A Veteran is a member who has distinguished himself or herself somehow. The most common way to get promoted from Member to Veteran is to perform one Helpful Deed, as explained above. Sometimes a knight who has simply played in the guild for a long time is promoted to Veteran. Sometimes a knight whom we recruit from another guild, who held a high rank in that guild, is granted Veteran status early. This happens while the knight is being recruited — not after the fact.

Officer

In Spiral Knights, guild Officers have actual power. In Lancer Knightz, that power comes with responsibility. In other words, while Veteran is simply an honorary title, Officer is more of a job. Officers who do not fulfill their responsibilities may be demoted to Veteran.

• An Officer plays often — certainly multiple times per week. (Our goal is to have at least one Officer or Guild Master online at all times.)
• An Officer knows the policies of the guild and follows them precisely. (We want to avoid inconsistencies in applying policy, to prevent complaints of unfair treatment and general friction within the guild.)
• An Officer recruits new guild members. When he (or she) sends the invitation, he also sends an in-game mail message — not a /tell — explaining how to find this wiki page. (He sends this at invitation, not at acceptance of the invitation, because he may not be online at the time of acceptance.)
• An Officer promotes Recruits to Members and Members to Veterans according to guild policy.
• An Officer does not remove people from the guild, even though he is technically able to. (The Guild Masters collectively keep track of players who are going offline for more than one month but want to remain in the guild. If Officers were allowed to remove people from the guild, then there would be more people involved in this procedure, and more mistakes.)
• An Officer does not promote new Officers, even though he is technically able to. (When a Guild Master promotes a new Officer, he (or she) makes sure that the Officer is ready and able, and monitors his behavior somewhat. Some Officers frankly do not know and implement guild policy well enough to promote competent new Officers.)

If you are a Veteran and want to be an Officer, you can prove it by performing two more Helpful Deeds (or one rather large Helpful Deed). Sometimes a Veteran asks for promotion, without explaining clearly why he (or she) has met this criterion. Such a Veteran is actually demonstrating that he is not ready to be an Officer.

Guild Master

A Guild Master has the responsibilities of an Officer (playing often, recruiting new members) and several other responsibilities, which are performed in coordination with the other Guild Masters. He (or she) promotes and demotes Officers. He removes inactive members from the guild. He adjusts policy to improve the guild. He designs new projects, and contributes resources to them as needed.

Promotion to Guild Master happens very rarely, and there is no guideline for who deserves it. Even if you are the most active member of the guild, you may never proceed past Officer. Here is a brief history of our Guild Masters.

• Whitelancer started Lancer Knightz with Pula and Shakugan. Our dormant Guild Master Shockgun is a remnant from this era of the guild.
• Donkeyhaute was invited into Lancer Knightz by Pula in April 2011, a few days after he started playing. He was the eighth or ninth member of the guild. He spent the next two months or so as a Recruit. One day, an Officer noticed him and promoted him to Member. Ten days later, for reasons that are still not clear, he was Guild Master. Donkeyhaute invented our rank system and our recipe-sharing system, and made this wiki page.
• Sooch became Guild Master sometime during Summer 2011. Representatives of The Ascendicate approached Lancer Knightz, suggesting that the guilds be merged. Sooch, who was then an Officer, convinced Donkeyhaute that they should try to revive the moribund Lancer Knightz, rather than abandon it. Sooch was promoted to Guild Master and has been a central figure in the guild ever since. Currently he is very busy in real life, however.
• Norpo was promoted to Guild Master in late September 2011. Perhaps his principal achievement has been the recruiting of numerous highly active guild members, which have made our guild stronger than ever before.