Sad to say, but this is pretty long. We're not like most other guilds, as we require members that can live up to a higher standard than most other guilds will care to ask of them. If you don't think you can operate within these (we think) reasonable, common-sense boundaries, then The Literati is probably not the guild for you.

1. NO Hackers: This guild is militantly legit. As such, hackers are not welcome. So if you hack, used to hack, hack on another account, share accounts, or have a hacker friend give you stuff from their hack account; you're a hacker.
   
   Further, there are multiple preventive measures in place to protect your account from being hacked. The only person that can defeat that protection is YOU. This is done by sharing passwords, using cheats (most of which contain keyloggers to steal your passwords), and generally not having the sense to keep your private information private.  We prefer members with sense.
   
   
2. Members Must Be Active: We don't expect you to be on 24/7, but we do expect you to be on regularly enough we can spend time together. If you play once a week at a certain time, that's still fine. If you play once every blue moon and we should say Hi if we're lucky enough to see you, we could probably use the guild space for someone else that actually wants to play. And we will.
   
   If you have external (aka: Real Life) problems with being active during your membership in the guild, please let us know so that we don't think you quit the game and left us standing around waiting for you.
   
   
3. Communicate Clearly: Literati is Latin for 'Men of Letters', and is currently used to denote people of an intellectual nature. As such, we require that you do not use l33tsp34k, chatroom shorthand (i c ur 4 2b and such) and similar. Typos are not going to get you in trouble, don't worry. Also, certain expressions are more or less accepted into the normal internet lexicon, such as LOL, OMG, G2G, AFK, and others. These are permissible to use.
   
   However, we really dislike deliberate misspellings, such a 'dat' for that. It's only a couple extra presses on the keyboard to communicate clearly, and if you can't bring yourself to expend that miniscule extra effort then you shouldn't be surprised if we decide not to expend the effort in bringing or keeping you in the guild.
   
   
4. Lend Assistance When You Can: The Literati Guild prides themselves on being helpful to and supportive of each other. This may mean you occasionally get asked to train on lower level monsters with some low-level members. This may occasionally mean you might be expected to help gather quest items for members that might not be able to do it all by themselves. This might even mean you might be expected to give away (or sell at a discount) certain items you might not be able to use yourself.
   
   That is not to say that we expect you to devote your online time to making sure the other members have all they need. Far from it. The other members are expected to pull their own weight as much as they can BEFORE asking for help. When you're training together and they're just hanging onto a rope while you do all the work, that's not the sort of help you are obliged to provide. Unless, that is, you've told them to sit still so that they won't die and  waste the time you spent training them. We don't expect you to waste your time. Don't waste ours. It's very simple.
   
   
5. Member Conduct: The reason we're a good guild is because every member is respectful, helpful and nice not only to each other, but also to the general Maple Population. This is a requirement, as we see every guild member as a representative of the guild. So does anyone you might meet. The general guidelines for behavior are as follows:
   
   
1. Cursing: This includes using 'clever substitutions' for actual curse-words to still manage to get the odious term across. IE: Using an exclamation mark for a letter I, zeros for the letter O, or just leaving one letter off to get it past the chat guard. You will get a verbal warning from the staff if you curse or swear in chat, and the accepted correct response to that is to apologize for the infraction and try harder in future to mind your language. If it gets to be a problem, then we will solve the problem. Don't let it get to be a problem.
   
   
2. Treat Others With Respect: If someone asks you a question, for help, or strikes up a conversation, then we'd prefer you didn't shout at them for bothering you  or ignore them altogether. Not to say that one doesn't occasionally find themselves in a tough spot in game and can't respond immediately, but the general rule is that it shouldn't take more than five minutes to get where you can respond safely.
   
   Conversely, if one doesn't immediately answer you, that doesn't mean you should Spam the chat channel until they DO respond.
   
   
3. Harassment: Don't do it. This means you don't call people names. You don't laugh when they have a hard time. You especially don't walk up to random people and ask for 'Hot Smexy', to be your g/f or b/f, or to 'Rape You'. It is not funny. It is not what our members do. If one does do it, they will not be a member for very long.
   
   
4. Flaming: Yelling or name-calling at people that might not share your opinions is not the best approach to a reasonable discussion of issues. If you can't discuss an issue with civility and respect, then it's probably better to change subjects. And guilds.
   
   
5. Begging: Our members share what they can spare with other members, including but not limited to HMD (hand me down) equipment, quest items, Fame, potions, mesos or whatever. BUT, that helpfulness should never be taken for granted, neither should it be seen as an entitlement.
   
   Moreover, it is not any of the members' jobs to outfit any of your other characters for you. We use the BBS to post what we have to share for other members to USE. Selling what we shared with you is not an acceptable use.
   
   
6. Leeching: Addendum (9/08): There has been some talk over 'leeching' recently, so we will address it. We would prefer that you take an active hand in your own advancement. By active, we don't mean spending all your time looking around for people from whom to sponge experience points. Yes, some members can easily mass attack maps full of monsters and many of them won't mind you reaping the benefits of their hard work. However, you should have enough self-respect to want to have some of the credit for the advancement of your own character. If someone offers to help you get over a hump or similar, fine. Recognize that this is helpful to you, and you should be as helpful to them as you can in return.
   
   
7. Inappropriate Chat: The Guild and Buddy Chat channels are intended to let us communicate with each other. Therefore, using them for Pet Commands, allcaps (SHOUTING), or general nonsense is not permissible. Yes, all of us have mistakenly sent a message to the wrong chat window. We ask that you try your best to always be mindful of where you're sending what you want to say before you start typing.
   
   Spamming is considered inappropriate chat, and takes two forms: First form is saying the same thing repeatedly. Second form is to type three words (or less) at a time rather than using complete sentences. Neither form is welcome.
   
   
6. Membership: There are some guidelines for membership, as follows:
   
   
1. No Revolving Door: We expect you to take your membership in the guild seriously and have the due respect for the guild, its rules, and all the other members to not treat your membership lightly. If you join, then quit in a week, then ask to be re-invited in another week, that is not showing due respect. We do not do Trial Memberships, nor do we use Temps for various Party Quest purposes. Don't ask.
   
   
2. Multiple Membership: We're aware that we're much different from many guilds out there in terms of helpfulness and friendliness, and sometimes the reaction is to have all the characters that you're allowed on Broa to all be members of the guild. We understand this reaction. However, we'd like you to understand that it costs us huge amounts of meso to expand the guild roster, and we'd rather have all different members than perhaps twenty folks with three people each.
   
   If you still would prefer to have an extra character in the guild, then be informed that it will cost you 1 million meso per additional character for that privilege. Maple charges us 5 million for adding 5 extra members to the guild, so it's only fair that the person wanting to use the expansion space help pay for it. This fee is non-refundable and non-transferable; so if you decide to delete that char, get it expelled or remove them later, it's back to square one. This is to ensure a level of commitment on your part for that char's space.
   
   Amendment (9/08): Certain 'specific use' memberships may be granted at a reduced rate, depending on the specifics of the extra character. Characters which are Below Experience Level Thirty (BELTs) have uses in Guild Party Quests. Characters kept under level 51 for purposes of Carnival PQ are also possible. If you intend to bring in such a character, informing the staff of their intended purpose should be done prior to their being presented as pledges. Needless to say, if after bringing them in they wind up ineligible for their stated purpose, you will be given the option of paying the balance to make them a full member. You may choose not to do so, but the reduced fee is also not refundable.
   
   
3. No Swapping: If you join a character and accept our assistance until you become reasonably attractive to other guilds, it is bad form to ask us to let your current 'cool' character quit and let you bring in some other 'not-quite-as-cool' character for us to build up all over again. We make investments in each other of both time and resources towards the overall good of the guild. It is unreasonable to have us make such an investment for it to pay off for some other guild, and it shows a remarkable lack of loyalty and gratitude on your part.
   
   However, we are aware that newer players will make mistakes in the distribution of their skills and AP, and if one feels they've totally ruined their current character and wants to restart, we will allow them to do so and retain their guild membership. Once.
   
   
4. Ranks: We generally award increases in rank when we feel it is warranted, and not one second before. Other guilds will raise your Member Rank to just below Jr.Master the second you join. That makes the rank system pretty much meaningless, we feel, so that won't happen here. Members of higher ranks have consistently demonstrated the qualities that make The Literati the great guild it is, and should be treated with due respect. However, having a higher rank does not automatically allow you to give orders to lower-ranked members, though we do expect you to offer guidance in cases where they're likely to run afoul of the rules.
   
   Tattling to one of the Guild Staff is not guidance.
   
   
7. Overall: We are gathered in a guild to offer support and assistance to each other that we could not get by ourselves. As such, every member is equally important. Every member has something to offer the other members. By that token, it is not anyone's job to keep you happy or similarly bribe you to either become or remain a member. If some other guild offers you a nice item or a high rank to join their guild, do not expect us to match or beat that offer. This is not a sports-team. You are not a free-agent.
   
   We see this guild as an extended family. Sometimes you have to move out of the house to truly spread your wings, and we understand that. Conversely, we hope that you understand that we treat every potential guild member as someone that might be joining our family. It is not something we do lightly, and we expect all pledges and members to be cognizant of that.