Aurora Australis / AURORAAUST

Aurora Australis is a loose collection of like-minded and mature individuals who play this game to have fun. We are generally not power-gamers, nor are we role-players, but these game-play aspects are not discouraged so long as the rules of the kinship are upheld.

Since I used the ‘‘R’‘ word let it be known we hate rules, but as the size of the kinship grows we need a consistent charter to make sure that all kin-fellows know what we believe in, and to help make their own judgment as to whether they’d fit into this type of kinship.

Fun is at the forefront of what we do. We’ll do new quests, greyed out quests, low loot quests, heck we’ll do anything as long as it’s fun and we get to spend time with our kinmates. We love playing this game and most of us have a long MMO history, but you should always keep in mind that this IS JUST A GAME.

Respecting other Kinsfolk and the online community is paramount. Griefing, abuse, swearing AT people whether they be in our kin, in your fellow or anywhere else in the game, racist or sexist comments, and other anti-social and generally moronic type behaviour will not be tolerated and immediate removal from the Kinship can result. We would all rather a small Kinship of great players than a large Kinship with some aforementioned morons.

We’ll be encouraging our members to try out all aspects of the game.

We will be PvE orientated, but I’m sure we will some PvP as a group at times.

While we do have members around the world, most of our members are from Australia and New Zealand.

We run a dedicated Mumble server, and both type and speak in English.

Most ships in the game are single seaters. I’m hoping for the most part people in our organisation are keen to fly around doing their own thing.

Having said that, we already own some 2 and a 4 seater craft. From what it looks, these would benefit from fighter escorts. So when we can, group up and have some fun. Advantage being even if you miss a spot on a 4 seater, you can still come and fly escort.

We won’t have the $1000 pre-game to drop on a 10 seater, so we’d like to make getting an Idris one of our first in-game goals as a kin.

Taken from LOTRO – not yet updated for Star Citizen – but should give you an overall idea:

Written by Barn
Friday, 18 December 2009 21:55

THE CHARTER

Aurora Australis is a loose collection of like-minded and mature individuals who play this game to have fun. We are generally not power-gamers, nor are we role-players, but these game-play aspects are not discouraged so long as the rules of the kinship are upheld.

We generally have no level requirement in the many games we play, although since Free-to-play in LOTRO we request that recruits apply with a character of at least level 20, but we have no initiations, payments, tithes or taxes. We do however run an application and sponsor based recruitment system to ensure we are recruiting mature, friendly, like-minded people.

Since I used the ‘‘R’‘ word let it be known we hate rules, but as the size of the kinship grows we need a consistent charter to make sure that all kin-fellows know what we believe in, and to help make their own judgment as to whether they’d fit into this type of kinship.

Fun is at the forefront of what we do. We’ll do new quests, greyed out quests, low loot quests, heck we’ll do anything as long as it’s fun and we get to spend time with our kinmates. We love playing this game and most of us have a long MMO history, but you should always keep in mind that this IS JUST A GAME.

Respecting other Kinsfolk and the online community is paramount. Griefing, abuse, swearing AT people whether they be in our kin, in your fellow or anywhere else in the game, racist or sexist comments, and other anti-social and generally moronic type behaviour will not be tolerated and immediate removal from the Kinship can result. We would all rather a small Kinship of great players than a large Kinship with some aforementioned morons.

All members must register and submit an application to join the forums. Included in your forum registration is a mandatory character sheet, if you do not fill this out, you will not be granted access. This portal is our main kinship communications tool. It is a requirement that if you are a member, you’ll check the forums to keep yourself involved. Posting isn’t a requirement, but logging in to see what’s happening is. Announcements, events, rosters, advice, trades, raids and other helpful information is here.

Characters not played or forum accounts not accessed without reason for six (6) weeks will be removed from the kin list in game, in an effort to keep the kin list clean. If you’re going on a long holiday or something similar, contact an Officer so we don’t accidentally remove you. If you are removed in error, please contact a member of leadership to correct the problem within a reasonable time frame.

We have an AA Mumble server for our members, this is a voice communication system used to enhance the gaming experience; it’s also a great way to get to know your kinmates. While Mumble is not compulsory it is highly recommended especially for higher-level instances and raids. Even if you don’t have a microphone just being able to listen to instructions could save a 4-hour trek into an instance from ending in a wipe. It makes that much difference some players wont fellowship into instances with people unable to hear voice instructions, there simply isn’t enough time to type some times. The Mumble information is stickied inside the website, grab it after your application has been approved.

Recruitment:
All provisional recruits go through a sponsorship period, you’ll have the recruitment month to get to know some members of the kinship and gain sponsors. Fellowshipping, Raiding, and attending kinship events are great ways to meet other players. Members of the kinship are encouraged to provide written support for you in your application thread if they feel you’ll fit in with AA. You’ll need at least four (4) members to sponsor you within the recruitment month to become a full member yourself.

Once your sponsorship period of two (2) months is over the decision for you to stay or leave will be decided by leadership. Our Official Kinship gathering\announcement Ceremony is held at the end of each month, we as a Kin gather to welcome our newest members and celebrate their promotions, and other special announcements.

NOTE: The Kin subscribes to the basic idea that one character will represent your “Main” or primary character. We recommend joining the Kin with the character that you will be playing the most during your recruitment month.

You will need to nominate your Main and keep your forum profile updated to show this.

Characters – Mains and Alternatives ( commonly called Alts)
As mentioned earlier, the Kin requires that members nominate one character as their “Main”. The major use of this concept is for use in recruitment and kin list accuracy.

If you want to change your Main character you must announce the intention on the forums. You may not change your main again for a 3month period – so make the decision wisely.

Warnings regarding behaviour:
To merit a warning you will have to do something that’s disruptive to the kin (Some examples are below) although some behaviour is grounds for immediate dismissal. We are generally pretty relaxed and encompass many differing play-styles and ages, however if you do behave in a way that is not in keeping with the core values of the Kinship you’ll receive a warning from an officer. If you persist you will be removed from the kinship by any officer who’s currently on-line. So please try to behave and if you get a warning bite your lip, take a five-minute break from the game and come back fresh. A Steward will send you a PM or in-game mail within 24hours just to make sure the warning is clearly understood. If you do get a warning it won’t be a black cross against your name forever, after a month previous warnings will be removed and you will be back to a clean slate.

Generally most people know when they’re being moronic, it’s mainly common sense – do unto others and all that jazz, be respectful and always remember your actions reflect on the kinship. To clarify confusion on a few gray areas….

Do not abuse another player in our kin, another kin, your fellowship or anywhere else in the game. This includes node stealing, losing your temper in a fellowship/raid, or being down right rude in general.

Do not have an argument in kinship chat or flame people in the forums or generally be negative. If you need to have a dispute with someone in the kinship please lodge a complaint, do it in private tells or pm them on the forum, or if you can’t resolve the issue yourself please pm an officer on the forums or in-game to discuss the problem.

Fellowship etiquette:
Kicking party members (including non-kin-fellows) without warning or kicking people from a group for balance reasons is not a nice thing to do, and a big no-no. You should be able to manage the team BEFORE inviting people by asking the group what is required, and if you make a mistake do like world-cup football players should do – deal with it and play on. Be patient, not everyone can play at the same connection speed you do. Sometimes accidents happen and your fellowship might wipe, Handle yourself maturely, be fair, and don’t berate people who make mistakes, if you feel the need try and offer informative advice in a calm manner. We are all learning and you can discuss ways to improve the next turn, or opt out of a future fellowship.

Be respectful – don’t be selfish. If you are questing with a fellowship be open to help others achieve quests, even if you have to sometimes go out of your way or have already completed it. This will become crucial in raiding parties.

Racist and sexist comments:
We believe everyone in the kin has a right to have fun and play in peace. Derogatory comments like Chinese farmer, or the common phrase “that’s gay” when referring to something bad are both examples of racist/sexist comments. Most of the time people don’t even realize what they say, or that it’s derogatory. You need to be mindful of the people around you and think before you speak\type.

While mild language is acceptable don’t go overboard, it is a family friendly kin after all. Remember though don’t swear AT someone, and don’t try and bypass the language filter by spacing out words etc. If people switch their language filter on it’s because they don’t want to see it.

Trading and sharing:
The ideals of the kinship is to be a caring and sharing society. Trade between kin is great and certainly encouraged, like a jeweller trading the ore they don’t need with a metalsmith who has ore they don’t need as well. Most people just give stuff away that they don’t need, and while people are giving away stuff please be respectful of their generosity. Make sure you say please, and thank-you, and only ask for items you can use on your main character. If no mains need the item and your alt does, then ask for the item and inform them it’s for your alt. In give-aways mains come before alts. Keep things fair, if you get items for free make sure you’re giving away as much as your receiving as soon as you have something to give.

If you are crafting items for people or obtaining items from crafters, pay for their costs to make the items, no more, no less, preferably you can do this by supplying the parts the crafter needs to make the item. Due to limited bank space most crafters don’t carry all materials. Our GM crafters are pretty heavily booked, so if you need a low level item made try to get it from a non-GM crafter first.

If you receive something you don’t need from a kinship give-away, offer it back to the kin, don’t just sell it. This can be resources, weapons, armour, player crafted gear, etc. Our GM crafters have put in long hours to obtain the GM title, if they give you something for free, and you realise you don’t need it, ask the GM crafter if he/she want it back before you offer it to the kin.

Never sell things given to you on the open AH, or buy from the kin AH to resell, doing so can be grounds for immediate dismissal.
(For example, a GM crafter is giving away high-end armour for free, a kinmate puts their hand up and takes the armour. Days later the GM crafter sees the armour up on the Open AH that they gave their kinmate. The proper thing to do is speak to the GM crafter about returning the gear or listing it up on the kinship AH at listing price.

Kinship Auction House:
A fantastic place to give things away is via the Kinship Auction House. As this auction house is only for members of the kinship we strive to keep things generous (IE: don’t charge full price) These are discounts given to members who can actually use the items, not to be used for profit. If you are looking to make a huge profit margin sell it on the open AH. If you are caught purchasing items on the kinship AH and selling them on it’s grounds for immediate dismissal. We aren’t here to use each other, so please respect your kinmates and each others generosity.

Above the law:
The above applies to every member and officer of the Kinship. It’s not one rule for some, and one rule for others. All Officers will enforce this basic etiquette, if you feel someone’s behaviour is out of line (even an Officer’s) feel free to let a member of leadership know.

Leaving the kinship:
If by chance you find that the kinship isn’t what you wanted or expected, please leave before applying to another kin. This prevents you from accepting all the free goodies always offered in kin chat before leaving. To say goodbye send a tell to the people you want to inform, or leave a post in the farewell section of the forums if you’d like, but please leave without making a scene, this causes less disruption in the forums and in game for people who are happily having fun playing the game they love, with people they love even more. In addition, it’s policy that if your main character leaves the kinship, all of your alts must leave as well.

Signed, the Aurora Australis Kinship.

Last Updated on Friday, 06 July 2012 11:20