1) Who are you people?

We are a group of friends, which met each other after a number of diverse guild affiliations. Some were good, some not. We try to use our experience to make this guild better, by not repeating mistakes and improving successes. We just want to play without bothering who gets the Epic Mace of Ultimate Head Cracking that just dropped off a lousy Murloc, because we know, without saying anything, who in group can use it with most benefit, and if nobody can, it just belongs to the luckiest member in the group, no questions asked. We'd rather say It's yours! than I want it!!! Keyword here is Shared common sense.

2) What's a Social Friends and Family Guild? I'm confused...

It basically means that we welcome any and all players that want to join a guild for it's friendly community and nonsensical guild events, will not be dependent on the guild for the entirety of their in-game activities, and can follow and uphold our rules.

We provide fun in-game events to our members, as well as friendly and helpful guild chat. Raid Progression, collecting loot, or expanding the guild to hundreds of people is not our goal- developing a guild community that enjoys playing with each other is.

Since we know that fun is a very subjective matter, go after whatever is your goal in game. If someone else shares your concept of fun, you may get help (if desired), otherwise, you get someone nice to talk with while you hit the 1000000th furbolg to get enough faction.

We don't have limits for alts you wish to bring in, or level of alts. We do have, though, level restrictions on main characters to join if you're not a real life friend or relative of a guild member. At this moment, the minimum level required to join is 71, and there are no class or specc restrictions.

3) Social priorities may work in smaller groups, but what about a guild?

Over the years that NDY has been around (and it was founded October 2005, so that is quite a few), the only thing that has worked for our group of tightly knit family and friends is the social aspect. Our experiences have led us to realize that what we value in our guild is what has kept us together so long - and that is our community, and not any specific set of activities a subset of that community takes part in.

4) Why <Not Dead Yet>?

After a long and heated debate, we decided we wanted to name it after something related to Monty Python. Clexie's first idea was <Not Dead Yet>. If you don't know what it means, get Monty Python and The Holy Grail and watch it. If you don't, you'll suffer dire consequences (besides missing part of our internal jokes) if you manage to join us. What? You're not going to watch it and try trick us? Sorry, but it's one of the few mandatory requirements to join our guild. Are we kidding? No. We mean it .

5) Are you people nuts?

Short answer: yes.

Long answer: If you consider nuts any player that doesn't do whatever is in his reach to get every piece of epic stuff he can put his/her hands on, or to use and force anybody around them and their mamas to get that Boots of Uber Butt Kicking they're missing from their set, yes, we are crazy. It doesn't mean that our members don't pursue endgame raiding and other such activities on their own, and that we won't encourage and aid them in such.

6) What is your policy with abuse/invective in guild chat?

Zero tolerance. A respectful environment is vital to assure a drama free environment. If you really feel the need to vent your anger or express your happiness, here, creativity is a must. All caps, spamming or cursing can be done by any 7 year old. You have a brain, use it. Swearing is out. Double entendre, however, is fair game.

7) Ranks and Responsibility

It is our goal to create a ranking system that reflects a couple fundamental points:

• Higher ranked players are not better than lower ranks.
• With rank comes additional responsibility not honor.
• All decisions are made through consensus of officers.

For more information about which are our ranks, please refer to our Roster link on the main page. Anybody at African Swallow rank and above are officers. African Swallows are officers' alts, and those above are officers' mains. Europe Swallows are other members' alts, and those between Swallows are other members' mains. Murlocs are our initiates. Each rank has unique banking accessibility, and these are stated in our General Forums. The idea is that as our guild grows, if there's no means to manage and delegate authority and establish benchmarks and goals for promotion, chaos will ensue. Again, the hierarchy to the ranks is in place to indicate responsibility, not worth to the guild. As players change their desired amount of commitment they will move up or down in rank to reflect their responsibilities.

8) What do I need to do to become a full member?

The first rank you receive on invite is our Murloc, or Initiate rank. This rank has no bank access, however these members are equally welcome in any and all guild activities as the other members would be. As a new member, you remain a Murloc for a month from joining unless one of two things happen.

There is some behavioral problem: we can all slip up as we learn the ropes, but we required you read this and the Guidelines for a reason! If you break a rule and are warned, you can either fix the problem or not. If you do not, you may be asked to leave the guild when your month is up instead of getting promoted. If you need to be warned multiple times, you will be removed before your month is up.

You become inactive: we understand crap happens, but we will not be a place to stick your toon when you retire. If after you are invited you must go AFK for an extended period of time and plan to come back, please let us know. If you do not let us know, and we see that you have been away for weeks when it's time for your promotion, one of two things will happen:

If you are not a friend or family member of an existing guild member, you will be removed from the guild, and a note will be sent to you in-game explaining why and inviting you to come back to the guild when you get back. If you came back, your initiation month starts over.

If you are a friend or family member of an existing guild member, you are left as a Murloc until you return, and at that point your initiation month starts over.

9) How do I join your fine circus?

If you made this question, I guess you are familiar with our rules, and share our goal. The good news is: anybody can join us. The bad news is: wanting it is not enough. Why you ask? We found out that random/indiscriminate invites raises guild numbers as fast as it destroys quality.

Some things you need to know beforehand:

#1: We have a zero-tolerance policy on rule breaking and anti-social behavior, including greedy behavior. Griefing younger players, improper use of public channels or guild chat, or any broken rule is a bannable offense. Using all caps or spamming in guild chat, being single-minded about a piece of loot or item to the point of being moronic or idiotic, or plainly asking questions answered here or in the guidelines (which all recruits are required to read prior to joining) will assure you do not make it past Murloc. That said, we are not shy of disciplining or removing any offenders, as we see fit, at any time regardless of rank.

#2: If you are after the most epics on the shortest timespan (and effort) possible, there are much, much better options out there. When we participate in instances, we're into it to learn a fight by ourselves, beat it in more than one way, and anything that drops is a consequence of our effort, not the goal. Anyone who have tried beat an encounter in endgame based solely on Internet info knows that between knowing the theory and putting it to use there is a gap made of blood, tears and (a lot of) sweat, and we expect our guildies that participate in grouping to be made of this sterner stuff.

#3: Finally, we're not (only) after warm bodies to help round out our event participation. We're after friends that happen to be mature, respectful, well mannered and skilled players. We have good times, we have bad times, but we're here to stay. We want you to celebrate with us your 200th level ding, and explore the final expansion "The Rise of Murlocs". Bottom line, we're into it for the long run.

There are two ways of getting in: 1) Contacting an officer in game, and surviving our recruiting drill, or 2) Submitting an application. Register for the website, and go to the Guild Application Forum on this webpage, and tell us who you are, your play style, and more importantly, why you want to join us. Every application will be considered, and will get a reply. By the way, we don't do that because we are overly picky. We don't care about your age, sex, religion, political view or whatever. We just want to be sure you are a good person, and will become an asset, not an annoyance.

Last update: 2010/04/16