Constitution

1. Prologue
   
   The Universal Gaming Alliance, Unigamia, or |UGA|, aims to unify organizations across different games, mods, and genres, or rather, "gaming universes". In doing this, the Universal Gaming Alliance hopes to bring about a unification of diverse peoples without prejudice. This Constitution will go into full effect after ratification by 2/3 of the Universal Gaming Alliance's members at the time of ratification. The |UGA| Constitution will instill its Core Values into its members for the enhancement of not only the organization, but its members as well.
   
2. Mission Statement
   1. Introduction
      The Universal Gaming Alliance identifies first and foremost as one thing: a family. The |UGA| consists of a group of friends whom have grown so close to each other that they have stayed together through thick and thin. If anyone can come out of the |UGA| with one thing, it is this: once a member, always a member. If the individual is willing they will be fully welcome back into the |UGA| at any time, unless that individual was Banished.
   2. Life
      The Universal Gaming Alliance respects all forms of life and the necessities that life has thereof. The |UGA| aims to make every member the best version of themselves by instilling in them the Core Vales of the |UGA|: Respect, Loyalty, Selflessness, Discipline, Patience, Honesty, and Dignity. Out of its respect, the |UGA| does not discriminate against any ideology, race, ethnicity, religion, age, gender, or sexuality. The |UGA| cannot teach even a fraction of the life lessons a member receives from education and the discipline it has with it. Because of this, the |UGA| values education over anything |UGA| related, and will inspire members to prioritize their schoolwork over everything else.
   3. Authority
      An organization can follow three different types of authority: traditional, charismatic, and legal-rational authority. In the beginning, it has a need for a traditional authority, traditional meaning a semi-dictatorship under one leader. If this authority no longer suits the organization and all its needs, a charismatic authority forms to temporarily replace the traditional authority, which will soon revert to a traditional authority of one or many, or a legal-rational authority. This Constitution resolves the need for authority in building an authority that transcends even the highest members of the organization, a legal-rational authority.
   4. Core Values

      1. Respect

         The |UGA| holds Respect in highest regard, as without Respect, there can be no friendships and no community.

      2. Loyalty

         The |UGA| asks of Loyalty not to its creators, but to the organization itself.

      3. Empathy

         The |UGA| expects that members do not join for personal gain, but rather personal enjoyment in community involvement.

      4. Discipline

         The |UGA| aims to instill Discipline in every member of the |UGA|. Such Discipline will allow members to prioritize themselves, their time, and their lives.

      5. Patience

         The |UGA| endevors to install Patience in every member of the |UGA|, as that which we most want requires us to wait for it.

      6. Honesty

         The |UGA| considers Honesty an extremely important quality for all members to have for the quick and easy resolution or arguments and the building of a better community.

      7. Dignity

         The |UGA| wants every member to remained Dignified in times of triumph. This means that no member should gloat unnecessarily and show themselves as a proud member of the |UGA|.

3. Laws
   1. Core

      1. Only interpretations of the rules by the author and/or caretaker of the Constitution are valid.

         Currently, PatPeter is both author and caretaker of the Constitution.

      2. No member shall play a game which he or she does not find fun.

      3. If all |UGA| members currently online cannot play the same game, they must separate into groups, whether groups in the same game or different games.

      4. No member shall reveal or use personal information, whether his/her own or another member's.

         Personal information includes but is not limited to: real names, addresses, birthdates, and phone numbers, and anything else that applies to real life.

      5. No member shall have an unstandardized name.

         All offenses are venial other than the last which is minor.

         1. Name must be permanent.
         2. Name must not use special characters, spacers, or punctuation.
         3. Name must have proper capitalization, i.e. PatPeter, not pAtpeTer.
         4. Name cannot have numbers or symbols in place of letters.
         5. Name cannot have military, social, etc. ranks.
         6. Name cannot have a racial, ethnic, political, or religious affiliation.
         7. Name cannot resemble a previous |UGA| member's name.
         8. Name changes must be sanctioned by the Triumvirate.
   2. Behavior

      1. No member shall reject or disrespect the Mission Statement.

      2. No member shall flame.

         The |UGA| defines flaming as attacking an individual with an insult(s) and/or other such devices with the intent of emotionally harming an individual. This includes, but is not limited to:

         1. Insulting a member with contempt – Not to be confused with insulting a member in jest.
         2. Repetitiously insulting a member with varied insults over a short period of time.
         3. Repetitiously insulting a member with the same insult over a short period of time.
         4. Repetitiously insulting a member with the same insult over a long period of time (i.e. giving an unwanted nickname).

      3. No member shall troll.

         The |UGA| defines trolling as a statement made to antagonize individuals, usually followed by an emotional reaction. This means that members can joke around with each other, for instance, when PatPeter says he hates anime. This solicites an emotional response, but PatPeter is not attempting to attack anyone. This includes but is not limited to:

         1. Harassing another member.
         2. Mocking another member.
         3. Impersonating another member.
         4. Laughing at another member – Not to be confused: laughing with another member.
         5. 'umad?' and all variations.
         6. 'weeaboo'/'wapanese' and all variations.

      4. No member shall bait.

         The |UGA| defines baiting as a statement made indirectly with the intent of provoking an emotional reaction. Examples of

         1. 'calm down'/'chill' and all variations.
         2. 'let it go' and all variations.
         3. Making characteristic references towards a person that are untrue, unproven, or not polite to voice aloud.

      5. No member shall rage.

         The |UGA| defines raging as an overexcessive display of anger by an individual in the form that disrupts others' moods and/or games. Examples of raging follow.

         1. Screaming into the mic directed at no one, directed at someone, or directed at others, possibly insulting or flaming them.
         2. Passively raging – such as making snide comments and alluding to one's own opinion, but not communicating it.
         3. Prematurely leaving an official game because of loss, either of the entire map or single kills.

      6. No member shall slug.

         The |UGA| defines sluging as a sort of passive Flame, wherein instead of insulting someone, the individual insinuates that that player is inferior to said individual. For instance, comparing K:D ratios or comparing score with the goal of undermining someone.

         1. 'sit down' and all variations.
         2. 'get owned' and all variations.

      7. No member shall haze (new members).

         The |UGA| defines hazing as treating new members as less than older members.

      8. No member shall grief.

         The |UGA| defines griefing as purposely ruining a game or team. The |UGA| excuses griefing on the account of Sluggers on the other team if the senior |UGA| member notifies the other team of our refusal to play.

      9. No member shall spam.

         The |UGA| defines spamming as the continuous repetition or overuse of text, voice, or any other system in place at the time.

   3. Personal

      1. No member shall use anything said in confidence against another member.

         The phrase 'in confidence' refers to anything said from one member to another under the trust that the member receiving the message will not use that information to harm the member sending that message, for instance in Steam chat.

      2. No member shall assume bad faith on another member.

         Conversely, all members will assume good faith on one-another. This means that each member will give all other members chances to reform their ways when those members previously harmed that individual. For instance, no member of the |UGA| can block or mute another member in TeamSpeak.

      3. No member shall assume passivity means assent.

         The |UGA| defines 'passivity means assent' as a member assuming that, because another member did not say 'no', nor said 'yes', that that member meant 'yes'.

      4. No member shall pressure another member into a game.

      5. No member shall disrespect another member's hobby(ies).

      6. No member shall tell another member to 'shut up'.

         The abbreviation 'stfu' is acceptable as it is part of cyberculture dialect.

   4. Communal

      1. No member shall remain online while not in the default voice communication.

         1. As of the writing of this Constitution, the |UGA| uses TeamSpeak 3 as the default voice communication client. This means all members must join our TeamSpeak 3 server at 67.167.44.51:9987.
         2. When a member is Online, Away, Busy, or Snooze on Steam he or she must remain in a channel of their choosing.
         3. We ask members to join the DVC so that they become acquainted with the community and so that the community becomes acquainted with them.
         4. The Lobby belongs to the majority. Any minority game or discussion must join the appropriate channel.

      2. No member shall disrupt the tranquility of the community.

         This rule only applies to the community at large over long-term events.

      3. No member shall publically discuss another member whilst not in his or her presence.

         This applies more to negatively talking about someone when not in their presence, but also applies to having the need to talk privately about someone else out of concern or otherwise, in which case the individual can only talk about said person in front of no more than two |UGA| officers, and only |UGA| officers.

      4. No members shall exclude a present member from a |UGA| game without deliberation and consent of the member.

      5. No members shall exclude a present member from a current coversation.

         If the majority, will change the subject, or, if a minority, will move to a Discussion Lobby.

      6. No member shall interrupt another member's(s') conversation.

         This includes not contributing to the conversation (interjecting unrelated topics).

   5. Organizational

      1. No member shall argue the Triumvirate's rule on the Law.

         In the case of ambiguity during the application or interpretation of a Constitutional law, the Triumvirate rules on its meaning.

      2. No member shall publically accuse another member of breaking a Constitutional Law.

         Members must call for an inquiry if they believe another member has broken a Law.

      3. No members shall participate in factions.

         Factions have destroyed |UGA| in the past. The |UGA| defines a faction as a group of members allied to someone other than the |UGA| itself. For instance, if a member obeyed the commands of a charismatic leader even if those commands broke |UGA| law.

      4. No members shall participate in unregulated sovereignties.

         The Universal Admiral and no one else must approve all |UGA| sovereignties. If a member creates a sovereignty group before approving it with the Universal Admiral, he or she breaks this law. A member can, however, ask others if they would like to belong to a sovereignty to build a roster to present to the Universal Admiral.

      5. No leader shall instigate tunnel vision.

         The |UGA| defines 'tunnel vision' as the leader stating his opinion before anyone else and then asking peoples' opinions on the issue. By design, most people will tend to agree with the leader when they know his/her opinion.

      6. No member shall ask for officer.

         The officer position has requirements as detailed later in this document. Members should either wait until they meet those requirements, and/or wait until those requirements go through.

      7. No member shall withhold information from an officer, or an officer withhold information from the Triumvirate.

         This does not work vice versa, i.e. a member of the Triumvirate can withhold information from an officer just as an officer can withhold information from a member.

      8. No member(s) shall deteriorate another sovereignty.

      9. No member shall publically discuss or reference negative past arguments in public context.

         'Past' refers to a period of three months or longer.

   6. Administrational

      1. No admin shall abuse.

      2. No member shall publically accuse an admin of admin abuse.

      3. No member shall ask for admin.

   7. Public Relations

      1. No member shall misrepresent |UGA|.

         If a member chooses to wear the tag that member must not only obey the rules him or herself, but also treat pubbers as though they are |UGA| members as well.

      2. No member shall pollute the tag.

         This means that no member can replace the letters with different versions of themselves or change the vertical bars to brackets, parenthesis, etc.

      3. No member shall go without tags for a long period of time.

         All members who remove their tags must place them back on after or during a period of 168 hours and must keep them on afterwards for a period of 24 hours.

   8. Games
      1. Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2

         1. No member shall talk about griefing, trolling, or |UGA|.

         2. NO member shall talk about griefing, trolling, or |UGA|.

         3. No member shall pass a jukebox without starting it.

         4. No member shall disregard "The Rule of Fourths"–the fourth player will always cause your team of three friends to lose.

         5. No member shall have compassion on pubbers.

            The |UGA| takes a strict stance on having no mercy on pubbers. When mercy is given, pubbers either take advantage of said and flame/troll/punk |UGA| members, or after 'giving them an inch they take a mile' and end up winning the game.

         6. No member shall chastise another member for leaving a game on the finale right before it ends.

         7. No member shall leave the safe room until the enemy team loads in.

         8. No member shall join a private game without requesting to join.

         9. No member(s) shall attempt to restart a game without just cause and community approval.

   9. Inquiries

      Inquiries occur when a member has supposedly broken a rule. That member will be pulled into a private channel with the highest ranking officer present to which they will discuss what rule the member broke and not to break it again.

      1. Rules
         1. All inquiries must be recorded.
         2. All inquiries have (A) a judge, claimant, and defendant (and optional witness) or (B) judge/claimant, defendant, and witness.
         3. Witnesses of the (A) type inquiry can be selected by the defendant,
         4. In the (A) type inquiry, neither the claimant or defendant may speak unless given permission by the judge.
         5. Inquiries are not a contained environment immune to rules. Any further rules broken during an inquiry will be assembled for another inquiry.
      2. Schedule
         1. Inquiry Start.
         2. Inquiry Adjourned.

   10. Punishment

       The |UGA| manages punishment in the form of Marks. When a |UGA| officer or member commits an offense, they have a mark added to them on their roster entry. When an officer reaches 13 marks, the Universal Admiral will demote them to a member and the marks will reset. When a member reaches 21 marks, the Universal Admiral will banish them.

       1. Major Offense

          Highest offense a member can commit. This offense will add three marks to a member.

       2. Minor Offense

          Average offense a member can commit. This offense will add two marks to a member.

       3. Venial Offense

          Lowest offense a member can commit. This offense will add one mark to a member.

4. Structure

   1. Leaders

      The Universal Admiral Chair and the two Supercluster Commodore Chairs form the Triumvirate.

      1. Universal Admiral - Community Manager

         The Universal Admiral monitors and manages the community. He or she regulates community relations and retains community tranquility.

         1. Current Chair: PatPeter

         Duties

         1. Blank.

      2. Supercluster Commodore - Community Overseer

         The Supercluster Commodores have the powers of the Universal Admiral and a maximum of two.

         1. Current Left Hand: None.
         2. Current Right Hand: None.

      3. Galactic Commander - Sovereignty Leader

         Galactic Commanders run the sovereignties of the |UGA| (cite above) and make up the Galactic Command Centre.

      4. Officer

         A member reaches Officer status when he or she has belonged to the |UGA| for a year and has the approval of the officer body.

   2. Statuses

      A member has one of three statuses at any given time:

      1. Current

         Members are active when the regular the VoIP server and participate in organizational activities.

      2. Adieu

         Members may take an adieu if they cannot access their computer or play a game for an extended period of time. This can range from a few days to a few months, and at most a year. To have Adieu status, a member must post a comment on the |UGA| group's page specifying how long the individual will take off and for what reason, unless the reason has a private connotation in which the individual can simply say 'private'.

         1. Minimum Adieu: 3 days.
         2. Maximum Adieu: 6 months.

      3. Banishment

         The |UGA| banishes a member when it evaluates as a whole that the individual in question contributes negatively to the community. This individual will lose membership in the |UGA| group, banned from TeamSpeak, and ostracised.

   3. Sovereignties

      1. Core

         Core groups are mandatory and all members must join them.

      1. Universal Gaming Alliance
         1. Date Created: 2008/09/11 (Time unknown)
         2. Type: Core
         3. Status: Active
         4. Tag: |UGA|
         5. Steam Group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/unigamia
         6. Description:
      2. Universal Gaming Alliance Servers
         1. Date Created: 2009/04/03 (Time unknown)
         2. Type: Core
         3. Status: Active
         4. Tag: |UGA-S|
         5. Steam Group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/uga-s
         6. Description:
      2. Projects
         1. Universal Anime Alliance
            1. Date Created: 2010/01/19 02:33
            2. Type: Project
            3. Status: Active
            4. Tag: |UAA|
            5. Steam Group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/uaa-n
            6. Description:
         2. Code Geass: Source
            1. Date Created: 2010/02/12 21:46
            2. Type: Project
            3. Status: Inactive
            4. Tag: |CGS|
            5. Steam Group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/codegeasssource
            6. Description:
      3. Counter-Strike: Source
         1. Knights Templar Mercenaries
            1. Type: Duel-Supremacy.
            2. Status: Retired.
            3. Date Created: 2008/08/23 (Time unknown)
            4. Tag: |KTM|
            5. Steam Group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/cssktm
            6. Description:
         2. Saladin's Honor Guard
            1. Type: Duel-Supremacy.
            2. Status: Retired.
            3. Date Created: 2008/10/11 12:39
            4. Tag: |SHG|
            5. Steam Group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/cssshg
            6. Description:
         3. Order of the Exiled Knights
            1. Type: Supremacy.
            2. Status: Retired.
            3. Date Created:
            4. Tag: |OEK|
            5. Steam Group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/oek
            6. Description:
      4. Half-Life 2: Deathmatch
         1. 1st White Forest Infantry and Artillery Divisions
            1. Type: Duel-Supremacy.
            2. Status: Retired.
            3. Date Created: 2008/09/19 21:21
            4. Tag: |1.WF|
            5. Steam Group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/hl2dm1wf
            6. Description:
         2. 3rd Civil Protection Armored and Synth Divisions
            1. Type: Duel-Supremacy.
            2. Status: Retired.
            3. Date Created: 2009/01/28 16:11
            4. Tag: |3.CP|
            5. Steam Group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/hl2dm3cp
            6. Description:
      5. Left 4 Dead/Left 4 Dead 2/Killing Floor
         1. Dream 4 Team
            1. Date Created:
            2. Type: Supremacy.
            3. Status: Deleted.
            4. Tag: [D4T]
            5. Steam Group: No longer exists.
            6. Description: Dream 4 Team was the first
         2. The Scarlet Guard
            1. Date Created: 2009/12/15 23:00
            2. Type: Supremacy.
            3. Status: Archived.
            4. Tag: |TSG|
            5. Steam Group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/ugatsg
            6. Description:
      6. Empires
         1. 13th Brenodi Infantry and Navy Divisions "Overdrive"
            1. Type: Duel-Supremacy.
            2. Status: Archived.
            3. Date Created: 2010/02/13 15:29
            4. Tag:
            5. Steam Group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/overdrive13
            6. Description:
         2. 7th Jekotian Armored and Aerial Divisions "Infection"
            1. Type: Duel-Supremacy.
            2. Status: Archived.
            3. Date Created: 2010/02/13 16:04
            4. Tag: |7.IF|
            5. Steam Group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/infection7
            6. Description:
      7. Call of Duty Series
         1. Crimson Battalion
            1. Type: State.
            2. Status: Archived.
            3. Date Created: 2009/03/12 17:59
            4. Tag: CB
            5. Steam Group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/CrimsonBattalion
            6. Description:
      8. Types

         1. Supremacy

            A Supremacy belongs to a game or games that has its own independant ranking structure, tag, and organization.

         2. State

            A State does not have its own tags or ranks, but it does have its own identity.

         3. Commonwealth

            A Commonwealth does not have its own tags, ranks or identity. It usually will have a group titled in accordance with the game or in association with the |UGA|.

      9. Statuses

         1. Active

         2. Inactive

         3. Retired

         4. Archived

         5. Deleted

5. Ratification Clause

   By agreeing to ratify this constitution, the individual agrees to work towards internalizing the Core Values and obeying the Laws of the |UGA|. In addition, the Community Manager of the |UGA| agrees to remove all comments in this Constitution and make this document read-only.

   1. Ratifiers

      1. PatPeter
      2. Sox207

   2. Vetoers

      1. None.

   3. Abstainers

      1. None.

6. Amendments

   Amendments will take effect when the Constitution is officially ratified. Amendments will revise the Constitution as after ratification, the Constitution becomes unchangeable.

   1. |UGA| Group Announcements

      All announcements in the |UGA| main group have the same weight as amendments in the Constitution.

   2. Steam Name Games

      We in the |UGA| have come to the realization that having a subsidiary in a game which forces you to use your Steam name cannot exist as its own sovereign entity inside the |UGA|. It is because of this that the Knights Templar Mercenaries/Saladin's Honor Guard are now officially retired |UGA| units for the game Counter-Strike: Source. The

   3. Ban on |UGA| vs. |UGA| Left 4 Dead/2 Versus Games

      Prior to this discussion, I shall retell the history of |UGA| games. |UGA| games started on versus, yes, but they did not consist of more than four |UGA| members. These games rallied the |UGA| team against a common enemy, a series of pubbers. It was through the transition from this to |UGA| games of more than four people that we had the "good games" people remembered. These games rallied the |UGA| members against pubs, with one |UGA| member on the other team to serve as a challenge to the |UGA| team.

      Games of five to eight |UGA| members have no such common enemy, a member sees the enemy as a specific member on the enemy team, or the score of the game itself, but a team has no unity in whom to defeat. One could argue that a member should have no enemy, and should simply play, but the construction of Versus in Left 4 Dead/2 contradicts that statement. The gamer always plays against an enemy, whether the artificial intelligence of a single-player game or a group of teammates in a team-based (16-32 players) multi-player game. Conflict drives games, without conflict a game cannot exist.

      Therefore, because the level of competition cannot decrease, and because every member by the nature of gaming aims to win (whereas if a member did not aim to win, they would act in griefing by the very notion), |UGA| versus games against other |UGA| members have no validity. Members have no obligation to join such games and should group off into 2s, 3s, and 4s to play their own games. For this to work, members must abide by III. C. 2. c. "No member shall join a private game without requesting to join. Offense Level: Major."

      By joining a |UGA| game of more than four |UGA| members, a player relinquishes their freedom to play a game in order to have fun. A member becomes locked in a game, unable to leave less breaking the rules of the |UGA| itself, and unable to default to playing for fun in a way contrary to winning. This violation of freedom creates discord that propagates into the |UGA|, and therefore cannot be accepted.

©2010-2011 Universal Gaming Alliance.

Version 3.0.0.0 of the Universal Gaming Alliance Constitution. All rights reserved. All content on this page identifies as intellectual property of the |UGA|.
This Constitution began on 2010-07-13 23:14:00 GMT-06:00. It was last edited on 2012-02-27 19:52 GMT-06:00.