Members Manual
From Wiki
Welcome
Firstly, welcome to [RIP].
You will find that [RIP] try to function and treat everyone with respect and care. The Clan Founders have gone to great lengths to make everyone feel that this is also there clan. This is what [RIP] ask of you in return.
As a new recruit, you may have many questions. This manual will try to answer many of them. Please remember at any time feel free to ask questions from any member of the clan from other recruits to the Clan Founders and remember, "there is no such thing as a stupid question" someone will have asked it before.
As a clan, [RIP] are a mature bunch of fellow gamers, intent on having fun whilst gaming online. Our goal is to create our own niche in the gaming world where members can all gather and play on cheat free servers and enjoy the friendships that are made.
Our goal is to have multiple gaming servers of the more popular games out there, and [RIP] will test any new releases as they come out. This way [RIP] hope to be a more dynamic Clan and offer a wide variety and choice of gaming to our members.
Thank you for your time and again welcome to [RIP].
About
This manual can be thought of as our basic training for the clan to assist the recruit when they are being setup by the training officer (TO). As it will cover all the necessary information to understand how the clan is run, what is expected from you and it will assist you in setting up all the required details in relation to the clan.
It also serves as a reference manual for you once you are in the clan and maybe need to reinstall something but cannot remember how to.
Recruits
As you should now be aware as part of the recruitment process, reading this manual, setting up the relevant software, forum access, avatars, and signatures is a requirement of becoming a full member of [RIP].
From the date of setup by a TO you are on a one-month probationary period, giving both the Clan and you time to ensure that this is what [RIP] are looking for and where you want to belong.
During the four weeks in basic training, you will have the rank of Recruit (Rec) and on completion of basic training you will automatically become a Private (Pvt).
Squad Assignment
During your probation period you will be asked if you wish to join a platoon or be placed in the Territorial Army (TA). What we have available depends upon member numbers at the time.
The two options are described below:
- Platoons
- If you are looking for the best, a clan has to offer then platoon life is for you. Platoons are active members who like a bit of healthy competition in the internal leagues, enjoy the close friendships that are made as you take part in the scrims, and have your own sections of forums.
- However, this comes with a required level of commitment, this normally means you need to attend a one-hour training session a week and participate in platoon scrims. If you are unable to make a practice or scrim, you must inform your chain of command a post in your platoon forum is best. This way your platoon can plan for the scrim knowing the numbers, they will have attending.
- If at any time you want to change to TA, speak to the game commander and they will get you assigned to the TA.
- TA
- The TA was setup to allow those unable to provide or for those that do not want the commitment of platoon life.
- As a member of the TA, you have no commitments to play at any time. You just turn up and play when time permits. This does not mean you cannot take part in clan events. You are free to enter any of our fun events such as our Christmas scrims, fight club, and our academy courses.
- In addition, if you are in vent at the time of a platoon scrim and they are down in numbers they may ask you if you wish to help them make up the numbers.
- If at any time you want to change to platoon life, speak to the game commander and they will get you assigned to a platoon.
Clan Founders
The Clan Founders are those that have final say on all clan decisions since they started the clan back in January 2007.
The Clan Founders are listed below and can be identified in our voice program by the tag group CF:
- BearBison
- Gunner
Chain of Command
As [RIP] are a large clan, the chain of command must be followed to prevent one person getting snowed under with workload that prevents them from gaming. Only break the chain of command if either you have an issue with your next level of command or they are unavailable and then try to move to the next level.
The chain of command from the top down is listed below:
- Clan Founder
- Clan Leader
- Game Commander
- Game 2IC
- Platoon Leader
- Platoon 2IC
The only variation on this is when you are a recruit your chain of command is your TO.
Ranks and Promotion Protocol
Our ranking system is based on the British army.
All members are asked that you respect any senior ranking member, as they would have gained that rank for a reason.
A full layout of our ranks can be seen below:
Our promotion protocol and abbreviations can be viewed in the standing orders section of the forums http://www.rustyinplaces.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9724
Rules and Regulations
It is your responsibility to follow the rules and regulations and make sure that you are aware of any changes.
[RIP] rules can be found at Clan Rules
Any changes or additions can be found in the Standing Orders forum at http://www.rustyinplaces.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=6
On Leave
If you are going on holiday for more than two weeks you must post in the appropriate forum to prevent any problems such as you being listed Missing in Action (MIA).
By posting, it keeps the chain of command informed of your status to try to prevent any issues, although occasionally things are missed.
If you are still a recruit, you must post in the forum http://www.rustyinplaces.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=62
Once you are a full member, you must post in the forum http://www.rustyinplaces.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=70
If you are on leave for an extended period, your PL will move you to on-leave on the roster, which can be seen at http://www.rustyinplaces.org/forum/riproster.php. Upon your return from leave, it is your responsibility to be removed from on-leave status.
Family Members
Although [RIP] members are 18 years old or older, there is a family membership section. The family members (juniors) are children of full members who can play using the [RIP] tags.
Family members are covered by the additional rules listed below:
- Cannot represent [RIP] in any external scrims.
- Do not need to donate.
Donations
As you are aware, servers cost money to provide and [RIP] run only the highest specification servers possible to ensure that members have a good gaming experience. It is only through donations of members that the servers can be kept available.
To keep the high quality servers and multiple games available all members are expected to donate £5 per month to help keep things running (Family members do not pay and Recruits are exempt for the first month). Considering the amount of fun, that members have that is a very small price to pay.
If you are unable to pay for a short period, as opposed to unwilling to contribute you should bring this to the attention of your chain of command. Who will see what can be done to prevent you being listed MIA.
100% of [RIP] members contribute to the running of the clan as none of our members wish to pay for freeloaders.
Some more information on donations can be found at http://www.rustyinplaces.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6873
Missing In Action
If you have been placed MIA, this means that your donations are overdue by at least one month. After being MIA for a month, you will be listed as having left the clan, your access to the forums will be reverted to public membership.
When you are MIA, your vent account will be locked and when you try to login it will inform you of who to contact to resolve the issue. Only they can reinstate you into [RIP].
Reserved Slots
For our game servers [RIP] run a reserved slot system for all of our members on the games that support this with the information compiled from your details in the roster at http://www.rustyinplaces.org/forum/riproster.php.
The slots are updated once a month after the MIA list has been completed.
If you find that, you are not on the reserved slot list, first, check your details in the roster are correct (case sensitive) and then follow the post at http://www.rustyinplaces.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4063
Forums
As a [RIP] member, you are expected to keep yourself up to date with the forums, as valuable information will be contained within the boards. All members are expected to post at least once per month so that your platoon is aware you still exist.
At a minimum, the boards that you need to read are the following:
- Standing Orders
- All Ranks Mess
- Open Comms (for your game)
- Platoon board
As you progress through the ranks and roles, other boards will become available that you will have to maintain an eye on.
Profiles
From the profiles section of the forums you can modify all of your details including the addition of avatars and signatures to your forum account.
To access your profile, follow the diagrams below:
Usergroups
To provide members with access to the various parts of the [RIP] forums we use usergroups to provide an easy means of permissions.
It is your responsibility to ensure you have the correct usergroup access. As a recruit, you will have recruit access and once your probation has ended you will need to request access to the member’s usergroup.
Requesting access to a usergroup
To request access to a usergroup, follow the diagram’s below:
The group owner will then have to grant you access, if you want to you can contact the group owner and ask them to grant your access.
Removing access to a usergroup
To remove your access to a usergroup, follow the diagram’s below:
Avatars
In the forums, [RIP] members are expected to have the avatar showing their rank on display so both members and pubs can see who is a member and who is a non-member.
Whenever you post as shown in the image to the right your name will display under your avatar along with any details from your profile.
To add or change your avatar from your profile, follow the diagram’s below:
Signatures
In the forums, [RIP] members are expected to have a signature on display so both members and pubs can see who is a member and who is a non-member.
[RIP] uses signature to show each other which game and platoon a member belongs to, or if a person is of high enough rank to show their position within clan.
To keep things in order [RIP] has a few basic rules for sigs:
- All sigs are created by the graphics team
- All files are hosted by [RIP] and have a maximum size
- A sig must always be worn
- No individual sigs are allowed
- Only people that can have modified sigs are:
- Clan Founders
- Clan Leaders
- Command Staff
- PL & 2IC can have a slight modification on platoon sig
For recruits and others awaiting platoon signatures a generic signature has been created for use, which can be seen below.
[img]http://www.rustyinplaces.org/graphics/sigs/total1.png[/img]
and follow the diagram below:
Viewing unread posts
Rather than going through each forum board to see what posts are new since your last visited, you can view only those that you have not read by following the diagram below:
Marking all posts read
In addition to viewing the unread posts, once you have read those that are relevant to you and you still have some unread posts. You can mark the rest as having been read so that you no longer see them in your unread posts, this is done by following the diagram below:
Voice Program
For our voice program [RIP] currently uses Teamspeak3, as a member you are expected to be on our voice program whenever you are playing on one of our servers. If you are not on our voice program you will be kicked by an admin after a warning, this is to prevent people impersonating [RIP] members.
If you are unable to make noise at home, you are still expected to be in our voice program but you can go into the AFK channel or mute your sound for the program.
To install and configure Teamspeak3 please see the TS3 setup page
Yahoo Instant Messenger
[RIP] used to use Yahoo instant messenger (YIM) for everyday communications between members however we have now moved over to xFire.
YIM can be download at http://messenger.yahoo.com/ or if you do not wish to install it can be run from the web http://messenger.yahoo.com/platform/web/
Xfire
Xfire is now our major form of IM communication. As such, [RIP] have created a clan user group within Xfire for our members. Download at http://www.xfire.com/
If you wish to join this group, it can be found at http://www.xfire.com/clans/rustyinplaces/. Once at the page you must select the Join Clan option on the left hand menu shown below:
Once this has been completed, you must reply to the thread at http://www.rustyinplaces.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6875 to be accepted into the clan group.
Gametracker
[RIP] uses Gametracker to provide us with stats and banners for our servers, you can see all of our servers listed at the clan page at http://www.gametracker.com/clan/rip/ and you can join the clan on this page if you have a Gametracker account.
STEAM Community
As [RIP] also support multiple STEAM game, a clan community has been created for members to join. This group is joined by invite only, to join please contact one of the Command Staff or a member of the group.
Stats Sites
For those amongst you that are interested in stats the following sites are useful:
BF2
BF2142
Events
Throughout the year, [RIP] host multiple events that members can take part in, most of these are for fun but some can be taken seriously.
Our events include:
- [RIP] vs All nights on our public servers
- Internal scrims
- Internal Leagues
- Platoon training
- External fun scrims
- External competition scrims
- Fight Club events
- Academy courses
- Whatever else we can think off
