The Forgiven - State of the Guild 2014 - Lengthy but hopefully insightful

Guilo

New Member
The Forgiven - State of the Guild 2014

Greetings, Guildmates! That is my usual greeting whenever I log in to WoW and it is also appropriate here. You will notice that the ‘G’ in Guildmates is capitalized. I believe that since our Guild was brought together through God, has stayed together and strong because of God, and continues into the future to be a reflection of Christ through our actions, it deserves to be capitalized just as the words God, Christ, & Jesus are.

With Adam recently stepping down from the Guild Master position and passes the baton onto me, I figured it was due time for a State of the Guild address and also to briefly introduce myself for those of you who do not know me.

I’m Eric. I am 42, will turn 43 in the fall, and I’m a high school math teacher (on purpose) up here in beautiful Washington state. If any of you are planning to visit Washington or Oregon, look me up and I can give you some “must-see” places and perhaps even a place to crash. My wife, Tanya, and I recently celebrated our 19th anniversary this past July 1st and she is a blessing from God that I simply do not deserve. We have no children, unless you count 1 spoiled-rotten yellow Labrador Retriever. In WoW, I am the ultimate alt-oholic and have 12 level 90 characters in the Guild. If you ever see Armoath, Chimon, Creeh, Guilo, Naithan, Peretti, Rafar, Senter, Signa, Strongman, Tahl, or Triskal online, please say hello either in Guild chat or whisper chat.

Who We Are and Who We Aren’t:

It has been 8 years since Adam eloquently and succinctly answered these questions, so allow me to brief remind all of us, from newest Initiates to most seasoned Keyholders & Officers, what The Forgiven really stands for.

The Forgiven is one of the oldest, if not THE oldest, active guilds on the Terenas server, and one of the oldest active guilds in all of WoW. We currently have 570 characters over 145 accounts and we anticipate those numbers will grow once the Warlords of Draenor (WoD) expansion pack is released later this year (anticipated).

We are a fellowship of gamers who believe in Jesus Christ and who are eager to find a safe, welcoming, supportive, family-friendly environment in which to play WoW, away from the greed, the profanity, the lewd/crude topics, the gossip, the bacstabbing (not you Rogues - backstab bosses at will), and other hostilities that we’ve all experienced in other guilds. Rarely we have let non-believers into the Guild, but only in situations where a current member has a strong relationship with the non-believer, knows that the non-believer desires the aforementioned environment, and believes this to be an opportunity for their Guildmates to witness to this friend/family member through their actions. Let me iterate this: we are a fellowship of Christian gamers and not primarily an outreach.

We are not by definition a raiding guild, but we do raid because we have people who enjoy that aspect of the game. We are not by definition a PvP guild, but we do engage in battlegrounds and arenas because we have people who enjoy that aspect of the game. We are not by definition a leveling guild, but we do have a lot of people who enjoy leveling a variety of characters (alt-oholics like yours truly). We frown on those who ask for gold, as we feel you should earn your own and we’ll happily share our suggestions based on our experiences. We frown on those who ask for “run-throughs” of low level content, but many of us don’t mind offering our help. There is a difference between Guildmates offering our assistance and people asking for it in Guild chat.

What we are:

For those of you who enjoy analogies, The Forgiven is a can of mixed nuts - we are all different and bring our unique flavor to the group. We have singles, marrieds, families with lots of kids, and families without. We cover the spectrum of careers represented, from those in computers, pastors, teachers, construction, business men/women, fishermen, government, sales, and even those that we can HEAR smiling through the TeamSpeak server because they are enjoying the bliss that is . . . RETIREMENT. In short, God calls us to be a part of His family from all walks of life and can use us to be reflections of Him in our behaviors.

As mentioned before, we are a family-friendly environment, but that does not mean we are a baby-sitting service. We have in place a mentoring program where the parents (or another adult that knows the child in real life) are expected to play with and be responsible for any children under the age of 17. We cannot possibly substitute for a parent being involved in their child’s online activities.

Why we are:

I strongly believe that The Forgiven is in WoW to be 2 things, in this order: 1) a fellowship and sanctuary for Christians, and only after that 2) an outreach by cementing relationships and demonstrating our faith by our behavior. It is an expectation of all Forgiven members, starting with me and my officer corps, to emulate Christ-like behavior with our daily conduct.

In accordance with #1, we have always been and will continue to be a safe haven for each other filled with love, encouragement, and prayer in abundance. I have been in raids, and heard on TeamSpeak and entire raid come to a screeching halt when another Guildmate, not in the raid, mentioned in Guild chat that they had a prayer need. Suddenly, there was a veritable green tsunami in Guild chat of Guildmates, both in the raid group and not, typing out prayers and lending their support for the Guildmate in need. If you were to bear witness to that and it did not in turn bring a tear to your eye, then you may want to check your pulse - it was very selfless and very moving.

These have been the unwavering cornerstones of The Forgiven from January 3rd, 2005 to today, August 2nd, 2014, and they shall remain in effect for the foreseeable future.

Changes Ahead:
Warlords of Draenor (WoD) is Coming!:

I am currently experimenting and enjoying the WoD Beta and can tell you that even though they’re still working out the bugs and glitches, it will be very exciting for all types of players. New zones, new quest lines, tons of content for you Lore-hounds, and PvPers and raiders will have new content to explore and dominate. I am especially interested in the Garrisons - towns that each character builds up and grows. A character will also collect Followers and those Followers can complete missions for the character, gather materials, and I’m even told can run lower dungeons for them and bring back loot (haven’t seen that yet, but . . . YAY!). You can even party up with another player who has a more advanced Garrison/Fort/etc. and see what they have done with theirs. If you have any specific questions about WoD Beta, find me in game and ask away.

The Tabard:

I decided to begin by making the most minor of changes as a small symbol of the change in leadership - the coloring of the Tabard. I wouldn’t DREAM of changing the logo that Adam chose almost 10 years ago. I wanted to keep that logo as a symbol of what Adam started, built up, and accomplished. I simply changed the colors to mimic those of the Christian Flag that most of us remember from our VBS days.

TeamSpeak 3 Client:

Having and using TeamSpeak3 Client Edition has never been a requirement in the past, and it will still not be a requirement for Guild membership. However, I would like to see an increased percentage of our membership using it since we are a community and a fellowship. It is easy to find by going to teamspeak.com, clicking downloads, and picking the right client for your operating system. It’s also quick, and most importantly FREE! And, as an added bonus, and the officers can hold me to this, I will limit my singing on TeamSpeak unless requested. Apparently, if the officer corps is to be believed, my singing sounds similar to that of a cat being run over by a lawn mower, and pain upon one’s ears is equivalent to having an ice pick being shoved under one’s toenails. At least, that’s what I’ve been told. Their probably just funning around with me - they’re such jokers!

Authenticators & Promotions Due:

Over the past few months, people have joined up and have worked up through the “Initiate”, “Member”, and “Veteran” ranks. Others have brought in alts that have been promoted up to Veteran. It’s come to my attention that there may be many members that are in need of promotion to “Keyholder”. I and the other officers may be asking you to see the Core Hound Pup as proof of having an authenticator on your account so that we can get you up to Keyholder status and improve your access to the Guild Bank.

As with TeamSpeak 3, authenticators are not required for Guild membership, but they are highly, highly recommended as it keeps accounts, the Guild Bank, and the Guild itself from being compromised. If you do not have one, please get one. When I got mine, they were a measly $6, but I’ve heard a rumor that they might even be free now.

Officer Corps & Roles:

Over the next few months, the officers and I will be revisiting their roles and see how they are being called to serve in The Forgiven. If our officer-to-member ratio falls below where we’d like it to be, then it is possible that we may be looking for new officers in the months ahead whose attitudes and convictions are in line with the expectations of a Forgiven officer.

The current Forgiven Officers and their current roles are:
Anita (Wend/Dranoe) - New Member/New 90 Facilitator
Bob (Apollux/Artaioz) - Raid Coordinator
Eric (Tahl, et al) - New Member/New 90 Facilitator, and Questing Facilitator
Jason M (Kasiem/Dragost) - PvP Coordinator
Jason T (Clearn/Beaten) - Communications Officer
John (Neirai/Shamat) - New Member/New 90 Facilitator
Mike (Berstromme/Gnimish) - Raid Coordinator
Nathan S(Drensharar/Laess) - Floater as needed

Of course, if you have ANY questions on ANY of these topics, or anything at all, please do not hesitate to find me and ask. I give EXCELLENT dumb looks!
Again, if you are new, please except my warmest welcomes on behalf of the membership and officers of The Forgiven. And if you’re not new, welcome to the next exciting phase of The Forgiven. Y’know, I should make up a song for this momentous occasion . . . .
 
Back
Top